New Novel Idea and the Danger of Sharing Ideas (Phishing)
At last I have what I think is an idea for a new novel.
After a good year and a bit of not writing it's taken about eight weeks for a seed to show. It was unexpected too. Just a single word I liked and whose etymology gave me the idea - a new monster to my mind but one that might still be merged with the ancient, or those that exist in folklore.
And so how do I know it might be the idea for a novel?
It's big.
The word I started with keeps unfolding. It has led me already to real events in history. New places and things I had no knowledge of until investigating said word, and which hold my interest. It also ties into nature too, into folklore and the beliefs of different peoples around the world with but a little imagination. All boundaries that might be blurred and brought together, used to develop the story. And so like I said, it's big. So big it's frightening. Perhaps daunting is a far better word.
Yes.
Daunting.
But that's not a bad thing. It presents a real challenge, a wide scope and promise that will need to be reined in to a manageable piece - a story that people can believe in. How I'll tackle it I have little - or no - idea at this early stage, just lots of excited thoughts and narrow alleyways in the mind, all which will need exploring before they are deemed worthy or not of shape. Naturally the characters - of whom there is one at this point - and locations will help dictate the story given my writing style - it being that of scribe rather than author - and it all bodes quite well; reminiscent of the outset of Nightjar and Life of Maggot. Honestly I'd love to tell you more but can't because of a new scam that might actually be targeting authors for ideas.
I know. Crazy.
But that's what it felt like to me, like I was being phished for my ideas.
I might be wrong but I will tell you more...
Writers Beware - Scam Warning
I don't want to be alarmist but this is indeed a convincing scam, especially to those new to writing, the submission of manuscripts, agents, and publishers, and one in which AI plays a convincing part. More experienced writers will be used to these, having experienced the evolution of the the attempt from quite basic beginnings, but today they are far more convincing. Indeed reference to real companies - agents and publishers - and staff - their correct roles, genres of interest and positions - are used to great effect by AI generated emails. Penguin and Random House have a great article written (May 2026 and linked below) by Phil Stampet-Halpin that details the approach the scams take and the countermeasures you will need to protect yourself and your work:
But I just want to add a need to actively protect your ideas.
Initial contact - at least with me on at least three separate occasions focussed on wanting to know my current ideas for a novel. And they persisted on wanting to know what my ideas were even when I said I had none at the current time. Not just once or twice, but on more occasions with acceptable breaks in between. It really did feel like they wanted the ideas - the outline - of an artistic piece if a manuscript or money (as advised in the article above) could not be had.
Why?
With the advent of AI tools that promise to write a novel, might they not begin submitting ideas into these mediums and then selling the resultant product - irrespective of quality - on the eBook marketplace. Just the thought made my skin crawl. Now I may be over-reacting, perceiving more of a threat here than there actually is, but please do keep your artistic ideas close to your chest. Protect your intellectual property and only share with trusted partners that you actually know. They really are unscrupulous, these people...
And that's it folks. My week in writing.
Now onto the next...
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