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Subconscious Plagiarism
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People have certainly compared my debut quite closely to other books I have never read. I know we need to read widely, but we can't read EVERYTHING!I tend to calm myself by reminding myself that everything has been done, it really comes down to your voice and how YOU tell the tale and how that resonates with a subsection of readers.
I doubt you plagiarized it, you and the writers of X-Files probably are drawing stories from the same type of real world cases. Creative minds occasionally go down the same avenues, story wise. It's normal and happens all the time. I know in my case, I see comics with names and plots virtually identical to ideas I've come up with, and it drives me crazy that I didn't "get there first" so to speak, so now I can't use them.I'll give you an example. I wanted a name for time traveling explorers, and came up with the name "Anachronauts". Now I thought this was pretty original and was ready to start writing it, but lo and behold it's been in use by Doctor Who audios as well as Marvel comics (the villain Kang has warriors called anachronauts). Doctor Who itself is very similar to my original concept for Anachronauts, so right there my whole idea could look as if I plagiarized it.
I was crushed. Years later a fresh take on the story came to me, complete with new name and direction, and I think I may still use it someday, but it is frustrating when you find out your story isn't as unique as you think. "You are not a unique and beautiful snowflake" after all, as Tyler Durden might say.
It's hard to come up with an original idea. There are so few out there that haven't been published. I don't worry about it. Every author's voice is unique. Even if my idea is identical to yours, the way we tell (or show) the story may be vastly different.
In the book I worked on over last fall/winter, The Exorcist's Assistant, I had a very small sub-plot where my MC Scarlet and the exorcist Angelo go to an old farmhouse. It's infested by a demonic presence, and they have a squabble over things because Angelo doesn't listen to Scarlet. Angelo says that the anchor object is a Ouija board, and Scarlet, who can sense demonic presence, says it's not that. It turns out that she's right--a music box is the infested anchor object.Then I watched the Conjuring.
I was crushed--that old farmhouse setting is a lot like the premise of the Conjuring and they even have a music box that acts as the demonic anchor object. The problem was that I hadn't exactly plagiarized anything, since I didn't know anything about it except it was a demon movie that was (supposedly) super scary. But I had done a lot of non-fiction reading on exorcisms. A common scenario that exorcists have to deal with is a house that's been taken over by a demonic presence that stays rooted by an anchor object.
My CP's assure me that it's different enough from the movie that it's fine, but it bugs me. I don't know why, really. Like I just said, it's a common enough scenario, and the premise isn't really the same, and the characters aren't the same, and it's only a couple chapters in the book. But I have to think about if I want to change any of it or not.
Don't you even consider the notion that taking anything seriously the human race actually believes could be causing you to slide into mental illness and asking people to confirm you as a writer is only delaying by years the possibility of seeking treatment for the mental illness you so truly need? Seems like I can ask that question in at least 100 forums around here... Like Frank said "I can't sit on them all."Stokesified!
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But in the end its all about the writing :]
@S. is your story about a dibbuki box?
@Angelo. wtf?
Sorry, when I see something strange I tend to get stranger.
It's like herding cats, but I wish I could gently encourage the authors of imaginings to come back and do something actually beneficial to the human race, like basing works on what it'll mean for the oceans to no longer generate oxygen by 2048. Sometimes I fail utterly. I'm new at this...
Actually, what I was here speaking for was what until he went into his fatal heart attack sitting next to me Frank Stokes said is based upon the way the Navajo might think of the people we'd encounter in the New York City subway system as we were coming back from gigs in the finest clubs or practices at The Music Building as carrying messages to listen to. Frank was never one to keep his distance from the messages...
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I'll have you know that's mentioned in A Dance With Fury.
If you feel passionate about something. Write it yourself.
Bisky wrote: "Yeah it's just super strange and slightly irritating. I blame time travellers personally.But in the end its all about the writing :]
@S. is your story about a dibbuki box?
@Angelo. wtf?"
Time travelers mess with your brain every time, Bisky! Watch out for them! lake
@S. is your story about a dibbuki box? No, it's just a mundane object that's keeping a demon anchored to a house. Sometimes objects themselves can be "haunted" (like that doll in the Conjuring, which is based on the real life demonology work of Ed and Lorraine Warren), but sometimes they just keep a demon tied to the house. Sometimes exorcists will burn them and/or bury them in a ceremony involving anything from blessed salt to blessed water.
I find it interesting that the Warrens have a room full of infested objects. Some exorcists think this is a bad idea--and as shown by the Conjuring, there's a reason for that. The ultimate goal of an exorcist "should" be to remove a demon's hold from earth, and a Catholic or Christian exorcist's goal is to send the demon back to hell and away from the human it is harassing. Keeping the objects around seems to be counterproductive.
OK, sorry for the tangent, I really find this whole subject fascinating. :)
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Interesting! I read a nonfiction about them for EA, and some of their stories seemed to be in line with what Father Gabriele Amorth (Catholic exorcist who wrote a couple highly regarded books) says. But some things seemed off. Their NF was awfully written, but that's another issue. You know who I don't believe and won't read? Malachi Martin. I think he was a big, fat liar, and why? Who lies about claiming to be an exorcist?
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I agree. I wad raised Christian and in my teens, I was into the whole born-again scene (I guess that's what you'd call it, LOL). And they basically taught that any other religion is from Satan. The funny thing is that I've always felt spiritually in tune, so when we were visiting Buddhist temples in Thailand on a mission trip, it was not what I expected. Our leaders claimed they were infested with demons, but all I felt was peace and tranquility. Just another one of the reasons I am no longer a Christian.Anyway, imagine my surprise when I started researching other religions to find out the the "satanic" Wiccans have exorcism rituals--in fact, most other religions do. So now my philosophy incorporates the idea that the truth is probably something found in more than one place. Some form of demons are in every religion, and I believe that they exist. And obviously (to me, anyway) the Catholic church has some control over the spiritual realm, but that doesn't mean they have a monopoly on it!
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It made sense to me that there doesn't -have- to be a reason behind everything. Sometimes shit happens. I always thought that person was influenced by an evil force, but really, it was probably just some sort of mental illness where they could continue to be high-functioning.
S You can't judge any one religion based on what one person says about it. There are many fundamentalist groups that mislead their followers to do things that are in opposition to what the religion is all about. Most religions teach love and tolerance, and have many followers and teachers that take a few lines out of context to to teach hate. One of the main reasons I do not go to church is that I don't like being told how to interpret the Bible and I don't like being told what to believe. Two things they do often at church.
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*Slumps back to the darkness*
We all do that Bisky. Let go and see what comes of it. It can't hurt, right? lake
@Bisky Come back to the dark side of the force! I can feel your anger. It makes you stromg! Lol
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I'm 23. X-files came out in the early nineties and mum wouldn't let me watch it because she deemed it too scary and this particular episode aired when I was six.
The episode is IDENTICAL to a subplot in one of my paranormal detective books. Frighteningly so. As far as I'm aware it's not a famous episode, but there is a chance that it's been mentioned before somewhere on the television or something. I mean it's a very popular show.
The idea I had was based around an account of LSD bread poisoning that the CIA were suspected of causing in France in the 1940s. And it went from there.
So it's either a bizarre coincidence, or I've subconsciously plagiarised.
I know of some famous examples where that has happened after all.
I'm not changing the story though, thankfully it was identical to my original idea but as I developed it recently it changed quite a bit. It's still odd though.
Has this happened to you?
To quote a similar episode of the series 'Suits'... There really is nothing new under the sun.