JK Rowling cleared of plagiarism

Tell Me A Story - Comment

I’ll bet J.K. Rowling has let out a sigh of relief.

The famous author of  the "Harry Potter" series of books and films was finally  cleared of plagiarism charges filed by Paul Allen, trustee of late author Adrian Jacob's estate in a landmark U.S. judgment on Thursday.

Rejecting the case, U.S. judge Shira Scheindlin apparently said, "...the contrast between the total concept and feel of the works is so stark that any serious comparison of the two strains credulity."

JK Rowling maintains that she was unaware of the book by Jacobs until the copyright suit was filed in 2004. Earlier in October, a London court too dismissed a similar plea by Allen.


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Author, Neale Donald Walsch, steals writer's work

Conversations With God

Spiritual writer, Neale Donald Walsch, author of the best-selling series “Conversations With God,” posted a Christmas 2008 message on the religious site, Beliefnet.com claiming it concerned his son’s nursery school play.

Whilst watching a dry run, apparantly a group of children spelled out the title of a song, “Christmas Love,” with each youngster holding up a letter. One girl held the “m” upside down, so that it appeared as a “w,” and it read as if the children were spelling “Christ Was Love.”

Uplifting

It was an uplifting Christmas story from a writer celebrated for his religious teachings. The only problem is it never happened to him. It was all lies.

Mr. Walsch’s story is identical to a story from a writer named Candy Chand, originally published 10 years ago in Clarity, a spiritual magazine, and has been circulating on the Web ever since.

Mr. Walsch now says he made a mistake in believing the story was something that had actually come from his personal experience.

Mystified

When confronted with the news, he claimed, “All I can say now — because I am truly mystified and taken aback by this — is that someone must have sent it to me over the Internet ten years or so ago. I must have clipped and pasted it into my file of stories to tell that have a message I want to share.”

And all I can say, Mr. Walsch is - bullshit. Go write your own stuff.

Writers have a hard enough time, without people like you stealing their work.

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End of post - Author, Neale Donald Walsch, steals writer's work

Finding That Plot

Tell Me a Story - writing tips


AJ, can you PLEASE let me in on the secret of finding decent plots. I've been struggling and am getting nowhere?

Hi Jean. Thanks for the email. If you're unbelievably lucky, a plot will appear to you fully formed. This rarely takes place - okay Stephenie Meyer might have done it, but don't count on it.... Don’t despair though, there are other sources. Try these as starters.

• Refer to the ‘Agony Aunt’ columns in magazines; you'll find they'll fill you with ideas for stories.
• Go to your library and read the blurb from some books in your genre and work them into your own. Don’t pinch a complete plot from a published book though; use them as launch-pad for your own. Plagiarism is frowned upon.
• Checkout the Personal Column in newspapers. They can be a rich source of plots and ideas.
• Read the Obituaries, as macabre as it seems, there might just be something lying around in there that triggers you off.
• When you’re reading a bedtime story to the kids think about ‘maturing’ the plot, can it be brought up to date?
• Fairy tales, myths, and legends offer a good supply of plots that can be adapted.
• Take a published story, rearrange the plot, make male protagonists female and you’ll start the ball rolling in your head.

One more thing. Don’t wait to find an ultra unique plot. There’s not much chance of finding one after all these years. Just settle for a damn good, well-written story.

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