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Mariah Wilson
Intermediate Member
Username: mariahwilson43

Post Number: 327
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 7:20 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Okay, the deal is, after reading many Dean Koontz novels in a row I wrote a poem titled Shadowfires, which is also the title of one of his novels. The poem and the novel are completely unrelated but in the poem I kinda steal a couple of phrases Koontz has used in a few different novels. This poem has never been published let alone even seen by anyone but me. I just want some advice on whether or not it should even exist. Should I burn it? Should I post it?
Those people that say anything is possible obviously have not tried to slam a revolving door.
LJ Cohen
Moderator
Username: ljc

Post Number: 8614
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 7:30 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Mariah,

Artists have always taken inspiration from one another's works. That is *not* plagiarism. It is customary for the poet to add an attribution in that case. Perhaps "for Dean Koontz", or "after Dean Koontz" for example.

Plagiarism is taking wholesale from someone's work and presenting it at your own. At its most blatant, it is simply changing the author's name. More subtly, it might be making small changes to non-critical words and presenting the work as original.

Parody is not plagiarism either. (There are probably thousands of parodies of 'This is Just to Say' by William Carlos Williams, for example.)

Just add an attribution, or indicate in the notes to the poem what phrases are direct quotes from Koontz' work.

best,
ljc
Once in a Blue Muse Blog
LJCohen
Mariah Wilson
Intermediate Member
Username: mariahwilson43

Post Number: 330
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 7:34 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Thanks LJ. I am not quite familiar with the rules and guidlines for plagurism and did not want to get myself into hot water. If I post I will be sure to add a note about Koontz. Thank you for clearing that up
Those people that say anything is possible obviously have not tried to slam a revolving door.
Mariah Wilson
Intermediate Member
Username: mariahwilson43

Post Number: 332
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 7:43 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

On a whim I posted the above mentioned poem in CV if anyone wants to take a gander at it.
Those people that say anything is possible obviously have not tried to slam a revolving door.
Gary Blankenship
Moderator
Username: garydawg

Post Number: 21284
Registered: 07-2001
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 9:17 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

grabbing a couple of lines is ok with attribution or as Lisa says in the style of

I like to do grabbed lines in italics

Smiles.

Gary
Christopher T George
Senior Member
Username: chrisgeorge

Post Number: 6042
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 9:19 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Hi Mariah

I would not worry about it. As Lisa says, artists have always taken inspiration from one another's works. You may or may not know that Dylan Thomas's play for voices, "Under Milk Wood" was inspired by James Joyce's Ulysses which as you probably know takes place all in one day, June 16, 1904, in Dublin. Thus Thomas set his play all in one day in the lives of the people of a fictitious Welsh fishing village, Llareggub.

I have obtained inspiration from others' works -- for example, borrowed titles by other writers, a song lyric or two, or whatever strikes me, in my writing, to create something new and my own.

This isn't plagiarism so much as a homage to the original work, and is recognized as such. One piece of art leads to another -- that's the way it should work and does work.

One of the latest examples of this among my poems was a poem of mine called "Peace Is Just a Word" in which the title was taken from a song by the Eurythmics.

Poet Andrei Codrescu once told me "It's okay to borrow the dog for the night." He's the guy with the black hair and heavy black moustache in the following view of Baltimore poets at Poe's grave some years ago. What Codrescu means, and what I think is valid, is that it's acceptable to borrow a bit but not the whole thing -- which would be plagiarism. So in other words, use your own judgement.

All the best

Chris

Baltimore Poets

(Message edited by chrisgeorge on January 05, 2008)
Editor, Desert Moon Review
http://www.desertmoonreview.com
Co-Editor, Loch Raven Review
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Fred Longworth
Senior Member
Username: sandiegopoet

Post Number: 2935
Registered: 05-2006
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 9:21 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Sorry, Mariah. There is no forgiving this. My collection of eyeballs-in-jars needs another pair. So, as penance for your evil plagarism, expect the Harvesters to come by tomorrow.

Dean
Unofficial Forum Pariah
recent victim of alien abduction
Mariah Wilson
Intermediate Member
Username: mariahwilson43

Post Number: 346
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 9:32 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

I shall bolt the door.
Those people that say anything is possible obviously have not tried to slam a revolving door.
~M~
Board Administrator
Username: mjm

Post Number: 27819
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 11:26 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Dearest Mariah -- while this thread doesn't speak to plagiarism as its sole focus, it does discuss derivative work:

WPF Creativity Challenge from September 17, 2007

Perhaps reading through that will give you a clearer idea of what is a very difficult topic to nail down.

Love,
M
Ron. Lavalette
Intermediate Member
Username: dellfarmer

Post Number: 572
Registered: 05-2007
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 1:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

I shall bolt the door.

There.
--Ron.
Eggs Over Tokyo
Gary Blankenship
Moderator
Username: garydawg

Post Number: 21310
Registered: 07-2001
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 3:08 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

bolt the door
board up the windows
block the fireplace

and do not forget
the vents in the attic

s/g
judy thompson
Intermediate Member
Username: judyt54

Post Number: 460
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 3:27 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

and look out, look out
for the grue in the cellar
~M~
Board Administrator
Username: mjm

Post Number: 27831
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 3:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Now you're starting to scare me.