'William Shakespeare's Don Quixote' : Drat - someone's had that idea already

Have you ever been thinking about an idea for what you just know would be a great novel - hell, the great novel - and then find someone's just gone and done it?
Maybe not exactly the story you were going to write, but the theme's so close to your idea that your novel would look like a lame copycat?

I've written in a previous blog that I love the rare and the obscure. One idea that fascinates me is that there could be the discovery of a lost Shakespeare play sometime. Heck, maybe in his own handwriting!

Don't scoff, they're out there, or at least they were.'The History of Don Cardenio' is one such work. A joint effort with a chap called John Fletcher, it was registered at the Stationer's Office, and even performed by the Kings Men in 1613. Various 'improved' versions have abounded since the 1720s, supposedly based on the original.

Don Cardenio is a character from 'Don Quixote'. That's Shakespeare and Cervante's in the same play. Pretty mouthwatering. And wouldn't the discovery of the play be the basis of a fun novel? Plenty of scope for Hitler Diary type mayhem and reputations on the line. I've an idea Paul, the PR agent anti-hero of my first novel, could have the discoverer of the claimed lost play as a client.

But you may well have read J L Carrell's ripping yarn 'The Shakespeare Secret'. She has the lost play as the McGuffin that all the murder and sleuthing revolves around. And there's even a fascinating novel out there called 'Shakespeare's Don Quixote' by Robin Chapman. It's a very literary work based around a staging of the lost play.

So that's my 'William Shakespeare's Don Quixote' stuffed. Just a William between them. Except... Where there's a Will there may be a way. I  mean Shakespeare wasn't exactly averse to pinching other people's plots. Or at least sharing. Many of his best plays are based on earlier works, some still well known when he wrote his version. In fact 'The History of Don Cardenio' is a case in point, lifted straight from Cervantes' 'Don Quixote'. Steal with pride was our Will's motto. If Shakespeare wasn't above borrowing a few plots, who am I to be so particular? One day I might still have a go. If I'm not too busy reading 'The Shakespeare Secret' again.

Somewhere out there it's possible there are a few more plays by Mr William Shakespeare to add to the album, including The History of Don Cardenio - Shakespeare's adaptation of Don Quixote.