Is my story too similar to an existing published work?
This is meant to be a canonical question, to which particular cases can be referred. We've had several particular instances of this question in the past - "is my story too similar to specific story X". The older ones got answered, the newer ones got closed as off-topic. These questions however never get closed as duplicates of each other, being different in their particulars. The purpose of this question is thus that all similar questions in the future may find an answer here.
My story shares some similarities with an existing work: a major plot element is the same, or an overarching concept is the same.
For example, I have a regular child suddenly realising he can do magic, and start learning it (Harry Potter, Kaytek the Wizard). Or, there are people flying on dragons, and those constitute an aerial force used in battle (Dragonriders of Pern, Temeraire).
How do I know if my work is OK / original enough, or if it is too similar to another work, derivative and constitutes a copyright infringement?
2 answers
A story is like a person. Many people lead similar lives and yet each person we meet is unique. Every fireman we meet is a different fireman. Every nurse is a different nurse. Every teacher is a different teacher. Every cop is a different cop.
Even when they fall into stereotypical behaviors -- even if the firmen all keep dalmatians and the cops all eat donuts -- they are still unique individual people. The ones we know, we recognize. When we meet another, they are not the same person, through their life and work may be very similar. A stranger from the next firehouse is not your fireman buddy, even if they wear the same hat, support the same teams, drink the same beer, and live on the same street.
We meet each story as we meet each person. They may take a familiar form, have a familiar plot and setting and crisis and resolution, but they are unique stories and we recognize them a such.
But when we meet a story that is trying to be another story in disguise, we are not fooled. When we meet a story that is aping another story, we see through the deception. This is not a matter of degrees. It can't be decided by counting plot points or by doing side by side character and event comparisons. It is a matter of character. It is not quantifiable, but it is instantly recognizable. (Somehow, I think, we recognize the pale imitation even when we have not seen the original, just as we would recognize a wax work as wax even if we had never met the real person.)
Is your story to similar to a published work. Does it feel similar? Does it feel derivative? Does it feel like pastiche? It is really all about authenticity and authenticity is a property of the whole not the parts.
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Many stories share similarities. If one story is about a school, it doesn't mean that no story ever again can be about a school. If one story is about magic, it doesn't mean that other stories can't also be about magic. Michael Ende had a story about a school of magic before Rowling did. Both are perfectly fine.
There are multiple stories about dragons, there are multiple stories about Napoleon, there are multiple stories about forbidden love. What makes each story unique is the particular way in which all the elements combine: the character traits of the characters, the situations they find themselves in, they ways they react, the particular ways everything goes wrong around them. In a way, story elements are ingredients, like flour, butter and eggs. The story, and its originality, reside in how those elements are combined, what they make in the end.
If my characters act and respond always the same as the characters of another story, if they find themselves in situations that are the same, if all the story beats are the same, then perhaps I should reconsider what I'm writing. (Or perhaps not - one can write a retelling of an older story that's in the public domain, but one should not pretend otherwise in such a case. West Side Story makes no claims of story originality, but admits freely it is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet.)
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