Hoi,
Yes, this was inspired by 'Pigtails in Duet'.
Inspired by? I'm sorry, I wasn't aware plagiarism and
inspiration are the same thing.
I'm not sure this is plagiarism. For one thing, the author gave
credit where credit was due. For another, it wasn't a simple
substitution; significant changes were made.
The main thing that is clasified as plagiarism is taking another autors
words exact words and claiming that they are your own. I don't really
know where I read it but someone said that there are no new plots
available. Also any and every situation has been thought up once
before. And at the root of it all, the basic foundation for all
fictional stories and such fall under 3 or 4 catagories.
Examples -
Good vs. Evil
Take any good fiction story and at the root of it is good vs. evil, or
some variation on it. Yes I realize this is a HUGE simplification,
however its the way things are. If 6000 years ago the first human that
could write copywrited the idea of good vs. evil as his/her idea, we
would all be screwed. However its from variations and tweeking of this
hugely simplified idea that originality spawns from.
(ok so thats the only one I can remember at the moment.)
The subject of plagiarism has always made me feel uncomfortable. I
have written a story - "Storm's End" - that is basically a complete
rip-off of "Ordinary People". Over the years I have gotten very
positive feedback on it, including some quite heart-wrenching
responses from people who have been in similar situations. They >speak
quite positively of my story, and that always makes me feel a >bit
guilty - it really isn't my idea. I've just adapted another >story.
There is nothing wronge with the retelling of any story. Or even
embelishing on it a little bit, or makeing some changes. As long as the
original author has been given credit for all of the work he/she did in
the original.
I've always tried to rationalize it because: A) I've fully
acknowledged in my Author's Notes that I've taken the plot from
"Ordinary People", and B) Taking someone else's plot is really no
better or worse than taking someone else's characters and using them
in your own plot. The rationalizations don't always work for me
because I've taken someone else's characters *and* someone else's
plot, leaving very little on my part that was creative or
praiseworthy.
Your point of A works fine by me.... As for point B I can see how that
might give you a sence of lacking. However there is a difference
between writing and storytelling. I feel that your version called
"Storm's end" probably could just be called storytelling. You told a
story, doesn't matter who wrote it first... your just telling a story.
However, in this case, the author felt he needed to make some changes
with the original story so that it reached some target audience.
Example I easily rewrite word for word the story of "A Christmas Carol"
written by Charles Dickens. However there are some people I know who
could not get the meaning of the story as Charles has it written (Yes
these people are that dence and don't have any life what so ever).
However if I change the character of Scrooge to Nabiki Tendo and the
Christmas ghosts to the chicks from AMG... the story would make perfect
sence to these people and they would understand the meaning that Charles
Dickens was trying to convey. Now I could write this new story, and
claim that the revision was my own. However I could not claim that the
idea, plot, and sequence of events were mine. The title would read...
A Tendo Christmas Carol Written by Jayden Stormwalker. Inspired by
Charles Dickens work "A Christmas Carol" (or something to that effect).
I would have to give credit to dear ol Charles where credit is due.
But I think that A) and B) are still significant factors when it >comes
to borrowing ideas.
In an ethically gray world where we're all stealing from other >authors
to one degree or another, I think we should be careful with >charges of
plagiarism.
I agree... the whole world is grey. How can Robert Jordan Wheel of
time, not be a rip off of any grecian or roman playwrite who told the
story of good and evil forces fighting for the control of the world.
Its all been done 1000 times before.
I think one must consider the way things are handeled in any
fictonal story. Look for original thought processes, or style of
writing. Try to understand what the author is thinking when the story
got written. So what if my Tenchi series has a striking resemblance to
someone elses BGC... There are only so many different things that
characters can do, act, say, and think, and I can gaurentee that all
have happened before to someone with a different name a long long long
time ago.
Anyway so that this isn't 100 percent spam. Plagerism as applied to Fan
Fiction is a VERY grey area. Always are characters being used that were
already thought up by someone else, put into situations that 100 other
poeple have writen about before. And whos conclusions can be seen
coming a mile away because they have read something simular to it 1000
times before. So lets give the Fan Fiction writers a break. I know
that the idea is not original. I know that the characters seem over
done and predictable. However lets look at the work for what it was
ment to be used for. Entertainment. Did I have fun while reading it,
why or why not. Did I feel the for the main character as he/she fought
through all the tough situations. I don't care if the cinerio was
original or not, all I care about was after reading it, did it put a
smile on my face, or tear in my eye (or whatever else feeling the writer
was trying to convey).
*** Knife Sharpens on Stone... Man Sharpens on Man ***
*** - Tao ***
Jayden Stormwalker
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com