Not plagiarism... But maybe just as frustrating.

I know I'm not the only author who's been through this. I've had a certain idea before a certain other work existed, but it was used by the other work before I could publish my own work.

This work is Inception, and the ideas are basically these:

1. The "totem" thing, which was used very similarly in my stories. A certain character had a recurring, strange object (mechanic flowers) in his more noticeable dreams. I think I'll keep this one;

2. The "is it a dream or not" ending, which was also going to be used in the end of my third book. A very powerful character makes a major mistake and punishes his own mind, trying to fantasize about undoing his own mistake but failing horribly and also constantly reminding himself of it. In the end, a solution is found, but he is so confused and immersed in his own mind that it's impossible to tell whether or not the actual ending is truly real. I'll probably no longer use this one.

It's annoying because dreams and my ideas behind them are a very important theme in my books, and I don't want people to think that I'm just copying things straight out of Inception.

edited 4th Nov '11 9:43:52 AM by Teraus

If those are the strongest resemblances to Inception in your story, I wouldn't worry. This will happen to writers (I've lost count of all the times it's happened to me). As for the "is it a dream or not?" ending, that's a common trope in this kind of story, not just Inception. It doesn't seem massively similar, either.

I'd stop worrying.

Hakuna Matata. Forget about it! Do you know how many works are out there that have shamelessly ripped from others?

Just look at how Inception was ripped off from Scrooge McDuck! So, I really wouldn't worry.

edited 4th Nov '11 10:10:43 AM by Sonzai

I know how you feel! I had the Doctor in a fez back in 2009. Damn you, Steven Moffat!

When I was in middle school, I began writing a rather odd tale about a fellow who kills his imaginary friend in his teens, only for said friend to come back in a much more real way several years later to torment him.

About two to three years later, I read the first collection of Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol.

Strange Minds Think Alike, indeed!

Part of The Beyonders is eeriely similar to my Wordkeepers series (both have words so powerful that they had to be destroyed, Kid Heroes trying to search for them, and 5 such words/parts), as well as in the story behind it (it was the author's first work, but he wasn't skilled enough when he first wrote it to tell the story he really wanted to, so he re-wrote it later). But hey, I don't mind being eeriely similar to an author I like.

It's a pain to find out your concept isn't that original. Ever since I was a kid, an idea has been brewing inside my head: a world populated by Mad Scientists who would wage wars with each other. I spent my free time on meticulous world building. Then I discovered that Girl Genius did it before me, and it did it amazingly well. Of course, my story concepts are different, but there are still a couple of superficial similarity. I'm afraid that if I ever manage to get my work published, I will soon be accused of plagiarism. Should I follow my idea through or abandon it?

edited 4th Nov '11 10:57:25 PM by Nightwire

I really wouldn't sweat about it that much. Everyone eventually gets to a point where they either find out their story's been done before or see something that's similar to theirs. As long as it's known you're not blatantly plagiarizing off someone else's work (and 99% of the time people aren't), you should be fine.

I have never had this happen to me. Maybe my ideas are too weird. The closest thing I guess would be that I started writing a murder mystery about internet porn last year, and the porn site's name turned out to already be taken by a real-life porn site. But the story was (and still is) completely my own, and no fatalities have been associated with the real-life porn site as far as I can tell... I just have to figure out a new name for my fictional site before I can continue on with the story.

I did my entire model of the United States as a steampunk deconstruction of Manifest Destiny and American Imperialism...

...and then like the next week I saw the previews for Bioshock: Infinite.

So, yeah, I guess you just can't worry about it, barring any really strong resemblances. You could always try to rework things to make them more your own, if it really bothers you, I suppose.

This happened to me too, with my protagonist no less :D Sadly, in my case, the published work pre-dated mine by years and is pretty widely known... I remind myself that the plots, thank goodness, are very different, and so does the rest of the cast. And it isn't like the components "copied" off the character are too unique in any case, or like the characters are completely identical...

Everything's been done before, but if you can create an engaging story, no one's going to point fingers and list out what you "copied" and where. That is, as long as the resemblance isn't immediately obvious.

Like if you wrote a story where a kid learned he was a wizard, and juuuust happens to have scruffy black hair, glasses, and a lightning shaped scar :D

edited 10th Nov '11 2:00:15 AM by peccantis

You know what, fuck worrying about plagiarism. If something is really good, I'm going to take it and use it in my work*

I just need to do it in a way that won't get me sued.

edited 10th Nov '11 2:04:59 AM by dRoy

^ Coincidental thinking is generally not regarded as plagiarism. If you've never seen or heard about or know the thing that was similar to something you wrote, it's chalked up to coincidence.

For instance say I wrote a children's book about a kid teaching himself how to ride a bike and the mechanics and methods are eerily similar to a book already in circulation surrounding a similar topic. You'd think plagiarism were it not for the fact I don't know of any book that does just that, nor have I ever heard of a book that does just that. It would purely be coincidence.

True, but it is hard to prove at court. :/

The solution is pretty simple. As soon as you have an overall idea of what you want to develop and write about, leave a record in a public place. Like, you know, a TV Tropes subforum about writing. So long as the post is not edited, it is evidence of what you planned and when you did, with an upper bound as to how late.

It helps if your work has a lots of elements taken from mythologies or religion. Let's see if anyone can call plagiarism on THAT!

OP: If you don't dress your characters in suits 98% of the time, and eschew heavy emphasis on Edith Piaf's music, you'll be just fine.

^ But what if your setting is a suit and tie office and the shenanigans surrounding that? 98% or more of the time all the characters will be in suits!

Happens to me a lot when I think I've thought of something that I could patent. "Hey, what if we just use nuclear bombs to propel starships?" - Project Orion. Ooo, ooo! Magnets to propel bullet- railguns. What if we used sonic waves to make objects float? Jetsons did it.You get the idea - I'm always behind the curve when it comes to original ideas.

^^Then it's a Shout-Out.

^ Not when the setting demands it. It would be part of the show, not referencing anything else.

Especially since an all-suit show has been done before long ago. It's called Mr Smith Goes To Washington.

...Then there needs to be a Shout-Out.

What am I talking about, you're not the OP

Every political drama after some time in the mid-19th century was an all-suit situation, if you think about it...

Accidentally plagiarize? I do not understand. I am a looter of ideas.

In all seriousness, this has happened to me. Luckily, they were all slightly different. Mostly.