News & Politics - Harvard Author to Change Passages in Book

shobhna_guerin · 04-25-2006, 09:21 AM

Quote:

By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer Tue Apr 25, 5:43 AM ET

NEW YORK - A Harvard University sophomore promised to change her debut novel in future editions after acknowledging that she had unintentionally borrowed material from an author she deeply admired.

Kaavya Viswanathan's "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," published in March by Little, Brown and Company, was the first of a two-book deal reportedly worth six figures. But on Sunday, the Harvard Crimson cited seven passages that closely resemble the style and language of the novels of Megan McCafferty.

"When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, `Sloppy Firsts' and `Second Helpings,' which spoke to me in a way few other books did. Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel ... and passages in these books," Viswanathan, 19, said in a statement issued by her publisher.

She also apologized to McCafferty and "to any who feel they have been misled by these unintentional errors on my part."

"While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words. I am a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious," she said.

Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch told The Associated Press that he did not think Viswanathan's borrowings were caused by the pressures of being both a student and an author.

Pietsch also declined to blame Viswanathan's collaboration with 17th Street Productions Inc., a book packager that specializes in teen narratives and helped her develop the story.

"Every word in that book was written by her, for better or for worse," he said, adding that work on a new edition would begin "tomorrow."

The book had a first printing of 100,000 copies.

Pietsch acknowledged that several passages beyond those cited by the Harvard Crimson would have to be revised because of similarities to McCafferty's writings. The current edition will not be withdrawn from stores, he said.

Viswanathan, who was 17 when she signed her contract with Little, Brown, is the youngest author signed by the publisher in decades. DreamWorks has already acquired the movie rights to her first book.

Viswanathan's novel tells the story of Opal, a hard-driving teen from New Jersey who earns straight A's in high school but who gets rejected from Harvard because she forgot to have a social life. Opal's father concocts a plan code-named HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get A Life) to get her past the admissions office.

McCafferty's books follow a heroine named Jessica, a New Jersey girl who excels in high school but struggles with her identity and longs for a boyfriend. McCafferty is a former editor at Cosmopolitan who has written three novels.

___

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060425/...t/young_author

Also, a NY Times article

Thoughts? I just posted a long rant about this over on my blog, but I'd like to hear what others have to say.

Ms Carolyn · 04-25-2006, 10:19 AM

I guess I would have to see the passages they're talking about. I think that all writers start out as passionate readers, and do tend to internalize the work of their favorite authors.

Ultimately, there are only 7 plots, and variations thereupon. So I really think that the similarities must be more extensive than a few passages for the publishers to be getting so worked up about it, and if not -- well, shame on them.

Lexis · 04-25-2006, 11:10 AM

When its word for word for a number of paragraphs, I can't buy the 'oops' defence. Has anyone read the books in question and can say how similar they are?

**TheAngel** · 04-25-2006, 01:12 PM

I've never read them but as an author myself I understand what it's like to be influenced by the work of other writers. After I read a good book sometimes I will try to replicate that authors style if I thought they discribed something well, but very rarely would it so replicate that style that it could actually even be connected to another author.

shobhna_guerin · 04-26-2006, 05:10 AM

Well, the NY Times article I've put a link to in the first post has quoted a passage from both books.

The writer of the original Megan McCafferty has apparently not accepted Kaavya's apology.

Ms Carolyn · 04-26-2006, 05:43 AM

Hmm ... I don't know. I'm inclined to believe that it was accidental, simply because she IS so young.

Science fiction author David Gerrold once unwittingly borrowed a rather central idea in his first professional sale from another writer, Robert Heinlein. Heinlein was a good sport about it, and acknowledged that all literature is to some point imatative.

The professional sale in question was the STAR TREK episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" -- with tribbles bearing a strong resemblance to Heinlein's Martian flat cats.

thescoobygang · 04-27-2006, 06:44 AM

Interesting topic. I do believe it is possible to subconsciously borrow another person's ideas. That's why many authors choose not to read books from their own genre...so they can avoid this very pitfall. That said...I feel like this author did copy someone else's work. It's almost as though she was using McCafferty's book as a "guideline" on how to structure her first novel.

Here's some exerpts I found from The Associated Press. I bolded the parts that sounded the most similar.

Quote:

McCafferty
page 7: "Bridget is my age and lives across the street. For the first twelve years of my life, these qualifications were all I needed in a best friend. But that was before Bridget's braces came off and her boyfriend Burke got on, before Hope and I met in our seventh grade Honors classes."

Viswanathan
page 14: "Priscilla was my age and lived two blocks away. For the first fifteen years of my life, those were the only qualifications I needed in a best friend. We had bonded over our mutual fascination with the abacus in a playgroup for gifted kids. But that was before freshman year, when Priscilla's glasses came off, and the first in a long string of boyfriends came on."

McCafferty
page 6: "Sabrina was the brainy Angel. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: Pretty or smart."

Viswanathan
page 39: "Moneypenny was the brainy female character. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: smart or pretty."

McCafferty
page 23: "Though I used to see him sometimes at Hope's house, Marcus and I had never, ever acknowledged each other's existence before. So I froze, not knowing whether I should (a) laugh (b) say something (c) ignore him and keep on walking.

Viswanathan
page 49: "Though I had been to school with him for the last three years, Sean Whalen and I had never acknowledged each other's existence before. I froze, unsure of (a) what he was talking about and (b) what I was supposed to do about it."

McCafferty
page 68: "Tanning was the closest that Sara came to having a hobby, other than gossiping, that is. Even the webbing between her fingers was the color of coffee without cream. Even for someone with her Italian heritage and dark coloring, it was unnatural and alienlike.

Viswanathan
page 48: "It was obvious that next to casual hookups, tanning was her extracurricular activity of choice. Every visible inch of skin matched the color and texture of her Louis Vuitton backpack. Even combined with her dark hair and Italian heritage, she looked deep-fried."

The publishing industry really is a mess with all these recent scandals. They need to create their own dictionary....

embellish--- to consciously lie or obsure facts in a memoir
internalize---to unconciously borrow or plagarize an earlier work for your first novel
Dan Brown-- to be sued by everyone who wants credit for your bestselling novel

cls21c · 04-27-2006, 08:02 AM

I saw the author being interviewed on the Today Show. I don't believe her. The two book just have too many nearly identical passages. I just think she believed she wouldn't get caught.

thescoobygang · 04-27-2006, 10:54 AM

I would have liked to have seen that interview.

I found more comparisons from Harvard's news website www.thecrimson.com

Quote:

From page 217 of McCafferty’s first novel:
“But then he tapped me on the shoulder, and said something so random that I was afraid he was back on the junk.”

From page 142 of Viswanathan’s novel:
“...he tapped me on the shoulder and said something so random I worried that he needed more expert counseling than I could provide.”
--------

From page 237 of McCafferty’s first novel:
“Finally, four major department stores and 170 specialty shops later, we were done.”

From page 51 of Viswanathan’s novel:
“Five department stores, and 170 specialty shops later, I was sick of listening to her hum along to Alicia Keys....”
--------

From page 223 of McCafferty’s first novel:
“Marcus finds me completely nonsexual. No tension to complicate our whatever relationship. I should be relieved.”

From pages 175 and 176 of Viswanathan’s novel:
“Sean only wanted me as a friend. A nonsexual female friend. That was a good thing. There would be no tension to complicate our relationship and my soon-to-be relationship with Jeff Akel. I was relieved.”
--------

From page 67 of McCafferty’s second novel:
“...but in a truly sadomasochistic dieting gesture, they chose to buy their Diet Cokes at Cinnabon.”

From page 46 of Viswanathan’s novel:
“In a truly masochistic gesture, they had decided to buy Diet Cokes from Mrs. Fields...”
--------

From page 68 of McCafferty’s second novel:
“‘Omigod!’ shrieked Sara, taking a pink tube top emblazoned with a glittery Playboy bunny out of her shopping bag.”

From page 51 of Viswanathan’s novel:
“...I was sick of listening to her hum along to Alicia Keys, and worn out from resisting her efforts to buy me a pink tube top emblazoned with a glittery Playboy bunny.”
-------

From page 88 of McCafferty’s second novel:
“By the way, Marcus wore a T-shirt that said THURSDAY yesterday, and FRIDAY today.”

From page 170 of Viswanathan’s novel:
“He was wearing an old, faded gray sweatshirt that said ‘Tuesday’ on it. Except that today was Thursday.”

I think this girl should expect a lawsuit coming very soon.

shobhna_guerin · 04-27-2006, 06:13 PM

My friend saw the Katie Curic interview as well. Apparently, she wasn't very convincing.

thescoobygang: thank you so much for posting those comparisons. They do seem uncannily similiar.

Ms Carolyn · 04-27-2006, 08:33 PM

Reading the excerpts -- yeah, I'd say she did some copying. Those are just TOO similar, and there are too many of them!

UnsilentMajorty · 04-28-2006, 04:02 PM

This is exactly why most publishers and literary agents have what is called a no-unsolicited material policy and why most first time authors must sign a legal release that says if there are any similarities found in the material they submit to any ideas already being developed at the agency (or ideas already being represented by the agency/publisher, they can use those ideas without giving any compensation to the author submitting the material.

This element of how the submission process works because may factor into this case in one form or another if it goes to court because it is now coming out that what Viswanathan used to get her book published was a book-packing agency which differs from most agents/agencies as they often come up with internal ideas on their own without any submissions from authors and will hire authors to flesh those ideas out and then go to publishers in the hopes of selling the finished material.

As a result, Viswanathan can use her book packager as a defense and claim they (the packager) are the ones who plagerized McCafferty's work and only hired her to write out the full stories, aka flesh out the ideas.

Regardless, I tend to believe this is a pure case of plagerism -- intentional plagerism -- On Viswanathan’s part simply because there are too many similarities to the point even someone who subconsciously internalizes another author's work cound not do it this precisely even on their best day. Style, themes, pacing, characters and even vocabulary can accidently be plagerized, but not to the point the two passages cited above look like a writing excersize in saying the same thing using a thesaurus and are almost word-for-word copies.

Ms Carolyn · 04-28-2006, 04:59 PM

It's really disheartening. Someone gets paid big bucks for something they blatantly stole, and truly genuine and original works get purchased for a pittance -- IF they're lucky! It's so wrong.


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