Being original vs stealing everything

Yey! Then I shall continue to be influenced by things and not worry about it.

By the way, on the original Eliot quotation -- here's more

"A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest. " (as well as borrowing from the real world etc.)

(there's a whole article -- http://www.bartleby.com/200/sw11.html -- but I have to confess that I didn't read the whole thing, just skipped down to the quotation and read around there)
 
Here is my take on what Eliot said: If you borrow something, that implies that you mean to give it back when you are finished using it. If you steal something, you don't intend to give it back, you take ownership of it. When you steal an idea, you absorb it, you assimilate it, synthesize it along with other ideas or personal experiences, and ultimately produce something that is completely your own. It may even go on influencing you, subliminally, for years. You're not treating it so lightly that you're ever quite done with it, so it's hardly a case of borrowing.

(Fortunately, ideas are something you can steal and the original owner no worse off because of it. A great idea is "big" enough that there is plenty to go around.)
 
Hex, if anything the writing reminded me of Lawrence, who couldn't be much more removed than Austen, the way the dialogue went, a sense of edginess between them, so I think it's fair to say what you're showing is original and not deriative.
 
The Ciaran Hinds Persuasion? Oh, yes! (Only spoiled by the way they portray Elizabeth.)

No, the conversation doesn't at all remind me of P&P -- the whole feel and atmosphere of it is different, the apparent rationale for the beginning of the conversation, their relationship, the reason for her telling him to engage in small talk, her feelings to him and his reactions, all different.


EDIT: everyone beat me to the post again (blame the neighbours and their wasps...)
 
I love the Ciaran Hinds Persuasion. That scene at the end when he takes her hand in his is one of the most romantic moments I have ever seen.
 
The bit with the letter is my favourite. I love that scene -- in the book and in the film too. Sigh.
 
I haven't seen the one (supposedly) from Michaelangelo: "Wherever you steal, leave your knife" ... or words to that effect. Point being, as others have said, we are all influenced, and sometimes directly inspired, by the work of others. The most "original" writers in history were also so influenced. But they made the material their own by bringing their own perspectives, their own experiences, and their own emotions to whatever they began with. It was (like dreams) the prima materia which they then shaped to the final form they desired... or as close to that Platonic image as they could get, within the real world....
 
I remember when Arthur C. Clarke's THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE and Charles Sheffield's WEB BETWEEN THE WORLDS came out about the same time someone said in some sf mag I was reading that words are copyrighted, not ideas. I guess that means you can write about the same thing just not in the exact same way. (Or somethin'.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
J (Found) Trilogy with beings that have super psychic powers enabling them to move mountains, etc Book Search 10
B In All of Science Fiction And Fantasy Whom Do You think Are The Most Powerful And Ascendant Beings and Entities? SFF Lounge 3
pkirk Does a book need to justify being SFF? Writing Discussion 42
B It ends with humans being a 1/3 of their original height so they require 1/9 of the food Book Search 19
S How can I create more original Alien beings? Writing Discussion 15

Similar threads


Back
Top