I think channeling can be good for developing your own voice/helping you find tense/etc... I tried writing in third person/past for years and generated a whole lot of crappy pieces I'd never share with anyone. Then I tried First person/past and that didn't work out either. I was about to give up on writing entirely. Then I found the books by Sophie Kinsella and her style of simplistic jumping straight into the MC's head was exactly what I needed. So when I started practicing writing in first person/present, I was trying to emulate that style to an extent, and it eventually developed into the foul mouthed, sarcastic first person narratives I use today. I know alot of the literary "elite" HATE that style of narrative, but I love to write it, and if it hadn't been for that style of narrative, I would not be writing my first full length piece right now.
If imitating another writer's style is plagiarism, then it's very likely that most writers throughout history have been guilty of it. I think, in most cases, writers consciously or unconsciously imitate other writers' styles before finding their own. Even writers with very strong individual styles began by copying earlier writers. Even Ernest Hemingway, probably the most influential American stylist of the twentieth century, was strongly influenced by Sherwood Anderson. Robert Louis Stevenson famously "played the sedulous ape" - deliberately copying the styles of other writers - as he taught himself to write. Go ahead. Imitate Chesterton all you want. Eventually, with a little luck, future writers will be imitating the Byzantine Bandit.
Both Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison write in the style of William Faulkner, yet all three writers have distinct features about their styles that make their works unique. So like the others have said, it's OK to copy a particular style. Chances are that you're eventually going to develop your own style anyway.
I experienced this once. I was writing short stories on a blog, which earned some die hard fans. After I finished the project and moved on, I got some emails asking me if a certain other blog was mine too. I went to check it out and had to concur, the writing sounded a lot like mine! The thought processes behind it weren't exactly the same, or the topics, but the style was scarily familiar. It turned out that one of the die hard fans opened it, after I left. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. On one hand, I was upset and I felt violated. The girl clearly ripped off my soul, in a way. But she was a nice person and didn't mean any harm, she just liked it so much she worked hard to emulate it, So I supported her, reassured everyone that I was ok with it, but deep down I was quite disturbed, like I discovered a doppelgänger, I couldn't emulate anyone's voice so precisely, I wouldn't want to anyway, but some people evidently can. I am certain it isn't plagiarism, though, but it is a bit lame, especially if you are the one being copied.
Interesting thought: Has anyone ever been accused of plagiarism simply because their style is close to someone elses?
it's best if you drop me an email now and then, since i deal with so many mentees on a daily basis that it's impossible for me to keep up with those i'm not working with at the moment, unless i hear from them... hugs, m
anyone who'd accuse someone of plagiarism, for having a similar style to another writer, hasn't a clue what plagiarism means, or can legally apply to...
Thanks! I'll do that. I'm still deciding which novel I want to delve into. I want it to be one I don't have to do a lot of work on. I might still choose the manuscript that was stolen. But like I said before, I don't want to be known as one of those unoriginal writers who took a best-selling novel and tweaked it just enough that it seems like a new idea. Unfortunately for them, they don't fool too many people. We know where they got their idea.
I have to be honest. I've lost my enthusiasm. I just feel dead inside. I can't get excited about any of my stories. And I don't feel like writing a new one. This person didn't just steal one of my best stories. She stole my dream. I used to write because I love it, but also because I wanted to get published. Now I think, what's the point? Why should I even try anymore? I'm afraid something else I send out will be taken from me.
i have to be honest, too... if all you want is to stay sunk in your self-made slough of despond, go off in a corner by yourself to do so and stop trying to involve us in your self-destruction... yes, i'm being harsh, but that's what good mothers have to be, when children don't respond to tlc and need 'tough love' to snap them out of self-destructive behaviors... if you want help starting on something new, you can email me and i'll get you there... but if you want to continue your self-pity-party, i'm outa here... love and tough love hugs, mammamaia
I'm gonna say it again: First: Get a box. Put everything related to this book in the box. Don't even consider rewriting or pursuing _that_ book. If you do, you will run into the issue over and over and over again - I can't use this any more, they'll see this as too similar, etc., etc. Next: Consider a mental palate cleanser. Take a course on conversational French, or learn to make your own ice cream, or plant a vegetable garden, or go to a film festival and see twenty films in three days. Next: Start writing a new book. Once in a while, print out a draft of that new book and plop it on a shelf or in a drawer. It's a good backup in case your computer crashes, a good record of your own thoughts and the development of your writing talent. Don't stop to think about the fact that it's also good evidence if you ever run into a copyright case. Just form the habit. AFTER you've completed and polished the first draft of the new book, you can think about whether you're still worried about copyright, and you can seek professional advice before you start submitting that book. But that is AFTER. Right now, you just want to reboot your creative process. Stop reacting to the state of your thoughts and emotions now. Thoughts and emotions can be changed. Start the process of changing them. It's not a single simple act of will, it's many actions over a period of what will probably be months. But the sooner you start, the sooner you will be back in a mental state that allows you to be creative. Go. Look for a good film festival. Now.
This reminds me of the lines from Paul Simon's song "I Am A Rock": Don't talk of love Well I've heard the word before It's sleeping in my memory I won't disturb the slumber Of feelings that have died If I never loved I never would have cried To me, this is one of the saddest verses ever written. Of course it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Likewise, it's better to have written and lost than never to have written at all. Write your stories even if they get stolen. If you don't write them, you deny yourself the best part of yourself - the creative part. Don't go through the rest of your life a self-maimed cripple. Write, and be whole.
Thanks, guys. I don't enjoy this pity-party I'm throwing for myself. Like ChickenFreak said, my thoughts and emotions can be changed. Right now, I'm reacting to some lousy thoughts. I know I need to change direction. I also agree wholeheartedly with boxing up this novel and starting work on something else. I'll still have reminders of what happened whenever I walk into a library or store. I can learn to deal with that better, though. Instead of making me angry, I can let it encourage me to write something even better. Please be patient with me. This is really difficult. But I know I can work through it.
Hi, I recently read A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. Throughout the book Marra tells readers what will happen to the characters in the future. Here is a quote as an example, "In twenty-eight years and seven months, at a limnology conference in Cologne, the girl would meet the man she was to marry nine years later." These are my questions: 1) Can I use this general format in my writing? By general format I mean: In (fill in a number) years (fill in character name) would (fill in what happens) . 2) Have you come across novels or short stories that use this type of "device"?
I've seen it before. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (a great book, by the way) used a lot of these "spoilers", although I can't recall if any of them were phrased like your example. But it was done in a similar way. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't the only one. Using the same devices isn't plagiarism, you can do it too.
Is this just some sort of template where you fill in the blanks? If so, I'm wondering why you would want to...
Writing is sometimes cheating and stealing. All art is that way and many (most) great artists stated as much. You just have to be clever about it. Do whatever you have to to make your story work. It's only the verbatim passages that are numerous in one's work, and very specifically recognisable in their content, that are likely to get you in trouble. Find things that inspire you, make them your own, disguise them from the original so you don't get caught. It's as simple as that. Obviously, if you want to create good, memorable art, most of the content will be your own, because derivative works are not very interesting. I often take chapters or passages or descriptions that I like from my favourite novels, and use them as templates when I'm stuck. By the time I write my version, it looks nothing like the original. I technically 'stole' but nobody knows except for me. That's the trick. In short, no, I don't think your proposal would be recognised as plagiarism. That particular type of sentence is seen all over fiction, as long as you make it your own, you're ok.
If it has the writer's plots, and characters, would that be copyright infringement bounds? I have had one specific place copy the setting, very specifically of a story in terms of ideas (that was my personality and was the inspiration). Not names, or concepts. I submitted it to that same place. It irritated me. However, maybe it will be a fad, and could die-out.
As noted above, techniques and devices are re-used all the time - flashbacks, scene shifts, POV shifts, cliffhangers, foreshadowing...I could go on, but you get the idea. I'm not familiar with Mr. Marra's work, and from the OP I can't tell if it's fiction or nonfiction. I can see the utility of this method of presentation in a nonfiction work in which the ultimate outcomes are assumed to be known and the writer is seeking to show the reader how everything and everyone came together. But I would be surprised to see it used other than very sparingly in a work of fiction, since it tends to dispel tension rather then produce it. I have never used it myself.
Not necessarily. If done right, it can do the opposite, make the reader wonder how the story would get there. But I guess it isn't easy to make it work.
If it uses the same characters then there could be a problem. Plots, however, are like ideas, and unless the complete details are followed, I doubt there's anything one could do. Settings - well, can only one author write about New York in 1852? One must be careful not to confuse similarities with plagiarism.
