Q&A: How do you make an idea your own?

When another book or movie gets to your pet idea first

Question:

A question I have relates to story ideas. Do you ever have a few pieces of a story idea, but not the entire thing and then you see a book or movie that’s similar and they have the missing piece? Or a book or movie that makes you think “that’s what I want to write. I wish I thought of that.”

This happens to me all the time. Then I think -I’ll cha…