I managed to see the new season of OA on Netflix this month. It was weirder than the first season, with a few graphic scenes I ended up skipping---something I typically have to do with Netflix shows.
There was a particular scene in which the protagonist establishes a psychic bond with an octopus, and the octopus telepathically talks to her. He sounded like a sage, wizened creature from the underwater animal world. It was all at once fascinating and disappointing. Why disappointing? Because I'd already written about octopi in the latest book. Telepathic octopi, no less.
What to do?
This isn't the first time a writer proceeded with a story, only to find out a part of it was conceived by another writer. Like the many versions of King Arthur, the Marvel multiverse, or the haphazard Star Trek canon, all one can do is proceed as scheduled and hope their own version of the tale out-does other versions. You continue, hoping your take on it is the superior, most memorable version. For example, many stories favoring a dragon's perspective are out there, but E.E. Knight's Dragon Outcast is the one people will remember. (Who can forget a dragon version of Horatio Alger?)
Besides, when you're underwater, you can't talk. How else are octopi supposed to communicate?
