Questions tagged [copying]
This tag should be used for questions that are related to the act of copying something from someone else, for example to enhance your own document. This is often related to legal questions about copyright, but could also be used for example to ask about copying from your own works. When using this tag the mechanical act of copying verbatim should be an essential part of your question.
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Can I use more specific monsters and creatures legally?
To be specific, metallic or chromatic dragons for an example. I know mindflayers and beholders and such are way off the list. But is the concept of dragons in distinct categories like this too similar ...
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How long and/or big can a reference be?
In my story, there is a sidestory and character arc for a minor supporting character. Due to a war happening in the fantasy world, the character is drafted into the military, and is sent through basic ...
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What can I do so my work isn't closely similar to others?
I'm writing romance right now. I'm on the part where it's like a really good poem or a scene. You know, the one where you'll see it posted/quoted everywhere in Instagram or some other, but everything ...
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What is the point of creating original content when it's just stolen immediately? [closed]
I stopped writing articles long ago now because as soon as it was published, it was copied by bots and published on ad-filled webpages which instantly started showed up above my original page in ...
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What resources can I use to be 100% assured that my story is not too similar/plagarising already existing works?
I've been worrying about this for quite a long time.
So, for the past year or so, I've been working hard on a story I'm very passionate about. My biggest concern of them all is copyright issues.
I'm ...
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Does the fact that an old work was republished later affect the public domain status?
I want to use large excerpts from an old book in the textbook I am writing (e.g. 500-1000 word chunks at a time taken). These will serve as primary sources for the students to analyze.
The first ...
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What can be the guideline for modifying quote?
God does not play roulette
— Albert Einstein
There are cases that I feel like a change in the original quote would make it more rhythm, poetic, or reflect the spirit of the quote better. How should I ...
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Is it a copyright infringement if I include a magical newspaper with moving pictures in my novel? [duplicate]
I want to add a magical newspaper in my novel. In the newspaper, all the images are moving, like the newspapers in Harry Potter.
Is it copyright infringement for me to include a newspaper with moving ...
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May I copy some paragraphs of other writers as examples? [duplicate]
I’m a Spain-based writing tutor and I’m currently working on a writing guide. I’d like to quote well known writers as examples, which means include some paragraphs of such authors. Is there any ...
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Are wands in any sort of book going to be too much like Harry Potter?
I am trying to write a magical system, and I love the way that wands are like gunfire and how you flick and attack and it's instant. No weird hand movements or long unwieldy staffs or canes to use.
...
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Using words from another book
So, I thankfully own a video-game history book which I anticipate using to write, rather, a Christian, family-friendly account of this subject. To be clear, I'm not going to be rephrasing from the ...
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of copying writing styles?
I come from a non-native English speaking country and, from my own analysis, I will say I have an intermediate level English fluency (IELTS score 7). Some of the articles on my blog were chosen by an ...
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Universe similar to Transformers
I have in mind a story that would be about a transforming robots like Transformers, but with slightly different origins of their creation and what they're really are.
I'm a bit afraid of using ...
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"Stealing" jokes
In one of my stories, I have a character who is a bit of a smart ass, always cracking jokes at the expense of others and sometimes even himself. I often get inspired by things I find on the internet ...
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Can I copy an existing magic system?
Is it fine for me to copy the magic system of another author if every other aspect (story,plot,etc.) of my fantasy story is my own design? For instance, can I use bending from Avatar: The Last ...
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If a software project has a permissive open source license is it plagarism to copy text to a paper without attribution?
Many open source software projects have licenses that allow freely copying source code and using it however you want. Some of these licenses do not even require attribution. Source code is just text ...
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Do writers copy other writers?
Good artists copy; great artists steal.
This famous Picasso quote often reminds me that the best artworks are rather a mix of many other artworks instead of something completely new. Walt Disney ...
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Am I copying an idea too closely?
I guess this is a question about inspiration versus copying. I recently came across a story that really gripped me both with the inspiration for an idea and at the same time a doubt I could ever write ...
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Citing someone's work, copying and pasting fragment. Is that OK?
I found the original manuscript of a very celebrated English botanist on the internet (in pdf format of course) Here it is:
http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/pdfs/dws/Brownian.pdf
The reason is that in ...
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Using ideas from other authors without infringing copyright
My girlfriend and I want to write a story about science fiction. I'm a fan of Star Wars, and many of the ideas in this universe are fantastic, but I do not want to plagiarize anyone.
Is there any way ...
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