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I'm just re-reading some of Marion Zimmer Bradley's 'Darkover' novels, which I'm enjoying as much as I did when I read them in the '70's. I've also recognised a couple of ideas which I must have borrowed from her, and which I'm using now. A couple of months ago I had a similar experience, spotting an idea in Ursula K LeGuin's 'Earthsea' books. I don't think anyone else would notice the borrowings, since I've changed them round more than considerably over the last 30 years. Anyone else had similar experiences?
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I'm regularly stunned to see ideas I've had, been contemplating, in stories. What gets me is when they've been less than stellarly applied and knowing my concept has to go on the back burner for awhile.
I don't borrow from stories that I've read. I remember too well to subconsciously incorporate the ideas of published stories. I've a prodigious memory, even for the forgetable stories.
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I have consciously borrowed ideas from other stories, in a "I'd do it this way" approach, or a "what if this happened instead or with a character like that?" approach. So I've probably also borrowed unconsciously.
The only time I can remember (off the top of my head) recognizing something I've incorporated (into my life, not into a story though) was when the DUNE movie came out. I reread the book, and found that my preference for not sitting with my back to the entrance of any room came probably came from that book.
Doing your own thing with someone else's idea is totally okay. The problem comes when you use their actual words or their worlds or characters or other trademarkable or copyrightable work. Ideas are free.
And allusions (references to stuff in other people's work) can be way cool, especially for those who do recognize them.
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited July 04, 2008).]
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I dont believe its possible not to borrow from the stories we've encountered. If nothing else, because there are only so many plots out there, depending on how finely or how broadly you want to split the hairs.
Its not just what story you tell, its how you tell it. And also very much why you tell it.
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My main problem in borrowing from published works is names. I needed a name for a city on a desert world and thought that Agandar was perfect. I thought it had come entirely from my imagination. What a surprise to learn that this was the name of a pirate in James Schmitt's "The Witches of Karres". So, I decided to go with a different version of the same name and came up with Aladar. Would you believe this is the name of the MC in the Disney movie "Dinosaur"? So far, I've left it Aladar, but maybe I should try to come up with something more original? I don't know I really like it the way it is.
I chose the name Archer for a captain of a starship in my trilogy. He's also one of the MC's. Then along comes the Star Trek TV series "Enterprise" and who's the starship's captain? Captain Archer! I know it's not that unusual a name, and I'm bound and determined to keep it!
So does it matter as much when it comes to names if the name's use doesn't come close to what someone else has used it for?
One more... Thora is a supporting character in my trilogy, and the name was recently used for a woman in a book I read awhile back. I can't remember which one off the top of my head, but it's so frustrating when you make up names only to find they've been used before, or someone comes up with it after you made it up !
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Crystal, I wouldn't have changed Agandar that much, maybe just a letter or two--Aghandir or Aggendar or Akendar.
If you were to use the character WITH the name, then there would be a problem, but just the name? -- eh!
Have you heard me complain about the fact that there is a woman named Katherine Woodbury who has not only had stories published in science fiction small press publications, but she's also had stuff published in things related to our religion, so I've had people think she and I are the same person in both venues? (Wow, that was a long sentence.)
There just aren't that many names to choose from, even made up.
If you are really worried about it, google the name (as I just did Agandar -- sure enough, it shows up in James Schmitz's WITCHES OF KARRES, but it refers to a people, "the Agandar," not a person; and it shows up in half a dozen listings before it gets to WITCHES) and see how common it is.
You're actually safer if it shows up in a lot of different things than if it only shows up in a couple.
Another thing you can do is check name lists (I have a whole list of websites about names in my favorites -- maybe I'll post the links), and when you find something you like, use it, or change one or two letters and use that.
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Those are great suggestions Kathleen. I had thought I was okay with what I was doing. Like you said; Just so I didn't use the actual character with the name as it was used in the published source.
I'll be sure to look up those links for names, too. Sometimes I think choosing a name is harder than writing the story.
One advantage I have is I work for a company that produces church offering envelopes. I have a list of unique and unusual names from the mailing addresses. I refer to these when a name may escape me. It has served me well on the occasions I need a boost in the right direction.
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It's really hard to come up with some made-up name somebody hasn't used before...once, in an (unfinished) novel, I came up with a name for the city the action took place in...worked through the etymology of distorting it from another word and phrase...then, long after, found the exact same name ("Cardolan") in Tolkien. I must have seen it, but I didn't remember I had.
I've tried to be more careful, but I'm sure there'll be other examples. I have a hard enough time with regular names---they resonate with me. I use one, and think of other characters that had them.
My current-new-draft project has a character named "Ginger"---what comes to mind is a character from "Gilligan's Island" and a more recent cartoon show title character. (Both of those characters, and my character, have red hair---as do I---and "Ginger" is a common name or nickname for those who do---something I know from bitter personal experience.)
On picking up names along the way...I sort mail for a living, but the machines spin it by my eyes so fast it's hard to take the time to read any of the names and addresses these days. (We care about the street address and zip code, not the name on it.) Still, sometimes, pretty rarely, a name will stick with me.
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Hey Robert; Wouldja believe that my first name is Ginger? That's not a nickname. It's my given name. Now here's the clinker: I'm not a redhead but my dad is... or was, as he puts it .
I work as a collator operator, and the name and address of each church is on every order sheet I do. It doesn't take a whole lot of time to jot down an unusual street name or even the name of the city or town. Quite a few of them are pretty unique. There are times when I'll take one of them and make something else out of it by tweaking the spelling. This has worked well for me when I'm stumped for a name either for a place or a character .
And when it came to Agandar; I had read THE WITCHES OF KARRES years ago. It was a surprise to discover the name had stuck in my mind over all that time. LOL!
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When "Ginger" is a non-redhead non-girl nickname, there's an extremely impolite meaning that can be imparted to it...another irrelevancy that handicaps my naming of characters...I know too much...
Another ten or twenty years and the gray in my sideburns will probably have reached the top of my head...not that I'm going to do anything about it.
*****
The naming of names, and their familiarity, pales in consideration to the ideas I've pilfered from here and there. An early SF story from a now-well-known fantasy writer worked its way into my mind and keeps popping up in my own stuff...last summer I wound up writing a (suppressed) story whose main techno-idea was lifted outright from a 1970s thriller...anybody who tries fantasy knows all about working with Tolkien's ideas...
All I can say is that, well, all these ideas resonated for me. They meant something. And I tried to keep my story and people different from what the other guys had done.
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