T.S. Eliot is often quoted as saying, “Good writers borrow; great writers steal.” That’s not exactly what he said. Rather, as Oliver Tearle explains, he wrote something far more meaningful:
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn.
If you’ve been writing long, you’ve encountered this quote. Maybe you rolled your eyes. Maybe you nodded. Either way, it lingers for a reason: Eliot’s insight lives beyond The Waste Land. It speaks a truth serious writers embrace: originality is a myth, and the writing craft is less about invention than transformation.
Stealing Isn’t About Plagiarism: It’s About the Evolution of the Artistic Species
I don’t apologize for stealing. I prepare for it. I read like a thief casing a mark. Because I’m not talking about plagiarism. And neither was Eliot.
A writer should read widely, often, and with purpose. Searching for structure, rhythm, texture, tone—anything that works. And if it works, take it. Not verbatim. Not sloppily. But with precision and intent. Because that’s what great writers do.
It’s like cutting fat from a pig before the family hog roast.
Why shouldn’t a fantasy trope sneak into a noir mystery? Why shouldn’t the romantic pacing of a 19th-century novel inform the dread buildup of a modern horror story? If it heightens the impact, deepens the feeling, sharpens the storytelling—take it. That’s not theft so much as art doing what art has always done: evolving through reinvention.
Call It ‘Natural Selection for Writers’
In my writing, you’ll find the fingerprints of old saints and strange rebels, pulp hacks and literary gods. You’ll see hints of scripture and cyberpunk, classical structure wrapped in modern voice (or vice-versa). It’s a patchwork quilt stitched from the stories I’ve loved. I steal because I respect the craft. Because the best ideas don’t belong to one genre or one author. They belong to the next person bold enough to make them new.
If you’re a writer, don’t be afraid to steal. Read like a writer. Study the masters. Learn what makes their work breathe—and then steal their breath.
Just don’t forget to make it your own.
Allen Taylor writes because he can. Words are the breath of life. Come play this week’s literary game. Win the prize!
First published at Substack. Image from ChatGPT.
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