A Low Down Dirty Shame

My social media this weekend was lit up with posts over a case of an unknown author deliberating posting chapters word for word from a NYT best seller author as her own work. It's stealing, it's wrong and it's a shame. It's low down and the unknown ought to be flogged. Harsh? Nope.  Stealing makes the entire industry of authors look, and feel, horrible. There's a reason 'thou shalt not steal' is one of the oldest laws known to humankind, as is 'thou shalt not lie'.

Because it's WRONG.

Those of you who have followed the Romance Genre for years can recall a Famous Author who's work was proven deliberately stolen by another famous author (I'm not naming names; those who followed the industry will know who I mean; if you don't, email me and we can discuss it privately). The sad thing in that situation was the stolen work was published in the thief's (sorry, calling a spade a spade here, and since thief admitted she 'lifted' passages, she's a spade) name and hundreds of unsuspecting Readers got caught up in the scandal. I for one, vowed never ever again to read something from the thief, and I never have.

Writing is hard, hard, HARD work. And having your blood, sweat and tears stolen and posted/submitted/published under someone's else's name is unthinkable. Most of us would never consider such a thing. Then there are the 'bad apples' who stink up the whole writing industry. Kinda like that idiot in class, who bought a paper from the internet and now the entire class is under a cloud.

I know there are 'fanfic' sites that allow famous characters like Star Wars and Twilight to have their own 'stories' written by people other than the original authors. I admit to reading a Doctor Who story about the Doctor and River's child and her adventures. The thing is, openly admitting, "yes, I am using characters and/or scenes developed by another author and adding to them" is a whole different animal than, "Hey, lookie! I wrote this fab scene/chapter/novel and you have to read it." One gives credit where credit is due, one is flat out stealing.

I don't mind someone sharing my work AS LONG AS MY WORK GETS THE CREDIT AS MY WORK/WORDS. I hope saying that doesn't come back to haunt me, where half the section is lifted and mis poted as someone else's own. Isn't that horrible I even think that? In addition to everything else writers have to worry about, we are now supposed to worry about some moron thief stealing own words and passing them off as his/her own. It makes me sick.

So, Lesson here: For those of us who live, breathe and wake with characters, plots and stories dancing in our heads, we're way too filled with our own to steal anyone else's. If you have to 'borrow' or 'add to' someone's idea, character, or plot, regardless how 'well written' it is, IT IS NOT YOUR OWN. Give credit where credit is due.

Don't be a stinking bad apple.