Repeating ones self and other stories

[Azzagorn]

Has the suggests this another annoying thread by yours truely so I shall get to. The point. I've been thinking, with there only really being a small amount of storylines out there ( some would say... I don't believe it) how do we go about not accidentially writing something pretty much the same as something else?
What I mean is you come up with an idea and when researching you find there are books with a very similar plot line and/or setout, should you carry on and make a conscious effort to make subtle tweaks here and there?

Suggestions? I don't want people to get confussed by this I have no problem with taking insparation some authors you like and respect but surely evey writer is concerned of being labelled a 'copycat'? Anyway its just a throught

 

[Theory5]

What do you mean similar plot line? How similar is it? If you write about a character falling alseep and waking up in a magical land where there are talking lions, scarecrows, and witches and they go on a mystical journey where they learn everything they need was inside themselves all along, then yes you need to make a few changes. But if all that your story has in common with the Wizard of Oz is that your character goes on a journey of self-discovery, then no, you don't need to make a change.

 

[Dozmonic]

There's a possibility that your story may have a male protagonist born to parents who die early on. He may live with family who don't like him. He may discover he has magical powers. He may go to a place of learning, to train said powers. He may have a scar from a fight he doesn't remember. He may have a male and female best friend.

But if this scar was intentional, a mark for his clan, perhaps. If his family don't like him but still treat him well. If his magical powers revolve purley around manipulation of the elements. If the place of learning is a temple... then it's not as Harry Potter as it first sounded.

 

[TheTomG]

Not sure why this would be a major concern. Your style will be unique, and even if you are retelling the "same" story it certainly will not be the same. Did you have some ideas in mind, as in a specific work you wanted to create? Or is this just a question in general?

In general I say, don't worry about it. If it's accidental especially - I am sure any story will be similar to some other story out there, and if you haven't deliberately and slavishly copied it, no-one cares.

If you have something specific in mind, I'd post your idea and we'll tell you what stories it's like

 

[Warren_Paul]

Has the suggests this another annoying thread by yours truely so I shall get to. The point. I've been thinking, with there only really being a small amount of storylines out there ( some would say... I don't believe it) how do we go about not accidentially writing something pretty much the same as something else?
What I mean is you come up with an idea and when researching you find there are books with a very similar plot line and/or setout, should you carry on and make a conscious effort to make subtle tweaks here and there?

Suggestions? I don't want people to get confussed by this I have no problem with taking insparation some authors you like and respect but surely evey writer is concerned of being labelled a 'copycat'? Anyway its just a throught

No matter what you do there are always going to be similarities. You can research and research till the end of time if you want to make sure you don't copy the same ideas as other writers but in the end as long as your not writing the book word for word or basing it in the same word etc. (As long as its your own work) It doesn't matter.

Terry Brooks proved that with his Sword of Shannara book which was said to be very, very similar to Lord of the Rings.

Terry Goodkind is also accused of taking ideas from other people's work and using it in his own, and he is a bestseller. Very successful author.

As long as it is clear your not plagiarising another's work it should be fine to have similar concepts/plots. Saying that though, always better to come up with something different/unique if possible.

 

[Hex]

Sword of Shannara always seemed to me to um pay tribute to the LoTR. Structurally it had surprising similarities.

Anyway. As long as you don't steal chunks out of other people's work and pretend you wrote them, you're unlikely to get into trouble. If you're prepared to do the research then it's even less likely, because you'll know if something has already been written or not.

But no one else has had your life in precisely the way you have, and if you're writing about things that impacted on you and influenced you (however tangentially) then I think it's very unlikely that you'll write something very like someone else's book.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Allegedly its true there are so many story lines possible; I think 8 is the number. Similarly, apparently there are so many possible musical arrangements - the musicians can keep me right on that one - but there is only one you. I suspect the story I'm writing has been told in different guises loads of times, it probably boils down to your common or garden quest story line, but no one else has the same elements, in the same place, in the same style as I do. (I hope; I have copies of this dating back to the 80's, so I'll sue!)

Trust yourself; it you're writng it, it'll be yours.

Another eg springs to mind, I am an academic moderator and I mark hundreds of the same assignment brief each year, often on a similar subject, often in the same organisations; each is different, has its own tone and take on it.

 

[Hex]

each is different, has its own tone and take on it.

and when they don't, that's when you get out the little black skull and crossbones stickers...

 

[MemoryTale]

I think as long as you're writing with your own voice, and the ideas have genuinely come from your own mind you shouldn't have a problem.

Of course you may be labelled a copycat, but the people who do the labelling can often be unjust. I saw a review claim Unseen University was a copy of Hogwarts...

 

[ASleepyGiraffe]

An interesting point. One which i have also worried about, but in the end, it would be unrealsitic to try and research every possible thing which may have been done before. Yes we may pick up things that are similar to other works, but if our structure, style and world/background are unique, then does it really matter, if it works in the context of your story?

Many writer's unintentionally use places/names and subsequently get named as "copycats". Yet they may have just been showing respect to inspriring works, and thrown these in as "easter eggs", to show that they respect the author of said work.

I guess another question would be; "When does homage become plagiarism?"

 

[Hex]

I guess another question would be; "When does homage become plagiarism?"

We did that one recently! http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/534984-when-does-homage-become-plagiarism.html

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Terry Brooks proved that with his Sword of Shannara book which was said to be very, very similar to Lord of the Rings.

Actually, it was widely considered a rip-off of LOTR.

There are similarities (can't be avoided) and then there are too many similarities (which look a lot like copying).

Dozmonic gives a good example of how two books can contain vaguely similar elements without being the same story at all.

The Sword of Shannara looks exactly what it is: a book written to capitalize on the popularity of another. And it succeeded, while neatly skirting any charges of plagiarism.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I think as long as you're writing with your own voice, and the ideas have genuinely come from your own mind you shouldn't have a problem.

Of course you may be labelled a copycat, but the people who do the labelling can often be unjust. I saw a review claim Unseen University was a copy of Hogwarts...

Except Unseen University first appeared in The Colour of Magic, which was published in 1983. Hogwarts first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997.

Without time travel, it's hard to copy something 14 years before it existed.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Except Unseen University first appeared in The Colour of Magic, which was published in 1983. Hogwarts first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997.

Without time travel, it's hard to copy something 14 years before it existed.

...

wow, accusing a book of being a rip off of another when that 'other' didn't exist, nice research said reviewer!


I say just write what you want to write.

 

[Toby Frost]

I agree. Unless you are actively ripping off another book, or else lack basic knowledge of what's been done to death, you should be fine if you tell the story well. For one thing, an author's own voice can go a long way towards originality.

 

[Memnoch]

Harry Potter for me is very blatant at "ripping" off several other well know novels/series/characters and yet creates a fantastic series which has brought a young, fresh, large base, to the fantasy genre who will grow into said genre. So I think if done right paying homage is a positive thing. Ironically the amount of similarly titled/content rip off's of Rowlings work is beyond scandalous and the sheer volume of these published weak series is simply mind boggling.

*Watches LOTR's and HP and mixes up Frodo and Harry, Ron and Sam, Gandalf and Dumbledore, scratches head turns them off and watches Firefly series for a change of pace. . .*

 

[Hex]

Not to wander too far from the theme of the thread, but I think you can draw all sorts of comparisons between HP and other books. We were reading The Worst Witch a couple of months ago and similarity spotting. However, though some of the ideas are similar, they're taken from all sorts of different places and blended together, so they form something different and new.

Sword of Shannara, on the other hand, copied one other piece of work -- LoTR -- and was incredibly similar (right down, as far as I remember, to the death -- or disappearance -- of the Gandalf-mentor-figure) but, of course, it was nothing like as well written.

Brings us back to the quotation (which the web tells me is from someone called Wilson Mizner): "Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from many, it's research."

(and what a pretty sentence that is -- so symmetrical)

 

[David Evil Overlord]

There was a book I used to own, many years ago. Cannot remember title or author. The story centered around a battle between the good guys (young hero with developing mystic powers, older smuggler/space pirate and his large furry sidekick, young princess, two characters who double as tech support and comic relief), and the bad guys (deathless evil emperor, cyborg first lieutenant of evil emperor, large number of faceless drone troopers who couldn't hit the broad side of a planet with their laser rifles).

And IIRC, it was published five years before Star Wars...

Alas, I no longer have the book, and the details I do remember do not lend themselves to successful Googling.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Sword of Shannara was shocking in its awfulness. And it had "Berek Half-Hand"... jeez...