Where do ideas come from?

A Canadian author has sued NBC Universal and director Judd Apatow claiming they ripped off the premise of the hit movie Knocked Up from her book of the same name. (You can read the whole story here.)

Hmm. Sounds fishy. However, there might be another explanation. I recently pitched my agent a book idea I got last summer. About a week after I sent the pitch, my agent emailed me a blurb from Publisher’s Lunch about a nonfiction proposal making the rounds of NY editors with the exact same premise. And the other writer is from Denver. No way he knew about my idea (I didn't tell anybody), and I swear I never heard about him and his idea. So what happened? My agent chalked it up to something in the water (more like the dry air).

But I often think that ideas are just floating around out there waiting for someone to snag them. The other Denver writer and I snagged the same idea. Maybe Apatow and the Canadian writer did too...or maybe she got screwed by Hollywood? Stay tuned....