Susan Beth wrote:
I am sure there is a case of story idea copying though - firstly because I can't believe 2 people came up with this same idea,
I can. ;-) Heck, I have perpetrated a version of the same basic idea (our heroes arrive during a planetary fertility festival and get innocently caught up in it) myself.
And this particular story idea is, I think, actually common enough to count as a cliche in adult/slash fiction. Possibly even *two* cliches: the aphodisiac and the fertility festival. These two stories *are* very strikingly similar, even so: same characters, same basic setup almost down to the details. It's quite possible that the one was influcenced, consciously or unconsciously, by the other, but it's also well within the realm of possibility that it's entirely coincidence. (And unconscious influence definitely shouldn't be ruled out. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if one day I wrote a story and somebody pointed out to me that I'd basically re-written some other story I'd read and consciously forgotten about. Mortified, perhaps, but not terribly surprised. Come to that, I *did* write a story not that long ago with what as far as I knew was an original premise, only to find out that it *had* been used before, so there's another example for you. It happens, and it's not a big deal. Good writers will each put their own spin on an idea, anyway.)
In general, I think for there to be plagiarism in fanfic you need to find copying of actual text -- word for word lifting of sentences (possibly with names changed to fit another fandom) -- not just the same theme/basic plot.
Indeed, as far as I can tell, variations on existing plots and themes are quite acceptable. Many a fanfic has been inspired by the writer reading someone else's story and thinking "hmm, no, here's the way *I* would write it."
In fact, these two stories could probably be usefully studied as examples of what difference the skill of the writer make; what matters for the pleasure of the reader is NOT the idea of the story, but how that idea is carried out.
Oh, hell yeah. I found the second one almost unreadable, though the formatting may have had a lot to do with that.