writers don't steal

Dear M: You said: Plus, you know: Writers don't sell "ideas." They sell the execution of ideas. Plus, you know: Writers don't get paid an obscene amount of money. Not the vast majority of us, anyway. Both very true statements. Liked the "They ell the execution of ideas" phrase very much. Thanks B.E.D.

Dear M: Was thinking of your "saving cat food costs" comment and I wondered with all the economic problems 90% of use are having - are we seeing the bad old days when it was rumored that people would buy cat food to eath because they could not afford real food? Dare I say "Food for Thought". B.E.D.

Yes, but it's entirely that a non-writer could steal your idea and get away with it. I'm a writer but I barely ever get ideas. They hit me absolutely randomly.

Writers may not steal ideas, but business people do, especially Hollywood business people. Of course, they wouldn't steal fan fiction because then the agents of the source material would jump all over them. Which leads to a different concern; are the writers of the original material going to be upset that you are posting fan fiction? I think it was Rowling herself who was initially willing to let regular people write fan fiction but her lawyers pointed out that Hollywood lawyers might make the case that the movies are fan fiction and she would lose royalties for any movie set in the Potter world that weren't her actual books. She'd still get royalties for movies based on her books, but if Hollywood put out a movie "Harry Potter and the Hangover of Doom" she'd get squat. At least, that was my understanding of the problem. I've written bits of fan fiction myself, so I understand the impluse to write it, but I don't post it online. It sets in my computer file, rarely shown to anyone at all. I agree that people with the Muse's blessing don't need other people's ideas. When people offer me an idea to write about, I smile in an offhanded way and tell them I'll think about it after I finish writing the next three novels I've already outlined.

I wish you'd tell comedians that writers dont steal. TECHNICALLY, a comedian is a writer. yet, the older I get, the more often I see thieves on stage. And they don't even hide it.