plagiarism or not?

[Ploppy1999]

i'm not sure if this fits into this category but it looked like the closest fit. I'm wanting to get into writing and have some ideas for stories Ive been tring to find out the rules on other peoples ideas. I know you can't use other peoples words and claim them as your own but what i want to know if i've seen someones else's ideas can i use them in my own work? for example i saw an outer limits show where a woman's brain couldn't cope with knowing more than 1 reality and was causing her to die, i really liked this and it would work well in what i want to write but can i use it? or will it class as plagiarism?

[woofgang]

yup if you knowingly use someone else's idea that's plagiarism.

[Bambiagain]

If it's not someone else's "idea", ie you see a news item or, as you have, something on television, and you develop a story around it that is completely fictitious, then you're probably ok. Plagiarism is when you take something someone else has created and copy it - even if not word for word (or note for note with music, say) and pretend it is your own. So if this person you saw has some sort of medical problem, you could use it as your theme.

[scotman]

I have no direct knowledge of copyright law but I believe it can be a minefield.
There are some things which basically are what you describe. West Side Story is a reworking of Romeo and Juliet. More recently Stephen Fry's novel 'The Stars' Tennis Balls' is based on The Count of Monte Cristo.
If you are serious about this perhaps you should contact a lawyer with knowledge of this area.

[Bambiagain]

Following on from Scotman's reply, if the work is out of copyright - generally 70 years after the author's death nowadays - and of course Skakespeare, Jane Austen (see Bridget Jones's Diary) etc. are well out of copyright, then you are in the clear and can't be sued even if you lift whole passages.

[Bambiagain]

Oops - Shakespeare

[glasman]

Kot's kong with Skakespeare?

[Ploppy1999]

hmm 70 years that helps a little thanks

[saxy_jag]

There's no copyright on ideas. If there were, there'd hardly be any new books/stories at all. Most new novels are just old ideas regurgitated.

However, if you're going to do it, you have to do it well. You have to put some sort of new slant on it and make it entirely your own, or the copyright holders of the original story are going to come down on you and claim you've nicked their book.

[ludwig]

It's all about what you can get away with, because ultimately it's decided in court, so if you can take someone's idea and change it just enough so you can convince a court that it's original and any similarities are coinidental, then you're ok.

Unfortunately you can't go with the woman's brain idea because this thread can now be used against you in a future plagiarism case.

[Ploppy1999]

further to earlier answers i've just seen the condemed film (vinnie jones) which is a blatent copy of the japaneese film Battle Royal. Is done only slightly different but the main plot is exactly the same group of people shipped to an island to fight to the death the winner and who is set free is the last one standing. so if i change things only slightly you think i can use it?

[Bambiagain]

You ca try, but if someone spots a similarity you leave yourself open to a charge of plagiarism. Could be expensive to defend. If the big boys in film do it they no doubt have covered the legal angle, or have a budget for the lawyers.

[karenmac60]

Often when you get films that are a rework of a past film then some sort of credit is given - if it's not classed as a remake it usually says it's an homage to the original, that way everyone's back is covered.

[saxy_jag]

There is a theory that there are only seven or eight basic plots and that you can find them all in various fairytales. Any story you read will be based on one or more of these plots. But what makes a good book good is the level of originality within the chosen plot. You're not going to get that by following an existing plot very closely and I doubt you'd get much satisfaction from writing it either.

Why not hunt around for an idea of your own?