*Due to deadlines and life interruptus we interrupt the regularly scheduled character development and plotting of our progressive story until further notice.*
With that, I thought I’d tackle a subject near and dear to all readers and writer’s hearts.
Plagiarism. The stealing of words or ideas?
According to the British courts and if you’re Dan Brown it is not swiping an idea.
Methinks I agree. Throw a concept and idea at ten authors and in the end you’ll have ten completely different stories.
But, if one of these authors should steal the words from one of the other authors and the passages read the same, zen vee have a problem.
The publishing world has been wrought with turmoil these last few months. We’ve had the Frey fray. This guy didn’t steal anything he bald faced lied. As far as I know his book is still on the shelves and the NY Times list.
Dan Brown’s DI VINCI code as we all know is chasing Harry Potter on the gazillion sales list. But as stated above the courts foundd in his favor, and I’m glad for that. But his accusers, the authors of HOLY BLOOD, are laughing all of the way to the bank. Although I did hear they have to pay court costs.
But this latest incident with Viswanathan taking McCafferty’s words verbatim has me more than a little rankled. I remember a few years ago when a very well know author, I think her initials are JD, borrowed a few of Nora Roberts words and all hell broke lose. This latest borrowing is worse. Much worse.
The Harvard Crimson has a few examples up and the similarities are not only glaring but in most of the passages highlighted the theft of words is brazen.
There has been much conversation regarding the severity of Viswanathan’s plagiarism. Go check it out yourself. http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512965
What I want to know is how the publisher after finding out, kept the books on the shelf so long. As I understand now they are all being removed. Viswananthan has apologized for any inadvertent similarities. What do you all think? Inadvertent or intentional? And more importantly, how do you feel about all of this literary chicanery?
Are the publishers accountable or does it come down to the author? Is an apology enough?
Inquiring minds want to know.

. . . one of us.

That’s right, one of the women at Murder She Writes is the dastardly villain.

We’re on a boat. Why? Maybe it’s a murder mystery cruise. And Carson is there for any number of reasons . . . probably nothing to do with the murder. But he’s the only one who can solve it because everyone is a suspect, particularly the five women who had the means to kill . . . who?

The most important clue about a killer is the victim. Who was killed? Where? How? No throwing overboard, that’s no fair, we need a body.

Was it Natalie? She just landed two multi-book deals, she’s on top of the world . . . but the stress of the deadline might make her crack . . .

Or Karin. Maybe she has a deep, dark secret that the victim was about to spill all over the front page of Cosmo.

Deb, the quiet one. No one suspects that in her heart lurks revenge, waiting for just the right opportunity . . .

And Jen seems like such fun, no one with a terrific sense of humor could possibly knock off a competitor.

Or moi. Allison. Average mom of five? Or maybe Lois Winston is right, and she’s cloned. Or worse, a schizophrenic.

So first, the victim. Who is killed? What were they doing on the cruise? Did they work there? The captain? Were they a guest? A fellow author? An agent? An editor? An editor turned agent? A spouse?

If you’ve been lurking, come on down and tell us who you think the victim is and give us some of their backstory. Where they’re from, why they’re there, what they fear.

Also, the heroine isn’t quite full-developed yet. Do we have a name? A description? Where is she from? Why is she on the ship? Is SHE a mystery author? Hmmm . . . maybe she wants to solve the crime and bumps into Carson one too many times. What would an ex-military, dishonorably charged tough guy who isn’t supposed to be on the ship — and certainly doesn’t want to be solving this crime — do with an amateur sleuth?

Or maybe she’s undercover as well, but for a completely different reason. Maybe they already know each other. Maybe she doesn’t trust Carson. Maybe she thinks he’s here from some nefarious reason.

So we can get this story rolling, we need a victim, and more about the heroine. What do you think about them?

All right, we’ve got our man, Carson, and his boat, and now we’re looking for the heroine and the conflict. Hmm, let’s see– Sometimes asking ‘what if’ questions helps me get past the boundaries of an initial story idea…

–What if Carson’s dishonorable discharge had something to do with him having an affair with a woman officer. That could be the cause of his aloofness toward woman, especially hard-headed, strong women. (He wouldn’t be interested in the wimpy kind, anyway.)

–What if Carson’s military training was in the Seals—special ops?

–What if the heroine was a heart surgeon in Key West with a terminally ill patient, a baby, needing a heart transplant.—a heart suddenly becomes available, but it’s in the Bahamas. (or some other island, closer.) It can’t be flown to her because all air transportation has been halted due to an eminent Category 4 hurricane.

–What if the only way for her to get the heart was by boat? What if she goes to the marina, looking for a fast boat, experienced captain. They can make it to this island before the storm but chances that they make it back to Key West before the storm hits are low. Guess who’s the only man brave enough to take on this mission? Our man, Carson. But, knowing the danger, he wants to go alone.

–What if the physician insists she come along? What if, on their return trip, amidst hurricane hoopla, Carson nearly dies? What if they nearly lose the heart to wind and waves?

If we go with the cruise ship P.I. angle, what if the heroine is the captain of a cruise ship, and she returns to port because one of her passengers winds up missing, two days after the liner left port?

–What if Carson has a niece (brother’s daughter-senior in high school), who is going on a cruise along with a large group of graduating seniors, and Carson’s brother has asked him to go along for added protection.

–What if his niece winds up missing two days into the cruise, and it’s up to him and the she-captain to find her?

So what’s this broad look like, anyway? Just how brassy is she? Whadda ya think?

Okay, apparently our hero’s name is Carson, he’s ex-military, dishonorably discharged, living in Key West. He has his own boat, and he makes ends meet…..

1) Taking Tourists out on charter tours?

2) Running a little bar that caters to the tourist trade?

3) Doing private investigations for the cruise ships that travel through (including some occasional slightly dirty things that other PIs wouldn’t want to handle)?

4) Your suggestion here?

Carson is rough and tumble, walking the tightrope between legal and illegal, and not afraid of the gray areas and dark spots other people avoid like the plague. Sounds like Carson has been there, so he gets it.

His only use for women is for pleasure, and he doesn’t bond easily. It’s going to take someone really different, really special–and possibly a little rough-edged herself–to make Carson different.

What about her? Who is she? And what is the conflict?

1) Drug smugglers who want to rent his boat, and find out they’ve picked the wrong sucker to try to punch? (Kinda done)

2) Human trade smugglers? White slavery?

3) A dead body on a cruise ship that officials are trying to “quietly” smuggle out, only to have it hit the news? It’s bird flu! Key West is shut down! The CDC is called in, and everyone needs masks, and Carson is forced to save the world…. Er, uh, sorry. Got a little carried away. But maybe something like that. Something that requires his special ops skills. Maybe a threat to world safety?

SO let’s talk. Who is the heroine, and what is the conflict?

Our Murder She Writes readers are coming up with some great ideas of the hero of our story. My favorite? Dangerously Sensual! I get the impression we’re leaning toward a man who is strong and capable, but doesn’t need to brag or flex, he simply steps in when the need arises–does that sound right?

Literal. Well, men are! That’s a good one too. Now can he be intuitive too? (Hey, guys, this our story, so heck yeah, we can do it!)

He needs a sense of humor, maybe he works in a job that he’s overqualified for; is undercover in, or is there for his own personal reasons.

How am I doing so far?

Now let’s talk about stats: Name, actual job, physical description. And don’t think I won’t recognize any of you trying to sneak in Roarke! I’d know him anywhere! And remember, the last thing we want to do is make Eve mad, she’s scary!

Then lets work on Goal Motivation and Conflict. What are goals and motivation driving our hero, and what are the conflicts, roadblocks, etc in his way? Don’t forget, we have to kill someone off too. How will that factor into the hero’s goals, motivations and conflicts? For example, if our hero was in prison for manslaughter, and he finds an obviously murdered person by his cleaning supplies if he’s a janitor (because that’s the only job he could get after being wrongfully convicted) who are the police going to suspect?

Let’s have fun! This isn’t a literary project, this is a Murder She Writes story to entertain!