Copycat Creativity

Tolkien, re-read Beowulf please! As a dedicated student I take plagiarism very seriously. As if your work being stolen wasn't bad enough: imagine your work being tweaked and submitted to a publisher, only to make thousands of dollars. For those of us who place our work online it's a struggle to feel completely comfortable about your work not being protected from plagiarizers of all forms. To explain this feeling to friends who do not write, I tell them that when I place my work online and I hit the “post” button, it's the same feeling you get when you leave your child or pet with an unknown sitter: you may return back to find your baby in a bad situation. Let's face it: imagination is becoming a thing of the past with the arts and crafts boxes being tossed to make way for technology. Literature and ideas are becoming more and more accessible to those who are less and less original.

I have heard every excuse there is. Examples include:

-there are only so many ideas, therefore people are bound to repeat ideas without knowing each others work.

-I just wanted to expand on the idea.

-I forgot I read something like that the day before I published my similar story.

I understand that people make mistakes, and that sometimes avid readers have so much on the go that it is difficult to recall the “exacts” about everything we read. Sadly, I also know that a conscious reader will never be able to completely steal my original plot without noticing similarities. In response to this, I have come up with a checklists you can use to ensure that your story is original as it can possibly can be, and you will never have someone claim that your work is an echo of theirs.

Lynn's checklists for anti- creative writing plagiarism

1. Think critically- does this story sound familiar in any way, shape, or form?
2. Ask those you trust- often, as writers, we develop a close circle of fellow writers we trust. Ask friends to review your work- they will notice if there are similarities to anything they've read, and be able to help with the editing process.
3. Google- we use Google everyday, so why not when writing? Google your character names, plots, and even a few sentences just to verify that nothing like your work already exists on the internet.

Do you have other ways of avoiding repeat ideas and creative writing plagiarism in your work? Share them below!