Plagiarism, credit etc.

[wantsunicorns.livejournal.com]

I've asked if it's okay to post this and got the okay, so here goes:

I know we all get inspired by the things we read or watch or listen to, be it books, films or songs. How do you deal with that, if you get inspired by other people's fic?

As an author:

• Do you think it's alright if other people reuse an idea you had?
  (like a spell, a gadget, a magical ability, magical theory etc.)
• Do you think it's necessary to be credited in the author's notes, if they used your idea?
  (as in, the part where "..." got inspired by "so and so")
• Would you like to be asked, before someone uses something of yours?
  (like, send a pm, or email asking whether it's alright, e.g. detailing what want to use it for)

What are your thoughts on this?

I personally am a bit undecided. I would love it, if people asked me permission, simply because I think it would be lovely to know that someone else got inspired by something I created. I would however not hold people to this. What I think would be common curtesy though would be to credit the creator of a work in the author's notes with something like "the idea for "..." comes from "author's name"" or something similar, if one was so inclined one could also link to the fic the idea was inspired/taken from.

I'm fairly new to stuff like this, so I don't know what's considered the right approach to this, so I figured I might as well ask my go-to-people in such matters, i.e. ALL OF YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! ♥

PS: I'm sorry mods, I don't know how to tag this.

ETA: Thank you so much for everyone who has shared their opinion on this with me. I've definitely received some food for thought. ♥

Comments

[naturegirlrocks.livejournal.com]

Usually, if I find something good in a fic I write in the comment 'I might use this', (more than often it is just a word or an expression). Later on I have no idea where or when it came from, but at least the author knows that s/he is quoted somewhere.
I would like at least that if it were me who was being the source of inspiration.
Most often I get a reply telling me that it's ok to use, and that they like that I like it. I haven't gotten a 'no' yet.

When it comes to music, movies and 'real' fiction I always say what it is, even link to it if possible.

But then again I have not seen if I have been 'copied' anywhere. Then I guess it would depend on the context.

[wantsunicorns.livejournal.com]

I think that's a very forward way to go about it, but I'm pretty sure authors would like that, because it means they created something you liked enough to use yourself.

I'm not sure it's so much about whether I've been copied myself, I just wanted to make sure that I didn't offend an author I liked very much. I ended up asking her (because I remembered where I got the idea from, which of course is very handy) and got permission as well.

As you said, I think it would be nice as an author to be asked, simply because it's sort of like the other author is taking part in one's own creative process.