🚀 go-pugleaf

On 09 Nov 2006 02:47:37 GMT, "Dan Goodman" <dsgood@iphouse.com> wrote:

>Wildepad wrote:

>> A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often lists
>> its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an intellectual
>> debt?

>"Good evening.  Your horror fiction is heavily derivative; every idea,
>description, and nuance in your stories is taken from J. Lawrence
>Kiltorn's works.  And Kiltorn in turn took everything from his own
>translation of Cold Edward's memoirs.
>
>"I represent the Lambkin Collection Agency.  We're here to negotiate
>your payment to Cold Edward's heirs.  The payment need not be monetary;
>but you would probably prefer giving up money to the alternatives."

Could they repossess your brain?
--

Wildepad wrote:
> A blurb for a movie begins: "An intellectual debt collector . . ."
>
> On the second reading, I realized they meant a debt collector who is
> an intellectual, but I have to wonder if my first impression might
> also work.
>
> A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often lists
> its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an intellectual
> debt?
>
> (Final Notice: You owe us six ideas by Tuesday. Failure to settle this
> debt promptly may result in collection charges of two inspirations and
> an epiphany.)
>
> In a way, that situation exists every time a writer accepts an advance
> for a book before writing it, but the usual recourse for the author
> not fulfilling the contract is demanding the money back rather than
> sending around a collector to ensure the intellectual property due is
> handed over.
>
> How exactly would an 'intellectual debt' collector operate?
>
> Could the original model for the muses have been people uncannily
> adept at collecting intellectual debts?
>
> Will you ever be able to buy "intellectual insurance" which will
> provide a minimum of one idea a day while you're suffering writer's
> block?
>
> Consider, ponder, cat-vacuum.
> --

Damn you.  Now my brain is wandering, just when I need to be populating
a morgue with ghosties and things incorporeal that go bump in the day.
Fiddlesticks.

--
Kat Richardson
Greywalker (Roc, 2006)
Website: http://www.katrichardson.com/
Bloggery: http://katrich.wordpress.com/

In article <4o05l21g287t4kql390goihnd7g2pdpc1a@4ax.com>,
 Wildepad <noreplies> wrote:

> A blurb for a movie begins: "An intellectual debt collector . . ."
>
> On the second reading, I realized they meant a debt collector who is
> an intellectual, but I have to wonder if my first impression might
> also work.
>
> A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often lists
> its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an intellectual
> debt?

People do have intellectual debts. I have an intellectual debt to Verner
Vinge for the ideas in "True Names," which have appeared since
repeatedly in my work. Fortunately he cancelled it out by using some
ideas of mine in his work.

So along those lines, if I owe you an intellectual debt, I have to pay
it by coming up with ideas, or other intellectual property, of mine that
you will want to use.

Failing that, the usual way to pay is with acknowledgements.

--
 http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
 Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
 Published by Baen, in bookstores now

On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:53:38 GMT, Carl Dershem <dershem@cox.net>
wrote:


>
>Their "pound of flesh" would likely be just as deadly as Shylock's... but
>the SFnal implications of just taking the thoughts are intriguing.  And the
>potential side-effects are at least as much fun to consider.
>
>Perhaps as a police procedural or whodunit in an SF milieu it could be fun
>to play with.  "Well, detective, this makes four people suffering from
>induced amnesia we've found this month, all of them recently published in
>Analog."
>
Wouldn't some authors love it if the empty space in their minds
provided a fertile growing place for new stories?  It's not as if
they'd have to take the whole mind.  Just the most recent crop of
ideas.
--

r.bc: vixen
Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher, etc..
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless. Really.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

Wildepad wrote:

> A blurb for a movie begins: "An intellectual debt collector . . ."
>
> On the second reading, I realized they meant a debt collector who is
> an intellectual, but I have to wonder if my first impression might
> also work.
>
> A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often lists
> its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an intellectual
> debt?
>
> (Final Notice: You owe us six ideas by Tuesday. Failure to settle this
> debt promptly may result in collection charges of two inspirations and
> an epiphany.)
>
> In a way, that situation exists every time a writer accepts an advance
> for a book before writing it, but the usual recourse for the author
> not fulfilling the contract is demanding the money back rather than
> sending around a collector to ensure the intellectual property due is
> handed over.
>
> How exactly would an 'intellectual debt' collector operate?
>
> Could the original model for the muses have been people uncannily
> adept at collecting intellectual debts?
>
> Will you ever be able to buy "intellectual insurance" which will
> provide a minimum of one idea a day while you're suffering writer's
> block?
>
> Consider, ponder, cat-vacuum.

"Good evening.  Your horror fiction is heavily derivative; every idea,
description, and nuance in your stories is taken from J. Lawrence
Kiltorn's works.  And Kiltorn in turn took everything from his own
translation of Cold Edward's memoirs.

"I represent the Lambkin Collection Agency.  We're here to negotiate
your payment to Cold Edward's heirs.  The payment need not be monetary;
but you would probably prefer giving up money to the alternatives."

--
Dan Goodman
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood
Political http://www.dailykos.com/user/dsgood

Dan Goodman wrote:
> Wildepad wrote:
>
>
>>A blurb for a movie begins: "An intellectual debt collector . . ."
>>
>>On the second reading, I realized they meant a debt collector who is
>>an intellectual, but I have to wonder if my first impression might
>>also work.
>>
>>A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often lists
>>its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an intellectual
>>debt?
>>
>>(Final Notice: You owe us six ideas by Tuesday. Failure to settle this
>>debt promptly may result in collection charges of two inspirations and
>>an epiphany.)
>>
>>In a way, that situation exists every time a writer accepts an advance
>>for a book before writing it, but the usual recourse for the author
>>not fulfilling the contract is demanding the money back rather than
>>sending around a collector to ensure the intellectual property due is
>>handed over.
>>
>>How exactly would an 'intellectual debt' collector operate?
>>
>>Could the original model for the muses have been people uncannily
>>adept at collecting intellectual debts?
>>
>>Will you ever be able to buy "intellectual insurance" which will
>>provide a minimum of one idea a day while you're suffering writer's
>>block?
>>
>>Consider, ponder, cat-vacuum.
>
>
> "Good evening.  Your horror fiction is heavily derivative; every idea,
> description, and nuance in your stories is taken from J. Lawrence
> Kiltorn's works.  And Kiltorn in turn took everything from his own
> translation of Cold Edward's memoirs.
>
> "I represent the Lambkin Collection Agency.  We're here to negotiate
> your payment to Cold Edward's heirs.  The payment need not be monetary;
> but you would probably prefer giving up money to the alternatives."
>

	"Sorry, Todd Thromberry got here first. Take it up with him."

--
				Sea Wasp
                        /^\
                        ;;;
Live Journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/seawasp/

Wildepad <noreplies> wrote in news:5ld5l2tl0ugvmk02km1u9ondfrfqtiblq0@
4ax.com:

> On 09 Nov 2006 02:47:37 GMT, "Dan Goodman" <dsgood@iphouse.com> wrote:
>
>>Wildepad wrote:
>
>>> A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often lists
>>> its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an intellectual
>>> debt?
>
>>"Good evening.  Your horror fiction is heavily derivative; every idea,
>>description, and nuance in your stories is taken from J. Lawrence
>>Kiltorn's works.  And Kiltorn in turn took everything from his own
>>translation of Cold Edward's memoirs.
>>
>>"I represent the Lambkin Collection Agency.  We're here to negotiate
>>your payment to Cold Edward's heirs.  The payment need not be monetary;
>>but you would probably prefer giving up money to the alternatives."
>
> Could they repossess your brain?

Their "pound of flesh" would likely be just as deadly as Shylock's... but
the SFnal implications of just taking the thoughts are intriguing.  And the
potential side-effects are at least as much fun to consider.

Perhaps as a police procedural or whodunit in an SF milieu it could be fun
to play with.  "Well, detective, this makes four people suffering from
induced amnesia we've found this month, all of them recently published in
Analog."

cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T".  I like Earl
Grey.

Wildepad wrote:

> On 09 Nov 2006 02:47:37 GMT, "Dan Goodman" <dsgood@iphouse.com> wrote:
>
> > Wildepad wrote:
>
> >> A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often
> lists >> its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an
> intellectual >> debt?
>
> > "Good evening.  Your horror fiction is heavily derivative; every
> > idea, description, and nuance in your stories is taken from J.
> > Lawrence Kiltorn's works.  And Kiltorn in turn took everything from
> > his own translation of Cold Edward's memoirs.
> >
> > "I represent the Lambkin Collection Agency.  We're here to negotiate
> > your payment to Cold Edward's heirs.  The payment need not be
> > monetary; but you would probably prefer giving up money to the
> > alternatives."
>
> Could they repossess your brain?

Your mind and soul, yes.  Your physical brain, probably not.

--
Dan Goodman
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood
Political http://www.dailykos.com/user/dsgood

On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:45:04 -0800, Kat R <null.space@lycos.com>
wrote:

>Damn you.

Hey, it's not like I lured you onto Usenet. :)

>  Now my brain is wandering, just when I need to be populating
>a morgue with ghosties and things incorporeal that go bump in the day.

Why does that remind me of the story about the haunted vaudeville
house -- "Things that go Bump and Grind in the Night"

>Fiddlesticks.

I'm afraid that 'oath' is forever lost to me since I've learned that
some violin bows (the sticks for fiddles) command prices upwards of
$20,000, and the sky is the limit for the exceptionally rare ones.
--

On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:53:38 GMT, Carl Dershem <dershem@cox.net>
wrote:

>Perhaps as a police procedural or whodunit in an SF milieu it could be fun
>to play with.  "Well, detective, this makes four people suffering from
>induced amnesia we've found this month, all of them recently published in
>Analog."

Or they're just drained of all creativity. "Well, detective, that
makes eight -- all were gifted writers but now there's not an original
thought between them." Of course, setting would be important -- in
Hollywood, the 'crime' might go undiscovered for years. :)
--

On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 02:06:02 -0600, Cyli <cylise@gmail.com> wrote:

>Wouldn't some authors love it if the empty space in their minds
>provided a fertile growing place for new stories?  It's not as if
>they'd have to take the whole mind.  Just the most recent crop of
>ideas.

How would harvesting methods come into play? To get the whole idea,
you'd have to rip it up by the roots, which also takes some of the
fertile soil away with it. Do that too often and you're left with
patches of subsoil that won't support crabgrass.
--

On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:50:20 +0000, Tim S
<Tim@timsilverman.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Wildepad wrote:
>> How exactly would an 'intellectual debt' collector operate?
>
>You borrowed your ideas from someone else; now they've come and taken
>all their ideas back, leaving your head empty, and the pages of your
>publications blank (or full of contentless vacuity).

I can see it now: A moderately thick book. On the flyleaf is a notice
that all original ideas have been repossessed to satisfy an
intellectual debt.

At the beginning of each chapter there's a quote from a classic (not
being original, they've been left intact). Sources range from the
Iliad through Shakespeare to the theme song for the Monkees.

Text is scattered over the pages -- mostly names, but there are also
places where the printing 'fades in', there's a cliche, and the
printing 'fades out'.

Throughout the entire book, there are perhaps two dozen patches such
as:
"I will not let you hurt her," shouted Strongman.
"You cannot defeat me," Terrormind snarled. "Already you are in my
trap. You cannot escape my . . .  . . . and I will feast on your
bones."
--

Wildepad wrote:

> How exactly would an 'intellectual debt' collector operate?

You borrowed your ideas from someone else; now they've come and taken
all their ideas back, leaving your head empty, and the pages of your
publications blank (or full of contentless vacuity).

Tim

Wildepad wrote:
> On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:45:04 -0800, Kat R <null.space@lycos.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Damn you.
>
> Hey, it's not like I lured you onto Usenet. :)
>
>>  Now my brain is wandering, just when I need to be populating
>> a morgue with ghosties and things incorporeal that go bump in the day.
>
> Why does that remind me of the story about the haunted vaudeville
> house -- "Things that go Bump and Grind in the Night"
>
>> Fiddlesticks.
>
> I'm afraid that 'oath' is forever lost to me since I've learned that
> some violin bows (the sticks for fiddles) command prices upwards of
> $20,000, and the sky is the limit for the exceptionally rare ones.
> --

You, sir, are no fun at all.  :p

--
Kat Richardson
Greywalker (Roc, 2006)
Website: http://www.katrichardson.com/
Bloggery: http://katrich.wordpress.com/

Wildepad wrote:

 <snipped speculation>
>
> Text is scattered over the pages -- mostly names, but there are also
> places where the printing 'fades in', there's a cliche, and the
> printing 'fades out'.

But wouldn't the cliches be claimed by one of those collection
agencies?  If they're cliches, after all, then there's a lot of money
in them.

<more snippage>

Christopher B. Wright (ubersoft -at- gmail -dot- com)

or worse, could they reposses your memories, your muse, in some way a
little at a time, according to payment owed?  If they just reposses
your brain, then you know nothing and can't remember what you have
lost.  But, if one day you had it.....but now you're losing it...now
lost...what agony.  It would be for a writer or such like loosing
his/her soul little at a time.

On Nov 9, 12:04 am, Wildepad <noreplies> wrote:
> On 09 Nov 2006 02:47:37 GMT, "Dan Goodman" <dsg...@iphouse.com> wrote:
>
> >Wildepad wrote:
> >> A writer's works are his intellectual property. A company often lists
> >> its intellectual assets. So why couldn't a person have an intellectual
> >> debt?
> >"Good evening.  Your horror fiction is heavily derivative; every idea,
> >description, and nuance in your stories is taken from J. Lawrence
> >Kiltorn's works.  And Kiltorn in turn took everything from his own
> >translation of Cold Edward's memoirs.
>
> >"I represent the Lambkin Collection Agency.  We're here to negotiate
> >your payment to Cold Edward's heirs.  The payment need not be monetary;
> >but you would probably prefer giving up money to the alternatives."Could they repossess your brain?
> --

On 11 Nov 2006 19:29:43 -0800, "Christopher B. Wright"
<ubersoft@gmail.com> wrote:
>Wildepad wrote:
>
> <snipped speculation>
>>
>> Text is scattered over the pages -- mostly names, but there are also
>> places where the printing 'fades in', there's a cliche, and the
>> printing 'fades out'.
>
>But wouldn't the cliches be claimed by one of those collection
>agencies?  If they're cliches, after all, then there's a lot of money
>in them.

Cliches are those phrases that have passed into the public domain,
usually because the original author refused to admit writing them.
--

Rae <dragonflight77@insightbb.com> wrote:

> or worse, could they reposses your memories, your muse, in some way a
> little at a time, according to payment owed?  If they just reposses
> your brain, then you know nothing and can't remember what you have
> lost.

I had a dream once of being someone whose brain was stolen by an
inter-dimensional traveler.  I knew very well that I now had no brain;
it was one of the worst nightmares I've ever had and took ages to shake
off.

(Btw, the custom here is to reply after or interspersed with the stuff
you're quoting, and to snip the parts that aren't relevant to your own
message.  (A good rule of thumb is to make sure at least some of your
original text is visible in the first screenful - people don't like
scrolling down through several screens only to see a "Me too!"))

Zeborah
--
Gravity is no joke.
http://www.geocities.com/zeborahnz/
rasfc FAQ:  http://www.lshelby.com/rasfcFAQ.html

Cyli <cylise@gmail.com> wrote in
news:h8o5l2honfqj5iika50ta8bg4719bd76ml@4ax.com:

> On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:53:38 GMT, Carl Dershem <dershem@cox.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Their "pound of flesh" would likely be just as deadly as Shylock's...
>>but the SFnal implications of just taking the thoughts are intriguing.
>> And the potential side-effects are at least as much fun to consider.
>>
>>Perhaps as a police procedural or whodunit in an SF milieu it could be
>>fun to play with.  "Well, detective, this makes four people suffering
>>from induced amnesia we've found this month, all of them recently
>>published in Analog."
>>
> Wouldn't some authors love it if the empty space in their minds
> provided a fertile growing place for new stories?  It's not as if
> they'd have to take the whole mind.  Just the most recent crop of
> ideas.

Have you ever read C.S.Forrester's essay on writing?  Some of the imagery
he uses about developing stories is along those lines.

cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T".  I like Earl
Grey.