Plagiarism

“Plagiarism" is an ugly word coined circa 1615-1625 to describe authors who steal the ideas of another. In recent times, bestselling authors such as J.K. Rowling have been subject to plagiarism lawsuits. One suspects that in Rowling's case the plaintiff, Adrian Jacobs -author of The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: Livid Land, was a flake: Part of Jacobs' suit against Rowling called for all copies of the allegedly guilty book -Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- to be burned. Burned; say what?! Perhaps Jacobs' lawsuit would have succeeded had he lived in a fascist country.  Instead, the suit was all but dead on arrival when it came before a judge.  Similar fates have met the two other suits Rowling has suffered. 

Nevertheless, the risk of being accused of plagiarism is a risk all authors run. Even the most scrupulous of us are not safe; just look at what Adrian Jacobs tried to do to an author with a scrupulous track record.  Bestselling historical novelist Jeff Shaara commented in this old web chat at Fredericksburg.com that he does not read novels by others: "I don't read fiction. I'm deathly afriad [sic] of picking up some little piece of information or some style point that would find its way into my own books- that's plagiarism, and I'm very careful." he said.

Shaara has reason to be concerned. While once struggling with a historical fiction short story about the USS Indianapolis sinking during WWII, I had her captain -Charles B. McVay III- shout "All hands off the bridge!" Lo and behold; those exact same words had been uttered by actor Stacy Keach when he played McVay in the TV movie Mission of the Shark; I had seen him do this scene before I tried writing my own!  Uh oh, that line of dialogue now had to go.   

But a writer cannot write a genre without being steeped in it. Therefore, the best way to avoid accidental plagiarism is to check and review each and every thing you write. Making sure your text is 100 percent original will go a long way in keeping all but the flakiest of wanna-be writers from trying to serve a lawsuit. And as far as avoiding plagiarism itself is concerned? Simple: Do not do it! If you are not confident of your writing skills, or are just not good at it but have a dream project you still desire to do, hire a ghostwriter or two to help out. It is far better than stealing from your favorite authors.

Image courtesy Buzzle.com