Has this ever happened to you? Do you worry that it might, one day?
PLAGIARISM!
Does it haunt you? The thought that maybe, one day, you could accomplish your dream, get published and then...DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN...someone calls you a thief?(Didn't till now? Whoops...my fault...)
Me neither.
Okay, so, unless you consciously are a thieving liar, then I doubt you'll ever have to worry. But what about when you're busy writing a book, editing you book, or submitting it and someone comes along and publishes that idea, close enough that you just *facepalm*?
Do you keep going? Do you quit? Try something else? Break stuff and insult the authors mother?
Me (it happened a little over a year ago) I finished off the novel and put it in a drawer. I quit it...and used some bad language against someone who is probably a very fine person and not at all what I said nor did the things I suggested they do. (tempers.)
BUT, my version blew in comparison. It was a smidgen too generic and the other guy wrote it better. I'm the kind of person that knows when to let go and not regret it. (JNCO's, let 'em go. Wearing 12 necklaces at once, Let it go((oh...high school...)) Diets, let 'em go)
So, if faced with that situation, you just have to use your best judgment. If your judgment sucks, ask a friend. But either way, it's up to you if you give it up or keep it alive.
Here are some questions can ask yourself: Is my idea better? Is my idea stronger? Is my idea different enough? Am I good enough to make this work? Do I love it enough?
If you answer "yes" to any of them, see where you can take it! And don't lose heart.
Also: Did you get your copy of Wither yesterday? This gal did. Hazzah!
Happy Wednesday!
Good point... there's so much out there that it's quite possible - even probable - that your idea (or mine) is very similar to someone else's. I guess, though, that a publisher/agent would know what was ok and what wasn't? If your friends/your common sense/your betas can't give you a reasonable answer...
ReplyDeleteT.x
haha I just burst out laughing in my office at that clip! I haven't come across this problem yet, but I can only imagine the sinking feeling in my heart when I do! All the more reason to HURRY UP and finish my revisions already!
ReplyDeleteI worry that either someone will publish a similar story before me, or my story already exists in some book that I've never read, and someone will say, "Um, this sounds exactly like such and such book". I guess I just have to hope that my story is unique enough or different enough that it does standalone. But it won't stop me from writing it! :) But maybe I'll write a little faster...
ReplyDeleteI've heard about this happening to other writers. And really are no new plot ideas, only new ways of telling the same story. It's a challenge, but it can be done.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has written fan fiction OFCOURSE I've been a big theif in the past. But writing what I love is always number one in my book. Would I ever try and get fan fiction published? *snort* god no. But writing, no matter what you're writing, is what makes you improve over time. So just do it. My second book is so generic it doesn't even need a lable. But I had such a good time writing it that for me, it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteHi, Colene,
ReplyDeleteNo, this has never happened to me. But if it did, I would still plug away at it. Plots are plots. There will be similarities to other books. It is our job as writers to put our own individual spin on it.
As always the clips are hysterical!
When I first start with a story I know its something that I haven't personally seen before. But then I always have this niggling fear that JUST before I go to submit it I'm going to hear about another writer who got published in a six-figure deal with my nearly identical story line.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder I have bad nerves and stomach ulcers when I'm writing!
I LOVED Wither! It was such an interesting premise, and I couldn't seem to put it down. And that cover is seriously awesome.
ReplyDeleteWhen I start a book, I always research a little to make sure it hasn't been done before. If it's a really different idea I have, I just go for it! :)
I always have that worry that someone will publish the same idea as me and I'll kick myself for not starting it earlier, or being the first one out with it.
ReplyDeleteHasn't happened yet with my WIP (although Melissa and I have very similar elements [pun intended] in our stories, I think they are different enough that they'll set the trend rather than be a copy of each other)
It's a real issue, about the plagiarism. When someone actually steal your work.
ReplyDeleteAs for having an idea that turns out someone else already thought of, it was stated at LTUE last month, that almost every idea's already been done--many times. That doesn't mean you couldn't take yours out and do something different with it. Tweak it.
Just sayin'
Oh man, those are some great questions at the end there. I worry about this all. the. time. But what are the chances that two stories are exactly alike? I mean, haven't you seen all the different angel series? The same but different. Great post. Definitely something that probably crosses every writer's mind.
ReplyDeleteThis has never happened to me, thank god. I can't imagine how much that would suck.
ReplyDeleteWhat fascinates me is that when a group of people are given the same theme they will most probably all write something very different. Another thought. Who was the discoverer of the DNA model? Watson and Crick yo may say but infact someone else was also working on it and got pipped to the post, so I guess people can also have the same ideas too. :O)
ReplyDeleteI do get worried sometimes that I may be accused of plagiarism. A writer friend told me that there are just few themes/stories and different ways to tell or write them. Its up to us to tell it as uniquely as possible.
ReplyDeleteAh, the big "fear". I would be crushed. Your questions are good ones, though, and make sense. Great post! :-)
ReplyDeleteOK, so I just finished writing my first novel and...kablooey! I'm perusing the Target book isle and found a YA book that sounded kinda like the novel I just finished (except mine is adult). Of course, I downloaded to Kindle and will be reading it next, but I'm dreading it. On the flip side, it's made me more excited about revisions so I can really make it my own. But if it is really broken, I think I can live with it. It's my first novel. I love it, but I know it might never be good enough to withstand the shining light of the publishing world. On to the next one....
ReplyDeleteIt's never happened to me, but that is my worst fear - to get all the way through with my rewrites and discover a book with the same basic premise. Only better. That would suck big ones!
ReplyDeleteI TOTALLY agree with what Abby said about her and my stories. You can have the same idea as someone but it can be so different that...next to each other...only the bones are the same -- and, when you think about it, every human being has bones and we NEVER look the same. (unless you are an identical twin - that's different). I worry someone will get my 'idea' out first...but they say you can't plagerize ideas...not that I'm going to go out and write a sparkly vampire romance but... you know. What I'm more worried about, actually, is that...everything I read/watch/see is internalized and sometimes I worry that I am going to unintentionally regurgitate something that was never mine to begin with. For example, my mom always said to me that I droned on and on with rather long and uninteresting anecdotes but my voice was hypnotic so it was okay (I TOTALLY BUTCHERED THAT LINE...but something like that) and I had one of my characters say it to another. Cause it was something my mom always said. When a friend read it they were like....that's from the original star trek and I was like...the fuck? I've never seen star trek IN MY LIFE! So...i took it out and that was AWKWARD. But ever since I always worry that unintentional borrowing has slipped in... but then, how can we avoid that because our perception of the world is based on everything around us.... I don't know. The logistics of it all make my brain HURT.
ReplyDeleteI read stuff all the time and FREAK OUT when it seems really close to my own ideas/story. But, I think it's inevitable sometimes. You wouldn't think so - so many people with so many differently influenced ideas... but, it does happen. I like your suggestion to ask questions. And I say, if it isn't different enough? Make it so. :)
ReplyDeleteSo far this hasn't happened to me, but it is something I think about. The bigger challenge for me has been making my serial killers unique -- and how do I do that when serial killers are a dime a dozen, and everything has been seen and done before?
ReplyDeleteHappy Wednesday!
Great article. Haven't had this happen yet, but maybe because I'm oblivious. lol
ReplyDeleteHmm...I mean stories do get recycled all the time, but it's the way we tell them that makes them unique. Maybe that's why I'm not so worried about getting plagiarized. There are just too many elements in writing to consider before being accused of plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteI worry sometimes that all the reading I do will affect my voice, but it's been a while since I seriously worried about being a copycat. I know the work I'm currently querying sounded a lot like a novel I just found out about, but mine is different enough that I don't anticipate any problems.
ReplyDeleteYah, I picked up Wither yesterday. It's now been absorbed in my ever-growing TBR pile. Maybe I'll post about that tomorrow. The pile seems to be self-regenerating like The Blob. ;o)
Ok, now I'm totally worrying about this...that's awful!
ReplyDeleteFirst off I have to say, I love Third Rock From the Sun. I miss the characters, altho John Lithgow is now on How I Met Your Mother and I think he’ll fit right in. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, does plagerism scare me? Hellz yeah, so I’m really secretive about my manuscripts. I trust two people with the details and one of them is my BETA reader. I shudder to think of the dishonesty in the world now. Such a shame… :-(
Well I wasn't worried before, but now...!
ReplyDeleteMy CP had a moment when she thought exactly that had happened--it turned out that two stories can sound very similar and turn out to be completely different. If I read it and it was just the same... oh gosh, now I'm worrying about that too!
This clip is sooo fun! I haven't been in this situation, but sometimes I worry that some of my poetic combos will be found in another book. It would be sickening and frustrating. I am sooo sorry this happened to you~ I love the questions you gave us to consider; Great post~ Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI think there are definitely ideas that enter the collective subconcious together and there is some element of timing that works agains unpublished authors. (an author with an agent and a book deal with an option clause can get buy in before the book is even written). That said, I have always had trouble even finding books to compare mine too, let alone, nearly the same. i think my brain runs in wonky directions (possibly because I almost never start a book with ONE idea. I get writing when two or three separate ideas merge in a bizarre epiphany). great questions though
ReplyDeleteYou always have to remind yourself that there are only so many ideas out there. There is a chance that someone else will discover it before you do, and it's important that you were able to walk away and admit that other person did it better. Such is the writing life, I suppose. Timing is *everything*.
ReplyDeleteSince Dexter i find this guy utterly creepy.
ReplyDeleteThat is an awesome clip. He delivered that line so well. You words made me think of other horrors that could arise at a book signing – people questioning in an accusatory way of why you didn’t use a wrench when that is was is the most logical choice.
ReplyDeleteIt's so tough to see someone else publish a book that is similar to one you're working on. It's happened to me before, and it's disappointing, of course. But if you look closely, you realize that it's not EXACTLY the same. Still, even remotely the same can feel disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI am so afraid of this happening! I so rarely get good ideas... like once every 5 years rare!!! But you have such a great attitude about it - wow!
ReplyDeleteAs long as people enjoy the characters, I don't think they care of the general story has been done before. ;) (That's what I like to tell myself anyway!)
ReplyDelete