Do you ever share your ideas to other people?

[NiQuinn]

I came across a question similar to this one and it was asked by a person who couldn't understand why anybody would be hesitant talking about their ideas from their novel(s) to other people. For me, it's simple. Bad experience. Basically, it was like this for me:

I told someone an idea I had about a magic system I was working hard on and he seemed impressed. A few weeks later, I hear his friends talk about it and I find out he wrote it in his novel. When I confronted him about it, he said, "Then you shouldn't have told me about it then."

He made it sound as if it was my fault and that he thought I was giving him ideas he can work with. Ever since then, I don't share my ideas anymore.

---

That incident has left me paranoid and I don't share my ideas much to others. I don't mind sharing basic plot points, synopsis, and premise. The minute details, I always leave out even when asked about it.

How about you?

 

[FriendlyDragon]

Depends on the person. If I know they don't write then I don't feel bad just telling them ideas. If they do then I'll start feeling paranoid as well.

 

[ars]

That guy was scum. I can only hope that you keep using your magic system, and continue to develop it in a way that makes it many times better and more interesting than the other guy's imitation.

Being able to create something at the right time while drawing on the right influences so that you connect with the audience of today is what can help you create popular work, so I would definitely say that discussing work that you feel is 'fresh' and brings something new to the table should be something you do only with people you trust. It's sad to say that in the creative field, there will always be someone out there looking to turn your personal and experimental works into something for their own benefit. Thus, you should protect things like new concepts or ideas while you're still developing them.

However, there are always plenty of other things you can share with other people. For example, if what you're working on is something that would only be successful if you are the one making it, or something that isn't necessarily unique on paper, but which is made to be interesting and creative through the way you execute it.

Personally, I have a communication problem where I have great ideas in my head, but they sound incredibly boring if I tell them to other people. The actual creation turns out very well usually, but what this means is that even if I share my 'great ideas' to other people, they'll just say "Oh...' with disinterested faces, haha. So I don't usually bother telling people about the things I do or work on. The completed work can speak for itself, and if it's not completed, then it's only air that no one will be able to enjoy.

The fact that you were able to think up of something that another person considered worth stealing, and that was able to be interesting even in the hands of someone who didn't know as much about it as you did, shows that you were able to make something really great. So I hope you don't feel discouraged - I'm sure you'll have many more great ideas growing in your head, so just work hard to show them to the world

 

[c3ltic]

I share the ideas I'm not actually going to write. My head comes up with so many of them and some of them I could never do justice so I set them free.

But as far as the stories I am currently working on? I only share those with the people I trust. It's been awhile, but I once had a group of writer friends I didn't mind sharing with. We all wrote different genres and bouncing ideas around usually improved the story in multiple ways.

 

[Chiisutofupuru]

Do I share ideas?
Yes and no.
I would share more vague ideas because it wouldn't matter, if they did take the idea it wouldn't be quite the same as my own anyways. If anything, I could expand on my idea off of their twist of it :P

If it's something more specific and/or concrete, then I'd keep it to myself... even from friends because I wouldn't want to spoil anything :3

 

[Ai-chan]

I came across a question similar to this one and it was asked by a person who couldn't understand why anybody would be hesitant talking about their ideas from their novel(s) to other people. For me, it's simple. Bad experience. Basically, it was like this for me:

I told someone an idea I had about a magic system I was working hard on and he seemed impressed. A few weeks later, I hear his friends talk about it and I find out he wrote it in his novel. When I confronted him about it, he said, "Then you shouldn't have told me about it then."

He made it sound as if it was my fault and that he thought I was giving him ideas he can work with. Ever since then, I don't share my ideas anymore.

---

That incident has left me paranoid and I don't share my ideas much to others. I don't mind sharing basic plot points, synopsis, and premise. The minute details, I always leave out even when asked about it.

How about you?

Ai-chan has indeed shared my ideas with others before. Nobody bothers to steal them because they already have their own ideas about what to write. And if they don't have their own ideas, it's most likely because they don't plan on writing in the first place.

Ai-chan even offered several ideas to a beginner author who wanted to write fanfiction about a combination of different shianshia before. Despite Ai-chan offering to give him full story ideas, he never actually asked Ai-chan for those ideas.

 

[GDLiZy]

I only shared ideas that could be made into mini-series or one-shot. However, if I have confirmed to myself ( Usually multiple times. ) that I would not write it, I would share it to my fellow authors and see if any of them like my ideas.

 

[Deleted member 3803]

Yes, actually. While I won't share in-depth stuff I spend forever working before I put it up, I share little ideas all the time in my author's discord. Most of my ideas are too unique to be quickly added into someone's story, and require work and thinking outside the box to make them shine.

That said, I freely share them, and it's a two-way street. I give others ideas and feedback, they do the same for me. I've never had any problems with anyone trying to copy my ideas for themselves, since, as I said above, they're too unique and would be immediatly recognized as plagarization. (Minotaur Paladins, Canadian Hermaphrodites, Supervillam bounty hunters, etc, etc.) XD.

You seem to have had a sucky experience with a guy who wasn't your friend, and that's the kind of bullshit that makes you distrustful. Don't be. Chat with other authors, slowly open up to them, share with each other.

Just mah three cents, L.

 

[Alkaline]

I came across a question similar to this one and it was asked by a person who couldn't understand why anybody would be hesitant talking about their ideas from their novel(s) to other people. For me, it's simple. Bad experience. Basically, it was like this for me:

I told someone an idea I had about a magic system I was working hard on and he seemed impressed. A few weeks later, I hear his friends talk about it and I find out he wrote it in his novel. When I confronted him about it, he said, "Then you shouldn't have told me about it then."

He made it sound as if it was my fault and that he thought I was giving him ideas he can work with. Ever since then, I don't share my ideas anymore.

---

That incident has left me paranoid and I don't share my ideas much to others. I don't mind sharing basic plot points, synopsis, and premise. The minute details, I always leave out even when asked about it.

How about you?

More like your friend is untrustworthy than it is a bad idea to share ideas.

 

[Nahrenne]

I came across a question similar to this one and it was asked by a person who couldn't understand why anybody would be hesitant talking about their ideas from their novel(s) to other people. For me, it's simple. Bad experience. Basically, it was like this for me:

I told someone an idea I had about a magic system I was working hard on and he seemed impressed. A few weeks later, I hear his friends talk about it and I find out he wrote it in his novel. When I confronted him about it, he said, "Then you shouldn't have told me about it then."

He made it sound as if it was my fault and that he thought I was giving him ideas he can work with. Ever since then, I don't share my ideas anymore.

---

That incident has left me paranoid and I don't share my ideas much to others. I don't mind sharing basic plot points, synopsis, and premise. The minute details, I always leave out even when asked about it.

How about you?

*huggles*
That person wasn't a true friend, if they did that to you.

I share ideas if it is for stuff like roleplaying games, since sometimes bouncing ideas will make my character grow in a better direction/develop more fluidly.

I tend not to share detailed ideas about my stories since I then feel pressured and paranoid. That's more to do with me being paranoid in general due to personal experiences in social situations, though.

Hope you do well in your writing, and feel free to ask people for advice on ideas you may have. You can be vague about your idea and still share without giving vital parts away.

X

 

[Reaver]

I try not to bore people so I rarely talk about my ideas or fiction with others. If they show interest, I might talk about it a bit.

I've never worried about people 'stealing' my ideas.

 

[Ace_Arriande]

I'm personally against sharing ideas.

1. Because they might get stolen.

2. I read this in Stephen King's On Writing but can't find the exact quote for the life of me. Anyways, the passage basically came down to how, no matter how little you might talk about your story, you get a dopamine hit of sorts by sharing it - you get the satisfaction of sharing the idea with somebody which leads to less motivation to actually write the idea. He advocated for not sharing any details of the story with anybody until after it was already done, left in a drawer for three months, reread, and edited. That's a bit extreme, especially if you're writing a web serial, but I think the base logic is good. The more you share your ideas with others, the more satisfied you'll be in the short term, the less you'll be motivated to actually write those ideas, the less satisfied you'll be in the long term. There is plenty of evidence to support this, too, if you look around writing communities. As blunt as it might sound, there is very little overlap between people who are successfully completing their projects and people who spend time sharing and discussing their ideas (chronic worldbuilders are especially susceptible to this). Exceptions to the rule exist, but counting on being an exception is always risky.

At most, you should only ever share ideas that you never plan on writing and don't care if they are stolen or not, imo.

Everybody is different and has different things that work for them, of course, but those are the main reasons why I refuse to ever share any ideas with anybody before they're already on a page.

 

[gaylolis]

i find it pretty nice to share ideas, especially if the said person can be motivated enough to write them 'til the end.

that way i can just read things for free while they do all the work for me. writing stories is a lot of effort and since i'm lazy as hell it'd be a blessing instead of worrying 'bout stolen ideas.

some people even have to pay lots of money to commission stories. who wouldn't want free shit. if i can vouch for a bit of royalty just for that idea, i can even get money by doing nearly nothing.

 

[lazyredragon]

Well... let's break it down i like sharing book ideas because its fun but i dislike sharing my other works ie tech or software Dev because whoa people suck.
Its a conundrum because knowledge shared only grows but whatever shared risks being stolen.

 

[Arexio]

I've shared many writing ideas and listened to others' ideas on Discord.

I think if you're looking for feedback or someone to bounce stuff off of it helps sometimes to voice them out.

I don't think anyone would really want to take and use my ideas completely mainly because they're too weird or they have their own stuff to write about.

Oh yeah, and your "friend" is a d**chebag for doing that.

 

[Phantomheart]

I came across a question similar to this one and it was asked by a person who couldn't understand why anybody would be hesitant talking about their ideas from their novel(s) to other people. For me, it's simple. Bad experience. Basically, it was like this for me:

I told someone an idea I had about a magic system I was working hard on and he seemed impressed. A few weeks later, I hear his friends talk about it and I find out he wrote it in his novel. When I confronted him about it, he said, "Then you shouldn't have told me about it then."

He made it sound as if it was my fault and that he thought I was giving him ideas he can work with. Ever since then, I don't share my ideas anymore.

---

That incident has left me paranoid and I don't share my ideas much to others. I don't mind sharing basic plot points, synopsis, and premise. The minute details, I always leave out even when asked about it.

How about you?

I have had many similar circumstances, and it's even worse when writing fan fiction or inspired works such as transmigration or system novels. I told someone that I felt close to about an interesting plot point -- where the female lead in this instance would be betrayed by the (presumed) male lead and end up falling for the (presumed) supporting lead. This was going to be a central plot point in one of my original works, but next thing I knew, on their social media posts, they were bragging about this "whole new, original idea" of theirs, which centered around a similar female personality of my own protagonist and actually copied the synopsis that I had shared with them on google docs.

Now I fear talking to other authors about my own story ideas before I publish them, so now I make sure to have that section of a story ready to publish immediately after any conversation relating my books. I only talk about my story ideas casually now to people who don't write, only because my ideas get too complex for anyone to understand, so my friends who don't write just give me a shrug while I vent about this profound villain I'm crafting. Either that or I actually write plot equations for my chapter outlines, so that no one but me can understand the plot points I am trying to make. I'm a professional script editor and proofreader on the side, and I am still paranoid to this day to share any of my unpublished works to any of my colleagues just for a brief "looksie".

 

[UnknownSaint171]

I came across a question similar to this one and it was asked by a person who couldn't understand why anybody would be hesitant talking about their ideas from their novel(s) to other people. For me, it's simple. Bad experience. Basically, it was like this for me:

I told someone an idea I had about a magic system I was working hard on and he seemed impressed. A few weeks later, I hear his friends talk about it and I find out he wrote it in his novel. When I confronted him about it, he said, "Then you shouldn't have told me about it then."

He made it sound as if it was my fault and that he thought I was giving him ideas he can work with. Ever since then, I don't share my ideas anymore.

---

That incident has left me paranoid and I don't share my ideas much to others. I don't mind sharing basic plot points, synopsis, and premise. The minute details, I always leave out even when asked about it.

How about you?

Man that’s pretty a d*ck move on your friend. I’d only share ideas to a real-life friend and only after I’ve written it lol. Honestly I’ve seen writers on WebNovel taking the wait and see attitude and not putting their serious stuff out yet. I think people stealing work should is a big issue. But yeah I think staying low key and casual the best. Be humble lol

 

[AionSaturnia]

I sometimes do, if asked. My ideas are rarely used and I am unaware as to why. Perhaps fate wants me to write them, instead. I never did bother with magic systems, however. Perhaps they are considered of higher value that other story elements, causing more greed? I honestly do not understand the appeal, as realistic abilities are much more interesting to describe and consider than those with artificial limitations.

 

[Shizun]

Yep, best to never share ideas, unless it's an idea u would never use cuz theres a possibility that it exists somewhere.

 

[XianPiete]

Any time you write where someone else can read it, you are sharing your ideas. How many times have you read a novel on NU and realized it was basically copied scene for scene from another novel?