I was reading something in the Guardian Newspaper this weekend. I was prompted to go there having read something about this on another blog and I got quite excited when I did. There was something about writers' top ten rules in the paper. You can find them now on the webpage for The Guardian. A gaggle of established and respected writers were asked to identify their top ten rules for writing and this one belongs to Michael Moorcock - it is his second rule:
2 Find an author you admire (mine was Conrad) and copy their plots and characters in order to tell your own story, just as people learn to draw and paint by copying the masters.
I draw attention to this because this is precisely what Jane Smith and Doug Cheadle and Nik Perring and Vanessa Gebbie have objected to in two short stories I have written. Vanessa has even done this herself with her Raymond Carver inspired story as I have shown on this blog already. It is everything I have been saying in my defence.
So I shout it loud now: what have I done wrong that Jane Smith considers herself authority enough on to pronounce me a criminal? And Doug Cheadle the same and Nik Perring? Can they not at least acknowledge that I may not be as bad as they say that I am? I am not a plagiarist. That is true and it is official. And Jane Smith is not kind or clever... at least not clever enough to be right in this. And the others that still comment against me are no better.
2 comments:
Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose is all about inspiration from other writers. She gives specific examples of authors who have done something well. Prose also admits that each book she was reading when she was writing influenced her work. I guess it's a trick line to make it your own.
Thanks for popping by, Theresa.
Expect to be visited by someone on your blog saying bad things about me. That's what happens to visitors to my blog. With bullying hitting the headlines in the UK today, it seems quite pertinent given what some people are doing to me.
Sorry if that happens.
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