I’ve had story ideas stolen. I’m sure we all have. But that shouldn’t be a reason to step back and avoid creative ideas. Perhaps what we should do is keep our ideas to ourselves. However, even that’s not a reliable protective barrier. Years ago, I pitched a story idea to a big-time travel magazine. It was rejected, but six months later, my idea appeared in the magazine as a complete article, including the paragraph I wrote to pitch my idea. I have to admit it hurt. I really wanted that opportunity to break into the big-time magazine. It wasn’t to be. And I never did try them with another story idea.

I learned one thing, though. My ideas were worthy of publication. Even if it wasn’t published under my name, nor written in my words. I was determined not to live in fear of this happening again. I had to get my ideas out there. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t get published. I wouldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing my name in print.

It happens. Story ideas are snapped up more often than you think. By magazines, by fellow writers, even a best friend or spouse has the opportunity to steal one of your ideas. To protect myself, I keep my ideas to myself until I’m ready to send it out there into the big, bad world of publishing. I’m sure some of my rejections have since turned into viable stories under another author’s name. I can’t keep track of every idea I send out and every publisher I send it to. However, I can control who else knows my ideas, who else has the potential, and the opportunity to steal it.

The other thing to be wary of is what you post online, either on a personal blog or on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. If you post an idea in a very public forum, you stand the chance of having it picked up by someone else. We, as writers, are readers. If not, we should be. So, we’re bound to be influenced by what we read and perhaps what we read may inspire us to write our own take on what we’ve read.

We have a moral obligation to only write and publish our own written words. However, ideas are shared and sometimes copied or stolen. My case with the travel magazine was a downright invasion of my written word as the entire first paragraph of the published article (under another author’s name) was taken from my query.

A wise person once told me that “imitation is the highest form of flattery.” The phrase has been re-phrased and re-quoted countless times since English cleric, Charles Caleb Colton wrote, “Imitation is the sincerest of flattery” in his book “Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words, addressed to those who think”, a book he published in 1820. The re-wording of Colton’s quote is, in itself, another example of borrowing someone else’s idea. However, knowing the source and properly crediting the source, makes the copying (the stealing, or, in this case, the borrowing) of an idea justified. I am merely quoting Colton, not claiming his words as my own.

Although it annoys me to no end to read my ideas and written words under someone else’s byline, I reassure myself that my ideas are my own and not some other writer’s ideas. Those who copy others never succeed in anything they do because they don’t have the creative resources or the creative powers to come up with their own ideas. Basically, they lack the skill.

I did get to write my travel story for another travel magazine. It was my idea. With some tweaking, it became a totally new idea, much better than the original. I came to the realization that if someone was copying me and my work, my ideas, then my work and ideas must be really good; they must have genuine merit. All I needed to do was mold these ideas into something even better. Being hurt by a copyist and a magazine editor worked to my benefit.

We must learn from all of our experiences: the good, the bad, and those that hurt. And we can’t back down and stop our idea-generating skills just because one of our ideas made the big headlines under someone else’s byline. It’s our unique originality that will stand the test of time, not the copied idea. We do stand the risk of others stealing our ideas, but we can take measures to protect ourselves by being careful who and how we share our ideas. And, annoying and hurtful as it is, when an idea is stolen, we must rise above it and create something even better. Wallowing in sorrow will not a great writer make.