Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer
Books aren't anymore "set in stone". If someone comes up with the idea of a boy wizard who is the arch enemy of a dark wizard without a nose, and then I do the same plot , but set on a space station, the plot is the same but I've changed one component, similar to going from tube to transistor. The specific expression of a story is what the creator has a monopoly on, not all derivative works.
In any event, I'm really not following where we're even going with this argument, if it is an argument.
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I just meant that a piece of fiction is finished when it's written, edited and published unlike with an invention which can be improved upon usually. I do agree that ideas can't be patented though & that the same idea can be used in different stories. For example the idea of star crossed lovers from two different groups whose romance is doomed to tragedy. One plot idea two different stories (i.e. "Romeo and Juliet" & "West Side Story." One had two families in Verona Italy feuding and the other two Juvenile gangs feuding in New York City, but both used the same plot. But West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet aren't the same story. They have similarities but everyone knows that they are different tales. If you had Romeo working for Juliet's family in the big city it wouldn't be Shakespeare's play any more (IMO). It might be close, but if too much is changed it isn't what he wrote any longer.