: Is it considered plagiarism to publish a novel that has characters of the same animal species? I am currently working on the last draft of my children's novel. Recently, I found out that several

Posted in: #Characters #Copyright #Ideas #Plagiarism

I am currently working on the last draft of my children's novel. Recently, I found out that several of my animal characters are the same species from The One and Only Ivan, written by Katherine Applegate. I do not believe that the plot is similar, it's just the character's species.
In The One and Only Ivan, there was a gorilla protagonist named Ivan, a baby elephant named Ruby, a elephant named Stella, and a dog named Bob. In my story, there is a baby elephant protagonist named Ellie, Ellie's older brother named Ben(which is of course is another elephant), a chimpanzee named Monica, one dog named Poppy, and two puppies named Maggie and Scott.
As mentioned before, I do not believe that the plot is alike at all. It's just the character's species that worries me. I think that the characters might be similar in some parts, like, for instance, Ruby and Ellie are both baby elephants from the savanna and then both are curious. But for the most part, the characters are different. I also can't modify the character's species because they will help later on in the story.

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