I'm feeling conflicted and very guilty....

[Soup the Dog]

I've spent time on Nanowrimo recently and was scanning through the sci-fi threads. I came accross this poster with an very interesting premise for a sci-fi story-the synopsis (135 words) sounded very good, at the least. But I ended up reading the excerpt (205 words) and was honestly disappointed. Nothing more was posted aside from the synopsis and excerpt.

 

I unfortunately allowed myself to get hooked on the synopsis, though. I took the 135 words and spent five hours writing a 4000 page story from it. The only problem is that I love the story I've written from their synopsis (especially characters and dialogue) but I'm feeling very guilty as it's not mine at all. I kept the only two characters from the synopsis intact, but added several more and switched the third person POV to a first person POV.

 

I do feel like I've stolen that poster's work even if I keep this story to myself and now the guilt is preventing me from finishing any more. Any advice? Should I just delete and put it out of my mind?

 

Thanks...

[mhowe]

Yes, delete it. It isn't your work.

[ParisPaulette]

Yes, it's taking someone else's story. While you can use that initial story as an inspiration for your writings, you can't take someone else's story or synopsis, change a few names, and keep everything else there. You can read all about how a particular sci-fi/fantasy author had her work plagarized by someone who thought changing names and a few minor points would let them pass under the wire and claim it as their own. This is the link to the whole battle, so you can see a real-life example of what is considered stealing another's work. link removed

 

There's a huge difference between being inspired by something as a writer, which is actually pretty much what most writers do many times (it's called "I'm inspired by or influenced by...fill in names of literary favorites) and taking another's work and writing or fleshing out the work they've already done. Plus if you ever published it sooner or later someone would notice and that can result in some pretty embarrassing scandal as you're discredited and given a court order to pull your own material. Not to mention no publisher worth their own salt will ever touch you after that.

 

Dump the story. Start over. Find inspiration in stories you like, your own life, your own imagination. Truly as a writer you shouldn't have to be taking others material, there is truly more than enough to write about in this and any other known universe. One example of how two different authors can write about a similar topic is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins versus Battle Royale by Koushan Takami. Both stories involve teens in a dystopic future being forced by adult governments to battle to the death. And that's the only point the two stories have in common at all. Everything else is entirely different: the characters, the universes, yes even the reasons and circumstances they are forced to fight in. And it's not a new concept, we have had child soldiers since time began and ancient Rome was notorious for forcing people to fight each other to the death along with a ton of other cultures who did the same. Stephen King also wrote a book about that same theme called The Long Walk, again it has no semblance to the other two stories beyond the common theme, which is one we as mankind have had for centuries in our own bloody history and in our stories.

 

That's what I mean by being inspired, but not by lifting another's actual words. And if you could do all that work then yes you are more than capable of writing your own material too. Pour all that love and creation into something you can truly call your own.

[Tinydance]

Well if you do still want to use the story, you will need to reference your work and credit the original author. Maybe you could even write a preface or introduction where you explain that this story was born because you were so inspired by the original author's work. I mean, at university, you can use other people's work, in fact you are told to, but you must always reference everything. Otherwise it's plagiarism. But if you don't feel comfortable to publicly admit that you used another person's story, then yeah, you'll have to rewrite the whole thing.. .

[relevart]

I don't delete anything i write. Just don't post it anywhere. There may be bits and pieces in that piece you wrote that you can use later.

[LC8328]

4,000 words is not too shabby. That's almost an entire chapter of a full-length novel. To sit down and write that is pretty cool.

 

Which specific ideas in this story did you come up with on your own? If, say, a supporting character or an event was NOT in the synopsis and was YOUR creation, then keep those items and make a new story from there.

 

OR...keep the story on a flash drive for reference purposes and don't do anything with it. Plenty of people write fan fiction, but it becomes an ethical situation when these people try to sell said fan fiction.

 

Now you know you are capable of writing a good story! Trust me, this won't be the only story in your life. A lot of us get inspired by TV, movies, people, etc. Look how much you were able to write by reading someone else's synopsis.

 

I'm an author and I can tell you from experience - more stories will come. Now you know what you're capable of.

 

There is nothing to feel guilty about IF you keep this story to yourself and use this as inspiration to create a fantastic new world that is completely your own.

[SophieGrace]

What is your intention with this story - is it to publish? Try and get an agent and sell it as a screenplay? If you were writing a screenplay, the original author would get a "story by" credit and you would get the "screenplay by" credit according to WGA rules. In the realm of short stories and novels it is more nebulous.

 

As ParisPaulette mentioned, many authors are inspired by others' work, and many have re-worked classics with updated plots and characters (Raymond Chandler used to break down Shakespeare stories and invent updated characters and twists when he was writing for pulp fiction magazines.) David Wroblewski's "Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is a re-working of "Hamlet" (which is actually in the public domain.)

 

It sounds like you put a lot of work into this. If it were me, before dropping everything, I think I'd reach out to the author who wrote the original synopsis and tell him/her how inspired you were. Tell him that you took a stab at your own version and wondered if you might share it. Obviously it's a delicate situation, so you'd need to come at it from a humble place, but you really have nothing to lose if you are considering throwing it all away as your only other alternative. Maybe there is an opportunity for collaboration?

[Unreasonable]

135 words? Would it it really be that hard to switch things around enough so that it is your own?

 

I mean, if you found, say, a synopsis of "Dancing with Wolves," you could set it in space, call it Avatar, and make millions of dollars off it.

 

A Civil War soldier develops a relationship with a band of Lakota Indians. Attracted by the simplicity of their lifestyle, he chooses to leave his former life behind to be with them. Having observed him, they give the name Dances With Wolves. Soon he is a welcomed member of the tribe and falls in love with a white woman who has been raised in the tribe. Tragedy results when Union soldiers arrive with designs on the land.

 

In the future, Jake, a paraplegic soldier, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

[Soup the Dog]

Thank you for your responses.

 

Yes, I actually wrote a "Read Me" disclaimer before I ever started explaining the situation, crediting the original author, copying their original synopsis/excerpt, and noting how I was am taking a break from my own storylines. That was just in case I ever showed the story to my family and they wouldn't think the story was all mine. In fact, it's saved on my flash drive with the original title by the author and the author himself, so I'd know this wasn't mine. But I don't plan on actually releasing it anywhere-this was only supposed to be a "pet project" for me.

 

I actually have a few storylines running right now but I have Writer's Block on all of them (my longest work is nearly 10000) and while sci-fi, too, completely unrelated. Like I said, this was supposed to be a "pet project" and not something to fall in love with. I've never written first person before so I was surprised with how well the dialogue and the comedy flowed. I've never sat for 5 hours and drummed out 4K words before.

 

To be blunt, the synopsis has two dangerous characters meeting by accident while on vacation and teaming up to stop a third dangerous character whilst traveling accross the universe. The excerpt has a scene where the first character leaps onto the ship of the second character.

 

The two main characters I've kept the same names/ jobs but their personalities/ the sci-fi weapons/ the sci-fi world/ dialogue/ cast are all my own. I started with a first person narration of the galaxy and eased into the vacation scene shortly before an attack.

 

I was indeed thinking of reaching out to the author but I don't want to invade someone else's imagination. Was is the "delicate" way I could bring this up to the original author? I definitely would like to.

 

I'm not disappointed in losing the storyline but I am disappointed in losing the dialogue, characters, and the first person POV charm I've developed. But I will stop writing that story and shelve it. To note, I certainly don't make it a habit of stealing other people's works-I always made sure to avoid reading synopsis in the past so I could avoid situations like this and now I've fallen into this trap.

[Soup the Dog]

135 words? Would it it really be that hard to switch things around enough so that it is your own?

 

I mean, if you found, say, a synopsis of "Dancing with Wolves," you could set it in space, call it Avatar, and make millions of dollars off it.

 

 

What do you mean?

[Unreasonable]

What do you mean?

 

I edited my post and expanded it.

 

Honestly, from your description, it sounds like you could change it into a pirate story and boom - done. Except then maybe people would accuse you of ripping off Pirates of the Caribbean. Because, honestly, the premise you've shared thus far is pretty generic.

[Soup the Dog]

Not to give too much away but one of their main characters is a pirate.

 

*Well, because it's sci-fi, much of the setting is the entire solar system (for instance, Mercury, Titan, the Asteroid Belt).

[Unreasonable]

Don't give up on it. Tweak it some more. Make it your own. You can do it.

[Soup the Dog]

I was indeed thinking of writing the author but why? I'm only interested in keeping the dialogue I wrote, the (new) characters and weapons I created, and the first person comedy. The storyline I could sacrifice truthfully and still tell my great story. I'm in love with the dialogue, characters, weapons and comedy-not the storyline. I'll erase their two characters, do a massive overhaul of the storyline, and find a way to tell my own sci-fi story.

 

It'll be loads upon loads of work to avoid touching base with their story again at all. I think I can do it, though.

[relevart]

As a writer myself, I keep one story that I keep adding on to solely as a writing exercise. I started in many years ago and none of is has to make sense or be good. But it's there when I need to write and can't or won't work on something more "real." Maybe this could be the same kind of deal for you.

 

In my intentionally bad writing exercise, I once had a dual crossover between characters from "General Hospital" and the original "Law & Order." Yeah, it was bad. LOL

[Unreasonable]

In my intentionally bad writing exercise, I once had a dual crossover between characters from "General Hospital" and the original "Law & Order." Yeah, it was bad. LOL

Did they fight? Like in West Side Story? Cause that would be AWESOME.

[relevart]

Did they fight? Like in West Side Story? Cause that would be AWESOME.

They should have. Green and Briscoe had to interview one for a murder.

[Soup the Dog]

As a writer myself, I keep one story that I keep adding on to solely as a writing exercise. I started in many years ago and none of is has to make sense or be good. But it's there when I need to write and can't or won't work on something more "real." Maybe this could be the same kind of deal for you.

 

In my intentionally bad writing exercise, I once had a dual crossover between characters from "General Hospital" and the original "Law & Order." Yeah, it was bad. LOL

 

Nah, you had me at "dual crossover" and "original 'Law & Order'"! I'm a huge fan of the 1990s (the first season) onward to about the early 2000s. I really love seeing actors cameo on L&Os that are famous worldwide today.

 

But the story is permanently shelved and I will only be keeping it as reference for the future.

[Soup the Dog]

They should have. Green and Briscoe had to interview one for a murder.

 

A Shark or a Jet?

 

You kept Briscoe's biting sarcasm and rip-roaring one liners intact, right?

[SophieGrace]

Was is the "delicate" way I could bring this up to the original author? [/i]I definitely would like to.

 

Sounds like from your subsequent posts you may have decided to shelve the idea for now. But if you are still considering reaching out to the author of the synopsis, I would do just what I said in my previous post... start with genuine flattery and admiration... e.g. What a great plot idea, colorful characters, etc.... "It really inspired me to try my own version of it. I know it's your great premise and all, but how would you feel about reading what I wrote? Would love to share." Or something to that effect.

 

Basically put yourself in his position. If you had written the synopsis and someone else had been inspired enough to sit down for 5 hours and write his own version - how would you want him to approach you? Flattery goes a long way in having someone feel open to new interpretations (if it's genuine, which in your case it is.) Then if he wants to see it, give all the caveats when you send it without any criticism of his own expanded version - e.g. "I know you had this, but I decided to put my own twist on it with this because I've always loved 1990's crime dramas (or whatever), etc. I really look forward to your thoughts!" The guy will either be defensive or he will be excited in seeing your talent and perspective, and you can't know unless you take that risk. In the end, you've got nothing to lose. (Or you can just re-work it entirely like it sounds like you are going to do.)

 

As far as writers block goes, the trick is just to sit down and do it anyway at the same time every day for X amount of time. As one author wrote (maybe Tom Robbins) - that way your muse knows where to find you. It is the difference between a real writer and someone who thinks they have a novel in them.

 

I love the book below - "The Daily Rituals: How Artists Work." It is basically short entries about writers and artists throughout history and what their daily routines were when it came to their craft. Some libraries even have a Kindle version if you don't want to buy it.

 

link removed

[Soup the Dog]

Thanks SophieGrace. I, too, thought about how I would feel knowing my synopsis had inspired someone to write their own version. But I went a step further and considered if I would feel cheated/ "violated" in any way. Both flattered and angry would jump to the top of the list.

 

You're right-I have shelved the story but I've been slowly but surely building another new story. The only comparison is that the main character is still a thief and it takes place in space. That's all. I'm not sure I'll contact the original author yet or at least until I can find that flattering approach you mentioned. Even though you say I've got nothing to lose, I don't want to insult him or his story and creativity because I tweaked his story.

 

Funny thing is, I accidentally clicked on today's Dilbert comic strip and the first panel Dilbert says, "I've always wanted to write a sci-fi novel."

[SophieGrace]

Totally understand if you are not ready to reach out to the author. And to me it shows integrity that you wrestled with the dilemma of potential plagiarism.

 

I think it's fantastic that you are forging on and re-working the story. It actually sounds like a really fun creative endeavor, and I love the idea of a thief in space. What is his speciality if I may ask? Don't worry I won't steal it ;P

[ParisPaulette]

As a writer I think it's just a really bad idea to reach out to another writer and say, "Hi there, I have been using your material in a story..." It's not probably going to go over well. I think personally you'd be lucky they didn't take some sort of action against you. I do technical writing, but if someone ever popped up with say a summary and synopsis that they used to write their own proposal or book even from one I had done for a job I would not be happy about it. In fact that's why it's in every contract I have that any of that material is my intellectual property and is copyrighted. And yes, I would take action. I have no issue if someone else wants to do all of the research and write their own outline, proposal, synopsis or even an entire book on the same topic. Many do, but they need to do that work for themselves and not poach my hard work and research.

 

So no, don't contact them and ask them if it's okay. Crediting a source in a research paper or essay is fine, but otherwise yeah you're treading into very bad territory. And before anyone says what about how that tale of vampire love in all the wrong places that ended up being mutated into a smutty bestselling series by another author who started it as fan fiction I'd like to point out that Grey and Twilight have no resemblance to each other at all beyond two young idiot women loving men that are bad for them. But that's pretty much the theme in about 90 percent of all romance fiction, so who cares. The stories carry such little resemblance to each other in so many ways I always wondered if that wasn't a rumor set up to make the latter's work seem more "cool" and to cash in on the success of the author.

 

Tis the principal of the thing that chaps my hide. I say find a way to rework the tale to your liking and make it original enough that outside of a very broad common theme the two don't resemble each other at all. And leave the other author out of it altogether. You can do what Sons of Anarchy did who made a story influenced by Shakespeare's Hamlet, but in a way Shakespeare never dreamed of. Now that's creating something original out of an ancient story.

 

Keep writing, you did good. And if you could write that then you can write more and that's really what it's all about. You just want to use other stories as an inspiration or an influence. And I hope this guides you into success, because I do see a writer there. I mean, you took the time to write and that's more than most ever do. You just need to write original and pour you into it, not someone else.

 

Find a way to totally alter the story, so there is little resemblance between the two beyond a common theme. There's a saying around about there being only seven basic plots that make up all stories. I'm not remembering who said that exactly and I'm not sure it's true, but if you take a step back you'll see much of our stories revolve around basic plots that are the same.

 

A great book that might help you understand what goes into a great story and how and why certain stories resonate is "The Hero's Journey" by Christopher Vogler. It's a great little read that makes you understand what and why certain stories resonate so strongly and others fail. And I'm betting it might just help you flesh out and make that story of yours truly an original that's yours.

 

BTW there are a ton of stories about anti-heroes. I can name three off the top of my head that are in popular media now: Sherlock - narcissistic genius with a drug problem; Wolverine - man with a mysterious past who has to reign in his animal side and anger at all times; Richard B. Riddic (Sorry for the misspelling if I put the last four letters in the censor program blocks them. LOL) from the Pitch Black series who is a wanted murderer who isn't all that keen on being the hero. This culture loves our anti-heroes and maybe nowhere so much as in science fiction/fantasy, so that's a good thing.

[SophieGrace]

Often agree with you Miss PP and I appreciate your perspective, but I respectfully disagree on this one. I am also a writer and you can't copyright an idea. A colleague of mine who is a screenwriter in fact very recently approached someone whose synopsis intrigued him about a real life historical figure - after having written more than a dozen pages - and asked if the guy would be open to my friend expanding on it and writing a screenplay. They worked something out and they both have credit even though my friend did the bulk of the work. It has now been optioned.

 

Soup changed enough of the plot that it's quite different and he was 5,000 words into it with no intent to publish. Yes the guy may take umbrage, or he may be flattered, or he may have wanted to collaborate, or he may have wanted money if Soup wanted to go forward in a commercial sense - no one can know - but if Soup wanted to salvage what he had with the characters and plot as is, he truly has nothing to lose by contacting him given the fact he was going to toss it away otherwise.

 

Either way it's moot. OP is moving onward with a bigger and better book!

[saluk]

It's nanowrimo. I wouldn't worry too much about it honestly. What you have fallen in love with is the story you are creating, not the premise that sparked that story. At least change the names though. Chances are, you are going to get writer's block at some point with this one as well - if you are a beginning writer I think you would be doing yourself a disservice to quit when you have found something that you can flow in. You are probably not going to publish this story, and the theory goes that you need to write a million words before you can write something worth publishing, so why not let this current sprint add to your total

 

But if you have already moved on and your writing is still flowing, even better!