As Picasso famously said, “Good artists borrow; great artists steal.” He wasn’t the first to say it, but that only proves his point, doesn’t it? In a post on The Script Lab blog, Britton Perelman agrees, saying every good writer should be a thief.
Caveat: We are not talking about plagiarism. That said…
“Creative thievery is art theft,” Perelman says. “It’s the act of being inspired by other works of art and stealing elements of that art to use in your own.” You’re not copying details but elements. A painting might inspire you to choose a certain color as symbolism or a recurring motif. You might use the structure of a story you love or the personality type of a great character.
“What differentiates creative stealing from plagiarism is transformation,” Perelman writes. “Though you may steal from another work of art, if you combine it with other things (things that were possibly also stolen), you’ll transform what was stolen into something else entirely. Creative thievery is the blending of inspirations, genres, and elements of existing art.”
Shakespeare stole stories and had his stolen in return. “Romeo and Juliet is based on a 1562 poem by Arthur Brooke titled ‘The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet,'” Perelman notes. “Brooke’s poem may or may not be the translation of an Italian novella, which may or may not be an adaptation of a French novella, which may or may not draw its roots in mythology.” And of course, the story of the star-crossed lovers has since been told and re-told in many forms.
So what should you steal? Take inspiration from what you love, Perelman says. Characters, stories, plot turns, scenes, imagery, color. “Start with a well-known character archetype or personality and combine it with other quirks and flaws until you’ve created an amalgam of a character that is someone entirely new,” she writes. “Use familiar settings for new scenes, or place familiar scenes in new settings.”
Don’t plagiarize. Steal.
