Status: Writing on a variety of book projects.Watching: James Bond movies from my PS2.
Listening to: Whatever's burned to my PC.
Reading: CHEEKY ANGEL manga.
TOPIC: PLAGIARISM ABOUNDS...
Like JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyers was recently handed a lawsuit--charging her with plagiarizing one of her books; from another unauthorized source.
Of course, Meyers denies that she plagiarized "anything" from her books, but one has to wonder why people like her can get so defensive about it--if they didn't do it in the first place?
Like Bush's supporters have famously said over the years: "If you're not worried, what do you have to hide?"
Plagiarism is becoming something of a growing epidemic within the publishing world these days--with more and more examples popping up over the past five years. (Or more.)
With the advent of the internet, it has become more and more easy to simply "lift" material (copyrighted or otherwise) from people's personal websites, or other different websites and claim it as your own--once the finished project is completed.
Stephanie Meyers and JK Rowling are most likely guilty of such crimes--which makes their claims of innocence all that more suspect.
No one in their right mind would think that either just didn't happen to dream up their book series independently and without any such public "influence".
If they did--as they claim--it's a load of crap. There are a lot of internal and external influences which makes coming up with something original all that much harder.
People these days have either fallen off of or gotten onto the band wagon--for that one, small, trip towards fame, fortune, and glory.
They constantly want to emulate their favorite authors, movie stars, and the like--and don't have to put in a whole lot of work doing it.
Writing a novel is becoming all that more challenging to do--because it is all too easy to fall prey to cheating and stealing your way towards the end of any given book project.
But denying it just casts a cloud over you--the author--and makes it all that more difficult to be seen as both credible and original.
Sky
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"Twilight" author accused of plagiarism
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A writer plans to sue "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer, accusing her of plagiarism by lifting passages from an obscure book she wrote called "The Nocturne" and using them in vampire romance "Breaking Dawn," an attorney said on Tuesday.
J. Craig Williams, who represents "The Nocturne" author Jordan Scott, told Reuters by phone that the passages in question involve few word-for-word similarities but that the two books have similar plot and character points.
Meyer's publisher, Hachette Book Group, called the accusation meritless, saying "The Twilight Saga" is entirely Meyer's creation and that she knew nothing of "The Nocturne."
"Breaking Dawn," which came out in 2008, is the fourth book in the series of novels about a teenager, Bella Swan, caught in a forbidden romance with vampire Edward Cullen.
The "Twilight" books, which the publisher says have sold 70 million copies worldwide, are the basis for a movie series from Summit Entertainment. The first film, "Twilight," has earned more than $380 million at worldwide box offices, and the second, "New Moon," hits theaters in November.
In "Breaking Dawn," Bella marries the blood-sucking Cullen and the book follows Bella through a difficult pregnancy and her new life as a vampire.
In a cease-and-desist letter Williams sent to Hachette Book Group, he provided comparisons from the two books of a wedding, a sex-on-the-beach episode and a passage where a human-turned-vampire describes the wrenching change.
As another instance of similarities, Williams pointed out that characters in both books call their wives "love."
Hachette Book Group said in a statement that Meyer's books "have been a phenomenal sensation" and that "it shouldn't be surprising to hear that other people may seek to ride the coattails of such success."
Williams said Scott plans to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against Meyer this week or next in U.S. federal court.
"I think the fans have to read both books and make up their own mind, like a judge is going to have to," Williams said.
He said Scott does not plan to seek monetary damages.
Scott made chapters from "The Nocturne" available online as she was working on the vampire book, which she wrote in her teenage years and released in book form in 2006, Williams said. He said he did not know how many copies the book sold.
