Plagurism and Tributes --the Difference

[derrick_mace]

Many people are confused about the difference between plagiarism and making tributes to works, and so was I, until inspiration struck me from the sky.

What was the difference between plagiarism and tributes?

Comments

[syntinen_laulu]

I am saying that using elements from another writer's story in your own works can be plagiarism if the elements form the plot.

It can be plagiarism, but it isn't always. It's possible to use story, characters, names and all, and that's legit* - IF you do something quite original and meaningful with that material. Classic examples of this are:
- Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, which is a backstory for "Jane Eyre" with Mr Rochester's mad West Indian wife as the heroine and Mr Rochester himself as a villain.
- John Gardner's Grendel, in which the Beowulf story is re-told from the POV of the neurotic, self-pitying but highly intelligent and witty monster.

Both of these are great and original works of literature, although both are unashamedly based on earlier great and original works.

* I mean legit in an artistic sense. You could be sued for doing it if the original book were still in copyright.