it comes that they resemble one another it is not our
province to discuss any further--the point is that if your story is
inspired by the work of another writer, give it such an absolutely
original treatment that you can conscientiously refer to it as
original.

"Don't waste time in rewriting other people's brain-children, for the
scenario-editor goblins will catch you sure as fate, and once you get
a reputation for plagiarism, not a film-maker will dare to buy any
manuscript from you for fear it is copyrighted."[33]

[Footnote 33: Herbert Case Hoagland, _How to Write a Photoplay_.]

In photoplays as in novels and short-stories nothing is so
disappointing as a story whose title is inviting, and the first few
pages--or scenes, as the case may be--interesting, but which soon
begins to reveal itself as nothing more than a story with which we are
already familiar, though slightly changed in a few particulars in the
hope that it may be welcomed as an original work. We say "slightly
changed," for if the all-important new twist is not given the story
cannot escape detection as being what it is--a mere copy of the
original.

"The formula upon which the plot is built is of venerable antiquity,"
says Frederick Taber Cooper, in _The Bookman_, in reviewing a certain
novel. Then, although he commends the purpose of the story, he
concludes: "But the book is not really an important one, because there
have been scores of books equally well written which have already said
much the same thing. The author has not had any new twist to give to
the old theme--and, worst of all, we know from wearisome past
experience just how the plot will work out, just how inevitable it is
that Kenneth will achieve fame, and his father will be reconciled, and
Jean, convinced of her injustice, will tearfully plead for
forgiveness." Don't lay yourself open to such a criticism.

_3. What Is Originality?_

"Popularly, we call that man original who stands on his own feet, uses
the thoughts of others only to stimulate and supplement his own, and
who does his best to color borrowed thought with the hue of his own
personality. Such a man, if he be not a creator, is at least a
thinker, and a thinker need never be a literary thief. The entrance of
any thought that will set the mind to working should be welcome
indeed."[34]

[Footnote 34: J. Berg Esenwein, _Writing the Short-Story_.]

Speaking of the way in which a writer may take an old plot and work it