Plagiarizing is a no-go, but writers get the green light for stealing. Let me elaborate.
The Beginning
Early in my education, I was taught that plagiarism is wrong, never acceptable, and has negative consequences. To copy the work of another and pass it off as one’s own is unethical and reprehensible. So, imagine my surprise, as a junior in college, when my fiction-writing professor instructed us to go out and steal from other writers. Thievery was an assignment, and up until the past several years, I’ve struggled with stealing.
The Explanation
To clarify, my professor was not sanctioning plagiarism but the act and art of reappropriating. What do I mean by that? Well, to reappropriate means to employ or adapt something for a use different from its original purpose, unlike plagiarism, which is taking someone else’s work or ideas and pretending they’re yours. What my professor was advising us to do as young writers learning our craft was to look at the published works of authors we admire, whose styles resonate with our own, and take what we could and find a new way to apply their magic in our own writing. Still kind of sounds like stealing, but I’m going to refine the differentiation further with a personal anecdote.
The Experience
Years ago, as a still-developing writer working in a PR, on-staff writer capacity for a local nonprofit, I drafted a press release about an upcoming performance. As some of you may know, press releases don’t include bylines when they run, which I fully understood and accepted.
Here’s the rub. A week after sending the press release into the ether, it ran in a local print publication, with another person taking credit and getting a byline on my work. Additional press release fun fact: Once you send that missive out, it’s fair game for publications to use the information as they will. They reappropriate the content. Typically, a press release becomes an original article with its information shared with readers as a new piece of writing. What I experienced was plagiarism in its most basic interpretation. My press release, my writing, word-for-word was printed in ink on paper with another writer’s name credited.
Now, what had been plagiarized wasn’t my magnum opus. However, my work had been taken from me by another writer calling it their own, and that felt sh*tty. What was a twenty-something front desk girl to do? I emailed the publication’s editor, and in the next printing, she included a retraction, naming me as the article’s author.
That real-life account does a fair job exposing the difference between plagiarism and reappropriation. This years-old experience prevented me from sharing any of my writings publicly for a long time. Similarly to my apprehensive approach to sharing potential baby names, I was hesitant to share any snippets of my creative work for fear that someone would ride off into the sunset with my carefully and lovingly crafted phrases, dialogue, and swaths of prose.
Recently, I’ve buried that plagiarism hatchet (mostly) and started being more open about my writing and embracing what my professor had prescribed.
The Now, Part I
In my reading, listening, and viewing, I take note of words, lines, quotes, excerpts, lyrics, phrases, and written or verbalized ideas, and I steal them appropriately. I type them out in a special note on my phone to save them for later. Now, you can’t really “steal” a word because it is a basic element of language that we all have access to. No one can claim a word belongs to them unless you’re Shakespeare because he coined a few words himself, but those puppies are definitely in the public domain.
Phrases, quotes, excerpts, and the like are up for grabs because they can stoke the imagination and inspire other creatives to craft their own art. I ask you: What’s more romantic than finding inspiration through the work of another creative mind? But that was the whole point my professor aimed to convey—find inspiration in the work of others, find great lines and ideas, and figure out how to make them uniquely yours. It has been said that every story has already been told, with the encouraging caveat being that these stories haven’t been told by me or you. Our distinct voices and turns-of-phrase enable us to tell universal, relatable stories with fresh takes.
The Now, Part II
After all my palavering about stealing, I suppose I should share some of the things I’ve stolen. I’ve pickpocketed words, usurped quotes, and purloined phrases from books, shows, movies, social media posts, and daily life activities. Inspiration can be found anywhere. We just have to keep our eyes open, actively look, and constantly be thinking about our WIP as we go about every other function and activity that life demands.
Regardless of your religious beliefs, Biblical devotionals are chock-full of poetic wisdom. Examples I’ve drawn inspiration from include, “A curse without cause shall not alight.” (Proverbs 26:2) and “The beasts and birds are consumed for the wickedness of those who dwell there.” (Jeremiah 12:4). Both of these verses reference evil, which is pivotal when telling a story because there will always be light and dark at odds with one another. So then, I started toying with the kinds of wickedness or the type of curse that might exist in my work.
Movies and shows are great sources for gaining insight into crafting dialogue and providing ideas for plot and descriptive details. In AppleTV’s The Crowded Room, a character mentions a tree being rotten beneath its bark. With trees being a significant element in my story, that line made me imagine what my trees hold: what lies beneath their bark? In Amazon’s Rings of Power, one person accuses someone of having a “brackish temper,” and I began imagining what one must exhibit to have a brackish temper. In Dune: Part One, Duke Leto says, “A great man doesn’t seek to lead; he’s called to it.” Whenever I hear or read the term ‘called,’ my ears perk up. Being called to act, serve, or fulfill a requirement or expectation is essential to my WIP. I love seeing and hearing how other writers utilize this word.
Daily activities can also yield unexpected interest piquers. Angler’s Cove is a road in Charlevoix that I often come across while performing administrative work. To be completely transparent, I didn’t know what an angler was, so I looked it up. Knowing that it means a fisherman who uses a rod and line, I can apply that occupation to the coastal kingdom I created. Then there’s Falmouth, Michigan, a place I pass when traveling southward. For years, that name struck me every time I saw its sign. So, I bestowed this name upon a place in my fictional world, but it gets a not-so-nice nickname too.
It’s evident I’m a reader, so I am constantly snatching up beautiful word nuggets. Favorite findings include ‘snick,’ as in a door snicking shut, and “the work of a moment,” both courtesy of the Throne of Glass series. Next is ‘device,’ as in the device on a shield, from C.S. Lewis’ The Silver Chair. A fun one is ‘hobyahs,’ which are described as lizards or goblins, depending on your source material. I unearthed this treasure while straightening library shelves a year or so ago. Finally, referencing a comfort read, Cimorene of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles served as a character inspiration. Before becoming a dragon’s princess, Cimorene attempted to take lessons in sword fighting, cooking, Latin, magic, economics, and juggling but was stopped by her parents because such behavior wasn’t princess-like. I want my female protagonist to be able to do all of these things and more, so she shall.
The End
So there you have it: an educational explanation, an anecdotal rant, and the actual application of a college lesson. All to say, go ahead and steal. Garner inspiration and food for your mind—just be sure you do your reappropriating appropriately.
Coming up next:
June – An Anniversary to Remember