Copying someone else's wording and passing it off as your own is plagiarism. That remains true even if there is no practical way to prove and enforce it.
Well that's different. That's you, trying to savour the imagery someone else's words invoked in your head, so that you yourself can describe said imagery in your own.
Unless you're quoting them (and doing so correctly), it's plagiarism. "The duplication of an author's words without quotation marks and accurate references or footnotes." http://definitions.uslegal.com/p/plagiarism/
Thanks all. I wish I had written it down so I could use a concrete sample. Y'all seem to think I am referring to whole sentences, or even paragraphs, while I was referring to a single word or a very short phrase consisting out of two or three words, that described something in a way I had not read or heard before. Maybe an example: we all know the description 'carrot top' for someone with red hair. Probably falls into the cliché category now. But someone, somewhere had to use that term for the first time. Did the second person who used it plagiarise it? Language is a beautiful and exciting thing. Look at the new words appearing in the Oxford Dictionary each year. Think of advertising slogans that have become part of our idiom. 'Just do it!'. Here in Australia 'Not Happy Jan' is still being used in everyday language, years after it was used in a Yellow Pages ad. The word 'selfie' also originated in Australia, when a bloke got drunk, fell down, hurt his face and took a photo of himself to email to a mate. Some might frown on these expressions turning up in our daily language, but to me, that just proves how dynamic language is. This is not a defence of plagiarism, but it is a recognition of the fluidity of our language. Words, expressions and short phrases will continue to come and go. Meanwhile, I will keep a notebook handy, if only, like some others have suggested, to inspire me. hvb
Every idea comes from another idea. To gain a new insight on an old one, that's a good direction to go in. You can write an entire paragraph with a line in mind, then simply replace and it won't seem that different. If you can't replace it, then keep it. Don't use more than what you're willing to be ashamed for. It's easier to do a job right, then to explain why you didn't. - Abraham Lincoln.
Really! Some author's take years to complete their novels. Would any writer (in their right mind or otherwise) avoid reading other author's works just to eliminate the possibility of plagiarism? Don't they allow themselves any down-time? You've made a very odd statement. In my experience: reading fuels the writing.
Didn't we just see this thread? No really like just in the last week or two? Something about copying and pasting interesting word choices? IMO, using them to learn from is cool, but copying them out-right is plagiarism, especially if the expressions are new, fresh, and unique. People quote Shakespeare without even knowing it, so using one of his coinages may be seen as a form of homage (if it's noticed) depending on how you use it.
A quote from #1 New York times bestselling author, Karen Traviss: Illogical fury, she nailed it. I do admit it was wrong of me to use many, I shouldn't have included a word to suggest on the number of authors who don't read whilst writing, because I honestly have no clue.
I tend away from books that are too similar to what I'm working on, but I definitely still read while writing. Can't imagine not.
As I mentioned in the other thread, it depends on the sentence. The sentence is, in my opinion, so common that no one is going to accuse you of plagiarism. On the other hand, something like which is the first sentence of Finnegan's Wake, will certainly draw accusations of plagiarism. Regarding Shakespeare, some of his passages are used so often in common speech that I don't think most people will accuse you of plagiarizing. These phrases have essentially become a part of our everyday language. How do we know whether something is part of our everyday language or not? And who decides that? I have absolutely no clue.
ditto that! of course!... why would it matter what you call the usurped wording?... if the phrase/sentence/combination of words originated with someone else, it's not your own, thus is plagiarism...
If you consider it plagiarism to use a metaphor that originated with another author, how do you decide if it is their own or a metaphor in common use?
A very good question. If we had to ensure we weren't plagiarising anyone's work, we would have to track that smilies or metaphor to its origins. A daunting task.
The title of this thread is your answer. You're purposely stealing; you're plagiarizing. You're definitely not "learning from others" if you're just writing something down word-for-word. Learning from others would be if you took something and made it different to make it your own, or if you're inspired to write in a new way because of how that author phrased things. Taking it word-for-word just because you liked how it sounds, that's plagiarizing. As to how to decide if metaphors are in common use or not, I would look at it this way: if it's so original that it jumps out at you as something you wished you'd used, then it's probably not that common. Now sometimes you'll make up something that you think is original, and maybe it's not. Probably someone, somewhere, has used it, but that's more of an accidental plagiarism, and I wouldn't even call that plagiarism. If you're purposely taking something verbatim, then it can't be anything but plagiarism.
Depends on your purpose and wording. Here's the first part of Edgar Allen Poe's Annabelle Lee - It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. Here's some lines from Nabokov's Lolita - Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. He goes on to further pay homage by naming a character Annabel and having her die as well. Get inspired, pay homage - no one creates in a vacuum - just be careful.
In another thread here, I referred to my 'short little span of attention'. The casual reference to a Paul Simon lyric was intentional. Am I a plagiarist?
Plagiarism is a very modern legalistic copyright oriented concept. Think of of the good bad old days and the bad good old days. You could grok a melody, an idea, a line, a concept and you'd be gold as glow as long as you did something good with it. The corollary is that back then you weren't likely to make any money if you were original or not. Do you folks think the new regime is making us more creative or just more circumscribed?
I was recently re-reading a favourite novel of mine which I'd not read for quite a few years ...and to my horror, I came across a very distinctive phrase that I'd used in my own novel. I hadn't realised, but this would be where I'd got it from. Fortunately, I'm still editing my novel, so I was able to go in and change it. But yikes. Sometimes phrases just get stuck in your memory and you THINK they're your own—when they're not. I would never consciously copy, but now I'm worried. Have I done this in other places too?
So any metaphor you use that you've heard before you should Google and then what? Make sure you get more than one hit?
If it's common, there will be articles about where it came from, what it means, etc. If it's only from one author, it either won't be found or will direct you to that author. It's just another search, like any other search. And of course, there's common sense. You wouldn't google a metaphor you've heard dozens of times from dozens of different sources. But if it's unique to your experiences, then yes, I'd google it just like I would anything else.
