Paranoia??

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Read this thread.

First, 99.9999999% people don't want to steal your shit, we've got our own shit.

Second, many beta readers fall silent and never speak to you again. They just do. That's why it's good to know who your beta is, and to trade work with them.

Yes, you probably are.

Or you can look at it this way: anyone who would try to steal someone else's artistic work is probably too lazy to go through all the hassles it takes to get something polished and published.

Paranoia is my middle name, but as for beta readers and WIP--I wouldn't worry. If someone were to take an idea, that's not a problem. Everyone's writing style is different.

Come up with one - just one- reason why you think anyone would want to pinch your's, mine, or anyone else's unfinished manuscript.

Yes- paranoia about one's masterpiece is not uncommon - but that's what it is.

The thing is that amongst writers the writing is contagious. Perhaps your critique partner saw your work and was inspired to write his own.

However, that does not relieve this person of getting back to you with feedback. Have you asked the person? Personally, I would ask that they return my manuscript.

As for whether they are lifting your work--I don't know. Most times this is not the case.

I think this is one of the reasons why I don't want to post any of my novel online, or get it "checked out" by anyone but a professional editor. I don't like the thought of someone else reading my book until it is completed and finished.

alleycat said:

Or you can look at it this way: anyone who would try to steal someone else's artistic work is probably too lazy to go through all the hassles it takes to get something polished and published.

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This.

I think it was Chuck Wendig who said this: "Don't worry too much about people stealing your ideas. You'll have other ideas. They won't."

In other words, what you've got--the thing that's really precious--can't be stolen. No one can take your creativity from you.

Just because you haven't heard from someone doesn't mean that they're copying your book. There could be any number of reasons.

I've yet to feel confident enough that my WIP is worth anyone stealing. Sometimes low self-esteem and abundant self doubt are a good thing!

Lurosa said:

Am I being paranoid that their sudden inspiration and silence can be because they are copying my book?

I am Italian, and I think we are born with paranoia

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It's possible. Plagiarism and copyright infringement are rare, but they do happen.

If Italy subscribes to the Berne Convention and other copyright treaties, you already own the copyright on your own work. Not that this will keep someone from stealing it. But if they publish, you can go after their publisher.

Do this:

1. Google your former collaborator by name and see what sort of creative work they're doing. It may happen that they've been copying the work of many other people.

2. Search for your own work being published under another name. To do this, Google on the title, and also on some distinct word sequences within the novel. For example, Googling on 'only found another orphan' will turn up many references to the American novel 'Moby Dick'. (It's actually the last four words of the novel.)

3. Since you're able to inquire about him through other people, use those people to trace his activities. Just say, you wanted to get a list of the books he's published. If you know the titles he's published, you can look them up on Amazon and Google.

Yes, you're paranoid, but I have had a beta fall off the face of the earth and resurface with some work that was eerily similar to mine. Lucky for her, the parts she was copying was the crappiest part of my novel. Also, she didn't rip me off on purpose, which was the scary part. I know this because she came to me asking for help.

katci13 said:

Yes, you're paranoid, but I have had a beta fall off the face of the earth and resurface with some work that was eerily similar to mine. Lucky for her, the parts she was copying was the crappiest part of my novel. Also, she didn't rip me off on purpose, which was the scary part. I know this because she came to me asking for help.

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It’s funny how the human brain works at times – one of my good friends once showed me a (non-writing) idea that, a year previously, I had discussed with her. She honestly believed that she’d come up with it all by herself and I think she would have been mortified if she’d realised what she’d done.

I think we’re all so used to absorbing ideas and experiences from the world, subtly modifying them and making them into something of our own, that sometimes it is very difficult to recognise the difference between being inspired and being completely unoriginal. Just think of how many beginning writers end up creating poor imitations of published books without even meaning to. Then we worry that someone might ‘steal’ our ideas without even considering that we might have done the exact same thing to a published writer.

It’s funny how quick lots of us are to take ownership of ideas that we’ve found rather than come up with all by ourselves. ‘I was writing a retelling of Persephone’s journey into the underworld so you can't, finders, keepers!’

My own, long-dead concerns about being robbed by other amateur writers usually came down to competitiveness and a bizarre territorial streak I never knew I had. I was worried that they’d take the same starting point as me but actually make something out of it when I couldn’t. It took years to realise that the people who are this influenced by other people’s ideas are rarely experienced enough to do them justice.

I'm of the firm belief that the idea fairy doesn't visit just one house a night. I know this is true because while my co-author and I were working on the fourth book or one of our series, we created a character with a unique look and surname. A book in another author's series came out about halfway through our book writing that contained a character with the same physical features and the same name. We hadn't told a soul about our plot or characters. Of course, we changed our character, since that's the way it works. The next time we saw the author, we laughed about it. Turns out it had happened to her as well, where she wound up being the one rewriting.

So being paranoid really doesn't help if even the (traitorous wench) idea fairies are against you. Just execute any idea that might wander off to another writer's computer better than they can, and there's no need to fear.

Cathy C said:

I'm of the firm belief that the idea fairy doesn't visit just one house a night. I know this is true because while my co-author and I were working on the fourth book or one of our series, we created a character with a unique look and surname. A book in another author's series came out about halfway through our book writing that contained a character with the same physical features and the same name. We hadn't told a soul about our plot or characters. Of course, we changed our character, since that's the way it works. The next time we saw the author, we laughed about it. Turns out it had happened to her as well, where she wound up being the one rewriting.

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The idea fairy xD

Actually, I can easily believe that. This goes across the artistic mediums and isn't restricted to just writers. I'm a professional musician, and I've written songs that sound awesome and great and I'm totally proud of them until someone comes along and laughs and says, "Nice rip off of the Beatles." I didn't even realize those were the same chords until someone pointed it out.

I think our creative minds are actually a lot more similar than we imagined. A lot of us are on the same page without realizing it.

I started a new book yesterday and the two main characters have the same first names as my two MC's of my WIP. Not only that, but their personalities are similar. One is a stone cold killer with nothing to loose and the other is a twisted murder, playing games with the CIA and FBI. Plop that in a fantasy setting and you've got something eerily similar to my WIP.

Cathy C said:

... if even the (traitorous wench) idea fairies are against you. Just execute any idea that might wander off ...

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[hefting axe]