Would writing a landscape made from a dead giant be ripping off The Owl House?

[Devor]

If there was still any question, this should settle it:

Giant Corpse World - TV Tropes

Land made out of a huge corpse. The dead body of a creature or giant so immense, people can live, grow crops, and build houses on it. Sometimes it will be a literal, fleshy corpse, while other times its remnants will be transformed after death …

tvtropes.org

Really, just because Owl House is a recent example of this trope in action for some people, doesn't mean it hasn't been done before, or that it can't be done again.

 

[Karlin]

I'm not sure that I even understand the question. Disney borrowed an idea from ancient mythology, so somehow that gives them ownership of the idea?

 

[Queshire]

I mean, while it's fine in this case there's nothing wrong with an author looking around at what's currently out on the market and being worried that they might be perceived as ripping off something more famous.

 

[Devor]

I mean, while it's fine in this case there's nothing wrong with an author looking around at what's currently out on the market and being worried that they might be perceived as ripping off something more famous.

That's fair. I'd be concerned if there were several things the person was copying from Owl House, or I might hesitate if there was a recent stream of corpse worlds. For the most part, though, I don't think it's a good idea to let trends dictate what you write. Studies show that people are actually less original when advised to be original, and more original when advised to be themselves. So that is my advice: Forget what other people are doing and tell the story that speaks to you (then hope you still like it after you edit the snot out of it).

 

[Karlin]

That's fair. I'd be concerned if there were several things the person was copying from Owl House, or I might hesitate if there was a recent stream of corpse worlds. For the most part, though, I don't think it's a good idea to let trends dictate what you write. Studies show that people are actually less original when advised to be original, and more original when advised to be themselves. So that is my advice: Forget what other people are doing and tell the story that speaks to you (then hope you still like it after you edit the snot out of it).

Can you refer to such a study? It sounds interesting.

 

[pmmg]

I'm not sure that I even understand the question. Disney borrowed an idea from ancient mythology, so somehow that gives them ownership of the idea?

While I am not aware of Disney's Owl House, there are some legal aspects to their creation. That is not the same as ownership of the stuff already in public domain.

But the fear here is not bumping up against legal hurdles, but more bumping up against public perception that your inspiration came from the Disney material. Such a thing may sit on your reputation, fair or not.

Incidentally, Disney is currently the reason properties take 100 years to enter the public domain, and Micky is about to be 100 years old... So is Batman and Superman. I suspect the rules about public domain are about to become front and center soon.

 

[Devor]

Can you refer to such a study? It sounds interesting.

I don't tend to save these things, and a quick google search isn't giving me what I'm looking for, so you can take that for what you will. But whenever participants are given a basic creative task, like "Create a new alien," or "List 20 uses for a brick," the results are pretty consistent. Asking people to be original starts the process of cutting back on all the ideas before they even develop. "You can't do that idea, someone else did it." While being yourself opened people up to expanding on old ideas until they became something new. To make up an example, someone making an alien might think, "I'll give it an elephant trunk." The one told to be original will think, "But that's just an elephant, that's not original." Eventually, out of ideas, they might draw the trunk. But the one told to be themselves will draw the trunk, then might think, "Maybe the trunk should have a flower blooming out of the end...." If you let the ideas just come, and run with them the way you want, then one idea leads to another, until the result is more originality, not less.

That said, there are other more active techniques for being original as well. Changing the prompt is the easiest one. For some reason "design an alien that lives on Jupiter" will get more original answers than "design an alien." The new prompt and its challenge encourages people to push deeper into their ideas, which opens up new pathways for different ideas.

 

[pmmg]

But the one told to be themselves will draw the trunk, then might think, "Maybe the trunk should have a flower blooming out of the end...."

Hey, that was my idea for an alien.

 

[Devor]

Hey, that was my idea for an alien.

That's right, it was, but my new novel, Man of the Elephant Flower, releases next week. It's a space opera.

The tag line: "Pluck my flower, and I'll pluck your heart."

 

[pmmg]

That's right, it was, but my new novel, Man of the Elephant Flower, releases next week. It's a space opera.

The tag line: "Pluck my flower, and I'll pluck your heart."

Crap.

 

[M Corbett]

As you say, this is a feature of many ancient myths so you wouldn’t be ripping it off any more than the The Owl House is. If it’s used in a story from your head it is plenty original enough.

 

[Rexenm]

You could try and give it a twist. Like, how the giant died, if it is a myth or not?

 

[Ruth Chris]

I'm curious what interests you about the idea?
I definitely agree with the above – Owl House (I also had never heard of it) does not own the idea of world building inside a fallen giant. In fact I think that concepts like this get a unique creative charge by way of all the interpretations and all the mythologies/histories. It becomes an interesting space to explore for that reason.

Anyway it can be kind of debilitating to think too much about originality I think, especially if you are just starting with an idea. I'd say just follow what is interesting to you. As you get closer to sharing your work then maybe double check yourself to make sure you're not completely biting someone else's ideas, haha.

 

[Devora]

Orson Scott Card wrote a scene in Ender's Game where after Ender kills a giant in a video game and he doesn't play for a while, the giant has decayed to bones and small creatures use the remnant corpse as a town. this was decades before owl house.

You'll be fine if you make your own version