plagiarism vs. homage
- Thread starter sanchopanza
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thebullet
Rebel without applause
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2003
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I use a lot of quotes from popular culture in one of my stories that is on this site. I just have fun inserting things like that. I actually have a 'crib' sheet that lists all of the quotes or paraphrases that I have used.
This ain't exactly a history book we are writing here. I think the normal rules don't necessarily apply. On the other hand, while I see no problem in using a phrase or sentence from other sources, that is as far as it should go. Picking multiple sentences or even paragraphs from an original source without attribution is plagarism.
When I posted the first chapters of my story, "Death By Fucking", I put a little blurb in the heading mentioning that if anyone wanted to see where my quotes came from to send me an email. No one ever has, and I can't find the blurb I wrote on the Literotica website, so maybe people think I am stealing my little phrases without attribution.
Not so. I continue to keep a references section that lists every phrase or sentence that I 'lifted' from popular culture. I do it for fun, not profit.
Perhaps in my next chapter I will again make the offer of sending my quote list to anyone who wants it.
Stories by thebullet
This ain't exactly a history book we are writing here. I think the normal rules don't necessarily apply. On the other hand, while I see no problem in using a phrase or sentence from other sources, that is as far as it should go. Picking multiple sentences or even paragraphs from an original source without attribution is plagarism.
When I posted the first chapters of my story, "Death By Fucking", I put a little blurb in the heading mentioning that if anyone wanted to see where my quotes came from to send me an email. No one ever has, and I can't find the blurb I wrote on the Literotica website, so maybe people think I am stealing my little phrases without attribution.
Not so. I continue to keep a references section that lists every phrase or sentence that I 'lifted' from popular culture. I do it for fun, not profit.
Perhaps in my next chapter I will again make the offer of sending my quote list to anyone who wants it.
Stories by thebullet
There are some real problems, and some non-problems here.
The non-problems first:
Titles: many books have titles that are unattributed quotations. "Stranger in a Strange Land" comes immediately to mind.1 So many people do it out there in the paper publishing world that it must be OK.
Phrases: If I describe someone as crying "fierce tears" then I will not stop my story to explain where I first read it. 2
Longer quotes: If I have a character say, "They are not long, the days of wine and roses," then I will not attribute that; I will assume the reader knows that it is a quotation, that the character is deliberately quoting, and whence it comes. 3 Occasionally I will put something in such as. "Taken from a county jail, By a set of curious chances," she quoted.4
If I want to use someone else's plot or theme I will. There are no plots that have not been done a million times already.
The problems:
If I need to lift a whole paragraph from someone else's work, for example someone reading aloud in front of a class of students, then I will attribute it out of the mouth of one of the participants in the session.
If I need to plagiarise a substantial part of someone else's story then I will give up writing.
If I need to plagiarise someone else's fictional location or characters, then I will give up writing. I realise that condemns most of the celebs section of Lit and all fan-fic, but I think they are just cheating. A writer should invent new characters and locations, or use real locations.
1 Exodus 2:22
2 Do not go gentle into that good night Dylan Thomas
3 Vitae Summa Brevis Ernest Dowson
4 The Mikado W.S.Gilbert
The non-problems first:
Titles: many books have titles that are unattributed quotations. "Stranger in a Strange Land" comes immediately to mind.1 So many people do it out there in the paper publishing world that it must be OK.
Phrases: If I describe someone as crying "fierce tears" then I will not stop my story to explain where I first read it. 2
Longer quotes: If I have a character say, "They are not long, the days of wine and roses," then I will not attribute that; I will assume the reader knows that it is a quotation, that the character is deliberately quoting, and whence it comes. 3 Occasionally I will put something in such as. "Taken from a county jail, By a set of curious chances," she quoted.4
If I want to use someone else's plot or theme I will. There are no plots that have not been done a million times already.
The problems:
If I need to lift a whole paragraph from someone else's work, for example someone reading aloud in front of a class of students, then I will attribute it out of the mouth of one of the participants in the session.
If I need to plagiarise a substantial part of someone else's story then I will give up writing.
If I need to plagiarise someone else's fictional location or characters, then I will give up writing. I realise that condemns most of the celebs section of Lit and all fan-fic, but I think they are just cheating. A writer should invent new characters and locations, or use real locations.
1 Exodus 2:22
2 Do not go gentle into that good night Dylan Thomas
3 Vitae Summa Brevis Ernest Dowson
4 The Mikado W.S.Gilbert
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