Comments on: What We’re Doing…Eating…Saying…

By: Laurie C.

Laurie C. — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:47:24 +0000

Leslie and all, I’ve enjoyed the level-headed exchange here about the plagiarism issue. Everyone should know that it’s wrong and that “we” see them and “know” what they did.

I hope you came away from your Plotting Getaway ready to make 2008 one of your best! I’m looking forward to your next book.

By: Janet Seager

Janet Seager — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:46:36 +0000

Like several other contributers to this thread I am a teacher and agree with everything they have said. If you are caught copying in an examination, especially a state exam all of your exam entries are null and void. It’s stealing. The same applies to course work. Much time is spent training young people to acknowledge sources of information which have been used verbatum. To pass someone elses work off as your own is to steal part of their soul. I imagine that a book becomes part of a person as they quite literally go through a pregnancy and birth with it, and so in fact it is also like stealling a child. I don’t have the talent to write but I know how I feel when I read a really well crafted book: it too becomes a little bit of me.
Going off on a tangent! I really get annoyed at Publishers who reprint books under a new title leaving readers thinking that they are buying an entirely new book.
Please forgive any spelling errors as I am dyslexic and there isn’t a spell check.
I really am sorry that you have had to go through this. Janet from the UK

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:39:09 +0000

MARCH is a great book. It won the Pulitzer Prize a few years back, and I met the author at BEA a few years ago and own a signed copy!

Cher, what you are talking about in situations like that is known as “intertextuality” — creating a new text that is a transformation or in some other way interacts with an existing text. If you enjoyed Bridget Jones Diary (based on the plot of Pride & Prejudice), The Wide Sargasso Sea (a retelling of Jane Eyre from the point of view of the wife), East of Eden (Genesis), or even Clueless (Emma), West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet), or My Fair Lady (Shaw’s Pygmalion, based on the myth of Pygmalion), then you have enjoyed the use of this classic and well respected literary trope.

The key here is that everyone involved is well aware of the source material, and the words are not being stolen without attribution. Plagiarism is about words.

By: Caryn

Caryn — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:01:53 +0000

That sounds like so much fun! I’m glad it’s going so well. As for the plagiarism, I’ve had that happen to me before, and I felt so violated.

By: Cherylann

Cherylann — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:28:51 +0000

I guess I am out of the loop also

that 3 out of the 4 : were plagiarized :cursing:

Glad you are hvaing fun plotting and eating

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:08:14 +0000

Thanks Leslie! I guess you do kind of get to know a person’s voice just by blogging with them.

Hope the rest of your time together is great!

By: Jodie

Jodie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:38:42 +0000

Leslie - I’m glad the discussion has been able to go the way it has too. I have to admit this morning I read it and was a little hesitant to comment because I was just unsure. I know some discussions have gotten very heated, one person referred to the atmosphere of one blog as being “toxic” and I was so afraid of commenting and setting someone else off. I’m proud to be able to say I’m a Plotmonkey baby and to be “friends” with all the wonderful people here in the jungle.

By: Estella

Estella — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:20:26 +0000

I think Nora Roberts said it best!

By: Liza

Liza — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:20:23 +0000

I don’t think I ever knew about Janet Dailey plagarizing Nora, but now that I do, I’ll never read or buy her books again(not sure I even own any, but might have gotten some at the library). Stealing is stealing be it a candy bar or someone’s writing. This is a big deal to me, not because anyone has ever stolen anything I’ve written, but because I have published writers in my family. My uncle is a poet and had someone take credit for several of his poems right when he was first being published several years ago.

By: Fedora

Fedora — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:00:54 +0000

I’ve been reading more about this recently and am outraged for all of you who’ve been plagarized–there’s no justification for it in all the world. And yes, stealing is wrong!! Grrr!

Glad you’re having a great time plotting, eating, griping, and being with friends!