Meljean Brook

**NOTE: If you read this post in its entirety, please also be certain to read the comments. I do not purport to be an expert on plagiarism or on writing — I’m just another crazy who’s doing my best to tell a good story, and to write it in an ethical way. I might be corrected in the comments, someone might disagree with me and we’ll have to discuss a point, and there are many people smarter and more knowledgeable than I with something important to add that I might have left out. Also, I am coming at this from the perspective of a writer trying to avoid plagiarizing, not necessarily trying to define plagiarizing. If you’re looking for a definition, ask for one, and I’ll try to find some good links. UPDATED: Jane at Dear Author has just put one up.**

**NOTE #2: For those of you who intend to read my book, DEMON NIGHT, and who prefer to NOT know about the process behind the writing, some of my allusions and inspirations (including a picture of a celebrity that I used as a visual reference for the hero) you really, really shouldn’t click past the “more” link.**

In response to my Red Shoes post, Micki asked this question:

How can you *tell* when you’ve borrowed a heel, and how can you *tell* when you’ve borrowed the whole damn shoe? And is it *such* a problem if you borrow the shoe, as long as you change the characters and genre and make the shoe a side issue instead of a lynch pin?

And this was my quick answer, with a promise of a longer one to follow:

[…] my short answer is, even if you don’t know the exact rules, you know it in your gut. Retelling Sleeping Beauty is one thing; retelling Robin McKinley’s version is another. Knowing that something your heroine says is similar to something another heroine says is one thing; making your heroine say it BECAUSE the other heroine said it (and because you couldn’t think of anything of your own to put in her mouth) is another. Reading a description of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and letting your character describe it in her words, or describing it in your voice is one thing; plopping that description into your work with a few looks at the thesaurus and moving around a few phrases is another.

My long answer is still the same: You know it in your gut. I’m going to explain that a little bit more after the jump — for those familiar with my blog and and my e-mails and my novels, you probably know what’s coming. For those of you who aren’t, here’s a warning:

When I say long, I mean “I’ve pretty much written a book, and it circles and veers off on tangents and eventually gets to the point.” And to save everyone with little time a lot of time, the point is: You know it in your gut.

Or at least you should.

(more…)

I made potato dumplings. From scratch. And beef stew (but, um, not quite as from scratch, because I had a seasoning mix). And they were good! (this is the amazing part, and why I’m proud of myself)

I also just got in my Demon Moon bookmarks, and I like them verrrry much. I also realized that I probably need to get a PO Box soon, so that I can have people send stuff to me without giving out my home address.

This picture made me smile — an inverted rainbow. (I don’t live in San Francisco, but because my books are set there I read the Chronicle every day. It’s my home page. I’ve also got quite a few city-centric blogs on my reading list, and I visit those at least once a week. (This is also something I’ve been doing lately with Seattle — I’ve listed a bunch of blogs, and I have the paper up there bookmarked, and I read the local section a couple of times a week.) Because I’ve visited, but the way that locals talk about their city and the way that visitors see it are completely different — which is also why I have a couple of people that I send questions to, little stuff like: Do you call San Francisco State “Ess Eff State” or something else? (Of course, all of my SFs get changed to San Francisco in the copy-edit stage, but I think that’s okay … some things are probably more important to have readability than someone going, “WTF is “SF”?” even if it’s more authentic)) (counts parenthesis…okay, I think I’m good.)

Okay, so this must be one of the dorkier parts of my writing process: shopping for my heroine. Not really shopping, but looking through a bunch of magazines, online clothing stores, that kind of thing to find clothes they would wear.

Usually, I end up going with one style or line of clothing. Selah, who is the Guardian heroine for the upcoming WILD THING novella, fit BCBG Max Azria’s Spring 2006 line. And because she can create any kind of clothing she likes (ah, to be a Guardian) cost was really no problem. (Cost was no problem for Colin, either, and dressing him was quite fun — even though I don’t mention a lot of the details in the book, because I don’t want to overwhelm the story with name brands and a list of what he’s wearing all of the time, I know exactly what he is wearing, where he shops, all of that.)

(more…)

“… I have besides a personal dislike to ‘Poets,’ and the little acquaintance I have with them would by no means induce me to divulge my secrets.”

–Colin Ames-Beaumont, in a letter to John Polidori, January 1816.**

I found THE MONSTERS: MARY SHELLY AND THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN in Fred Meyer’s today, while purchasing a carrot cake (yum) and trying to find dumb little party hats (I couldn’t, much to the disappointment of my daughter) and bought it on the spot (or rather at the do-it-yourself checkout, which I love) despite its being hardcover.

It’s a narrative non-fiction account of the events of that summer in 1816, and Mary’s life afterward (and also suggests the events of that night put a curse on them, explaining the early deaths of Polidori, Shelley and Byron; I say something else happened to them, although a curse is somewhat involved). I skimmed through the first chapter in the aisle, and it looked pretty good, so I grabbed it.

I’ve been reading a ton of Byron/Shelley stuff online (it amazes me how many of their works and journals/letters are available through Project Gutenburg (sp?), though my favourite so far has been Trelawny’s account of the last days of Byron and Shelley.

The research has primarily been for a subplot within DEMON MOON, but I’ve been opening alternate chapters with excerpts from letters written to Polidori, then Shelley, then Byron. So reading the letters has been helpful, though I’m certain I’ll never have Colin write “cock-a-whoop.”

But, back to this book — it supposedly uses letters, journals, all that good stuff — and puts everything into a nice, narrative form. One of the difficulties of my research has been taking all of the disparate sources and putting everything together in a manageable form in my head (I abhor timelines, particularly those of my own creation); I hope that they’ve done it a bit better than I have thus far.

But even more valuable? The nice bibliography at the back. The narrative is great, but having a nice listing of the source material is still better.

And the cake was good, by the way, but for the walnuts they put in it (why do they do that? AGH!).

Down With Nuts!

Oh! Er…I was going to ask:

What do you think of information about a world being conveyed by fake letters/Doyen Scrolls at the opening of chapters, anyway?

I did it in “Falling for Anthony”, might do it in DEMON ANGEL revisions, but definitely will in DEMON MOON (Colin’s letters one chapter, Savi’s e-mails the next).

Who else does it? Megan had those wonderful bits in A SINGULAR LADY, Emma Holly had the history in THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER, and of course there are Lady Whistledown’s columns in the early Bridgerton books.

Does it work? Or is it annoying/disrupt the flow of the story?

**Is it plagiarism, an inside joke or an Easter Egg if I use this? From Byron’s letter to the editor of THE VAMPYRE’s publisher: “If the book is clever, it would be base to deprive the real writer, whoever he may be, of the honors, and if stupid, I desire the responsibility of nobody’s dullness but my own … I have besides a personal dislike to ‘Vampires,’ and the little acquaintance I have with them would by no means induce me to divulge their secrets.” (1819)

I think it’s funny if I use this, and it works really well with the subplot, and I really do mean it as a wink–but after the Kaavya thing, can we be too careful? I’ll of course have all research and disclaimers on my website, anticipating such things, but still…hmm. Will have to ask my editor on the legalities, when I actually finish it and send it her way.