Monday, January 23, 2012

Dear Published Authors: Stop Stealing My Unpublished Writing, It’s Getting on My Nerves


This one time at writing camp, I wrote short story about undead beings that glitter in sunlight and the next thing you know a little book called Twilight is published chocked full of GLITTERY UNDEAD VAMPIRES.

Okay, so I never wrote about glittery vampires and Stephanie Myers did not steal from my unpublished writing. And say what you will about Twilight, it wasn’t too bad (for a third grade primer).

But I have had instances where my characters show up in print or on television while I’m still in unpublished edit mode. And I’m getting pretty sick of it.

In my novel, Rooted, my villain was powerful, viscerally cruel, dark and cunning. I had every aspect of his character down: his accent, his hand made clothing. The way he moved like a bull in one scene and Fred Astaire in another. This man had any women he wanted, and he wanted all of them, often. He was an animal.

Thinking back on him, I miss him terribly. Of course, I can visit with him anytime I like. All I have to do is watch an episode of the Sopranos and there he be, the physical version of my solitary writings. Only, I wrote the durn character a couple of years before the Sopranos debuted. By the time I got around to watching the Sopranos, several years later, Rooted was pretty much solid. Only, my villain was now such a cliché he would never work in the story.

It was back to the drawing board. I changed my villain from a charismatic mob boss to a revenge seeking coal miner from West Virginia. I’m taking a gamble that HBO does not intend to develop a series about a coal miner with a mean streak and missing fingers. This, I hope, takes care of any future infringements on what I have already written in my unpublished novel, Rooted.

Two weeks ago I listened to the audio version of The Help, only to discover that one of my main characters currently in development has a name very similar to one of the main characters in The Help. And like the character in “The Help”, my character is a black female in Mississippi.

How in the world did The Help’s author know I am currently developing the most tragic literary figure of all time with a name very similar to Abeline, one of the main characters in The Help? My character is a black child in Mississippi, but her timeframe goes back to the 1880s. Her speech is so similar to Abeline’s from The Help, that I can’t get Abeline out of my head.

It’s like I’m now writing the child version of Abeline from The Help. Which makes me wonder, how did Kathryn Stockett know that one day I would develop a character so similar to her published Abeline? And how dare she write Abeline knowing I would be writing a similar character so soon after the publication of The Help?

To be plagiarized prior to anyone reading my work is quite unnerving. To be plagiarized before I even write anything is downright spooky.

So I beg all you hotshot published authors, have pity on this struggling writer. Please do not beat me to the punch. Leave me a few crumbs of my own writing to be sprung on the unsuspecting masses like a tiger from a bush.

For if you do, there will be a special place in heaven for you. And 36 virgins. I promise.












9 comments:

Adriana Ryan said...

LOL This was an awesome post. I can't believe the nerve of these people! I guess you'd better write faster and publish more. :D

Idabel Allen said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I'm taking your advice, writing like fire and will be a publishing fool any day now. God help us all:0

Shah Wharton said...

He, he - this happens to me too - all the damn time. I'm glad for your more amusing take on it though. :)

Idabel Allen said...

I'm not the only one? By the way, what are you working on? Maybe there's something worth plagerizing:)

Hope Welsh said...

lol

I've had that happen as well. I say go with what you originally wrote.

Let's face it, it's all been done before in one form or another. Every plot type has been done--it's how YOU do it that makes it original.

As for Twilight--I loved the movies--I loved the storytelling--but if I had to read the words cold and hard one more time, I was gonna scream. Where was the editor? Meyer is a great storyteller--but the red pen was a tad lacking.

To me, one can be a great storyteller and not an excellent writer, know what I mean?

Idabel Allen said...

I know what you mean. I was fine with Twilight up until the middle of the book and then the poor writing did me in. I forgot about how often the same words appeared over and over again. But I guess it does prove the power of the story, to be that popular despite some of the writing. I haven't read the others, but I heard the writing improved, which makes a lot of sense. I shudder to think of my early pieces. Not the best writing at all.

Melinda B. said...

Whenever I get a great idea I think "Oh no, now it's in the Writer Hive Mind! I need to get this published before someone else beats me to it."

hellotammy said...

Decades ago, when 'Stargate' first hit the big screen, I went several times because I was just THRILLED that my unpublished, unFINISHED book was up there in the theaters! I knew I had a winner on my hand, and there was the proof; I was just way too slow. I've come back to that story, rewriting it from the ground up, because after all these years, it's still a story I need to tell.

Jeremy Williams said...

Whenever I hear of some new fantasy book or movie I always check the plot to assure it wasn't stole from my mental locker of plot lines.... so far so good. I just need to hurry up and get this stuff out there! :) Good post!

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