Is it stealing, or is it my own story?

[KachinaDoll]

Copy, no. Inspiration, yes.

Jeez, how many stories are there on here that follow the format:

Mom sits on son's lap during long car journey.
Daughter comforts her bereaved father.
Drunken wife gets gang-banged by her husband's friends.
Strangers get stranded in the snow.

Even Shakespeare took inspiration from others.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Even Shakespeare took inspiration from others.

I don't think he did the car ones, though .

 

[KachinaDoll]

"And by the bright tract of his fiery car
Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow."

Though he is referring to the sun.

 

[EmilyMiller]

So… I’m writing a story at present. And a third of the way into a chapter, I realize that I’m basically channeling Macbeth. Is it plagiarism? No, of course not. No more than when Bill borrowed from early stories to write his Scottish tragedy.

I might even include a line from the play - or a modernized version as a nod towards it. Or something along the lines of: “…like a latter day Lady Macbeth, she…”

Emily

 

[StillStunned]

I might even include a line from the play - or a modernized version as a nod towards it. Or something along the lines of: “…like a latter day Lady Macbeth, she…”

"Like a cool Romeo he made his move, ah she looked so fine.
Like a late Juliette she knew he'd never be true, but then she didn't really mind."

 

[EmilyMiller]

"Like a cool Romeo he made his move, ah she looked so fine.
Like a late Juliette she knew he'd never be true, but then she didn't really mind."

Coupling couplets

 

[EmilyMiller]

"Like a cool Romeo he made his move, ah she looked so fine.
Like a late Juliette she knew he'd never be true, but then she didn't really mind."

Or in the words of the modern bard…

Romeo and Juliet
They never felt this way, I bet

 

[StillStunned]

Or in the words of the modern bard…

Romeo and Juliet
They never felt this way, I bet

"Modern". That song is from 1987 or something!

ETA: 1989 apparently.

 

[EmilyMiller]

"Modern". That song is from 1987 or something!

ETA: 1989 apparently.

Modern relative to the Elizabethan era

 

[TheRedChamber]

Modern relative to the Elizabethan era

Sad to think it was the Elizabethan era - the second one at least.

 

[StillStunned]

Modern relative to the Elizabethan era

Ah, I thought you meant relative to the Spingsteen quote.

 

[NoviceAspen]

I’m going to write a murder mystery.
The murder weapon is a gun. Oh, wait, must be a million stories with that.
It will take place in a dark alley at night. There’s another million stories.
A guy will shoot dead his wife’s illicit lover. Jeez, must be two million stories with that.

Point being: the same stories are told over and over and over, and only if my story has the exact same gun, the exact same alley and time, the exact same incident given in the exact same way in detail as one of those other stories, only then might stealing be considered. At least that’s my opinion.

I heard once that in literature there are only two stories: Going on a Journey and A Stranger Comes To Town. Everything else is just a new flavor of the same dish.
There are only so many ways to write a sex scene. Only so many ways two people can have sex. Add more people to the mix if you want but in the end it’s all going to be varying mixes of body parts, bodily fluids, toys or whatever, kinks, clothing on, clothing off. Nothing is truly unique. Read what you will, write what you will, don’t copy and paste or take entire characters or scenarios idea for idea.

This past year is the first that I am starting to share my writing with others, but I have written fortresses and dungeons and prisons full of sex slaves or whatever dozens of times over the span of probably 20 years. I’ve read those stories too. The ones I enjoy reading the most are very similar to the ones I enjoy writing.

 

[djrip]

There was the whole "Avatar is Pocahontas in space" thing, and then "No, it's actually Atlantis."

No no no. It's Fern Gully.

 

[Boobytrap73]

Now... stop wasting time at the AH, and go and work on your story-telling skills.

One of Leon Uris' books includes a very successful author who is invited to be the keynote speaker at a writer's conference. He asks the audience how many want to be writers and, of course, they all raise their hands. "Then why aren't you home writing?" he asks.

~BT73

 

[Britva415]

Going on a Journey and A Stranger Comes To Town

Aren't those the same story? Taken from the opposite points of view?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Ah, I thought you meant relative to the Spingsteen quote.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Only so many ways two people can have sex.

Which is why alien, shape-shifting, telepathic giant octopuses are so damned cool.

Emily

 

[StillStunned]

The lines I quoted were from "Incident on 57th Street", a song by Bruce Springsteen from 1973.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The lines I quoted were from "Incident on 57th Street", a song by Bruce Springsteen from 1973.

Ah! Madonna I know. Bruce, not so much.

Emily

 

[StillStunned]

Ah! Madonna I know. Bruce, not so much.

Emily

Even most people who know Springsteen probably don't know that song.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Even most people who know Springsteen probably don't know that song.

I know Born to Run and Born in the USA. Don’t all his song titles start with Born?

 

[stonedinstilletos]

I think you have to give yourself a break when it comes to “Am I doing something completely original”. Almost every story has been done in one way already and what happens is we are all doing variations on a theme. Now, that being said, sometimes people take the easy way and variations on a theme becomes a rip off.

I was trying to think of a way to explain but the best I can think of is Magnificent Seven and Seven Samurai versus Avatar and Dances With Wolves. I’m not saying these are bad movies, however, Magnificent Seven tracks Seven Samurai so close to each other that there was a court case that resulted in Kurosawa ending up winning. Conversely, Avatar takes a number of themes and character types but does enough to change them and make them sufficiently dissimilar that it can stand alone.

 

[djrip]

I think you have to give yourself a break when it comes to “Am I doing something completely original”. Almost every story has been done in one way already and what happens is we are all doing variations on a theme. Now, that being said, sometimes people take the easy way and variations on a theme becomes a rip off.

I was trying to think of a way to explain but the best I can think of is Magnificent Seven and Seven Samurai versus Avatar and Dances With Wolves. I’m not saying these are bad movies, however, Magnificent Seven tracks Seven Samurai so close to each other that there was a court case that resulted in Kurosawa ending up winning. Conversely, Avatar takes a number of themes and character types but does enough to change them and make them sufficiently dissimilar that it can stand alone.

Avatar and Dances With Wolves are both just Lawrence of Arabia. And that's just Dune. Wait...

 

[StillStunned]

Avatar and Dances With Wolves are both just Lawrence of Arabia. And that's just Dune. Wait...

They're all derivative of my essay "Wot I did on my hols", from when I was nine.

 

[offkilter123]

It’s a somewhat complicated area. Lifting someone else’s work, premise, plot, characters is clearly plagiarism, even if you make some superficial changes.

But no one owns the themes in their stories. You can write a story about short mythical beings living in an unspoiled rural idyl and then going on a quest in which they encounter other species and the wider world. Maybe avoid rings of power.

Ideas aren’t owned by anyone. The execution of them is covered by copyright. Inspiration is fine, slavish copying isn’t.

Emily

This is very much not true. Copyright and plagiarism are very much misunderstood on Literotica (and most sites.) Just because you say something is copyrighted does not mean that it is copyrightable. And even if it is both copyrightable and you assert copyright does not mean that it cannot be used (at least partly) verbatim. A very important copyright case that any creative needs to be aware of is Campbell vs. Acuff Music. Campbell (Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew) asked to use a section of the Roy Orbison hit Pretty Woman in a song. When the copyright holder (Acuff Music Publishing) denied him, he simply used it anyway. Acuff sued for copyright infringement. Cut and dried, right? The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Campbell. They found that as long as the original work is taken in a substantially different direction for the purpose of “parody” then copyright is NOT violated. This decision greatly broadened the definition of “fair use”. Subsequent court decisions have given broad latitude to what constitutes “parody”.

If anyone is familiar with the Loving Wives story February Sucks, then you know there are dozens of alt versions that have been posted. Many writers reached out to the original author, George Anderson for permission to write an alt version. No one was required to do that as long as their version took the original in a substantially different direction. If I want to copy and paste the first page or two and then take the story in a different direction, Campbell vs. Acuff allows me to do that. This is also what makes fan fiction virtually impossible to combat or take down from fan sites.