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One of the earliest lessons we all learn in writing is to not use other people's words and pretend they are our own. That is Bad. And it could get a person in a lot of Trouble. You can, of course, use other people's words if you properly quote and cite them. There is no grey area. If you didn't write it you have to cite it. But now there's a situation in the publishing world that has readers asking what plagiarism is and if there is a difference between the legality and the morality of it.
Last week the ladies at Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books wrote the first post about Cassie Edwards and the similarities between her books and other published works. One of Cassie Edward's books was suggested to a friend of Candy (one of the Smart Bitches) who hadn't read romance novels. When the friend read it she found passages in which the writing style didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the novel. So she Googled a few of those passages and well, that's where this story really starts. It seems that some of Edwards work was similar to some other published works out there. Very similiar. Reading the side-by-side passages is enlightening and by times, startling. There's a great round of up how the story broke and where it went Dear Author.
Off the Pink does a comparision of Edwards' work and the work she is accused of stealing from. It's funny how the simple use of colour can make things pop out.
Now, this is only a few sentences and is unlikely to be legally problematic, but it is ethically troublesome. Not because the passage copies "facts" as such. But because it uses a near-exact copy of another author's language. And, with all due respect to the blog posters above, writing these facts "in your own words," as my 6th grade teacher used to say, does not change the "facts." Is it so hard to write something like this?
The question of whether or not what Cassie Edwards did is plagiarism will be decided by publishers and lawyers. But what interests me is what other authors and, most importantly, readers have to say. It seems they have more questions than answers. Plagiarism, so it seems, it not so white and black as we may think.
But here is my question.
So you're resourcing The Past. And you use Book A. It describes Something You Want To Use. A Historical Fact.
How much do you rewrite? What is OK to cut and paste because its "a fact"?
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy: Crediting Material You Take From Another Source?
Bookpros[e] - Give cred or get burned! http://bookpros.blogspot.com/2008/01/give-cred-or-get-burned.html
Being lax in this issue can result in very legal charges of copyright infringement, but even if you can’t be held legally accountable for copying someone’s work, you can always be held morally accountable. As an author, your reputation can make or break your career, and readers have long memories.
Agent Kristin provides another point of view.
In both cases, I must say I felt a small pang for the editors involved. Why? Because I’d be silly not to live in fear of the possibility happening with one of my clients, and I missed it.
When pointed out so clearly, it seems like the misuse should have been clear as day but egads, what if you had never read Megan’s SLOPPY FIRSTS (so didn’t catch the obvious echo) or, because you are so used to the author’s style, you just missed the change in tone for the passages in question? Makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about that.
Was it purposeful or a series of innocent mistakes?
But at the same time, as a person with a near photographic memory, I live in fear of accidentally doing the same thing. I've also been in a TON of plays and movies and at one time had huge passages of another person's work strapped down tightly in my brain. What are the chances that--once years have passed and my braincells been scrambled by motherhood and red wine--that I'll someday regurgitate something very similar to another person's words onto the page.
Anna J Evans
Are best-selling authors held to a different, and perhaps less stringent, standard than new authors?
As has been shown by previous scandals in the publishing realm, ie. the Nora Roberts/Janet Dailey case and the Opal Mehta scandal, there is a distinct double standard among the publishing houses. Bestselling authors, and
