i have an idea for a book. But it is really similar to metro 2033. In the respect the humans mostly live in the london underground But the story is completely different. it is about the 15 yr. old protagonist who stumbles upon people. livening underground after a nuclear war. Eventually he has to stop an insane warlord from destroying last of mankind do you think it is to similar?
There are many similar post-apocalyptic stories. Unless you copy the entire story/game, I don't see how it can be plagiarism.
No, that isn't plagiarism. The worst it could be accused of is unoriginality, but given the basic level of the similarities, it isn't even necessarily guilty of that. Besides, it's pretty much all in the writing, rather than the idea. You'll find many similarities between ideas, which when executed come out completely different. Plagiarism is where you steal other people's writing, it doesn't mean setting similarities between two pieces of work.
Nothing so generic can be plagiarism. The closer you get to the details, the easier it is to plagiarize; until you get so close it becomes inevitable, and then it's a quote.
Think about it like this: suppose I'm writing a book. It's about a boy, who ges enrolled into a wizarding school. He's the Chosen One, and eventually has to fight the Big Bad. Plagiarism? Nope. What if I name him Harry Potter? Then yes. A good writer will make any piece of writing they complete originial to their own voice. BTW, if you make every single detail true to an existing book, THEN you might be accused of plagiarism. I remember the old case of Perry Snotter (or something similar). Some twit had just copied J.K. Rowling's entire book, changing every name so it sounded the same with different first letters *Facepalm*.
The funny thing is I had the idea before I heard of metro 2033 and now i have to be really careful with how I write it.
Nope. As above, two writers could have the same idea, but the finished stories would be totally different.
A lot of post-apocalypse stories borrow some elements from each other, unintentionally or otherwise. Just make sure your story memorable. Knock-off stories aren't memorable. There are dozens of mad max knock offs and I can't name one, case and point. It is ok to take inspirations from other stories, but be sure your story has reach unique characters and interesting plots.
