Rewriting other author's stories

[dasgoodshit]

There's a story that I read a few years ago that I lost and haven't been able to find again. I don't know the name of it, and I lost the account that I had it saved on, so I don't know if the author deleted the story, or if I'm just unable to find it due to the vast number of stories here.

Only because I can't find the original story, I'd like to write it myself, but I don't want to offend the original author or anyone else that thinks I'm stealing the idea or anything like that. Can I just put a note at the beginning of the story, and explain what I just said?

 

[lovecraft68]

Ethically, you should try and get in touch and get their permission. otherwise you're going to be accused of stealing it, which technically you would be.

 

[NoTalentHack]

When you say "write it myself," do you mean to try to reproduce it whole cloth? Or that you found the idea interesting and wanted to take it in another direction? Because the former, yeah, definitely don't do that without contacting the writer. but the latter? Eh. We all do that, to a greater or lesser extent. As long as it's not an incredibly unique idea that you're trying to claim as your own... well, hell, we're all stealing from each other and other peoples' ideas, even if we don't want to admit it.

 

[dasgoodshit]

Ethically, you should try and get in touch and get their permission. otherwise you're going to be accused of stealing it, which technically you would be.

The problem is that I have no idea how to do that. If I could do that, then I would have the story, and I wouldn't feel compelled to write it. I've spent hours and hours trying to find it, and I just have no idea if it was deleted. I feel like I would have found it by now due to all the searching I've done.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

You should try to contact the author and ask for his permission for something like that. If you are unable to do that, the next best thing would be to write a story "inspired" by the original one and explicitly saying so in the foreword. The story would need to be significantly different from the original, of course, otherwise it is still plagiarism.

 

[dasgoodshit]

When you say "write it myself," do you mean to try to reproduce it whole cloth? Or that you found the idea interesting and wanted to take it in another direction? Because the former, yeah, definitely don't do that without contacting the writer. but the latter? Eh. We all do that, to a greater or lesser extent. As long as it's not an incredibly unique idea that you're trying to claim as your own... well, hell, we're all stealing from each other and other peoples' ideas, even if we don't want to admit it.

I don't remember how it ends or if I even finished it. It might have been a serial that was unfinished when I found it. It wouldn't be possible for me to do a "whole cloth" reproduction of it because I don't remember enough of the details. The character motivations would be different, that's for sure, because I don't even remember those.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

I don't remember how it ends or if I even finished it. It might have been a serial that was unfinished when I found it. It wouldn't be possible for me to do a "whole cloth" reproduction of it because I don't remember enough of the details. The character motivations would be different, that's for sure, because I don't even remember those.

Go for it! All stories are derivitive for the past 1000+ years or so.

 

[SimonDoom]

There's nothing ethically or legally wrong with taking the basic idea of a fictional story and writing your own story based on that idea. Copyright distinguishes between idea and expression: it's perfectly OK to take somebody's idea and write your own story; it's not OK to take the unique creative expression from their work.

Figuring out what's idea and what's expression is not always clear cut.

But here's an example. There are stories here at Literotica based on the "mailgirl" idea -- women who deliver mail in office buildings while being nude. This is an idea. You are free to write your own mailgirl story. The original author of a mail girl story has no proprietary right in the idea itself.

If you copy and reproduce the words themselves, that's wrong. And if you copy things like specific names, settings, detailed plot points, character traits, then you're probably copying not just the idea (which is OK) but the expression (which is not).

 

[NoTalentHack]

Then you're writing your own story. If I write a story about a chosen one with mystical powers, a wizened mentor, and a quest, am I writing The Hobbit, Harry Potter, or Star Wars? Wear your influences on your sleeve, put notes in the foreword, and get to writing.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I will go you one further: go read Also-Ran, my latest Loving Wives story. It's both a loving homage to a famous comic book love triangle AND a meditation on what it actually means to "forsake all others." And it's packed with Easter eggs, too. Your stuff is going to be derivative, no matter what you do; sometimes it's fun to lean into it.

 

[dasgoodshit]

Your stuff is going to be derivative, no matter what you do

Is it though? I have two published stories with core ideas that I haven't read anywhere else. They might exist somewhere, sure, but does that mean they are still derivative even though you didn't know about it?

 

[alohadave]

Is it though? I have two published stories with core ideas that I haven't read anywhere else. They might exist somewhere, sure, but does that mean they are still derivative even though you didn't know about it?

Which ones?

 

[NoTalentHack]

Is it though? I have two published stories with core ideas that I haven't read anywhere else. They might exist somewhere, sure, but does that mean they are still derivative even though you didn't know about it?

We're always standing on the shoulders of giants, even if we don't know their names. Hell, even if we can't see them.

Put it to you this way: you ever hear a little kid tell a joke? Like a really, really little one, four or five years old? They usually can't even tell jokes that they've heard, and if they try to tell one they've made? It's an incomprehensible mishmash of ideas.

Give them a few years, and they get better. They learn the structures that work, the setups and punchlines that make sense. They know why a knock knock joke has the structure it does; they also learn that breaking that structure can be hilarious (for certain audiences) if done right, as in the "interrupting cow" knock knock joke. Did anyone teach them how to tell knock knock jokes? Not directly. But they picked it up.

Shakespeare probably penned the first proto-knock knock joke in Macbeth, but that dude borrowed from everyone. Still, there's a direct line from that to the modern knock knock joke. Your kid or nephew or cousin learned a structure that's existed for centuries; he could never name all his influences. Neither can you. There's a good chance you don't even recognize a lot of them as influences.

I'm not saying there's not a difference between plagiarism, rip-offs, homages, and original work. I'm saying it's a sliding scale. Where you end up on it is up to you, and, with the exception of the lowest end? None of them are inherently bad.

 

[Djmac1031]

Is it though? I have two published stories with core ideas that I haven't read anywhere else. They might exist somewhere, sure, but does that mean they are still derivative even though you didn't know about it?

@MediocreAuthor and I wrote two VERY different stories based on the same concept.

And yet there were also some amazing similarities.

Does that mean one of us "ripped off" the other? Not at all.

It just means we had similar ideas.

 

[dasgoodshit]

Which ones?

Sophie's Fall - She's immobile and naked with a stranger, and it's NOT Noncon or BDSM. I guess if you were to take the idea to it's most general form, that she's helpless, then sure, I guess it's derivative. But the fact that it's not Noncon or BDSM makes this different imo.

Female Incel Gifts Her Virginity - ("You may fuck me, if you want," she said.) Basically, she goes from man-hater to offering her virginity on a platter to a stranger in an hour. Also, he's reluctant. Maybe this has been done before, but I haven't seen it.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

@MediocreAuthor and I wrote two VERY different stories based on the same concept.

And yet there were also some amazing similarities.

Does that mean one of us "ripped off" the other? Not at all.

It just means we had similar ideas.

Djmac was very cool about this whole thing.

If he had accused me of plagiarism, everyone would have likely agreed with him. Hell... I would have believed it if I didn't know better. The evidence is practically overwhelming.

Here's the rundown.

Ultimately ideas can't be copyrighted. But you should always credit the source of your inspiration (particularly if they are a direct influence). The White Room wasn't an inspiration for Test Subjects, but if it was, I would have credited the original creator.

(The irony is, if I HAD read The White Room beforehand, I probably wouldn't have written Test Subjects, because I wouldn't have wanted to copy another work so closely).

In your case, you don't know how to contact the original creator, so I say write the story you want, mention your inspiration, and invite the original creator to reach out to you if he/she had any issues with your story.

 

[Djmac1031]

I'm currently writing, for my own amusement as well as a meta cross connection to my story Pornville, an atypical Mom / Son incest story that begins when she's forced to sit on his lap during a car trip.

That story has been done a million times here. I'm just writing my own version of it.

Do I feel compelled to dig through the archives, try and figure out who did it first and contact them?

Not at all.

Even when we THINK we have a unique, totally original idea... we probably don't.

Odds are, it's been done before.

I tend to wear my influences on my sleeve and happily point out anything in my stories that was directly, or even indirectly, inspired by another source.

 

[Djmac1031]

The irony is, if I HAD read The White Room beforehand, I probably wouldn't have written Test Subjects, because I wouldn't have wanted to copy another work so closely).

For the record: if you had read mine first and reached out to me to say you were inspired to write your own version, I'd have said go for it.

I've been told my story was "familiar" and has been "done before."

But they also said my take on it was unique.

Yours was unique to you, you wrote your own version of a popular concept.

 

[AchtungNight]

Advice from a fanfic writer- be sure to transform any idea you borrow from another person’s work. Put your own unique spin on it. Otherwise, yeah, it’s plagiarism. It’s also boring. If your story is just a copy of the original version why would I read your story? But if you do things differently and can make it interesting, I will probably read your story. You might be unable to do things the same second time around anyway. Heh.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The problem is that I have no idea how to do that. If I could do that, then I would have the story, and I wouldn't feel compelled to write it. I've spent hours and hours trying to find it, and I just have no idea if it was deleted. I feel like I would have found it by now due to all the searching I've done.

What's the plot of the story? Can you give us some details of the tale? Not that we will know for sure which one you are talking about. But it is possible one of us might.

 

[dasgoodshit]

What's the plot of the story? Can you give us some details of the tale? Not that we will know for sure which one you are talking about. But it is possible one of us might.

FMC pov. She's in college and takes on a part time job with a successful author (M). He needs her to get groceries and run errands and stuff. I think he's a recluse. She needs more money so she takes on additional responsibilities like cooking his meals.

One day she finds a room is open or unlocked that is always locked. Inside she finds a lot of bondage stuff, all over the walls and floor. One thing leads to another, and we find out that the book he is currently writing is on bondage. However, he's got writer's block because he doesn't have anyone using the stuff for him. She offers to be his model/muse for more money.

That's all I remember.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

FMC pov. She's in college and takes on a part time job with a successful author (M). He needs her to get groceries and run errands and stuff. I think he's a recluse. She needs more money so she takes on additional responsibilities like cooking his meals.

One day she finds a room is open or unlocked that is always locked. Inside she finds a lot of bondage stuff, all over the walls and floor. One thing leads to another, and we find out that the book he is currently writing is on bondage. However, he's got writer's block because he doesn't have anyone using the stuff for him. She offers to be his model/muse for more money.

That's all I remember.

To me, that sounds so open ended that 1000 different author's could write stories with that prompt, and all of them be original.

I would just write it, and mention that you had an inspiration from a long lost story. Nobody could possibly get mad at that.

 

[AchtungNight]

Yeah. That can go in a lot of ways depending on your motivation to write about the characters and the bondage stuff and how they feel about it. Good luck to you.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Not one of mine. Not yet, at least.

FMC pov. She's in college and takes on a part time job with a successful author (M). He needs her to get groceries and run errands and stuff. I think he's a recluse. She needs more money so she takes on additional responsibilities like cooking his meals.

One day she finds a room is open or unlocked that is always locked. Inside she finds a lot of bondage stuff, all over the walls and floor. One thing leads to another, and we find out that the book he is currently writing is on bondage. However, he's got writer's block because he doesn't have anyone using the stuff for him. She offers to be his model/muse for more money.

That's all I remember.

 

[Euphony]

To me, that sounds so open ended that 1000 different author's could write stories with that prompt, and all of them be original.

I would just write it, and mention that you had an inspiration from a long lost story. Nobody could possibly get mad at that.

It presents such an odd conundrum.

The "rewriter-ish?" is (seemingly) driven to write as authentic a reproduction as possible but also leaning heavy on human nature of the fragility of memory. (so, very likely going to fail in a too similar copy.)

Schrodinger's Plagiarism?

The AH still manages to surprise me every now and again.