Avoiding Plagiarism In Writing

Sally from Colorado, USA, contacted me with this question about avoiding plagiarism in writing:

"I'm 18 years old and all I know is from influence. I love writing but sometimes when I'm writing I feel as though I am stealing those ideas even though I have completely changed the idea around. Someone reading it could probably easily say "hey that sounds like something from (example) Batman", would that be plagiarism? I just don't understand the whole concept of plagiarism and getting an idea from another great idea."

The first thing to say, Sally, is that we are all influenced by novels we have read and writers we admire. Whether consciously or subconsciously, you can't help but show signs of the influences of others in your work.

Avoiding plagiarism, then, isn't about eliminating all traces of influence from your novel writing. In fact, if you read a lot of novel reviews, you always see this novelist being compared with that novelist or this plot with that plot.

What it is about is stopping short of deliberately stealing another writer's words and thoughts. Writing in the style of John Irving, say, is fine, as is writing a plot that was influenced by one of his plots. Irving, in turn, is influenced by Charles Dickens. What isn't fine is deliberate copying.

It sounds to me from your question, Sally, that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I believe that plagiarism in writing ultimately comes down to intent:

• If you set out to create an original work of fiction, full of your own thoughts and ideas and ways of structuring language, even if it is strongly influenced by another writer or another novel, you are not plagiarizing.
• If you steal a plot or ideas or language from another writer with no attempt to make those things your own, you will never make it in novel writing.

Harvey