Is there any books or something that has a collection of ideas for stories?  Just thought about it since I don't have any good ideas to start with.

Have you ever had one of those moments when planning/writing a novel that when you stumble on a book in the genre your writing in and has the exact, or somewhat, same information and/or concept(s) your writing about, without ever realizing it existed at all?

It happened to me and I wanted to strangle somebody.  I was moving through the fantasy section of my hometowns bookstore, finding something for some inspiration and ideas for my novel, when I found E.E. Knight's Way of the Wolf.  The cover was good, but the summary really made me pissed.  The same concept and the same evil alien race was the same thing as my reason (don't ask) and conclusion for my story.

Good thing it didn't have my top secret race of special humans.  I didn't buy the book.  So now I have to think up a whole new conclusion, evil alien race, and many more information to fill in.  Besides that, I am new to novel writing and I have a thought that you guys can help me with.  Should I keep my conclusion and idea as it is or re-think it if its similar to something else?

Coop, sounds a bit like Shadow Run type book..

Its nothing like Shadowrun.  I hate Shadowrun.

Besides the usual popular word processors, like Apple's Pages and Microsoft Office's Word, are there any programs that help write novels?  I found one and thats Avenir.

Im gonna try it.  I do have a good idea for a novel, but with my family business, school making me depressed, and my brother putting me down.  I could never do it.  I think this will make me create that story that I yearned to write.  Just one question, is this best for a newbie to be part of?

Another question,  If i get to the 50k mark, will I have time to get it edited, and if so, where will be the best place to have it edited and critiqued?

Personally, I really don't like it when magic in books feels like somebody thinks that the D&D magic system is The Way Magic Works and I can almost hear the dice rolling behind each spell, but this is just me.

Yeah.  Good thing I never read any of those D&D books.  Even though I was creating my story from school and others think that the scenario (hope i got the spelling right on that one) was excellent, I just kept on thinking "how do these guys use magic in everyday life" for my characters.

Is it okay to post stories on this board?