We have moved to new forum software and posting here is closed!

PLEASE BOOKMARK THE NEW FORUMS

Posted By: hauntedheadnc Jul 05, 2003 - 08:44 pm

This question has occurred to me after reading the posts here about how a meteor strike might affect an icy planet enough to alter its orbit and axis and cause mass upheaval.

I don't want to give too many details about my work in progress away, but I have a vaguely similar idea at the heart of my story -- and that's enough to make a man worry. In my story, a meteor strikes a planet and gives the people who come in contact with it special powers, to water it down to its most basic concept. Of course my story is wildly different from the "meteor whacks the ice planet" story (which sounds pretty danged nifty, if I might say so)... but that basic concept is still there.

So. How similar is too similar when it comes to the concepts that drive your stories and novels? Any thoughts on this?

Posted By: thespartan Jul 05, 2003 - 10:25 pm

you're fine. just don't have elves and dwarves and 'special' humans and funny smelling midgets and you'll be the most original fantasy writer in decades!!!
and besides don't worry 'cause hers(his?) was SciFi.

Posted By: thespartan Jul 06, 2003 - 10:33 am

dang can someone answer this guy's questions here. it's obviously troubling him.

Posted By: RongFo Jul 06, 2003 - 10:52 am

There's a mysterious ESP-like power that film studio execs talk about in hushed voices: "parallel development." It's uncanny how many people come up with stories with similar elements. I'm sure the people making "Deep Impact" weren't expecting "Armageddon." Anyhow, as I'm fond of saying, an idea is worth about a quarter, if you write it on an envelope with a quarter in it. The individual ideas in a story are only as good as your execution of them.

Here's another example:
Aliens invade the earth, but a handful of valiant humans defend their planet and oust the would-be conquerers.

War of the Worlds
Footfall
Ender's Game
Battlefield Earth
Starship Troopers
Independence Day
Mars Attacks
etc.

Posted By: thespartan Jul 06, 2003 - 10:59 am

lol
ya know, i was wondering the same thing about the armageddon-deep impact coicidence (okay, i spelt it wrong. gimme a brea i'm eating lunch!)

Posted By: hauntedheadnc Jul 06, 2003 - 01:11 pm

I dunno... It's fine and good to think that the ideas can stand on their own, no matter how similar to one another, but think about it. If you were to write a story wherein someone could "see dead people" and were relentlessly dogged by these dead people wouldn't you just be accused of ripping off "The Sixth Sense?"

And wouldn't you be laughed out of the publisher's offices if they thought you were just ripping off one of the good ideas out there?

Heck, this actually happened to me, which is why the meteor similarities make me wonder. I was writing a story that was remarkably similar to "The Sixth Sense" and more or less just gave it up in despair after seeing the movie. To this day about fifty or sixty pages of what could have been a darned good novel repose on my computer's hard drive. Over time I've thought of ways to maybe make it different enough to pass for original, but now I'm wrapped up in my "meteor story," whose prologue and first chapter are posted in the writer's showcase.

Kind of sucks though, to put hard work into something only to see someone beat you to the punch.

Posted By: thespartan Jul 06, 2003 - 01:22 pm

well don't worry man just write it. same thing with that sixth sense-esque story. just write it! you'll do fine.

Posted By: thespartan Jul 06, 2003 - 01:23 pm

and besides, yours involves magic! quite a different story. i'm interested in it now man. keep writing.

Posted By: Eleika Jul 06, 2003 - 06:38 pm

Haunted, seeing as how it was my story that worried you ... let me just say, they are in NO way similar. (Yes, for those of you who caught this thread early, I've edited this post, and I took away all the descriptions of my world, magic, and history. I just realized, after reading his story in the showcase, that they're WAAAY different ... so there was no need to post so much.)

This demonstrates RongFo's point precisely: Yeah, both of our stories have "a meteorite that hits a planet and gives some people magical powers". But see how different they are?

Posted By: Horatio of the Calvale Jul 10, 2003 - 08:16 pm

One of those crazy Greek philosophers, i can nver remember who it was, said that in all of literature there are only 7 possible plot lines. And so far i believe it has held true. With such a limited pallet, I think some rewriting of already told tales is okay. Besides look at Disney, they didn't come up woth a single origional movie plot for something like thirty years and no one is complaining to them. Shakespear too, all he did was retll old stories in a new way. RongoFo was right, it will be taken well if it is written well. I think that too much imphasis is placed on the plot in most stories anyway, the characters and the technique are just as, if not more important.