Getting inspired by SYW? (AKA: Make my anxiety shut up!)

starrystorm

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Sigh. I know this is just my anxiety talking, and, uh, this really doesn't make sense unless I just barf this all out. So here we go:

A while back I was struggling with my chapter 2. I knew I had to completely redo it. I started writing a beginning of my MMC waking up in his room ready to set out to find my missing FMC. I loved the short scene, but I ran into a problem. How was my MMC going to travel around? I was stuck. The towns were too far apart. Frustrated I went onto AW. Started reading some SYW, but then it was lunch time and I had to go. As I was eating, I was blowing my brains out over the travel part. Then I thought to myself "what about fast travel? Oh! I just read a SYW with fast travel" maybe that will work.

I get to my desk. Write down "have him use fast travel." I sat there, staring at it. Then it hit me. I don't need fast travel! I could just make the towns closer. But I still liked the idea of chapter two taking place on a subway (which shows up as a super important location a few chapters later.)

Did I steal this idea? Did I cross a line? I mean, I thought of the idea then remembered the story I read. AND I didn't even use the fast travel.

As I'm writing this, I feel stupid...but my brain can't stop thinking that I stole it. I can't even remember what SYW it was! :cry: I'm getting ready to look for editors and I don't know what to do with myself. :e2cry:

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

ap123

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I live in NYC. Most of my stories are set in NYC. Of those stories, all have at least a couple of scenes on the subway/in the train station.

I'm one of probably 800,000 people who live in the city and at least occasionally use it as a setting, and use the subway system in stories bc it's convenient and conveys a lot about the setting. There are probably another 2,000,000 people who write who lived here at one time, or visited, or watched one of eleventy bajillion tv shows/movies set here that use the subway in their stories. And this is just NY, there are other subways in the world, and another 800,000 imagined worlds that use a subway or subway-like system.

Take a breath, relax.
 

Kat M

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I think everybody does this all the time. My first WIP was inspired by a novel about a teenage girl preparing a classical violin solo, and I thought, "This is perfect but I want a version of this for the trad fiddling community." 10 years later, they're nothing alike. I can still trace which elements came from the book I so admired but my readers wouldn't. If they were alike to an absurd degree (character names, family structure, setting, story arc) then I'd say fix it. But a subway—well, read ap123's post a few more times and breathe easy. You're fine! :)
 

Layla Nahar

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For me, my thing is not that I'm stealing an idea, but I get worked up for feeling like I'm cheating - that I'm not smart enough to figure out a solution on my own - so ... name your poison - if we want to beat ourselves up over X, it can be X, if we want to beat ourselves up over Y it can be Y. Or, we can just say - it's ok to steal, it's ok to cheat (because it's not really stealing or cheating if you have a similar idea, or if a solution worked one way in one story does the trick in your story when you give it a little twist) -
 

starrystorm

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First off, thank you. Second off, I forgot to mention that the SYW story didn't have a subway. The fast travel vehicle was a car-like-thing. I already had a subway in my story and used it.
 

mccardey

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Oh! I just read a SYW with fast travel" maybe that will work.

I get to my desk. Write down "have him use fast travel." I sat there, staring at it. Then it hit me. I don't need fast travel! I could just make the towns closer. But I still liked the idea of chapter two taking place on a subway (which shows up as a super important location a few chapters later.)

Did I steal this idea?
You didn't even use the idea.
 

MinaJane

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I think we all get inspired by what we read, watch, listen to, etc... It then shows in what we write, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. As long as you don't copy-paste a plot point, which is absolutely not your case, you're just fine :)
 

starrystorm

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You didn't even use the idea.

Thank you for this. Sometimes with my anxiety it just builds up so much I just need to share it. Then it usually feels stupid. I realize this now.
 

mccardey

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Thank you for this. Sometimes with my anxiety it just builds up so much I just need to share it. Then it usually feels stupid. I realize this now.
Don't say stupid. Say - something I can work on just to be kinder to myself

xx

:)
 

starrystorm

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Don't say stupid. Say - something I can work on just to be kinder to myself

xx

:)

You're right. When I share my anxiety, I should be growing and learning, not hating myself.
 

Kat M

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Nope. Nope. Nope. You're not stupid. Not in the slightest. We all worry about things like that and you have an actual diagnosis so that makes it even LESS stupid. :Hug2: I realize you can't just tell yourself to not feel stupid, but in case words of affirmation help.
 

Carrie in PA

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You didn't even use the idea.

And even if you HAD, it would have been 100% legit.

It was a snippet of an idea. Fast travel! I should use that! is perfectly acceptable. Their character is a zoologist, that gives me an idea! is perfectly acceptable. A boy who goes to a wizard school! is even perfectly acceptable.

I really like the way this sentence is written. I think I'll copy it down and use it in my work!
is not okay. Which you know. ;)

You're fine. There's nothing wrong with having an idea sparked by someone else's work. Your execution will be totally different. (Even if you had used the fast travel car, it would have been nothing like the other story, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'd bet good money it's been done.)

Heck, I wrote an entire novel based off a line in a song that inspired me. Inspiration is everywhere and it's not even in the same realm as theft. :)
 

Carrie in PA

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Thank you for this. Sometimes with my anxiety it just builds up so much I just need to share it. Then it usually feels stupid. I realize this now.

Others have said it, but I feel compelled to say it, too. It's NOT stupid. Words have power. Strike that one from your vocabulary when referencing yourself in any way! ♥
 

JJ Litke

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Thank you for this. Sometimes with my anxiety it just builds up so much I just need to share it. Then it usually feels stupid. I realize this now.

I had a gnawing fear at the back of my head about an upcoming routine medical procedure. Once I told someone about it, it felt a little stupid to be so worried. This nagging worry that won’t leave even though you know it’s really not reasonable is a fearworm. Usually the best way to deal with it is to share it.