# Fiction writers: what if someone else came with your idea? (Possible spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912 "2003-03-12T19:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/1 "2003-03-12T19:38:00Z")
[sub] **Mostly a Signs spoiler:** [/sub] _Originally Posted by Sauron on 08-05-2002 09:53 PM:_ > [@](#): > > A few years ago, I wrote a manuscript of a horror novel – werewolf stalking a small Southern town, and the drifter who has come to kill it. Anyway, one of the climactic scenes in my manuscript was when a secondary character (father to the main character) fights the werewolf in his house. With a bat hanging on the wall. That he put there because he hit a really long home run in double-A baseball, back when he played. **Sauron** was referring to an uncanny similar plot point in the movie _Signs_. Months ago, I found that a Playstation/Anime/Comic : “.hack” has a plot point just like one episode of a series of tales I am developing! As a beginner, (and that is an understatement) I have some questions for current writers out there: what do you do when others have come with a plot like yours and you know it was just a nasty coincidence? Do you: Dump your manuscript? Do a major rewrite? Ignore the first published tale like Disney does sometimes? Acknowledge the original tale like George Lucas? Ignore it since is only similar to one episode in your larger tale? So, I am asking for advice, support, or your true-life tales of dealing with other writers getting there first. [sub]My 900th post![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/2 "2003-03-12T19:48:26Z")
I’ve dumped my manuscript. This happened to me when I was on the third chapter of a meticulously plotted novel about a scientist who develops a medicine derived from a rare (fictional) blue salamander. Then I read a new novel called “The Turquoise Dragon” by a guy named Wallace with the same plot, and same plot-twist, and figured who would possibly believe I didn’t steal the idea from him. I just found a new project. Eventually. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/3 "2003-03-12T19:59:11Z")
Depends. If what I do with the idea is different than the other version, I’ll keep working on it. If I can’t do something better, I’ll dump it. For instance, I had a story about a man who gets a sex change operation to play in the WNBA. Then “Juwanna Mann” came out. Luckly, it was easy to do that better. 🙂 However, if the plot point essential to my story is identical to a famous movie or story, I’d either rewrite or drop it. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/4 "2003-03-12T20:35:33Z")
It’s hard to prove who developed a plotline first. For that reason, it’s best to keep meticulous notes on all aspects of your story creation. In case you _do_ get blatantly ripped off, the person with the most backup material (research, notes, etc.) will likely win a court battle, should it come to that. However, it’s also important to note that there are a TON of people out there writing stories all the time. It’s inevitable that plot points will overlap occasionally. In general, I’d say don’t sweat it. I saw this phenomenon taken to extremes at one science fiction convention in the late 80s or early 90s. Robert McCammon was the guest speaker, and he took questions from the audience. One person asked him if he had considered suing the makers of “Tremors,” since the plot of the movie was so similar to McCammon’s novel _Stinger_. (For those who don’t know anything about either work, rest assured the two share absolutely nothing in common, save that the “bad guys” in each one tunnel through the earth in the desert.) I was amused until McCammon answered the question seriously. He said the only thing that kept him from suing was that it was never explicitly stated in “Tremors” that the monsters came from outer space, as the bad guy in his story did. That made my jaw drop; I had thought a published author would be more understanding of such miniscule similarities. Alas, I was apparently wrong. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/5 "2003-03-12T22:02:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > \*\* I saw this phenomenon taken to extremes at one science fiction convention in the late 80s or early 90s. Robert McCammon was the guest speaker, and he took questions from the audience. One person asked him if he had considered suing the makers of “Tremors,” since the plot of the movie was so similar to McCammon’s novel _Stinger_. (For those who don’t know anything about either work, rest assured the two share absolutely nothing in common, save that the “bad guys” in each one tunnel through the earth in the desert.) > > I was amused until McCammon answered the question seriously. He said the only thing that kept him from suing was that it was never explicitly stated in “Tremors” that the monsters came from outer space, as the bad guy in his story did. That made my jaw drop; I had thought a published author would be more understanding of such miniscule similarities. Alas, I was apparently wrong. \*\* You’re kidding! I’ve read the book and seen the movie; they’ve got less in common than Harry Potter does with Oliver Twist. Or Swan Song does with The Stand, for that matter… ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/6 "2003-03-13T04:26:07Z")
Thanks for those replies **pseudotriton ruber ruber** , **RealityChuck** and **Sauron**. I find it curious that **Sauron** preceded a reply from **elfkin477** now I am picturing a tale of a ring of power and. . . . . Whaaaat? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/7 "2003-03-13T12:40:48Z")
This kind of thing happens all the time, and many writers have commented on it. The consensus is that, even with the same basic situation (even with incredible coincidental similarities) the works that result are so much the product of each writer’s individual style that there’s really no competition. Read, for instance, the foreward that Arthur C. Clarke wrote for George Scithers’ **The Web Between the Worlds**. He points out the incrtedible similarities between the premise and particular details of his own novel **The Fountains of Paradise**. But, even so, the plots, the characters, and the writing are completely different. Magazines used to have contests where they challenged writers to write a story based on the same cover illustration ( **Boys’ Life** and **Fantasy and Science Fiction** both did this) or the same basic notion. The results were incredibly different. I can cite a great many examples of different writers covering the same idea. Of course, when movies and big bucks get involved, things can get sticky. Kit Reed thought that **Honey, I Blew Up the Kid** looked too much like her (his?) book “Attack of the Giant Baby”. Art Buchwald sued Eddie Murphy over **Coming to America** , which he said was taken from his screenplay. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-writers-what-if-someone-else-came-with-your-idea-possible-spoilers/160912/8 "2003-03-13T12:42:12Z")
Ahhh – not Scithers – Stanley Schmidt, I think.