Our next thievy thief is *totally* embarassed...

Next 2k8 member to join the "Plagiarists anonymous" blog-week? Laurel Snyder, author of the new middle-grade fairy tale, Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains OR The Search for a Suitable Princess.
Laurel, what've you got for us? Just how bad is it?

Oh, man-- it's pretty bad.

See, the number one rule of stealing is that you're not supposed to steal from an obvious/famous source, right? You're supposed to steal something nobody will recognize. Or you're supposed to creatively tinker with what you've stolen, for a kind of meta effect.

Well I broke that rule without even realizing it. We were already in the copyediting stage when I started to have this weird feeling, this panicked sensation that one of the lines in my book was NOT MY OWN! It just felt like I'd seen it somewhere before...

Can you imagine?

The passage in my book was:

“Which way do you think you’re going anyway? North? North is nice, but then, South has its advantages too. And West rhymes with best, so it can’t be too bad. What’s your general direction?”

And although I didn't actually take this passage, word for word, I did totally steal it. From Stuart Little no less. Remember this?

"North is nice," said the repairman. I've always enjoyed going north. Of course, south-west is a fine direction too... and there's east. I once had an interesting experience on an easterly course..."

Imagine my horror when I figured it out, after a long night of poking around online, searching for a vague case of plagiarism. Because although I knew I hadn't really written it, I had no clue where I'd gotten it from. It was awful!

So that's it, my big experience as a thief.

Of course, I didn't actually make up the name of the villain from my next book, but I did pay for it, sort of. So that's not stealing, right? Just prostitution...

Yeah, okay, you're right, Laurel. We all agree. You're a total sleazeball, and you *should* be embarrassed.

Just kidding. Sort of.

Sarah, Our Proud Thief...

(You've just got to know who to steal from...)

It comes as no surprise that the lovely Sarah Prineas, author of a middle grade novel (and soon-to-be international hit, as it has already sold in NINE countries!!!) is a dirty stinkin' thief. Not when her main character is a thief, and her book is actually *called* The Magic Thief.

She's basically a booster for Thieves R Us.

So we found her response to this issue of stealing a fitting one. Sarah says:

You want stealing? I got stealing!

In the second Magic Thief book the main character, Conn, is marked by a sorcerer... so that this bad magic can find him.

Now I have not read the Harry Potter books (pause for gasps of surprise) but even *I* know that Harry has a lightning bolt mark on his forehead. So I put a silvery
runemark on Conn's temple.

Then my husband told me that was too much like Harry Potter. So I asked my editor.

Me: Is Conn's runemark too Harry Potterish?

Editor: Marks on foreheads were an established convention before HP. Glinda's silver kiss on Dorothy's forehead, for example. Wherever you mark him, you're going to run into comparisons.

Me: Okay. Hmmm. Yes! I know, this will be perfect. I'll put the mark on his hand!

Editor: Well, then you have to contend with Eragon...

Me: Doooooohhh!!!!!

Well, we worked that out. Editor had a wonderful suggestion and I... stole it.

Then there's the Tolkien issue. I love Tolkien's work, especially his gift for language. Yes, I can say Frodo's greeting to the elves, and with the correct pronunciation. In Middle-earth, the magic is based on language. So when I was looking for ways to make the magic spells in my book sound magical, I whipped out my copy of Ruth Noel's The Languages of Middle Earth and brushed up on my Sindarin and Quenya. After getting the rhythms and sounds of those languages in my head, I created my book's magic spells. One spell is a direct ripoff of Tolkien. The spell for "Light" in my book is "Lothfalas." The name of Arwen's horse in The Fellowship of the Ring is "Asfaloth." In the other spells are bits and pieces of Elvish words, because they just sound magical.

We think Sarah is awesome, and we love her unique blend of shameless stealing and absolute honesty.

Just don't let her near your pearls. *Or* your boyfriend!