Harvard Novelist Says Copying Was Unintentional
Actually, I'm serious. While the 'mirroring' in the quoted portion goes on for just a little too long, it would only need to be slightly re-written (maybe find something that doesn't include the words 'ha', 'uh' or 'yeah') to make a claim that it was a homage to Megan McCafferty reasonably plausible.
But there's nothing wrong with the "(a), (b)" stuff - after I read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test I used Tom Wolfe's triple-colons ( ::: ) loads. So a little bit of trying someone else's techniques on for effect is fine, I reckon.
Followed by: a bit of discussion in the comments of this post.
LATER: Here's a link to the article that broke the story, from the Harvard Crimson
Here's a big list of similarities, also from the Crimson.
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4 comments:
I couldnt sleep last night and watched the US 'Today Show'. The exampleas they has seemed a lot more daming.
Thanks for that.
Yeah, I'm sure she plagiarised her arse off. And even if it could be called a homage, America is so touchy about things like that at the moment.
The most recent Southpark episode:
Towelie gets over his drug addition and writes a moving book about his experiences. Thanks to Oprah’s support, the book becomes a best seller and his story inspires millions to turn their lives around. However, when he’s caught in a lie by the grand dame of daytime television, Towelie’s old habits start to look might appealing.
The episode is called 'A Million Little Fibers'
(BTW - the word identification says 'jorrel' - virus marketing from Warners?)
Yep, that's one of the thing's America is touchy about... Although that's more a discussion about what a memior is rather than plagiarism.
I saw more excerpts from this girl's book in the paper today - the one about the person invading her personal space and the one about the guy with the half smile. (Gee, if I change "semi-smile" to "half smile" no one will notice...)
If she'd only done half as much ripping-off - like just used the phrase "invading my personal space" and not the rest of it, then she'd have been okay.
I've been thinking that the word verification stuff sound like nasty diseases... flvcuuh...or at least like you've got a nasty disease...
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