On creativity and referentialism

[winter]

Still no writing done. And I switched to colour pencils, which have the advantage of not leaving my thighs covered with abstract artwork. I know I should go wash my hands each time I run out of smudging fingers when I work with pastels, but wiping them on my skin is quicker. (And no, I have no ambitions to create Art with my doodling; I just want to be able to produce workmanlike drawings that resemble the subject, because sometimes something just begs for illustration.)

I have, though, been reading the writeup of the Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle. I have to say the writing's better - or maybe the subject less convoluted - than the msscribe saga. I must say that back-when I had the same problems while reading the Draco trilogy, and finally I gave up mid-Dormiens.

It's also made me somewhat paranoid about my own pretentious postmodern parlour tricks: how far can I go with referencing others? The sky over the bay was the color of a television tuned into a dead channel. Verbatim, unreferenced because I assume those who know, do, and those who don't, won't care, is this homage or plagiarism?

(And it doesn't help that I have a digital memory for quotes. There is a man, playing a violin, and the strings are the nerves in his own arm. If I love, I quote, verbatim and at length.)

Comments

[peck25.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that link, it's kept me amused during a pretty boring weekend at work :) I really enjoyed her LOTR 'Very Secret Diaries' but had heard nothing about this. I don't delve to much into fandoms and so miss out on these things (last thing like this I heard about was the Harry/Hermione shippers going nuts because JK Rowling had said that H/H would never happen, which amused me no end).
I'm not too sure that she has learned her lesson though. I may be being too critical since I've just read a big essay about her commiting plagiarism but looking at the blurb on her upcoming book, is it me or does that read a lot like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even to the point that the character is called Fray (Joss Wheedons future slayer)?

I don't think you have too much to get paranoid about regarding your writing. Dropping in the odd line as homage/in-joke is no-where near copying whole sections of dialogue/scenes practically verbatim and then passing off the whole thing as your own work. Like you say those who know it should see it for what it is, those who don't will just enjoy anyway.

BTW, I really liked your pic from the previous post and am looking forward to seeing more.

[winter]

There's already a scandal in the wings, because both "DarkHunters" and the opening scene are similar to another author's novel - and that author actually trademarked Dark-Hunters, so we're out of the purely copyright-related area and into commercial intellectual property. I'll be interested to see how that one continues.

And thanks :) This drawing thing is fun, especially since I'm improving all the while. I'm packing art supplies for the trip, that's for sure.