Good afternoon class! I know it's been awhile, so I'd just like to begin with a short recap. Unfortunately, if I did that, we'd be out of time by the end of it, so I'm going to make a public service announcement instead. Today's lesson is sponsored by Squaresoft, maker of fine stories.
I have a really good idea for a story. It's about a sheltered member of the rural gentry who goes on an adventure and has to learn to be brave, all while trying to avoid being killed before even reaching the kingdom far far away. I'm sorry, what's that? Someone made that already? Well, back to the drawing board.
My even better story idea takes place in space. A youth from a humble background stumbles into the middle of a war when he accidentally intercepts a source of power that both sides want. When the outside forces come knocking, he must pick a side and ultimately become the champion who decides the outcome of the war. How's that for—Hold on. You're telling me that's already been done, too? Well poach my eggs, I really thought I had a good idea there!
When you get right down to it, all stories are based on archetypes and follow a few well-established paths. The way stories differ is in the details of their telling. Parts of stories can be shifted around, new characters introduced and different outcomes chosen. No one wants to hear the same story told over and over again, so writers invented the idea of plagiarism (that is, that a story should only be written once and not copied) to keep themselves and others pumping out new, original ideas. Today this custom is upheld with all the might of federal law and can cost you thousands of dollars if the original author of the material decides to press charges.
The problem with plagiarism is that there is very little original thought to be had. So many stories have been told that making one not based at least partially on another is nearly impossible. Human creativity largely comes from inspiration; we base our own creations off our experiences. There is a difference between subconscious plagiarism and intentional plagiarism, though. Inventing something which is similar to something found in another story, but with original alterations that make the two distinguishably different is fine, while blatantly ripping something off is not.
Take for example the book Eragon and Star Wars: A New Hope. The base story of Eragon is the same as Star Wars: A New Hope, but it makes characters, rules, events, and other details of its own that make it very different. As the stories progress further in their additional timelines, the stories become very different, despite the fact that they share some noticeable similarities. It is absolutely fine to take inspiration, just so long as what's made is original.
All right! My new story is entirely original. Except for the plots I based off Doctor Who episodes. I may also have modeled my dialogue on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The characters are all mine, though – aside from Batman, but no one will notice that.
No exceptions.
You may be wondering how fanfiction can avoid plagiarism, with the very concept being that the characters, stories, and, well, everything are directly lifted from the source material. The answer is that all fanfiction is at heart plagiarized material in some way. This would generally be considered unacceptable were it not for the fact that fanfiction is not intended to be about making unique stories. It's about telling the story in a creative way, exploring concepts within a series to have more experiences with our favorite characters, and creating parallel realities for us to make our own outcome for a story we were less than satisfied with. Fanfiction is a reactive medium. It brings people together to celebrate good storytelling and, in some cases, improve it.
Well, I think that about does it for this lesson. That one was rather long and dull, though, wasn't it? I feel like it should have been more fun somehow. I suppose I could throw a party to finish the class off. Oh, but that's no good; I haven't restocked the streamers and confetti since Anthrocon. Tell you what, you can each have one of Erin's prized CDs. Just don't tell her I gave them to you.