Writers? Did I make the right choice?

Question

First off let me say I'm only posting this because I've decided to do nothing with the story idea. It's not my genre or even something I want to delve in to--too many land mines.

A friend approached me with an idea for a novel--hopefully I'm not the only one this happens to. The concept is you have two young married couples who are both parents of very young children (under 2). They hang out because Wife A and Wife B are cousins. Wife A and Husband B start sleeping together--sneaking around, even having sex downstairs while their spouses and children are sleeping upstairs. Wife B kicks out her husband without knowing who the "other woman" is. Wife A convinces her husband to take in her lover in the "just helping a friend guise". Not too long into that situation Husband A realizes what's going on. He finds letters between the two conspirators and confronts his wife. She denies they ever slept together, even though he has read in her own hand an admission of doing just that.

Both couples divorce. The real shocker came when my friend told me this story really happened. It sounds like a Danielle Steel or something so that really surprised me. Even though I turned down the offer to write it as a story or novel I did play around with the idea of how to present it. Like from the persepctive of the child as a teen finding out the real reason his or her, depending on which child, really split up. Would the gender of the child affect how they reacted to news like this?

Honestly, finding out the story was true was the killer for me. There's too much here to hash up and the kids could get hurt. Can you imagine finding out something like that about your parents by reading it?

But, for your opinion, would it make a good story? Was I wrong to pass it up?

Answer 1

Like you said, it is a Danielle Steele. It has been done a lot, and we see it every day on Jerry Springer and the other talk shows. Yeah, you did the right thing. It is possible you could have fond a good angle, but I doubt it. I would have done the same thing. It has just been done to death. I also doubt there is enough there for a novel unless you added a ton of sex scenes. You were right to pass - just because the idea came from someone else. If you had gone with it, that person would have hounded you non-stop asking you how it was going, offering suggestions ... It probably would have destroyed a friendship. And it doesn't sound that good to begin with. Pax - C

Answer 2

If you enjoyed it for whatever reason, chances are someone else will. However, is this a tragic story? An impossible love story? a scandal story? a romance? Once you are sure of your intended audience, the answers will come around.