I’m not sure where to post this, but I think here seems appropriate, since it’s a general writing question.
My current WIP deals with ghosts and demons and death and many other foul things, but it’s a charming story at heart. Anyway, it so happened that a friend of mine had just finished reading Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, which he offered me to read since I told him I was trying to read more books. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but so far I think it’s a fantastic read.
However, what really caught my attention was something which one of the characters (Pumpkin) mentioned in one of the earlier chapters—she said she believed her mother had died because she had brushed shoulders with a demon she was passing along a road.
Now, I’d never thought of that, but it suddenly filled in a couple of loopholes in my own WIP; I absolutely love the whole idea that if you happen to brush shoulders with a demon, you die and I really want to include that aspect into my story. My question is, would it be considered plagiarism if I used this idea in my story, given that this demon theory was only mentioned once in Memoirs of a Geisha (as far as I’ve read), mid-sentence and in passing.
Someone on these AW forums once told me that no one ‘owns’ ideas, so would I be correct to assume that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with me borrowing that idea? I’ve got some pretty grand ideas on how I’m going to implement this idea in my WIP, but I need to be sure it doesn’t count as plagiarism. Any help please?
My current WIP deals with ghosts and demons and death and many other foul things, but it’s a charming story at heart. Anyway, it so happened that a friend of mine had just finished reading Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, which he offered me to read since I told him I was trying to read more books. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but so far I think it’s a fantastic read.
However, what really caught my attention was something which one of the characters (Pumpkin) mentioned in one of the earlier chapters—she said she believed her mother had died because she had brushed shoulders with a demon she was passing along a road.
Now, I’d never thought of that, but it suddenly filled in a couple of loopholes in my own WIP; I absolutely love the whole idea that if you happen to brush shoulders with a demon, you die and I really want to include that aspect into my story. My question is, would it be considered plagiarism if I used this idea in my story, given that this demon theory was only mentioned once in Memoirs of a Geisha (as far as I’ve read), mid-sentence and in passing.
Someone on these AW forums once told me that no one ‘owns’ ideas, so would I be correct to assume that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with me borrowing that idea? I’ve got some pretty grand ideas on how I’m going to implement this idea in my WIP, but I need to be sure it doesn’t count as plagiarism. Any help please?
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