So, I've blogged about this before: I get ideas from seeing things that either are ideas executed badly, or are ideas that the author just takes in a different direction than I would. When I read Matched, I noted that I was a bit disappointed that the cover copy was basically 'Girl grows up in society where people are paired via computer. Girl gets paired with Boy1 as her ideal match. Girl starts falling for Boy2, who may also be her ideal match.' The overall plot is pretty much 'utopic city with seedy underbelly covered up' + romance, when I discovered I'd rather read about the ramifications of the Match system. For that matter, when I read Mercedes Lackey's Five Hundred Kingdoms series at first I wanted to read about Elena and Co. dismantling the Tradition, a sort of Law of Nature that pushes things into story patterns and lends magical power when these patterns are followed, rather than the romance plots + using the Tradition to ensure happy endings without any of the awful stories coming true.
( Now, both were not bad books, but not what I wanted. )
( Now, both were not bad books, but not what I wanted. )