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The question whether or not you may use ideas, characters, stories, and so on from other works has been addressed multiple times on this site; you will find them if you use the site search. The sh...
Answer
#4: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2021-05-20T19:00:36Z (almost 3 years ago)
The question whether or not you may use ideas, characters, stories, and so on from other works has been addressed multiple times on this site, among others in the questions that Michael Kjörling has linked to in his comments, and you will find more if you use the site search.The short answer is: It is a normal aspect of writing to be inspired by other works of art, and a certain amount of similarity is not only unavoidable but even expected of works within a certain genre. If you process what you take from other works and create something new and original from it, you (probably – we're not lawyers here) aren't plagiarizing.The legal aspect of your question has been answered to the best of our ability. What I would like to address here is **how you feel about what you do** and what that means for you as an artist.If I understand your question correctly, you are not only worried about legal trouble, but also unsure about your status as an artist. Your concern, if I'm not mistaken, is that it seems to you that **you have no ideas of your own** , that **you aren't in fact creative at all** , but **only an imitator** , a copycat, a wannabe.I haven't read anything your wrote (and am not familiar with most of the works you have used as inspiration), and have only your brief self-description to go by, so I don't really know who you are and what you do. But I can maybe offer you some general thoughts on the matter.1. We all, from Homer to Goethe to everyone here on this site, have begun with emulating the artists whom we admire. All our first works were attempts to recreate (aspects of) other works as exactly as possible.2. Many authors do not aim for originality at all. They consider themselves craftspersons who execute the ideas of others. Ghostwriters are an example for this, but also many screenwriters or (pulp) series authors who are given a storyline, characters, and setting to flesh out.3. Maybe what you are "doing wrong" is that you have allowed yourself to **become lost** in everything you love about the works of others, and what you need to do now is take a break from writing (and planning etc.), let what you have done rest, and take some time to come to your own senses.
- The question whether or not you may use ideas, characters, stories, and so on from other works has been addressed multiple times on this site; you will find them if you use the site search.
- The short answer is: It is a normal aspect of writing to be inspired by other works of art, and a certain amount of similarity is not only unavoidable but even expected of works within a certain genre. If you process what you take from other works and create something new and original from it, you (probably – we're not lawyers here) aren't plagiarizing.
- The legal aspect of your question has been answered to the best of our ability. What I would like to address here is **how you feel about what you do** and what that means for you as an artist.
- If I understand your question correctly, you are not only worried about legal trouble, but also unsure about your status as an artist. Your concern, if I'm not mistaken, is that it seems to you that **you have no ideas of your own** , that **you aren't in fact creative at all** , but **only an imitator** , a copycat, a wannabe.
- I haven't read anything your wrote (and am not familiar with most of the works you have used as inspiration), and have only your brief self-description to go by, so I don't really know who you are and what you do. But I can maybe offer you some general thoughts on the matter.
- 1. We all, from Homer to Goethe to everyone here on this site, have begun with emulating the artists whom we admire. All our first works were attempts to recreate (aspects of) other works as exactly as possible.
- 2. Many authors do not aim for originality at all. They consider themselves craftspersons who execute the ideas of others. Ghostwriters are an example for this, but also many screenwriters or (pulp) series authors who are given a storyline, characters, and setting to flesh out.
- 3. Maybe what you are "doing wrong" is that you have allowed yourself to **become lost** in everything you love about the works of others, and what you need to do now is take a break from writing (and planning etc.), let what you have done rest, and take some time to come to your own senses.
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T08:25:40Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34659 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
System
·
2019-12-08T08:25:40Z (over 4 years ago)
The question whether or not you may use ideas, characters, stories, and so on from other works has been addressed multiple times on this site, among others in the questions that Michael Kjörling has linked to in his comments, and you will find more if you use the site search. The short answer is: It is a normal aspect of writing to be inspired by other works of art, and a certain amount of similarity is not only unavoidable but even expected of works within a certain genre. If you process what you take from other works and create something new and original from it, you (probably – we're not lawyers here) aren't plagiarizing. The legal aspect of your question has been answered to the best of our ability. What I would like to address here is **how you feel about what you do** and what that means for you as an artist. If I understand your question correctly, you are not only worried about legal trouble, but also unsure about your status as an artist. Your concern, if I'm not mistaken, is that it seems to you that **you have no ideas of your own** , that **you aren't in fact creative at all** , but **only an imitator** , a copycat, a wannabe. I haven't read anything your wrote (and am not familiar with most of the works you have used as inspiration), and have only your brief self-description to go by, so I don't really know who you are and what you do. But I can maybe offer you some general thoughts on the matter. 1. We all, from Homer to Goethe to everyone here on this site, have begun with emulating the artists whom we admire. All our first works were attempts to recreate (aspects of) other works as exactly as possible. 2. Many authors do not aim for originality at all. They consider themselves craftspersons who execute the ideas of others. Ghostwriters are an example for this, but also many screenwriters or (pulp) series authors who are given a storyline, characters, and setting to flesh out. 3. Maybe what you are "doing wrong" is that you have allowed yourself to **become lost** in everything you love about the works of others, and what you need to do now is take a break from writing (and planning etc.), let what you have done rest, and take some time to come to your own senses.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2018-03-28T18:16:40Z (about 6 years ago)
Original score: 4