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

[hpfangirl71.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on how original the idea is... Like I know enchanted_jae has her fifi stories and it would be rude of someone to write that type of a story without her permission and crediting her idea because she's written many many in that story arc and its pretty much hers as much as Draco and Harry are JK's.

With spells and names and such... I think maybe people should at least credit in some way... its not different from crediting and artist or a singer if your inspired by their works... It just takes common sense. I would actually be flattered if someone liked my story so much that they wanted to write something similiar or even wanted to continue the story because I hadnt had the time to do so... but yeah I might want credit for the original idea or the inspiration.

Sometimes tho I think authours dont plagiarize on purpose either... you read so much stuff that canon and fanon sort of blur or you dont realize that an idea you got was from something you read or you may have a similiar idea and not realize that its been written.

I know there are many similiar veela fics, rentboy fics, MPreg fics, and marriage law fics... I mean theres only so many ways you can do the general premise to those sorts of stories, its the details that make it more an authours original idea... I think when in doubt, credit to be safe... It certainly can't hurt any and it just might save you a bunch of drama. I think we all take inspiration from things we read... so its inevitable that we might write something somebody else has done but in our own unique way!! <3