Have you ever?

Um, no? Because ten different authors can 'steal' the same idea and come up with ten different stories. My previous writing history suggests another person will probably be able to better tell the story from a certain writing prompt than I can, at any given point in my writing life.

Won't stop me from doing it, if I really want to tell that story. I may be out of luck if the other author beats me to the finish line with a better book - but that's life.

Of all the things a writer can worry about, idea theft is way down my list.

I'm either going to do this as a cross stitch sampler or just put it in my sig line:

I won't steal any of your ideas. I have enough of my own.

(Easier to do the sig line. I don't have the patience or desire to learn cross stitch.)

I don't share my ideas generally, but that's because I'm horrific at summarizing things. It all comes out jumbled and people just smile and nod, leaving me trying to explain how it actually will make sense when it's told in 100k words. I can honestly say the idea someone would steal a concept from me never crossed my mind.

kelliewallace said:

Have you ever kept a plot, character, or an idea to yourself from other authors in fear they would steal it? I can say I have and Im not proud of it. Authors are secretive folk and we like to keep things close to our chest.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure that we are secretive folk. I don't think I am. I'm more like Chasing - I don't like being asked about my books, because I haven't mastered the art of the elevator pitch. But I have no trouble rabbitting on if someone can bear to listen.

I don't keep it to myself, no. It's because I get so excited about my book ideas I just want to tell everyone about it.

On the other hand, if someone wants to, I think that's totally fine too. I have been rejected because the book I wrote is "too similar" or happens to have a similar concept to one the agent or editor has just bought, so I can see how having similar concepts to other books might work against the author. But more often than not, I feel that this happens because chances are, other people would have the same idea you have, in which case, ah well, nothing you can do about that. I think it's quite rare that another author would steal or copy the idea.

I don't generally share my ideas, but that's less because I'm afraid anyone will steal them, but because it makes it less fun for me to write them if I've already told someone about them.

Why bother? When I get an idea I share it, I want others to be inspired by it so I can read their books too.

No. I do sometimes keep ideas to myself but only because they are too weird to explain. As we have said many times, ideas are plentiful. It's the execution that matters.

No, I don't keep ideas secret (unless that person is going to be my beta-reader and I don't want to spoil the fun). I think the concept of "my idea will be stolen" is ridiculous for so many reasons.
A) Do you really think professional writers are skimming message boards for ideas to steal? They have enough of their own.
B) Ideas are cheap. An interesting idea doesn't make a good novels and two novel with the same basic idea will turn out very differently depending on who wrote them.
C) Did this every happen? At all? Because I never heard of such a case. (I don't mean stuff like the Hunger Games vs. Battle Royal, where similar concepts are explored but actually stealing a plot.)

I don't talk about my ideas because I sound like a bumbling fool when I do. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a problem for me.

I think it's more that I don't go round telling people about things I'm going to write.

But if someone asked, or if I was talking with writers about ideas, I wouldn't keep it secret.

kelliewallace said:

Have you ever kept a plot, character, or an idea to yourself from other authors in fear they would steal it? I can say I have and Im not proud of it. Authors are secretive folk and we like to keep things close to our chest.
I only came across an amazing plot idea for a HF book based on real events and a little voice in my head said, 'do you dare share it incase it get 'stolen'?"
Its foolish to think like that as we all should support each other. Has anyone felt the same or shared an idea to a fellow author and it was taken and used by them?

Click to expand...

To put it simply. No, I don't worry about my ideas being stolen. Anyone can have a semi-similar idea. They want to do an EF from the POV of an Orc-like being, they're free to do that. A Lit Paranormal about a vampire coming to accept their vampirism? They're free to do that too. Vampires as a part of the American Revolution? I'm ok with that. A Contemporary piece about a pair of Black fraternal twins navigating being LGBT, life in general, and being part of a minority group? They're also free to try it out.

Why would I be bothered by the premise being in the same family as mine? It doesn't tell me what their story is going to be like. And just because the premise is similar doesn't mean it will have the same elements mine does. Their characters may be all white and I like to work with POC characters, and characters that are LGBT.

I don't, but it's not about secretiveness. As mentioned before, sometimes it's not easy to summarize, or you just don't cross path with the right people to talk about it.
Anyway, I think one idea doesn't change a writer's life, and everyone of use, I think, love too much writing our own ideas, which doesn't leave much time for stealing someone else's.

I think I tend to keep my ideas to myself 'til they're written, but it's so the "new" doesn't get rubbed off them too soon. The first draft isn't the end of the job, I need to be able to stay excited about the thing.

It's weird, I've met LOTS of writers who won't shut up about their ideas. They tend to not finish their books, however.

Once, I had an idea I kept to myself for fear it was too great, too beautifully high concept, to risk sharing. I finished that book and nobody liked it. :-/

These days, I don't tell people about my ideas because I think it saps my enthusiasm to actually do the hard work of getting it on paper. I don't want to wind up one of the aforementioned non-producing won't-shut-uppers.

I also often don't know how I'm going to string all the wild stuff in my head together to make a coherent narrative, so there's no point in trying to tell anyone. "There will be dragons and time travel! And this bitchy protagonist who finds love. And then the guy gets blinded. Maybe."

Okay I'll say it. Sometimes I do, why? Because I like to think my idea is so super awesome, so world changing no one else could ever come up with it, and I must protect it with my life. And that makes me happy
Do I really think they can "steal it" no, that would be impossible unless I told every last little detail, even then we would have vastly different books.

I came up with a great idea, I told my sister, "lets both take the same idea and write a book and then see how crazy different or the same they are!" And she looked at me like I was crazy and said "yeah, except that happens everyday with everything ever written. Have you not watched a movie lately?"
And then I felt like an idiot because she was right. Every story is technically the same, just different.

Also I can not for the life of explain what my book is about, that frightens me. Maybe I have no cohesive plot??

And I bore people

No, but only because I'm a "panster" and only have a very vague idea what the story is about until I actually write it.

I have too many ideas of my own crawling around it my head, waiting to be let out. I don't have room for anyone else's ideas.

ideas are a dime a dozen...

Not from fear they'd steal it, no.

from fear that talking about it would deflate my enthusiasm yes

Nah. Nobody can write the book I can, and I can't write the one you want to.

thothguard51 said:

ideas are a dime a dozen...

Click to expand...

So are clichés. Actually, ideas are a lot cheaper than that. Mine, I'd probably have to pay somebody to take.

caw

Having their ideas, rough drafts, or stories stolen is something I've mostly only heard newer writers worry about, if that gives any reassurance.

Withholding ideas for fear that they'd be stolen is something I've never considered really. It feels like not telling anyone that you are going to build a house that's green. Even if someone else also builds a green house, it's not going to look remotely like yours.

Now if I had a killer idea, say a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs, I might keep it close to my chest. I so wish I could have thought of that. Most ideas aren't that golden or unique though.

I have various reasons I don't like to talk about my ideas, but fear they'll be stolen certainly isn't one.

Considering you mentioned this particular idea is for HF that comes from specific historical events, keep in mind that someone else might very well come up with it (or part of it) by reading about the same events. This past year I read two books set in England in 1920--both dealt with the aftereffects of war (unsurprisingly), and both included, as major plot points, a lieutenant who was forced to lead a firing squad execution, and a man involved in the firing squad whose arm had subsequently become completely paralyzed despite no physical problems. Both books came out the same year as as far as I know the authors don't know each other. But I would bet a lot that they both read the same source (or source(s)) somewhere discussing similar instances that actually occurred, and were both struck by it. The rest of the novels were totally different, and they used the event totally differently. Historical accounts that leap out usually leap out to many people.... who then go on and use them differently in their different stories, or base different stories off of them. So even if you never tell a word of your idea, don't be too surprised if you do see it or part of it someplace else someday.