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

[tryslora]

I have a profile on AO3 where I say that I'd love if it folks remixed my stories or whatever, and all I ask is that they let me know so I can see the finished products. People do get inspired, and I know I'd be upset if I saw something I did lifted wholesale. But what I hope is that the new work transforms the idea. If it isn't a transformative work, then it falls under plagiarism. But we're all fic writers, and what we do is transform, right?

If I see something that inspires me, I let the writer know as soon as I'm making my notes for what I want to write, and I ask if they'd mind. For example, I read a fic in an entirely different fandom that was a crossover piece. As soon as I read it, I knew I needed to write my own fusion of that crossover world with HP (it's a WiP and I swear I am going to finish it this summer if I have to make a fest to make myself do it). So I dropped a note to the original author, and was very pleased that it made them smile and they were all for the idea. I'd hope someone did the same for me.

On the other hand, there are those instances where you get ideas independently, then feel awkward, like writing a fic framed around an event, and when you go to post it, realizing there's another fic, same pairing, framed around the same sort of event, and then you worry that you've inadvertently hive-minded and copied the idea. Or that may just be me feeling weird about such things.

I think, in the end, it depends on what piece you want to take into your own work. Like vaysh11 says, how specific is the idea? In any case, though, I think notification isn't just polite, but might make the original author smile. After all, don't we all like to know that we're inspiring to others?

[wantsunicorns.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of a remix. I'm not sure I could do it myself, but looking at it that way is wonderful!

I think I get what you mean about having the same premise and then seeing a similar fic and being all "eeeeh, can I post mine now?" I think the answer should always be yes, because just because two people had the idea, doesn't mean one shouldn't be shared.

I've decided to go and ask, if I do remember where something is from and then credit them in the author's notes. I'd rather be over cautious than get called out for plagiarising someone's idea, when I didn't mean to.

[tryslora]

I like the idea of remixes too, although I haven't done one yet and have never been remixed. I'm not sure I'd be able to do it well.

Go you!! I think that's the best decision, and I hope the writer is amenable to what you'd like to do!