I know it's impossible to protect/copyright ideas but I have to wonder..

Is there a point when having the same idea incorporated into what you write that it becomes uh... copy-cat-ish?

I was reading over the screenplay I'm working on and I can honestly say I didn't take anything from anything but there are some surprising similarities to a few stories which was honestly never intended, it's weird they ever came up since it's been a while since I've read what the similarities come from... I might end up changing some of it a bit so it doesn't seem so similar...

A few small examples would be...
-The relationship between dragons and their masters, they can communicate telepathically no matter how far they are from each other... This is similar to Eragon in a way... (Is there any other books where Dragons/masters have that sort of thing?)
-The main guy, Miles seems to be similar to Harry Potter, his parents were killed when he was a kid (About 3), by the antagonist who tries to kill Miles but baby Miles had a protection charm protecting him (placed by his mother) which makes the curse backfire onto the antagonist who needs to take time to 'regenerate', so to say...
Oh, and he had spent from the time his parents died till he was old enough to become a squire at an orphanage where he got very little affection...

Well in Eragon the communication between Rider and Dragon is restricted by distance. Further away they are from eachother the harder it becomes to communicate until the point where they can't.

Hmm thats definitely very similar. Personally I would drop the whole Antagonist trying to kill Miles and it backfiring. While your right, ideas can't be copyrighted, it doesn't mean it can't get old and sort of boring. In fact Eragon has gotten alot of hate because of its similarities between it and Star Wars.

So I would just drop the whole backfiring to kill Miles. Hell I would put into question as to whether or not he should be an orphan. Why do Protaganist in Fantasy need to be Orphans?

What you could do is that Miles is seperated from his Parents, is sold off as a slave,(optional) and later finds himself in an orphanage and then whatever.

Actually come to think of it. The Slave Girl is pretty much that, except she actually is an orphan. Lol wtf? xD

Now if you want your Big Bad to Regenerate thats fine. But find some other means to have him destroyed. Because again it does sound way to much like Harry Potter. In fact it sounds like a Harry Potter/Eragon.

Of course now I feel obligated to post this:

Cogito:

A story concept means nothing. I can tell you now, it has all been done before. What matters is how you write it, the characterization, the flow, the imagery, all of it.

There's no benefit in asking what other people think of the concept! They'll either say,"Sounds great," or, "it sounds like a ripoff of..."

If the idea stirs you, write it. Then ask people what they think of the final story. After they tell you what they don't like about it, revise it, usually several times, until you're happy with it or until you throw up your hands and say the hell with it.

Please read What is Plot Creation and Development?

Don't write by committee. Develop your story and start writing YOUR story, not a consensus story. You'll make mistakes, but that's what revision passes are for.

Sometimes I feel sorry for that man, you wouldn't believe how many times he has to post this. Well it helps that its a template post or one of them. But still...

Anyways I would go through these 'cliches' and see if you can't rework them or drop them. While what Cogito says is correct, it can go terribly wrong if not handled correctly.

It would probably not make much sense to make Miles get separated from his parents becoming a slave, especially considering he's the prince of the kingdom that's been conquered/fighting for it's freedom... The assassination of his parents is pretty much what brought the kingdom down... The regeneration of the antagonist also adds to the overall story too...

Wonder what I can do to make it not so like HP and sound/look good... *thinks* Guess I should be thankful that that's really the only real similarity to Harry Potter, all I have to do is find a better way to get the same outcome...

Ooh! Maybe his mom knows their in danger and transports him away to safety before the antagonist can do anything and when he kills the parents there's a huge explosion that nearly kills him...

I love that these details aren't given till near the end...

If he is a Prince, then how the hell does he end up in an orphanage to begin with?

I am also going to take a wild stab in the dark... he has no idea he is a Prince until later. In fact, I doubt the viewers will be aware of this little info until later. If this is the case, I would strongly suggest rewriting it. Might want to google Fantasy Cliches and read what readers of fantasy are tired of seeing done in fiction.

That I'm not sure of... Mainly because I'm not sure where else a very young prince would go when there's no more family or uh... Yeah, I'm rewriting it as I edit it.... (Excuse my tiredness, I lack sleep! )

And the viewers become aware that he's the prince relatively early on... Well, about 14 minutes in...

melissa052 wrote:Is there a point when having the same idea incorporated into what you write that it becomes uh... copy-cat-ish?

Yup. Of course there are ways to avoid this. Like becoming more successful then the original. Like for example Star Wars

I was reading over the screenplay I'm working on and I can honestly say I didn't take anything from anything but there are some surprising similarities to a few stories which was honestly never intended, it's weird they ever came up since it's been a while since I've read what the similarities come from... I might end up changing some of it a bit so it doesn't seem so similar...

This is called Cryptomnesia also known as alled subconscious plagiarism. Essentially your brains screws up. It remembers an event or an idea but not it's origin if I remember right

A few small examples would be...
-The relationship between dragons and their masters, they can communicate telepathically no matter how far they are from each other... This is similar to Eragon in a way... (Is there any other books where Dragons/masters have that sort of thing?)

Not much of a problem. Eragon is pretty much irrelevant to the mainstream. However Dragons =lots of CGI cash which lowers the chances of someone buying your script

-The main guy, Miles seems to be similar to Harry Potter, his parents were killed when he was a kid (About 3), by the antagonist who tries to kill Miles but baby Miles had a protection charm protecting him (placed by his mother) which makes the curse backfire onto the antagonist who needs to take time to 'regenerate', so to say...
Oh, and he had spent from the time his parents died till he was old enough to become a squire at an orphanage where he got very little affection...

Huge huge problem. No matter how good it turns out to be everyone will focus on this. Try something different. Like for example the antagonist trying to kill Miles parents but they successfully fight him off. Then Miles himself kills his parents but his mind can't handle this so he represses this memory and believes that the antagonist kills them

Ooh! Maybe his mom knows their in danger and transports him away to safety before the antagonist can do anything and when he kills the parents there's a huge explosion that nearly kills him..

It's not unusual for VIP to have a doppelganger in case of dangerous situations(think new star wars the queen and the handmaiden) Bad guy could have killed the impersonator and the real Miles being whisked off somewhere safe so nobody knows about him. Then you can easily have the guardians of the real Miles slaughtered on the the journey and someone else maybe not even someoen good taking in the child. Children were were often used for manual labour so you can have some assholes taking him in. This would also be a good set up on why he would make a good warrior or whatever in the future. Backbreaking labor can make you really strong

I know you do not like me, but I will give you this info anyhow, in case you want to know it. Anne McCaffery came out with a telepathic dragon series before Eragon was written.

This is called Cryptomnesia also known as alled subconscious plagiarism. Essentially your brains screws up. It remembers an event or an idea but not it's origin if I remember right

Interesting...

Not much of a problem. Eragon is pretty much irrelevant to the mainstream. However Dragons =lots of CGI cash which lowers the chances of someone buying your script

And that, my friend, is why I wouldn't be selling it on my own but through an agent! Assuming I can find an agent....

It's not unusual for VIP to have a doppelganger in case of dangerous situations(think new star wars the queen and the handmaiden) Bad guy could have killed the impersonator and the real Miles being whisked off somewhere safe so nobody knows about him. Then you can easily have the guardians of the real Miles slaughtered on the the journey and someone else maybe not even someoen good taking in the child. Children were were often used for manual labour so you can have some assholes taking him in. This would also be a good set up on why he would make a good warrior or whatever in the future. Backbreaking labor can make you really strong

Have I ever mentioned that I love you? That's an excellent back up background for Miles!

I know you do not like me, but I will give you this info anyhow, in case you want to know it. Anne McCaffery came out with a telepathic dragon series before Eragon was written.

Really? Maybe I should check them out... After I finish this, of course, I don't need any more Cryptomnesia sneaking up on me!

I think the writer of Eragon took his idea from Anne.

Anne McCaffery is the writer but she is now dead. (Darn it all)

They are FABULOUS!!!!!!!!! There are a dozen or more in the series I believe.

Original trilogy
Dragonflight (1968; composed in part of McCaffrey's first two Pern novellas, Weyr Search and Dragonrider, originally published in 1967)
Dragonquest (1970)
The White Dragon (1978; although published prior to Dragondrums, The White Dragon continues the adventures of certain Dragondrums characters; McCaffrey recommends reading Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums before The White Dragon; The White Dragon incorporates McCaffrey's story "A Time When")
Harper Hall trilogy
Later collected in an omnibus edition. These stories take place immediately prior to and concurrently with those depicted in Dragonquest and The White Dragon.
Dragonsong (1976)
Dragonsinger (1977)
Dragondrums (1979)
[edit]Other novels and anthologies
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983; both this and Nerilka's Story are set at the end of the Sixth Pass, centuries before the events in Dragonflight)
Nerilka's Story (1986)
Dragonsdawn (1988; first in chronological order, depicts the colonization of Pern, the First Fall of Thread, the creation of the dragons, and the colonists' move north.)
"The Impression" (1989; short story included in The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern)
The Renegades of Pern (1989)
All the Weyrs of Pern (1991)
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993, anthology set mostly after Dragonsdawn)
"The Survey: P.E.R.N." (originally published in 1993 as "The P.E.R.N. Survey")
"The Dolphins' Bell" (originally published in 1993)
"The Ford of Red Hanrahan"
"The Second Weyr"
"Rescue Run" (originally published in 1992)
The Dolphins of Pern (1994)
Red Star Rising (1997) (called Dragonseye for U.S. release; set at the beginning of the Second Pass)
The Masterharper of Pern (1998; prequel to Dragonflight and the other works of the Ninth Pass)
The Skies of Pern (2001)
A Gift of Dragons (2002 anthology collecting previously published stories and a new story)
"The Smallest Dragonboy" (1973; short story previously collected in Get Off the Unicorn)
"The Girl Who Heard Dragons" (1986; short story collected in both The Girl Who Heard Dragons and A Gift of Dragons)
"Runner of Pern" (1998 novella set, like Masterharper of Pern, some time before the events of Dragonflight; collected in Legends and A Gift of Dragons)
"Ever the Twain" (2002 short story original to A Gift of Dragons; time period unclear)
"Beyond Between" (2003 short story in Legends II: Short Novels By the Masters of Modern Fantasy, Robert Silverberg, ed.; set after the events of Moreta)
Books written with/by Todd McCaffrey
Dragon's Kin (2003, with Todd McCaffrey; set prior to the Third Pass)
Dragon's Fire (2006, with Todd McCaffrey; set after "Dragon's Kin")
Dragon Harper (December 2007, with Todd McCaffrey; set after "Dragon's Fire" )
Dragonsblood (2005, written by Todd McCaffrey; Set after "Dragon's Harper" but also several years after "Dragonsdawn" in Pern Series)
Dragonheart (November 2008, written by Todd McCaffrey)
Dragongirl (July 2010, Sequel to Dragonheart, written by Todd McCaffrey)[1]

She also did another interesting series called the "Crystal Singer" series, which I also love.