McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Do you fear being influenced?

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eviladam:
Oh that had to hurt.  :(

Uilos:

--- Quote from: Mickey Finn on August 27, 2007, 02:22:40 PM ---What drives me nuts is having to toss perfectly good ideas because someone else got there first.
Final Destination was one. Idenity was another...and that one hurt. Not just because I was trying to figure out how to do it, but because I was trumped by the guy who wrote killer snowman movies.

And mine was better. *sniff*

I'll write in another decade.

--- End quote ---

waitaminute...the pok gai, two bit, slasher hack who wrote those POS Jack Frost horror movies and the guy who wrote Identity (a great movie) are the same person!?

Excuse me, I have to find a tall tree and some rope...

But yeah, I've run into that wall before, That's kind of why as I'm writing the story itself (yes, I am free writing mine, it is not as glamourous as Mr King will have you believe) and then figuring out how to tell the story. I find that how you tell the story can set it apart from so many stories that are similar to it.

Mickey Finn:
Yep, same guy. I knew from the teaser preview what was going on. My ending was different (as was the killer*), but the rain cutting folks off from leaving was the same, as was a bunch of strangers being forced together in a structure (mine was the gothic classic of a house on a hill...and for those that know the twist in the story, you see why that makes sense ;) )

Hell, it's been a few years, maybe I'll go ahead and write it.


*Spoiler for Identity, don't read if you haven't seen the movie:
(click to show/hide)My inspiration, years ago, came from studying MPD and wondering what it'd be like for the various personalities as a doctor "pruned" them.

King of De Nile:
I used to worry about the originality of my work, but a few things changed my mind. First was my dad, who while we were eating lunch out one day popped out this gem, "Everything that can be written already has been. All you can do is hide it in different wrapping."

And then there's a series of quotes I read one day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Genius borrows nobly."
Michael Caine: "I only steal from the best people."
Pablo Picasso: "Bad artists copy; good artists steal."
T.S.Eliot: "The immature poet imitates; the mature poet plagiarizes."

Kind of lessened my worry, you know? ;D

meg_evonne:
I'd argue with your Dad as I think there will never a shortage or true original work out there. Sort of interesting to hear about the duplication of ideas to such specific situations.  A little on the spoky side. 

On the other hand history repeats itself over and over that when the technology meets a certain criteria/level you will see lots of inventors independently inventing the same technology.  Sort of "Life will find a way" theory.  One of them gets the credit and the rest are left without any royalties...  i've just never thought about it applying to the arts before.

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