- Joined
- Sep 21, 2006
- Messages
- 285
- Reaction score
- 45
I felt inherently dirty writing something today so I figured I'd gather opinion.
We've all heard famous quotes before; love is this, death is that, etc.
Often in daily life use these quotes without having any idea of where they came from and often misquote them altogether, just getting across the 'gist' of it.
Example (I just plucked this one off the internet)
"The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels."
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
Now anyone who reads this post might have that quote stick in their heads for a while and might, in casual conversation, if the opportunity arose, regurgitate it back to someone. But they probably aren't going to remember Hazrat Inayat Khan as the original voice, nor are they probably even going to get the quote right, probably bastardizing it like ... "Words that make us happy are more precious than jewels."
And unless I'm mistaken, people don't go around quoting people exactly, nor saying exactly who they are quoting, most having no idea where the saying originated.
So, to get to the point, I'm writing dialogue and I want to throw in one of these half-assed regurgitated quotes but I feel like a plagiarist. But I'm sure as shit not going to have the character say, "Hazrat Inayat Khan once said, blah blah blah." People don't talk like that, or at least my character doesn't.
What's your view on a character plagiarizing someone's words (which sounds more natural) vs the character sounding off like a fuckin intellectual property lawyer? People plagiarize, I just don't want to be given shit for making my characters feel natural.
We've all heard famous quotes before; love is this, death is that, etc.
Often in daily life use these quotes without having any idea of where they came from and often misquote them altogether, just getting across the 'gist' of it.
Example (I just plucked this one off the internet)
"The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels."
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
Now anyone who reads this post might have that quote stick in their heads for a while and might, in casual conversation, if the opportunity arose, regurgitate it back to someone. But they probably aren't going to remember Hazrat Inayat Khan as the original voice, nor are they probably even going to get the quote right, probably bastardizing it like ... "Words that make us happy are more precious than jewels."
And unless I'm mistaken, people don't go around quoting people exactly, nor saying exactly who they are quoting, most having no idea where the saying originated.
So, to get to the point, I'm writing dialogue and I want to throw in one of these half-assed regurgitated quotes but I feel like a plagiarist. But I'm sure as shit not going to have the character say, "Hazrat Inayat Khan once said, blah blah blah." People don't talk like that, or at least my character doesn't.
What's your view on a character plagiarizing someone's words (which sounds more natural) vs the character sounding off like a fuckin intellectual property lawyer? People plagiarize, I just don't want to be given shit for making my characters feel natural.
