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plot Takings bits and pieces here and there.

A

Aspiring Mogul

Hello,

I don't know if you're living in a heat dome, but it's quite pleasant here. Anyway, I'm doing bits and pieces of writing, being a pantser by nature, and I tend to take a bit from a movie and then expand on the theme, often in a totally different direction from the film. I do the same, of course, from what I read in print. If you have any thoughts on this, I would appreciate your constructive comments on my creative process..

Furthermore, I know that an idea cannot be copyrighted, but I'm also wondering if there are any liability issues.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciate.
 
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Just beware -- if you take something and make it WORSE then you're a hack.
It's gotta be better if it's something people have seen before... or at least different enough that they won't immediately recognize it.

90% of people are probably clueless anyway.
I feel like most people watched divergant and had no idea it was just the harry potter sorting hat.
 
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Aspiring Mogul said:
I'm doing bits and pieces of writing, being a pantser by nature, and I tend to take a bit from a movie and then expand on the theme, often in a totally different direction from the film. I do the same, of course, from what I read in print. If you have any thoughts on this, I would appreciate your constructive comments on my creative process..
Click to expand...
I say go for it. Expanding on ideas and themes is a great way to stay
creative as a writer.
 
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I'd say that in a way, this is how everything is written. Star Trek was Horatio Hornblower in space. Blade Runner was Noir reimagined for sci fi. Die Hard was what an episode of bonanza would look like with 50 million dollars and one liners.

The history of creativity is way more about reimagining things than it is about imagining them in the first place.

You can be immensely creative by simply branching what if paths from an existing story. Copy paste and then find and replace the names, that's not creative, but simply being inspired by something and taking it in a new direction doesn't have to be derivative at all.

Ultimately, it all boils down to a writer's attitude towards effort. If you go in with the mentality that you can take something that's already popular and get an easy win out of it, that sucks. EG. 80% of films and books by volume. If you're truly driven to create, you could start from any point on the grid, Pinocchio or MacGyver or The Firm, and end up with something that more than met the criteria for being it's own creative work.

There's no shame in using something you like as a starting point, I'd reference blues music and the pentatonic scale as the jumping off point for 90% of American music for the last half of the 20th century.

It's a good comparison, because you can clearly see the difference between the hacks and the creatives in such a simple 5 note system. George Thoroghgood, he just copied what he saw and changed the lyrics. Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd took the same 5 notes and crafted a unique sound brimming with genuine creativity.

Personally, I think it's a great way to write, and pretty much how everybody writes, to one degree or another.
 
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