Retelling, Reimagining, Inspired By, or Leeching
The legality and ethics of mimicry
I’ve seen these terms thrown around a lot the past few years. TLDR: you can’t have a legal retelling/remagining of [modern movie, modern book, etc].
Retelling
This is telling the same story again, but in the author’s individual way. Legally, this can only be done for stories for which you have permission. Almost always, that means the story is in the public domain. However, there could be situations where the owner of the copyrighted works has permitted the author to do it.
Side note: plagiarism and copyright protection are two different things. Verbatim copying of someone else’s writing is classified as plagiarism and is illegal, even with works in the public domain.
Reimagining
While retellings stay close to the original story’s plot, reimaginings do not. The characters, setting, and ideas are twisted up in an entirely new story. However, just like retellings, this can only legally be done with stories in the public domain since you are borrowing someone else’s characters—even if you make them your own.
What is in the public domain? In the United States, anything published before 1923. If it was published after 1923, then its copyright lasts 95 years. Different countries have different rules. Before you write a retelling/reimagining, look up the copyright status of the work.
Inspired By
Honestly, I don’t think many people care if you use reimagining and retelling interchangeably. I probably have at some point. But the line between those and “inspired by” is where you should probably differentiate (unless you find being sued a thrill you refuse to deny yourself).
“Inspired by” isn’t the tongue-in-cheek, wink-wink way of saying you are illegally writing a retelling/reimagining of copyrighted work. It won’t protect you from breaking the law. Your story should be substantially different from any copyrighted work.
“Inspired by” means it’s:
Not a retelling of the same story.
Not a reimagining with the same characters, concept, setting, or what have you.
It probably has similar themes, setting, and/or characters.
“I was inspired by [work] to make my OWN story, characters, and world.”
It’s a marketing tagline, usually. A simple way to connect people to a new story by referencing an old/popular one. It helps attract certain groups who might like your new story, as they've enjoyed similar content. Also, it’s paying homage to what inspired you.
Concept Mimicry
AKA passing off another creator’s idea as your own. This is the unethical version of “inspired by”. If you want to know if it’s legal … sure, it is. Ideas can’t be owned, just the expression of them.
IMPORTANT: Please don’t feel inspired to go on a witch hunt. Just as false public AI accusations can ruin an author’s career, so can claims of unethical mimicry. Murky ethical discussions like this are often better left in DMs. Instead of, for instance, very publicly claiming on social media that you (or an author) own a couple of common tropes and everyone should cancel the other author/book. That’s a nonconsensual showing of ass. I love ass, but I’d rather boot up my VPN to pretend I don’t live in Texas and ctrl + shft + n into a fresh incognito screen for it.
So what is and isn’t concept mimicry? In genre fiction, it can get murky because part of genre fiction is about mimicry. We all use the same popular tropes, mostly adhere to the same story beats, the same character types, and are inspired by the same world we all live in. One stalker romance is going to look pretty similar to another. That’s normal, and honestly, something we all need to accept in highly commercial fiction.
Which means that knowing what is and isn’t concept mimicry needs a nuanced, critical examination of the works in question. It requires noting how many of the details look like a specific other work.
A simple form of concept mimicry I’ve seen is using another author’s specific creatures/personal take on a mythological creature, perhaps mistaking it as real-world mythology.
Side note: you can’t use another author’s fiction as research into mythology/history/facts because their book is fiction and therefore doesn’t have to adhere to real-world mythology/history/etc. You will unintentionally steal their intellectual property if you do that.
I’ll leave you with my opinion on concept mimicry. Overall, unless you’re writing a retelling, stories should not be almost entirely based on or inspired by a single source. You shouldn’t read another book/watch a tv show, set it down, and begin writing your own version of the same thing. That’s leeching someone else’s creativity instead of having your own.