Interviewer: So, you're the author of Low Life, a new litRPG adventure story destined to hit the over-crowded digital shelves of the internet to literally no response or fanfare. That's great. Really great. Tell us, what inspired you to write in this genre?
Harper: I read Dungeon Crawler Carl and thought to myself, "Shit. I can write that." And here I am. After doing some research about other stories in this genre, most of them suck ass and their authors really don't know anything about writing. Figured I could do better.
Interviewer: ...okay. Interesting response.
Harper: What?
Interviewer: Well, I just...I didn't think you'd...well.
Harper: To be fair, I thought about doing the ol' Stephanie Meyers routine and pretending that I'd never heard of the genre, never read it and thought I was inventing it based on a weird dream that I'd had.
Interviewer: ...okay
Harper: What now?
Interviewer: Most authors don't readily admit to ripping off the ideas of others to use for personal gain.
Harper: So? Everyone does it. Do you think J R R Tolkien invented elves and dwarves? Do you think he just woke up one day and invented goblins out of thin air? No. He drew on history, mythology, epic poetry, and other novels. He really didn't invent very much at all. He just bundled it into a novel package that took a fresh look at those mechanisms. The whole story about finding and getting a magic ring was originally based on a play about a cursed magic ring called Wagner's Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen). Not to say that he wasn't a genius--he was, but he just didn't invent the things wrote about.
Interviewer: Why would you go to such great length to look that up? It's a little weird.
Harper: The point is that no author should feel bad about borrowing or spinning off from someone else's idea. That's just how writing works. Lots of awesome stories have been inspired by others. That's all I'm driving at.
Interviewer: Fair enough.
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