Now that I think about it, I do it more like the baroque composers:
I steal ideas, themes, subjects and everything else. Blatantly and unabashedly.
And then I mix it all together and extract the bits I like.
If my wife likes it too, it's a good one. If not, it goes back in the heap to mature for a few years - or maybe to be ripped off for yet another reworking of ideas.
