Guide: Acceptable Borrowing

writing-questions-answered:

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately asking if it’s okay to borrow from mythology or create alternate versions of people, places, or historical events. As all of this is a pretty standard part of fiction, I feel like maybe some wires are getting crossed about what things are acceptable to borrow and what things aren’t, so I thought I’d make a guide.

As writers, we are frequently inspired by the world around us, and sometimes we want to incorporate elements of the real world into our writing. Most of the time that is perfectly fine, but there are some cases when you shouldn’t. Let’s first look at things that are acceptable to borrow:

Acceptable Borrowing

1) Real Places

It’s absolutely fine to incorporate real places into your stories, whether they are neighborhoods, businesses, schools, towns, cities, states, countries, historical places, ancient civilizations, etc. The only thing you need to be careful about is when you’re dealing with businesses or other places that rely on their reputation to earn an income–say a local cake shop, the city zoo, or a shopping mall–you have to be careful not to make any false claims that they could claim damaged their reputation and their ability to earn an income. While it’s fine to have zombies take over your local mall, you probably wouldn’t want to claim that the zombie bacteria was spread by the mall’s dirty food court, or that the mall’s terrible security was responsible for the zombies getting out of the mall. If you did make this sort of claim about a real shopping mall, the odds are probably slim that they would care or even notice at all, but it’s so much better to skip it and avoid the risk of a lawsuit.

2) Historical Figures

Historical figures find their way into fiction all the time. Whether you’re telling a story about Abraham Lincoln being a vampire hunter, or are writing about Joan of Arc had she survived and time traveled to modern day New York City, the incorporation of historical figures into your fiction is absolutely acceptable. The main thing to avoid here would be romanticizing really bad people (or their terrible actions). The only exception would be when the person’s reputation or their actions are debatable in some way, in which case you might write about the possibility that they were innocent or somehow explain why they did what they did.

3) Historical Events

If you want to write a story that takes place during the Trojan War, as it happened, fictionalized, AU, or as inspiration for something completely fictional, go for it! No one owns historical events and most of the time you’re unlikely to offend anyone except maybe a few really picky history nerds. Just make sure your facts are accurate if you’re using the event in a real world/real history setting. Once again, the only time you have to be careful is if you’re writing about a tragic event. You wouldn’t want to set a love story on the sinking Titanic and gloss over or ignore all of the tragedy that occurred.

4) Mythology & Cultural Elements from Ancient, Long Gone Civilizations

Some ancient civilizations and cultures died out ages ago. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Celts, the Ancient Norse–these are all cultures and civilizations that no longer exist. So, you’re not going to offend any Ancient Romans if you incorporate their mythology into your story. And, because these cultures are no longer active (and also because most of them were large and dominant cultures), you can incorporate their cultural elements into your story without worrying about offending anyone. If you want your post-apocalyptic fantasy kingdom in Canada to wear togas or build pyramids, that’s absolutely fine. If you want to write a story about a human descendant of Zeus or Ra, go for it. Just make sure the culture/religion/civilization is no longer active. (See “cultural appropriation” below for more.)

5) Fairy Tales

Most fairy tales are centuries old and many are of anonymous origin. Even tales that were collected and re-written, such as those featured in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, are typically in the public domain. That means you are free to use them in your story in any way you want to. The main thing you have to be careful about here is fairy tales that have later versions, such as Disney movies. In that case, you have to be sure not to use elements that were created for a version that is still under copyright. For example, Disney’s Cinderella is still under copyright, so you could not include a cat named Lucifer in your re-telling of Cinderella, because that element belongs to Disney and not any public domain version of the tale.

6) Real People and Their Experiences, with Permission or Fictionalization

If you want to write your best friend and something that happened to her into your story, that’s fine as long as you have her permission. If you don’t have their permission, you can still create a fictionalized version of the person and/or events in your story. Just make sure there is no way that they or anyone else could recognize the person or situation.

7) Public Domain

Books, short stories, poetry, fairy tales, songs, TV shows, movies, video games, and artwork are all things that are copyrighted the moment they are committed to a medium, be it paper, a recording, a canvas, or a lump of clay. The rules vary from place to place, but in America, pretty much anything created before 1923 is in the public domain and is safe to use in any way you want. You can also mention the name and/or author of a copyrighted book, short story, poem, etc., such as saying that your character just finished reading  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or that your character was humming “Hotel California” by The Eagles.

8) Your Own Culture or Religion

If you belong to a particular culture or religion, it’s okay for you to incorporate elements from your religion or culture into your story. 

Unacceptable Borrowing

1) Cultural Appropriation

Cultural Appropriation is when one culture takes elements from another culture, especially when it’s a dominant culture taking from an oppressed culture. An example would be white people dressing up as Native Americans for Halloween, but it can also occur in writing, such as a white writer giving their white character a Polynesian name because it sounds cool, and not because their parents had a good reason, like naming their child after a friend or the place where the child was born. If you want to learn more about Cultural Appropriation and why it’s harmful, here’s a great primer. If you absolutely must incorporate elements from another culture into your story, make sure you do your research and do it respectfully, preferably under the advisement of an expert from that culture.

2) Anything Under Copyright

In America, books, short stories, poetry, fairy tales, songs, and artwork created after 1923 are under copyright protection, usually for the duration of the author’s life plus an additional 50-100 years, depending. You may need to research the laws where you are if you’re outside of America. You cannot use any element of a copyrighted property–not even a few lyrics, a few lines, or reference to a character, unless you have permission from the copyright holder. (Referencing Other Works in Fiction)

3) Real People and Their Experiences, without Their Permission

It is never okay to incorporate a real person or their experiences into your fictional story without their permission or without fictionalizing them beyond recognition. At the very least you run the risk of upsetting someone you know, and at the most you could open yourself up to a lawsuit for defamation or worse. This is as true of celebrities as it is of people you know. Although some people have apparently had success with publishing thinly veiled celebrity fan-fiction, it’s possible that they either had permission or are just very lucky not to have been sued. When it comes to real people and their experiences, it’s always best to err on the side of caution and get permission or go with fictionalization. (Using Real People as Characters)

4) Plagiarism

Although ideas themselves can’t be copyrighted, you still can’t plagiarize other works. If you read someone else’s novel or story online, it’s fine to be inspired by what they wrote, but you should never take their ideas and repackage them as your own. You also shouldn’t copy someone else’s writing or take their writing and claim it as your own. All of this is called plagiarism and it can get you into a lot of trouble, so just don’t do it.