What a Rip Off!

This post comes from two things. First, the experiences of other writers who been accused of biting other writers. Second, serious thinking on embarking the writer's path.

Reason for this is because it happens to best of the brightest minds in fiction who had an idea for a story and someone called them on plagiarizing another one's work. Nothing says it than the old-fashioned "What a rip-off" from a fan with an eye for being critical. So if you have any interest in being a writer, you'll have to face plagiarism accusations at one point or another.

In fact, it happened to me once. When I joined an online writing group, I had a novel-in-progress receiving critiques, then one of them came down on me for ripping off the likes of an established author and a little mean comment came after that. I told the person that it's akin to what he knows so well, and he apologized. *Recalling what Peter David mentioned about the topic, he said it happens to him all the time. When he was writing Supergirl, fans called him on ripping off Joss Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer. A character he created was revised to be a mirror of Whedon's Spike, especially when the character harbored feelings for the titular heroine. The character's creation predated Spike's creation by a year, and his being enamored of the book's blonde heroine predated by three years. Despite David coming up with his own ideas, no came after Whedon for biting off him.

Everything has been done before. In comics, movies, and books. Most likely what the other person came up with before will be an inspiration for the next project. But it's what they do with the inspiration that makes it their own. Translation: Ain't nothing new under the sun. Let's consider the following examples:

• Green Arrow-blended mixture of Batman and Robin Hood, with trick arrows instead of a utility belt.
• Swamp Thing-DC Comics' answer to Marvel Comics' Man-Thing.
• The Atom-Inspired by Richard Matheson's The Incredible Shrinking Man. 
• Wonder Woman-Greek myths meets flag waving patriotism and the Lasso of Truth (That's the creator's idea. Don't ask.)

   Is that to say that R.L. Stine, Brian K. Vaughn, and Andrew W. Marlowe are plagiarists? Hell no. To repeat what's said: It's not the ideas one comes up with, it's what they do with them. When you look at Vaughn's Y: The Last Man, it shares the common theme of the last man on Earth with I Am Legend and Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth.

In my humble opinion, the line between inspiration and plagiarism is blurred every once in a while. It's important to separate the two things so everything doesn't get all out of order. On the one hand, it all comes with the territory.

*Source: Writing for Comics & Graphic Novels with Peter David, pg. 172.

My Influences as a Writer

When I chose literature for a career, I thought of my influences and comic book writer Kurt Busiek came to mind. Kurt Busiek is one of the reason I chose my career path as a writer. As a teenager, I bought a copy of the comic book Thunderbolts which was written by Busiek and illustrated by Mark Bagley. After reading the book, I was overly impressed with the style of his writing. Originally, I was wondering what Hawkeye was doing with this particular group. After buying a few more issues of Thunderbolts, I was really into the title as well as my other favorites characters like Spider-Man, Captain America and Batman. Moreover, Busiek's style of writing amazed me along with other comic book writers and science fiction novelists.

I read up on his other works like Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Avengers, and Iron Man and I loved his work on those titles which were a treat. I didn't know much about Kurt, but I would spend my money on comics that were written by him and other names like Fabian Nicieza, John Byne, and etc. The other guys were good, but Kurt Busiek's ideas were what appealed to me as a reader and a writer. The comics books I collected were Marvel Comics dating back to the 1990s and 2000s. For science fiction and fantasy, my influences were Patricia Briggs, Kat Richardson, Jim Butcher, and Kelley Armstrong. They've appealed to me as well with what they've written for urban fantasy as of today.

Their stories were entertaining and I love them. On the matter of Kurt Busiek, his work on Thunderbolts was one of his best ideas to date having super villains pose as super heroes and now wanting to atone for their criminal lives made me add the title as my favorites even when Fabian Nicieza took over the reins of the comic book. Busiek became the reason I decided to be a writer. Among the writers that have inspired my career choice, Kurt Busiek is one of them.

(This was originally posted in 2013 at the Critique Circle website.)