Can you plagiarize yourself?

[brightrosefox]

I just had a very interesting inspiration for either this novel in progress or one to be written later: My fanfics. I've written several Ninja Turtles fics (Cold Fire, Ashes To Ashes, Fire In The Heart), and I decided I could clip scenes and dialogue and of course change names and places, etc. I figure that if I wrote them, I can use them right? Although, would that be some sort of unofficial copyright infringement on myself? *grin*

Then again, I have yet to finish everything but "Ashes". Isn't that sad? How many years has it been? (Oh, by the way, Renet... how are your TMNT fics coming? *big grin*)

Dawn, m'dear... I hate to bug you... but I need "Ashes To Ashes". That was the main story that came to me. It might be ideal for the Dana/Ian and Kara/Thomas stuff. I know it'll be a while till you update your site, but can you email me the files?

And now, because I can:

 

Ian opened his eyes. Someone was shaking him roughly. He reached up and caught a wrist that was very close to his face.

     Thomas jerked back slightly, his features blurring into view. “What happened?” he asked.

     With a groan, Ian pushed himself up on the couch arm. “You tell me.”

     His brother was shaking his head. “I have no clue. Something slammed into me. I fell. Something got past my shields.”

     Ian gazed at him, slightly incredulous. “Is it safe for me to say ‘oh shit’ now, or should we wait to panic?”

     Tom shook his head. “My mistake. I wasn’t concentrating. Look, I may be good at defense, but this is our house, Ian. Nothing gets in here. I relax in here. I’ve watched you relax, and you have a hell of a lot more raw power than I do. Which means that we’ve been found out again.”

     This time, Ian sat up all the way and let his head drop into his hands. “Fuck,” he whispered.

     His brother touched his shoulder. “Yeah.”

     “By the way,” Ian murmured. “You better not start doubting yourself now. Not when we’ve got Kara and Dana.”

     There was a pause. “I’m not.”

     “Good. Keep it that way. I’m not uprooting and changing our lives again just because you decide to skew our balance.”

     He heard Tom open and close his mouth, then murmur in agreement. Thomas was exactly two minutes younger than him—in fact, they had just celebrated their twenty-fourth birthday last month—and sometimes Ian wondered just how much talent had been equally distributed. They were identical in energy signatures and degrees of talent; just at different ends of the spectrum. They were both risk-takers, death-cheaters, knowing that the circumstances of their births and their lives had given them a charmed existence. Ian had his fair share of scars. Tom’s were less physical and more mental, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Ian was stronger in offense, he knew, but Thomas was better at defense. The fact that neither of them had seen this attack coming made him wonder if moving back here had been the right thing to do. The family had moved a lot since Ian and Thomas were fourteen, since their parents had found out about their sons’ tendencies to attract psychic animosity. It had taken Thomas a lot of convincing to reassure mom and dad that he and Ian would be safer on their own. Ian had not argued; he’d been looking forward to this amount of freedom for a long time.

     In the silence, he lifted his head and caught his brother watching him. He blinked.

     Thomas didn’t break his gaze. You’re worried about them. Dana and Kara.

     Ian shifted his eyes. What makes you say that?

    His mouth a thin line, Thomas stood up and sat on the couch. “Just before I got hit, Dana’s face flashed in front of me..”

     “Okay. And?”

     Thomas let out a soft breath. “I would imagine the things that’ve been chasing us would want to go after someone new…someone we care about.”

     Ian’s eyes narrowed. “Then we’ll just have to kill them a little quicker.”

     “If that’s possible.”

     “It’s possible.” Ian pressed his fingers to his eyes.

     “Your eyes changed,” Thomas noted lightly, and he nodded. They always did, when he was concentrating; from a deep blue-gray and gold to cobalt and fire.

     “Don’t you dare trance out on me,” Thomas growled from far off. He watched the other boy’s lips move, heard sound, but not with his ears. Air seemed to shiver and solidify around him. He snapped himself awake.

     “Not unless I have to,” he said, and grinned.

     “Can’t argue with that,” Thomas sighed. “Stay there. I’ll get you some food.”

     “Why?”

     “Because I know you, and every time you stave off any sort of attack, you need food and decided you really don’t want it, and then I have you yell at you because mom and dad aren’t around to.”

     Ian held up his hands. “Fair enough.”

 

Comments

[morningstar4.livejournal.com]

Eep! I'm sorry!!! You keep asking me for that and I keep forgetting. I will try to go through my disks in the next few days and send that to you ASAP.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

Can you believe I actually have Twists of Fate 4 finished and just haven't posted it yet?

[brightrosefox.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes I can.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

*idiot grin*

[raphemer.livejournal.com]

Heh, you can plagiarize yourself. It happened to John Fogerty, of Creedence Clearwater Revival. His mid 80s solo song "Old Man Down The Road" was too similar to CCR's "Run Through The Jungle" and he got sued (he'd sold off the rights to the CCR tunes that he'd written).

Well, so long as you haven't sold off any rights, you should be fine. ;)

[brightrosefox.livejournal.com]

LOL... poor guy. Note to self: Never sell own lyrics or poetry.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I think he ended up winning the lawsuit at least. But yes, keep your rights.