StrikerEZ Posted June 23, 2017 Report Share Posted June 23, 2017 Okay, so one thing I've noticed as I've read Sanderson's books is that him and I came up with lots of similar ideas. Long before I'd ever heard of Brandon Sanderson, I came up with several ideas that were part of the basic ideas behind some of his books (very arbitrarily, but still). I'm just going to list all the ideas that he 'stole' from me. The idea of a prophecy influenced by an evil force. I came up with this one years before I'd ever even heard of Brandon's books (though not before he published Mistborn, as I wasn't even five yet). It's actually one of the main ideas driving the world I've created, along with another one I'll get into next. Of course, Brandon's use of the evil force manipulating the prophecy was far more subtle than mine, and his evil force was way more limited in what it could do with the manipulation. The idea of some sort of corruption encroaching on the inhabitable land. This one was in the same world as the prophecy idea I had, though Brandon used it separately (in Liar of Partinel, though it's not quite canon yet). Of course, while the basic idea is very similar to his fainlife, my corruption is far more sinister and actually more deadly (in my opinion, though I'm sure some would disagree if I ever write the story). Another idea I had was to show a fantasy world progress through the ages. I've always felt so proud about how I'd never read or even heard of a fantasy book doing this, but then I found out that Brandon is doing just that. His Cognitive Realm is very similar to another idea of mine, with the whole idea of a person's soul/mind leaving their physical body when they die and enter this version of the world that's basically a shadow of the real world. I even had the ghosts in this realm eventually fade away to some great Beyond (though this was a much slower process than in the CR) and, just like Brandon's books, it was also possible to stay behind and even go back to the real world. Of course, returning seems to be a fairly common idea in books that involve some version of an afterlife. At least, ones that I've read. Also, the idea of this magic ability granted to people at random suddenly turning into this horrible curse and people who got this curse were shunned or deemed as unhonlh monsters, when, before the change, these people were very powerful, important, and almost considered holy. Another thing that's happened to me is that Brandon has definitely influenced my ideas a lot. He was actually the biggest influence for what i consider the starting point for my version of the Cosmere (even though this interconnected world idea didn't come until much later, when I discovered the Cosmere a long time after having read The Reckoners). He did inspire the idea that my books could be connected, but I'd already come up with an idea (based on his influence) that was leading me down that path anyway. The idea was a version of Earth where reality and physics decided to break, and all sorts of crazy things happened, which included gaining superpowers. This world wasn't heavily influenced by The Reckoners. When I discovered the Cosmere, it helped me push some elements of the world I was having a hard time with into a bigger universe. Anyway, has anyone else had this happen to them before, where an author 'steals' your idea or influences your ideas so much that you don't even realize until much later? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ammanas Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 On 6/23/2017 at 1:37 PM, StrikerEZ said: Another idea I had was to show a fantasy world progress through the ages. I've always felt so proud about how I'd never read or even heard of a fantasy book doing this, but then I found out that Brandon is doing just that. Another great fantasy series that does this is Garrett PI. It starts off as a city ruled by gangsters and you gradully see it become a strong police, law and order, society over the next 25 years or so. Also there is a war going on in the background, which eventually ends, and the hunans come back and find their jobs taken be magical folk which leads to riots and a lot of interesting stuff. Another great series is the Macht trilogy by Paul Kearney. It is a little subtle, but evidence points towards a group of people brought to a planet through a spaceship and left there with a remnant of alien technology (although you do not actually get to see this. The book takes place thousand of years after the fact). I realize that there could be many others (Riftwar series, Redwall series, Pillars of the Earth duology etc that do this and not in such a extreme way as Brandon is doing and still plan to do. I mention them in case you would find them interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C. M. Hayden Posted June 25, 2017 Report Share Posted June 25, 2017 (edited) They say ideas are a dime a dozen, execution is key! I remember I had an idea for an evil tree creature that could see the future. I even wrote a full novel (one was never published) that included him. Some years later, I read The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and got to the Cthaeh part... Edited June 25, 2017 by C. M. Hayden 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrikerEZ Posted June 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2017 You know, I've come to realize that maybe the fact that Brandon "stole" my book ideas isn't all that of a bad thing. You know, because, "Great minds think alike," and all that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolaDavar Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 I know that I had had the idea of a drawing magic systam, but then the Rithmatist happened. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+robardin Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 I definitely used to daydream about summoning and dismissing giant magic swords that could cut through anything. Like, since I was 10 years old. Which was quite a while ago. BRANDON YOU OWE ME, LOL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borio Singaldi Posted June 27, 2017 Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 This is my life. I started reading Sanderson books because I've had "original" ideas that I found out were already taken by him. I'd tell my dad about some of my story ideas and he'd give me this look of disbelief and say "You can't do that". I'd ask why, and he'd respond with something like "Read Mistborn" or "Read Elantris". Most notable is my "original" idea to have a series containing three different metal-based magic systems, with one of them being positive, one negative, and one somewhat neutral. I was shocked to find that Mistborn had already done that. I'm still going forward with that magic system idea, though I've had to make a few changes and I'll need to be careful about it. Another one was the idea of a magical phenomenon suddenly seizing a person and enhancing both their appearance and abilities, including changes such as changing their hair color to white. Then I read Elantris and realized that the altered physical appearance thing was a no-can-do, though I'm still sticking with the sudden strange magical phenomenon seizing people thing, considering it's one of the three metal-based magic systems I mentioned before. And now that I've read Sanderson's books, I've found that now some of my story ideas are still sharing connections with cosmere books, as if reading them is now influencing my ideas rather than my ideas coincidentally being related to them. On 6/24/2017 at 10:30 PM, StrikerEZ said: You know, I've come to realize that maybe the fact that Brandon "stole" my book ideas isn't all that of a bad thing. You know, because, "Great minds think alike," and all that. I agree so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedcomic Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 Eh... Eragon stole Harry Potter stole Star Wars stole Lord of the Rings stole etc. etc. etc. Same basic plot, same basic story, totally different experiences. Do your thing. Don't worry about if someone else has done it before. Yours will be different, because you're you. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrikerEZ Posted June 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 52 minutes ago, Fedcomic said: Eh... Eragon stole Harry Potter stole Star Wars stole Lord of the Rings stole etc. etc. etc. Same basic plot, same basic story, totally different experiences. Do your thing. Don't worry about if someone else has done it before. Yours will be different, because you're you. Ugh, I wish I could upvote you right now. Sadly, I'm out of upvotes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesh Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 Why are there so many fantasy books in the world? I have a different version of the same problem. I thin, oh, here's a good idea. Nope. School for kids to learn magic, taken. And quite a few others. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfa Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 Why am I feeling reminded of the Epilogue to the Way of Kings, where Wit muses about coming up with the right Idea at the right Time? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrikerEZ Posted July 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2017 4 hours ago, Alfa said: Why am I feeling reminded of the Epilogue to the Way of Kings, where Wit muses about coming up with the right Idea at the right Time? Thanks for mentioning that, have an upvote! That's basically how I feel right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfa Posted July 3, 2017 Report Share Posted July 3, 2017 7 hours ago, StrikerEZ said: Thanks for mentioning that, have an upvote! That's basically how I feel right now. You know, brandon seemingly stole your idea about this very thread... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrikerEZ Posted July 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2017 7 hours ago, Alfa said: You know, brandon seemingly stole your idea about this very thread... Aw come on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts