In Which I Out Myself As A Thief

Okay, it's time. Time to confess.

I have stolen--STOLEN!--one of the basic premises of Nobble Jr. (otherwise known as The Sixth Element) from Justine Larbalestier!

In Nobble Jr. people who have magic go mad. Justine's first book and whole trilogy is called Magic or Madness. You do the math.

I mean, stealing the idea that having magic drives you mad is something I might could have gotten away with if:

1. I didn't kinda know her personal-like
2. I hadn't read Magic or Madness the moment it came out and loooong before I even conceived of Nobble Jr. and then left a public record of such by blogging about both
3. It wasn't called Magic or Madness, making the "magic makes you mad" premise somewhat central to its existence. (I mean, some people do miss implications if you don't spell it out for them, you know? No? Well, just me then.)

Of course, in Justine's book you either do magic or go mad. In my book-ish you go mad whether you do the magic or not unless ... well no spoilers here, especially before the book is done. Plus, the reason for the madness in magic is different in Nobble Jr. There's a whole world system that's completely different. In fact, we're in a completely different, secondary world, not our world with magic added on. There is no New York or Sydney, for example. Or Earth. And there's an out. You don't have to go mad or die young, like in Justine's books. So it's really different. It comes from a different place.

Oh, who am I fooling? It's straight out theft. However will I tell her?

Comments

[Gwenda]

Just pretend you stole it from Robert Jordan instead! :)

[claire]

... oh, yeah, that's it! I take the whole thing back!

[marrije]

She's contagious, isn't she, that Justine? My NaNo novel had only the tiniest bit of magic in it (and that bit stolen from Neil Gaiman), but one of the characters was a dead ringer for Esmeralda.

[Justine Larbalestier]

Steal away! Tis what we writers do.

[claire]

whew! no matter how much we all cry out for independence, it's really permission that we all crave ;)

you're all my witnesses! now, where do i install that magical door?