I was curious, when you talk about your Vampire story happening before the Vampire boom, are you thinking of the Twilight boom (2005+) or the Vampire: The Masquerade boom (1991+) because I remember Vampire LARPing being fairly popular in the pacific northwest in the 90s (or at least popular among people I knew).
"You can’t copyright ideas; you can only copyright specific arrangements of words. If you could copyright ideas, every living SF writer would be paying a substantial royalty to Robert Heinlein.
So would a lot of other people. In his spare time Heinlein invented the waldo and the waterbed (and God knows what else), and he didn’t patent them either. (The first waldos were built by Nathan Woodruff at Brookhaven National Laboratories in 1945, three years after Heinlein described them for a few cents a word. As to the waterbed, see Expanded Universe.) In addition he helped design the spacesuit as we now know it."
I wrote the piece during the Anne Rice/Masquerade era, then the boom I mention is the Twilight/Vampire Diaries/Buffy/all those ones. That’s another reason why I don’t really count the Vampires—I’m more consciously involved with the trends in that case.
I was also inspired by the fact that I was starring in an aerial dance show called Theatre of the Vampires, between 1996-1998. A local group that gained popularity juuuuuuust before Cirque du Soleil became enormous. So there’s that, too. 🙄
All the ideas you mention are intricate, creative and original. But is there a word for an obvious idea that you should expect to be done by someone else? I remember someone from college being really upset when someone made a compilation of all the James Bond songs, thinking that it was his unique idea.
Very funny and sad and familiar - is there a word for that? But seriously, I think there’s this odd tension between creating really original ideas or fictional worlds and being derivative enough to draw an audience. Sometimes, the writers who really hook readers/gamers fast are just derivative enough not to turn off people with an unfamiliar idea. That’s Harry Potter, but it did take Rowling awhile to sell the first book, even though it was very derivative.
Isn’t most fantasy derivative, though? What opens it up is playing with the cultural tropes in a way Rowling didn’t do - Le Guin’s Earthsea, for sure, and I think of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians (the novel, not the book), another Wizard School riff (as well as Narnia), but more subversive.
BTW, I swear I read Mara, Daughter of the Nile, too, eons ago and was influenced by it, not to mention the Mary Stewart Merlin novels - loved those. Perhaps we share a brain? :-)
A funny, sympathetic read.
I was curious, when you talk about your Vampire story happening before the Vampire boom, are you thinking of the Twilight boom (2005+) or the Vampire: The Masquerade boom (1991+) because I remember Vampire LARPing being fairly popular in the pacific northwest in the 90s (or at least popular among people I knew).
I don't know if it makes it any better or not to think about Spider Robinson's comment about Heinlein ( https://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah-rah-r-a-h-by-spider-robinson/ ):
"You can’t copyright ideas; you can only copyright specific arrangements of words. If you could copyright ideas, every living SF writer would be paying a substantial royalty to Robert Heinlein.
So would a lot of other people. In his spare time Heinlein invented the waldo and the waterbed (and God knows what else), and he didn’t patent them either. (The first waldos were built by Nathan Woodruff at Brookhaven National Laboratories in 1945, three years after Heinlein described them for a few cents a word. As to the waterbed, see Expanded Universe.) In addition he helped design the spacesuit as we now know it."
I wrote the piece during the Anne Rice/Masquerade era, then the boom I mention is the Twilight/Vampire Diaries/Buffy/all those ones. That’s another reason why I don’t really count the Vampires—I’m more consciously involved with the trends in that case.
I was also inspired by the fact that I was starring in an aerial dance show called Theatre of the Vampires, between 1996-1998. A local group that gained popularity juuuuuuust before Cirque du Soleil became enormous. So there’s that, too. 🙄
That's funny, and impressive (we have a local circus group, including aerialists which seems to be doing well, but I haven't seen their performances).
Jenn,
All the ideas you mention are intricate, creative and original. But is there a word for an obvious idea that you should expect to be done by someone else? I remember someone from college being really upset when someone made a compilation of all the James Bond songs, thinking that it was his unique idea.
Yeah it’s hard to be an artist who’s tapped so deeply in the collective unconscious… 🙃
Very funny and sad and familiar - is there a word for that? But seriously, I think there’s this odd tension between creating really original ideas or fictional worlds and being derivative enough to draw an audience. Sometimes, the writers who really hook readers/gamers fast are just derivative enough not to turn off people with an unfamiliar idea. That’s Harry Potter, but it did take Rowling awhile to sell the first book, even though it was very derivative.
Isn’t most fantasy derivative, though? What opens it up is playing with the cultural tropes in a way Rowling didn’t do - Le Guin’s Earthsea, for sure, and I think of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians (the novel, not the book), another Wizard School riff (as well as Narnia), but more subversive.
BTW, I swear I read Mara, Daughter of the Nile, too, eons ago and was influenced by it, not to mention the Mary Stewart Merlin novels - loved those. Perhaps we share a brain? :-)
We certainly share taste!
Funny, sad, and familiar: I’m sure there is. There has to be.