When Is A Story An Original Idea and When Is It A Copy?

I thought I had a bright idea. I published it and saw so many others like it. Was I stealing another’s brainstorm?

There’s nothing new under the sun. We all stand on someone else’s shoulders. Does that explain why we see so many similar stories on Medium? What’s the difference between an original idea, a riff on someone else’s rant, and outright copycatting?

A savvy writer could make a cottage industry out of writing articles on how to come up with material for articles.

Yet, no writer with an ounce of integrity will suggest plagiarizing someone else’s piece.

Out and out stealing happens, and with so many articles appearing every day, some unscrupulous writers manage to slip their contraband stories under the radar.

I just heard about a black hat practice called fast following.

I won’t go into detail lest I tempt you on a day when your imagination for new material fails you, but you can look it up.

You’ll also see the hive mind generating ideas. With some regularity, a certain topic juices up the feeds. One month it’s morning hacks. The next it’s riffs on how to nail an extra hour out of your busy day with a new type of meditation or yoga or journaling. Each of these stories are variations on a theme, though, giving a fresh look at the same topic. Each of them worth reading, even though they are in the same zone.

Do these writers’ imaginations feed off each other to keep them writing on the same topics?

Or, is there something in the culture outside of Medium that keeps these topics buzzing. These writers may keep their eyes on the hot blogs, websites, and newsfeed for their ideas, and they simply write about what’s important in the world at large.

Meeting the readers’ expectations is always a good business tactic.

If everyone in the outside world cares about widgets right now, then write about widgets. One writer will do a piece on the origin of widgets, another on the price of widgets, or the cost of tariffs on widgets. Who has the most widgets, and the risk of putting all your widgets in one basket. When all else fails, write about the scarcity of widgets and create a panic in the markets.

Often a piece will stimulate our thoughts, and we’ll write a companion article as it were, giving our take on the subject. An ethical writer will acknowledge the source.

Likely you could come up with other ways duplicate or similar content appears on this site, but these are a few that stand out for me.

Why is this topic consuming me today when I need to get busy writing my own original content? Funny you should ask.

I had an embarrassing moment the other day.

A reader made a comment on one of my articles I had considered original material. I had done some research, even including articles that bolstered several of my points. I confess to a little back-patting at what I thought was a creative idea.

Imagine my surprise when she said she’d written an almost identical piece. She kindly complimented my article and left a link to hers.

I read her article and wished I could have withdrawn mine.

Hers was far superior, I thought, and I said as much in my comments. We seem to have a mutual admiration society as we’ve remained friends, no real harm done, but I admit, I was embarrassed. Would readers think I had copied her idea?

I proceeded to research another article on writing tips, using popular writers as exemplars. And OMG, one of the thought leaders I’d chosen to spotlight had also written a similar topic not so long ago. WTAF?

All of that led to these ruminations.

I hadn’t read either of those two pieces. But after discovering the articles similar to mine, I did a belated search on Medium for other pieces on the same subject. It turns out I’m not as original as I thought. I won’t tell you how many people have written on the same subject in the past few years.

I haven’t read each of the pieces to know who is stealing from whom and which writers engage in fast following or just happen to have the same brainstorm at the same time. But this experience has raised several questions for me.

What is the right way to approach an idea for a story?

Should we do a title search on Medium to see if someone else has gotten there first? Or is Medium still the wild west and all real estate is up for grabs?

Medium has its own TOS. Plagiarism is definitely a cause for banishment. But apart from openly scammy and scummy behavior, what should guide us as we post our articles and reach out for readers and attempt to carve our individual voice and niche?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m an editor and writer on Medium with Top Writer status in Writing, Psychology, This Happened to Me, Food and Cooking. I’m also an editor for the publication, Rogues Gallery. I’ve published 55 titles on Amazon and edit fiction and nonfiction for private clients. If you’d like to hire me as your editor, please contact me here. If you’d like to read more of my stories and tips for success on Medium, click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ll make sure you don’t miss a word. Thank you for reading.