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

[crazyparakiss.livejournal.com]

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.)

Totally because chances are they might do it better and I like to see some of my hair-brain ideas expanded on. (Not that I've had an "original" in terms of magical theory, plot, 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")

Not always necessary, but it'd be cool as nuggets if they did AND then linked me so I could go read it and squee that I inspired someone!

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)

If they borrowed a line WORD FOR WORD and it was MINE and not a quote/lyrics/etc then YES I would like to be asked. But if it's an idea and not word for word what I wrote then not really. I like seeing the way people spin things. I am a lover of the fanfiction so I want to see all of it done in a number of ways. Like cliche fic. I live for cliche fic if we all had to credit the person who inspired our Veela Mate Fics then the author's note is liable to be longer than the piece of fanfic ;)

But I agree with Vaysh if it very specific and very, very unique then perhaps a crediting would be nice. As I've never been in this situation I can't guarantee that I'd be indifferent if I got "jacked" an idea. But as I'm usually pretty easy going I am almost certain I wouldn't be too pissed off, but you never know. I say to avoid pissing off the fangirl army one should probably ask if the idea isn't a fandom general i.e. Veela Mates.

A Note of What Would Irritate Kiss

[crazyparakiss.livejournal.com]

If someone stole my art without asking and used it--yes I'd be fucking pissed. Because that is kinda MINE. XD

[wantsunicorns.livejournal.com]

I like that you would love to see what other people do with your ideas. I personally have a few I'm quite fond of (in terms of gadgets), which I might want to take into original fiction with me at some point, I'm not sure whether I'd be happy if it suddenly became something fandom used, then again, I would know it was mine and would feel perfectly okay to use it, even if the novelty had worn off.

I agree on the awesome factor of being credited for inspiring something, it's a bit like some extra appreciation of the work one has put into something. And I'd like think that mutual inspiration is part of the creative process.

♥

[crazyparakiss.livejournal.com]

*squishes you* yes yes :D