How much inspiration is it okay to take from another work?

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efreysson

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Yes, this is a question that pertains to all genres and mediums, but my genre is fantasy so I'm posting this here.

Okay, specifically I like the idea behind the Baldur's Gate video game series (also known as the Bhaalspawn Saga): An evil god/demon spawns a slew of mortal offspring who are destined to cause chaos and destruction in their battle over who gets to inherit daddy's power. Most of these half-siblings are sociopathic or demented to some degree, but at least two are raised by good people and don't even know about their inheritance, power and destructive nature until trouble comes a-knocking.

What attracts me to the premise is the idea of a main character who is cast in the role of hero and champion but is faced with battling the creeping corruption of power, and the temptation that comes with having literally divine charisma with which to influence allies and convince friends that, "No, I'm not going evil and power mad, honest. Would I ever lie to you? (winning smile)"
Also I'm just a sucker for stories where the hero is technically a monster.

If I ever go through with this I would of course make this story my own beast and not rip events, locations or characters straight from Baldur's Gate. But is it okay to borrow the basic premise like that?
 

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If I ever go through with this I would of course make this story my own beast and not rip events, locations or characters straight from Baldur's Gate. But is it okay to borrow the basic premise like that?

It wasn't original with them; it's in a number of myth cycles--including the Bible and texts inspired by the "war in heaven."
 

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If I ever go through with this I would of course make this story my own beast and not rip events, locations or characters straight from Baldur's Gate. But is it okay to borrow the basic premise like that?

It wasn't original with them; it's in a number of myth cycles--including the Bible and texts inspired by the "war in heaven."

Heck, isn't that one of the explanations behind Iceland and Norway's Huldre folk?
 

Faide

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Heck, isn't that one of the explanations behind Iceland and Norway's Huldre folk?

One explanation is a tale where a mother had washed only half of her children when God came to her cottage; ashamed of the dirty ones, she hid them. God decreed that those she had hidden from him would be hidden from mankind, and thus they became the hulders. Some tales say the woman was Eva, but it varies.

Hulders are, by the way, pretty awesome. They make me proud to be Norwegian.
 

FOTSGreg

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It has been said that there are only something like 20 original stories, but there are as many original treatments of those 20 basic stories as there are writers and storytellers.

Storytelling was originally an oral tradition. Oral traditions were passed down from generation to generation to generation by storytellers. Each storyteller varied the story enough that the next generation could learn and enjoy the story even though it was one they had heard a thousand times before.

How many times have you heard the story about the troll under the bridge and the 3 goats trying to cross it? How about the 3 little pigs and the big, bad wolf? Is there some similarity between the two storylines? Of course there is.

There are similarities between them because they are based on the same basic story.

Writers are the new storytellers. We take those ancient traditions and 20 original stories and we add our own twists and visions to them and make them our own for the next generation.

Just don't use the same scenes, names, or draw straight from the game and you should be fine. Take the idea and make it your own.
 

efreysson

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One explanation is a tale where a mother had washed only half of her children when God came to her cottage; ashamed of the dirty ones, she hid them. God decreed that those she had hidden from him would be hidden from mankind, and thus they became the hulders. Some tales say the woman was Eva, but it varies.

Hulders are, by the way, pretty awesome. They make me proud to be Norwegian.

Trivia: The Icelandic name for them is huldufólk and literally means "hidden people".
 

Ardent Kat

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As others have pointed out, the concept is so generic to mythology, you wouldn't have to worry about copyright infringement.

Now the questions you need to ask:
Has this been done to death by other writers? Is it original enough to attract attention of agents, editors, and readers?
 

Parametric

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As others have pointed out, the concept is so generic to mythology, you wouldn't have to worry about copyright infringement.

My learnings, let me show you them! :D

Copyright specifically doesn't protect ideas, only the expression of those ideas.

Copyright = illegal but not necessarily unethical = copying someone else's text without their permission.
Plagiarism = unethical but not necessarily illegal = borrowing someone else's work (such as their ideas) and passing it off as your own.

/bored with intellectual property revision :tongue
 
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