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The line between an inspiration and plagiarism is perhaps sometimes blurry but there's definitely a line.

But you have to steal something, themes at least if you want to create a piece in a style.

Trying composing a blues song without any "stealing".

I like Jerry Seinfeld’s take on plagiarism in comedy. His point is that whoever writes the funniest joke about a given premise gets the credit. This applies forward as well. As you may come up with a new angle and punchline for a well established premise.

I wrote a fun (to me) take on the good ‘ole horse walks into a bar joke. Here it goes:

Horse walks into a bar.

Bartender says: “Why the long face?”

Horse replies: “I can’t find a stable job.”

…

I like this model for giving credit. Sadly, no attribution avlbl for this one:

a thesaurus walks into a bar. a thesaurus strolls into a bar. a thesaurus saunters into a bar...

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