David Seow's Blog, page 4

Same Ideas; Different Stories

We're all looking at the same image. What do you see? It's inevitable that some, no doubt, will have different conclusions of what it could be; others may have similar views.  But no matter what, the perception of each individual is uniquely his/her own and nothing can detract from that.




So what's the point of this? Well, I've been asked for advice about this over the years and recently, an aspiring author friend of mine called me with the same concern. He had finished his manuscript wanted to share it with a critique group but was worried that his idea might be stolen or plagiarised. I had to chuckle. He was calling from William Shakespeare's home town of Stratford Upon Avon, voicing his concerns about literary theft. The irony was not lost on me that  some conspiracy theorists have accused  Shakespeare of literally plagiarising the literary works of Christopher Marlowe.




Let me just say that plagiarism is an issue that should be taken seriously. Once your story is written, the IP belongs to you. However, can the idea for a story be stolen before it's written or published? For  example could an idea for a fantasy, Sci fi- romance or  even a biography be stolen? If that's one's fear, my suggestion is not to share the idea until you've written it into a story dated it, and emailed it to yourself or a lawyer if you want to engage one.

A well-respected award-winning author told me "Ideas are a dime a dozen. It's what you do with the idea that makes it your own." In other words, your story can be plagiarised but not the idea that inspired you.

When I was asked to make a pitch about a story, the US publisher asked me to name books that my story could be compared to. My answer was it was Harry Potter meets Narnia with a twist of Monkey King. While most of those pitching were given a local contact to submit their completed manuscripts. The publisher gave me his personal name card and asked me to contact him when the manuscript was finished.  You see, I stitched the concepts of wizardry, fantasy and myth  together to create my own original story (which I'm still writing). 





Ideas have been shared for generations upon generations. If the concept of touch screen phones had not been floating around years ago, we might not even have Samsung, Huawei or Apple products today.  We'd all be using the same products from the same brand. How boring! And without the concept of diary-themed books like The Diary of Adrian Mole or The Diary of a Wimpy Kid,  we might not have the bestselling The Diary of Amos Lee series. 



Or would we even have the charming Prince Bear, Pauper Bear by Emily Lim just because Mark Twain developed that concept into The Prince and the Pauper well over a hundred years before she was born.

Even for non-fiction books, dozens of books have been written about famous sportsmen, actors, politicians and even the royals (But more on that later).

I'll give you an example of this. After Joseph Schooling won the Olympic medal in 2016, I wrote to his parents for permission to write a book about his Olympic journey. Permission was duly granted and I started writing Race to Rio: Joseph Schooling goes for Olympic Gold. But what I did not know at the time was that Times Publishing was in the midst of  publishing their own biography,  From Kid to King  by Marc Lim and  illustrated by Darel Seow. Both books are about the same subject, but both are written in different styles. One in verse; the other in prose. So did I plagiarise the idea. No. 





Ask yourself, did Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica plagiarise Star Trek's concept of conflicts in space? If so would that mean Marvel copied DC's  idea of superheroes saving the world?  And I guess Mission: Impossible  would then be guilty of ripping off  the spy genre from James Bond? 

When Prince William married Kate Middleton, there were a few picture books about the royal couple, but when they came to Singapore I decided to write a book about them too. I don’t have sole ownership on the idea about writing for royals, but my take on the subject  was my own: a story about the royals visiting Singapore with a surprise twist.





When I heard that Meghan Markle had adopted a shelter dog, I wanted to do a story about her dog Guy, and wouldn’t you know it, two other authors had the same idea and they published their books. The Duchess and Guy and  His Royal Dogness, Guy the Beagle.  My story The Royal Pup Pack: Party at the Palace was published in 2019. But before any of us wrote our books, Aby King wrote her book The Adventures of a Royal Dog. Did  I plagiarise the idea of a book about royal dogs. Did the other authors too? Absolutely not. The idea was in the public domain and our stories are totally different.






Well, if your fear is having your ideas copied, then my only advice is not to share your stories with anyone. Don't join any critique group. Don’t write. Don’t get your work published. Because if you worry about having your ideas stolen before you've written anything, you are focused on the wrong thing entirely.  Then when your book is published you'll worry that someone will plagiarise it.  Don't fret about things that may or may not happen, just write.
Is your ultimate goal about getting fame and glory for yourself or producing a good story? A story that will be enjoyed by your readers. 

What should be your priority is getting out the best story you can produce. Writing critique groups will help you test out your story.
If someone wants to write a story with a similar concept, so what. Your finished product will be totally different. Your writing styles will be totally different.  That is the amazing thing about creativity. Like a rorschach test, the same image will elicit different perceptions, different stories. 

And even if that image inspires two different authors to write about the same subject, there's nothing wrong with that. There's enough room for everyone to share their stories about the topic in a public domain. How many books are there out there about Princess Diana, the Queen, and Donald Trump?  Different books on the same subject provides the readers with a broader perspective on the subject matter. 

One does not have the right to tell someone what they should or should not write about. Writing is about inclusivity, not exclusivity. Writing community is about give and take, share and share a like.  Once your story is written it's yours. Don't be afraid to share your ideas, you may get some new ones. 

Speaking of which, I just got an idea to do a book about my dog, just like so many authors who've written about their own dogs. Not a new idea, but what I do with it will make it fun and original.

And by the way, to me, the only original book that has ever been written is the Bible, and even then there are so many different versions of it that have been published by different publishers. 

Thank you Apple Store for a Great Session

Upcoming

The Royal Pup Pack:Party at the Palace

I've been a fan of the royal family since I was a little boy and I've written several stories about the royals since then. Some have been published; some haven't; and some are still percolating in my mind.

I was inspired to write the Royal Pup Pack: Party at the Palace in honour of Prince Louis' first birthday and Archie Harrison's arrival into the royal fold and the story's themes are about love, acceptance and kindness and it is meant to highlight the need to re-home abandoned shelter dogs.  

I've made donations from book sales to dog shelters here in Singapore. And I hope I will be able to help more. The book is available in e-book format on all platforms and will be available in bookstores in Singapore soon.

Welcome to Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor

Emma's Elephant: Saving the Slow Loris

About six years ago I published my story Emma's Elephant, a story about a young girl and her invisible elephant, Ella, who battle nefarious elephant poachers.

I've always wanted to do a follow-up book but the time was never right and I couldn't come up with a suitable storyline. 
That is until I met with my new publishers Pen International who wanted to do a series of books about animal conservation in SE Asia. 
We came up with a few story ideas and then we had find a good illustrator to redesign the characters for an Asian setting. And I found the very talented Mark Yong at the Singapore Game and Comic Con last year.

The road to publication hasn't been an easy one  -yes, I'm not an easy road to travel on (quite a grumpy and bumpy one) but we're still on track.
In our first story, Emma and Ella travel to Java to save the slow loris species from being illegally sold as pets.  Yes, they're extremely cute but they are wild animals and removing them from their habitat is incredibly cruel and inhumane. And as they have a toxic bite, animal traders remove their teeth so they can't bite their new owners. Please help stop this now!

Prayers for the Victims of the Sri Lanka Bombings

The senseless evil bombings in Sri Lanka and the shootings in the Mosques in New Zealand and the shooting in the synagogue in the US should remind us all that life is short, it is precious. Don't get upset about the small things. 

Peace xxx

The Royal Pup Pack: Party at the Palace

In honor of Prince Louis' first birthday and the impending royal arrival of Baby Sussex, Soefara Jafney and I are pleased to announce our next picture book The Royal Pup Pack: Party at the Palace will be released in April 2019 on all e-book platforms.

Coming soon...

Happy Chinese New Year