Inspiration vs Plagiarism (no rants - I promise)

I have had lots of time to think about this question and have still come up with no good understanding of what OTHER people see the difference as being and where the line between the two lies.

Does anyone have their own interpretation?

I confess to being "inspired" by a poem I read in a book and thinking that one line in particular would make for a powerful way to end one of my own. I did not add the line verbatim (if wouldn't have matched with the rhythm/rhyme I had going) but I did use the "concept" of the line, and I felt very guilty about it later, though I never altered it.

What do you think?

Nothing is new, all our thoughts and productions are recycled. However, plagiarism has a fairly clear line. While you may "steal" concepts in poetry (and other writing outlets) without facing real consequences, if you copy something word for word for let's say 4-5 words consecutively, using KEY words, that's when you're pushing it... anything more than that and you're in trouble. Inspiration should result in similarity, not replication.

Agreed - but wouldn't you say that the constant recycling and mixing of already existing concepts/words, is precisely the definition of creation? (i.e. there is nothing "new" in genetics, all people are made of the same things, and code is the result of only 4 compounds, but NEW people are made of SAME elements all the time...mutations only rarely result in rapid changes in a population )

I think the very fact that one can quote Nietzsche and then contrast his work with Vonnegut, or Rand or any one of the ENORMOUS number of other published thinkers is what gives us each the choice to be original and creative, if not entirely novel.

I like your genetics analogy, that definitely gives me something NEW to think about ;)

I confess - I gave myself a big high five for that while it was spilling out onto the screen - no points for humility here, I accept that, but I thought to myself "See, your minor in philosophy paired with your degree in biology was not so stupid after all! Now you can make AMAZING analogies and post them in obscure forum threads...."

Ok, it's not gonna win awards, but it was brilliant if I do say so myself. On second thought, it deserves an award and I think I'll go make a tiny trophy for "EXCELLENT Multi-Discipline Approach to a Parallel/Metaphor/Allegory " and award it to myself while I toast my ingenuity and sing songs of praise to the amazingly clever, infinitely brilliant ME.

Now back to practicing humility...

Inspiration should result in similarity, not replication.

This says it all to me.

Inspiration from another work usually results in a new thought from your own mind. The regurgitation of exactly the same ideas, feelings or expressions from the source work is worse than plagiarism since it degrades the spirit of the work.

Inspiration is when something encourages you to write; it sparks a memory, line, something like that for you to write. It may have the concept of the other work, but it's your work. Still you should probably mention where you got your inspiration from by writing it down as a side note. You can also use part of the phrase< especially if it's a known quote or phrase, but if it's not known you should write where you got it from.

Plagiarism is when you take a huge chunk of work, or an idea and add a little to it or alter it and call it your work (even if you have the original work stated, it's not yours). Or when you use part of something and don't mention where it came from. For example, I know many here have written poems based on songs, until now I haven't seen one which isn't obvious (no need for citation) or is inspired by one without mentioning the song. Plagiarism is a big deal, so don't forget to cite when you write, and try not to have too much of the original work in your poem.

If you listen to rap, you'll see artists recycling phrases and quotes everywhere as nods of respect. Just thought I'd add that.