Comments on: Too Much Information!

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:02:00 +0000

Maybe it’s my journalism training, but any idea shared among colleagues is off limits, in my opinion. I have to take Devon’s stance on this. I did collaborate and it fizzled and died. I let the entire story die. It wasn’t mine. It was a story shared by two people and when one person loses interest, that’s the end of it, in my opinion. It’s much less hassle than finding out years later that he really DID want credit and expects half of the profits, right?

By: devonellington

devonellington — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0000

Sometimes someone will make a comment or throw out an idea, and I'll say, "I think I'm going to use that in something", and, if given permission, that's what I do, and I make it very clear in the acknowledgements.

Conversely, if someone says, "You should write . . ." I shut right down and don't want to hear any more. The ears turn off and my teeth grit.

I have collaborated, or started on projects, where we came to a parting of the ways, but each wanted to continue our own vision of the material. In that case, we hammered out a separation agreement and had it all contracted out, so there would be no future upset.

Otherwise, I just don't use it. I have a ton of ideas of my own, and not enough time to write them all out.

I do agree that if you put ten people in a room with a prompt, they all have different takes on it, but this is slightly different.

When in doubt, create an agreement in writing about ut.

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:53:00 +0000

Lillie, I agree in theory. My problem with taking this idea (or any idea another writer poses, for that matter) is the level of detail shared. If someone said, “Gee, wouldn’t it be fun to write a story about a gardener who finds a village of gnomes under his petunias?” it could be debatable that the person making the comment has no claim to that idea. If, however, the person starts laying out specific plot points and characters, that idea’s off limits, in my opinion.

Once a writer friend challenged the entire group to write a story about a psychic using the line, “Madame Lucinda’s got some ‘splaining to do” somewhere in it. Okay, whatever story develops from that prompt – hey, completely different stories from the same idea, and one offered to the group. Go for it, I say. (and you should’ve read the stories – they were all so different!)

By: Michele - Writing the Cyber Highway

Michele - Writing the Cyber Highway — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:37:00 +0000

All of the above writers make valid comments. I agree with Lillie that pretty much all of us creative writers have more ideas than we can dare find the time to write down and pursue.

That said, I don't think I could take someone else's idea and live with myself. ;-)

*smiles*
Michele

By: Lillie Ammann

Lillie Ammann — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:34:00 +0000

I understand your reluctance to use someone else's idea, and most of us have more ideas of our own than we'll ever get around to writing anyway.

However, if you did take someone's ideas as a starting point, the result would be completely different from what that person would have written. A dozen people can write something basaed on a writing prompt, and there's no similarity among the different pieces. In the same way, every person who heard the writer's idea could write about it, and none of the results would be similar to each other or to what the idea originator would have written.

By: writtenexpressions

writtenexpressions — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:24:00 +0000

This is one of the reasons I don’t belong to any writing groups . . . though I’m not sure whether I’d be the one telling all my ideas or coveting the ideas of others!

By: Schraepfer Harvey

Schraepfer Harvey — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:47:00 +0000

I disagree.
Writing friend #2 said it. Her idea isn't your story. You're take on her idea is your story. However faithfully you try to reproduce her idea, that expression of it is yours and likely different than hers.
You're not one of JK Rowling's prosecuting attorneys, are you?
We're all after that perfect table. (Table metaphor is Plato's.)
While into primary sourcing: intellectual property treaty, Geneva, AD 1996.

By: Dina

Dina — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:48:00 +0000

Hi Lori,

I do agree. In fact, I take this to the level of daily conversation on blogs and networks.

It really bothers me when an internet colleague who I admire says something clever to a group, and then I watch as another, more aggressive marketer goes out and basically broadcasts the same clever line but doesn't give that person credit.

(And I'm not saying the person who's said the clever line has never been me).

It says a lot to me about the person doing the gum-flapping and whether I'd want them "on my team" if you know what I mean.

Even worse when they build an entire marketing campaign around it!

The cool thing to do would be just say, "I first heard this term from so-and-so."

Or, if the idea mushroomed into a marketing plan, you might offer it up, like you suggested.

Anyway, yes. This is something I tend to fret over - and I also worry if I've forgotten to give proper credit where it's due.

So thanks for bringing it up.

By: Irreverent Freelancer

Irreverent Freelancer — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:42:00 +0000

Although there’d be nothing legally wrong with it (as you point out), I’d feel like crap if I stole someone else’s idea. As a creative person, if I can’t come up with something brilliant on my own, I don’t think I deserve any kind of credit for it. If I really liked the concept and knew s/he was never going to take it anywhere, however, I might ask the originator if I could write about it, giving her/him credit of course.