McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Does JB accept any ideas from his fans?

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gravesbane:
Is there a way to get ideas to JB? Of course these ideas would be free for his use and no acknowledgement required. These are just a few things that could be funny to see Harry deal with.

Murphy's Stunt Double:
I doubt there's any kind of formal thing to do with that, and it can get dicey if the copyright lawyers get their fingers in it, but rumor has it that he used one of Bob's ideas in Small Favor which was quite thrilling.

Yeratel:
Most authors, and their publishers, avoid unsolicited ideas like a plague infested copyright lawsuit. Jim Butcher did on one occasion post a survey here to see which characters people would like to see more of, and said he got inspired by reader discussion in the forum to throw in something on Marcone's character development, but in his position, I would shred unread any suggestions received in the mail. There are too many hungry lawyers out there to take a chance, even if you do have a better idea of where his characters should go and what they should be doing than he does.  ;)

trboturtle:
I think that Jim should neither ask for or take ideas from the public on any story idea. Because when it comes down to it, he is the sole author and the Dresden files is his, lock, stack and barrel. He may ask his circle of pre-reraders about what reads better in a scene, but he should be the only one to chose what he writes. Now, he may be influenced by public opinion, but it shouldn't be his sole decision.

Craig

Murphy's Stunt Double:
I don't disagree with you, Craig, but consider that none of us live in a vaccuum. In a You Tube videos from the recent Small Favor signings called Originality (or something similiar to that) JB talks about how he *thought* he had this fabulous 'original' idea for Bob as a skull with glowing lights for eyes and he was so excited he'd come up with something so awesome that had never been done before... and then he sat down with his son and watched the opening sequence of Scooby Doo. Obviously, his unconscious nabbed the image and ran with it.

In the case with Bob, I think Jim saw a post Bob made here that likened (click to show/hide)Marcone to a Robber Baron of feudal times, and used it as only JB can, expertly weaving the train of thought into the plot of Small Favor. While the idea itself pretty much is public domain, Jim had the class to mention to Bob after the fact that he'd swiped his idea cause he thought was a good one, and useful, and man, it made Bob's day!

Mind you, I think this is pretty much a unique scenario, (using a fan's idea) but I gotta give the man kudos for giving credit where it's due and never being arrogant or aloof about his talent.

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