Orson Scott Card’s Lesson-On Plagiarism, Borrowing, Resemblance, and Influence.“Unethical Copying.This is what most people mean when they say “plagiarism.” If you write a manuscript that, point for point, follows an unattributed source, and you try to pass it off as original work, you have probably crossed the line into unethical copying. The punishment is not legal prosecution (though in the film business you can sue for a portion or even the entirety of earnings, if the copy gets filmed and the original therefore can’t), but rather the scorn of the publishing industry. In several famous cases, the punishment for this kind of copying was public exposure, public humiliation, and in the case of novice writers, the end of all hope of getting published (at least under the name you were using!).Publishers have long memories when it comes to such offenses.“
..Ahh the good ‘ole days. How I wish it were so.
Did I ever tell you I met Orson? When I was a fledgling writer, he spoke at a dinner at the AF base we were stationed at. Hotrod being an officer and all, we were at the dinner and I got to talk with him.
“Writers write,” he said. Notice he didn’t say copy or borrow or cut and paste. I know plagiarism wasn’t what he was talking about then, but I think it fits.
I adore my signed copy of Ender’s Game. It’s one of the treasures of my library.
Ok, Kristen. I am totally Not Worthy. I *heart* Ender’s Game and think for that book alone, OSC has a permanent spot at the top of his genre.
Never read Enders Game, but Speaker for the Dead, and was in utter awe. If I met him I would have gotten stupid all over the place. Kristen, What’d you do?