By John Ramsey Miller

With the most recent lawsuit against J.K. Rowling for situational and character theft, I’ve been thinking about the theft of story ideas or characters.

My novel THE LAST FAMILY was once obviously plagiarized. Lots of people who were unfortunate enough to notice it and many called for me with instructions to get a lawyer and sue their pants off. It’s been a few years since that happened, and truthfully I don’t even remember the name of the series. I only remember that it was another tossed-together-lackluster-ensemble cop show on TNT or some other cable network. I only watched it because someone who was incensed recorded it and sent me the VHS. The fact is that I didn’t consider suing, or even much care. I was absolutely astounded that the teleplay author was so devoid of ideas, and desperate, that he lifted parts of my novel, and didn’t even change the main character’s name. The character’s mother was both amorously inclined and inappropriate with her young son, Martin Fletcher, in my book as he was in the TV show. Racy stuff and one for which I received much grief from prudish readers at the time. The TV series was that was such a stenched-up load of crab crap that it died mercifully after one ho-hum season. I doubt there was one letter of protest. I know I did not generate one.And I adore bad television. I chose to see it a form of homage to what I believe was a decently written first novel.

There is thievery in the world––in every field of endeavor––but in thruth most of it is accidental or coincidental. Two people can have the same idea and write very similar characters, situations, descriptions, inventions, etc… There is an old saying––perhaps an English author of plays said it best––that there’s nothing new under the sun, and it’s true. Could I write a book about wizards without wands, spells, oddballish characters? No. In England people use trains to travel, so wouldn’t it follow that young witches and wizards going off to boarding schools in England might involve train travel? Of the thousands of authors who’ve written about the subject over the centuries, how many have put wizards and train travel together, or flying on brooms, or casting spells, or called one by a certain name like Megamorte or Lord Infamil, or Grunhildabrande Lewis-Smithe Jones?

If the offending teleplay author had made my work better, I’d have been more flattered, but he merely had a character with the same name as mine and the same “unsavory”boy-meets-mama backstory that made him the horrific individual he became, and he dropped the poor man into an “alien-to-me” story that sucked frozen honey through a paper straw. I suspect the “idea” for the character and backstory came to the author via a “I’m-just-brainstorming-here” producer who’d read my book (or more likely heard about it from someone who had talked to someone who’d read some studio-reader’s coverage of it) and suggested the writer(s) incorporate his creative inspiration into the screenplay. In my experience, in dealing with Hollywood, the actual story and finished film is far less important than the placement of the credit and the checks it generates before hitting the screen. Writers can and will destroy perfectly good stories by taking even a modicum of direction from producers whose creativity runs to keeping up with which vehicle or cell phone is “in” this week. I can’t adequately portray in words how I feel about the integrity of producers in Hollywood. I’ll just say that, with a few shining examples to the contrary, that superficiality, betrayal, and limitless greed is the lifeblood of the film industry.

We are all telling variations of the same few stories that other people have ben telling since they grew imaginations and needed something to do to keep people gathered around the fire, or the children quiet, or keep the crowd from throwing heavy fruits at the stage. It is invariable that someone will step on your toes, or you on theirs without intending to do so, or knowing it is happening. Everything we see, hear, read, taste, or feel is shared by others and imagination is not exclusive or running on a separate and unique channel. I suppose I could have sued the producer or teleplay author, but that would mean I lost something real, and I didn’t see it that way. If that had ben a film that made millions, would I feel differently? No. That doesn’t mean I might not have been more tempted to sue since it would generate sales of my book for comparison purposes. I think the world is lawsuit happy, and I also think there are too few people with ideas and integrity.

Come on, I’ll have more ideas and better ones, I’m sure. I get upset when one of my children or grandchildren is sick or in trouble, but seeing my words or ideas regurgitated somewhere else isn’t worth a second thought. If someone wants to steal my words or thoughts, that is their ethical problem, not mine.

As authors, we can only write our stories and characters as we imagine them, and, heaven help us, if someone else out there imagined parts of it into their own, that’s just the way it is. I say get over it and go write another character or story worth somebody actually stealing because they can’t do what I can, or are too lazy to turn on their thinker. Life is filled with disappointments and heartache, and how you deal with them is what makes you who you are.