My novel was inspired by a golden-age musical. The setting is different but the plot threads and characters are similar. Am I plagiarizing?

Question

I seem to see some similar questions to this, but not ones that answer my question well enough that I feel confident, so I’d love some feedback on my specific situation.

I am a few chapters in to writing a young adult novel that I would hope to publish one day. It is inspired by a golden-age musical that, as far as I can tell, is still copyrighted.

Here are the similarities/ differences in as vague as terms as I can manage:

The original show is set in the real world. My story is very much a fantasy.

The main characters are inspired by the original characters, though they are more fully fleshed out. Their names are all changed, though in 3/4 instances the first letters are the same.

A lot of the plot threads are not EXACTLY the same, but analogous to threads in the original. I also have one plot thread that is a large part of my story that is not present in the original, but is inspired by a song from the original show in which the character describes a dream. The characters in my story involved in this thread are NOT analogous to the character that sings the song in the original musical.

I haven’t fully outlined yet, I’m more of a pantser, but as far as what I can tell as I get toward the end of the story, it will diverge a bit more. Also, of the two couples that end up together in the original musical, one will end up breaking up at the end of my book.

I don’t want to invest any more time in this story if it’s not viable to publish, which will make me very sad because I really enjoy this idea. That said, I don’t want to be a plagiarist. I just really enjoy stories that are retellings, such as Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series and Brody/Ren dell’s Sky Without Stars. I just didn’t think about the fact that the work I chose to retell may be copyrighted. I’ve read other retellings of musicals before (such as Sky Without Stars) but those musicals may be based on even older works that are not copyrighted, where as the source material for my musical might still be, if that makes sense.

I’ve read some things on fair use/copyright law that make me think I might be ok, and others that make me think maybe not.

If anyone has any advice or input, I’d be grateful. :)

Answer 1

I am not a lawyer and I do not know in which country you are. So continue with some caution when it comes to contracts:

You are probably not plagiarizing.

• "copy-right", means the owner claims the right "to copy his work", the right of "copying" (distribution, selling, mass produce, print, reprint, scan+copy, put online, etc. in parts or full) for himself and does not grant it to others.

  You would violate that if you copy verbatim (whole sentences or more) or publish copies of the original work. Worse would be if you take a copy of the original, write your own name as the author on it and then sell it (or upload it somewhere), this would be the very definition of plagiarism (claiming you are the author when you are not). Same goes for trying to make your work the "official sequel" or "official prequel" of an existing work. Like just adding a "2" behind the title would not be allowed (without permission by the original author at least).

  I'd say this all does not apply in your case. You are creating your own original work.

• Nobody can prevent you from being inspired from another work

• Nobody can copyright "ideas". If you have a couple in it, well that is not something anybody can say "Hey wait, you stole that from me!" - some things just cannot be copyrighted. Just the "copying of a work" can be prohibited.

• If you have similar story arcs in your work (and you are not copying verbatim), nobody can prevent that either. This is not plagiarism, but it could be laid out as "uninspired" or "seen already before" or something like that by "critiques". But you certainly do not need to fear legal issues from it.

• You will violate copyright law or maybe trademark law if you use terms that are used inside the original work, which are protected by law in some countries (the famous TM behind those names indicate this). This might be true for all real company names or brand names (but in all countries also, I don't know). This also applies for protected intellectual properties (IP) like the universes of StarWars, Lord of the Rings, StarTrek, etc. You probably are not allowed to have a Luke Skywalker that is going to be a Jedi and live on Tatooine but then has some other adventures. Because the names and terms like Jedi and Lightsabre etc. are unique to this IP. If you have a guy that is named Luke Skyfeather and that is all the similarity in an otherwise different story and context, this would be fine. Same goes for characters that "coincidentally" start with the same letter, have the same gender and maybe live in the same time the original plays. You won't go to jail for that. This is more like a homage than a copyright violation.

• If you find a publisher later, they probably have people at hand that can check for legal issues with your script. But you should check/clarify any conditions in this regard before signing any contract! In this case seek help from a copyright law expert in your country!

Answer 2

Personally? I wouldn't worry about it. Take this with a grain of salt. I'm just a humble untrained author, so I've got the experience of a rutabaga with the legal system. However, I know the ropes at least a little! What I'd advise is to develop your story further. Let it mutate. Let it evolve. Eventually, it will drift, and with the source of all stories being within the narrow confines of human nature I believe it will eventually become distinct in its own right. Are you passionate about this story? Then you can make it work. For one, I might advise letting the characters grow a little outside their respective plots. Make backstories, side stories, sequels and prequels and alternate universes. Swap around their roles, genres, or personalities. Eventually, you'll see a healthy amount of distance start to form. If your interest is in growing away from the source material, I can attest that the above methods are excellent. If you'd rather stick to what you have, though, you'll likely still be in the clear as long as you're extra sure to add your own touch and tell your own story. Some of the most successful books on the market started as fanfictions! (Namely, "50 shades of grey" and "the love hypothesis". Not that I've read either, but it's been done.)

Answer 3

Although some works seem original, they all use inspiration from other works. Emulating other works is a great way to build skill. It's unfortunate that you feel it's not worth investing in the story. A story that is an emulation requires curation and sculpting. If you are not invested in working on your novel then you aren't invested in your work. A successful novel is not something that you plop out and publish. It takes a lot of work. A LOT of re-writes and sculpting. Use those other works as a framework. You can't just copy and paste themes and plots. You have to build around them. Morph them. Evolve them. That's what authorship is. What you've asked about is copy and pasting and aren't sure if you can tell the difference so you'll just give up and abandon your piece. I suggest you build it up.

Answer 4

You are not plagiarizing. That term is typically reserved for mon-fiction and academic works.

Since you state that your work is based on a copyrighted work and you are using some of that work’s characters without permission of the copyright holder, you are most likely infringing on their intellectual property. It doesn’t matter that you changed the names. If the vibe and story are recognizable as derivative works of a copyrighted work, you are infringing.

It’s no different than if you wrote your own Harry Potter Novel or musical. Changing the character’s name to Perry Hauter won’t work either.

But, if you are just inspired by the musical and you create an original work with your own plot and your own characters then you would most likely not be infringing.

On the whole, you should not focus on worries like this, and instead focus on writing your best story. It’s a common ‘fear’ that is almost always groundless. It’s often a form of self sabotage, justifying not writing