Publishing

Stranger than fiction: the world’s most audacious plagiarist?

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Sam Taylor Mullens, a pseudonym, began promoting her third novel in the usual way—taking sign ups for a blog tour, passing out advance review copies to bloggers. Unfortunately, one of the bloggers noticed something strange about The Auction Deal.

4371001458_5e12899950_m It bore an absolutely uncanny resemblance to another novel she’d read. And by uncanny, we mean almost sentence-by-sentence copying. The “author” had taken someone else’s clean, Christian romance and altered it by changing it to first person, switching out character names, paraphrasing virtually every sentence, and adding in sex scenes.

Original, Love to the Highest Bidder ©1998 (republished in 2012 as A Bid for Love) The Auction Deal advance reader copy
The Dark brown curls were everywhere. They were a curse, and had been for twenty-eight of Cassi’s twenty-nine years. They puffed out from her scalp and plunged halfway down her back as if they had lives of their own, helplessly tangled and twisted together. The bathroom lights above the double sink reflected from the brown tresses, bringing out the subtle gold highlights. Dark brunette curls were everywhere. They were a curse, and had been for the thirty-one years of my life. They puffed out from my scalp and plunged halfway down my back. They helplessly tangled and twisted together. The bathroom lights above the sink reflected the brown tresses.

The blogger who discovered this contacted the author of the original book, Rachel Ann Nunes. Rachel tried to contact Sam Taylor Mullens to receive an ARC but Mullens informed her the book would not be published, and declined to provide the ARC. (Eventually another book blogger sent Rachel a copy of the ARC.)

Other bloggers then read Rachel’s original novel, which was already available for free, and verified the prima facie plagiarism themselves. But when one dared to post on her Facebook page about it, three different Facebook profiles with the middle name “Booklover” as well as Mullens’s profile defended her actions, insisted the allegations were unfounded, even when the blogger posted side-by-side comparisons, and began to turn accusations back on Rachel.

Another blogger expressed her support for Rachel, and one of the “Booklover” accounts used her personal profile to accuse this blogger of selling ARCs to pirate sites (making the accusation at least four times in twenty-four hours).

Since then, at least one more “Booklover” has joined the fray (though amazingly, these profiles—75% of which were creating this spring—disappear as soon as they get involved). Rachel has received a number of harassing, accusatory messages, threats to go to prominent and powerful members of her local community, abusive (and obviously fake, IMO) reviews, and increasingly bizarre excuses for how and why Mullens copied her work. Meanwhile, all of Mullens’s novels have disappeared from Amazon.

Truly, if I had a character go to the lengths that these people have gone to protect their “friend” the plagiarist (if they’re even real people at all; careful observation of their comments suggest they’re not), readers would never believe it. Rachel has shared the full story on her blog.

Rachel is now gearing up for what may be a long legal battle. If you want to help take a stand against plagiarism, please consider donating to her cause!

Image by opensource.com

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Uncategorized

The thing about depression

A few years ago, one of my husband’s workers left at lunch and didn’t come back. My husband was concerned. He knew this guy—I’ll call him Adam, not his name—had been struggling with family and other issues lately, but Adam had actually seemed happier the last few days.

Later that night, my husband got a text message informing him that Adam was dead. He had gone home, lined his garage with plastic, called the police so they would find him instead of his mother, and shot himself.

I have a friend who once spent months blogging about how to serve your way out of depression. While that may be useful for some people suffering from lesser, non-clinical forms of depression, upper case, big deal, Clinical Depression is not that. It’s not that at all.

3701046913_04ae7df7dc_mClinical Depression is a mental illness. It is a broken brain. It is a mind that cannot see the world as it is, only as a horrible, twisted alternate reality where living hurts and it will never stop hurting and you can try this self-destructive behavior or this one or this one and it won’t hurt as much—or maybe you’ll just feel something for a few minutes—and sometimes death really looks like the only way out. Depression lies, and then Depression kills.

You cannot serve your way out of Clinical Depression any more than you can serve your way out of cancer or diabetes or heart disease. You probably won’t be able to pray your way out, short of an actual miracle of healing (because remember, this is a malfunctioning organ, not the blues). If you need help or if you need medication, you are not bad or weak or even responsible for this awful thing.

Asking for help is hard. Sometimes nigh on impossible. Depression lies and tells you no one cares if you’re suffering, and you’re better off suffering alone, and you can’t ask for help, and even if you did, nobody can help. These are lies. We do care, it will make a difference and you can do it.

To those of us who do not or are not currently suffering from Clinical Depression, 1.) don’t judge. There but for the grace of God/the fickle fates of brain chemistry, okay?

2.) Look out for your friends, acquaintances, family. If you know someone has struggled in the past, don’t continually harp on it, but do remain vigilant and look for ways to be extra supportive when they begin to show signs. Again, asking for help is hard for someone who is in that situation. If you can make it so they don’t have to ask, you could be saving a life.

Depression is real. Depression lies. Depression kills. Whatever it takes for you to beat it—medication, therapy, support—is worth it. It will get better. YOU will get better. Suicide is not the answer.

Comments closed. Go talk to your friend instead. You know which one I mean.

Photo by Berlin Streetart

Technique, Reading

The ethics of beta reading

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I don’t know if it’s just the circles I’m in, but I’ve noticed a large number of authors who’ve suddenly had trouble with beta readers, who read a book and offer feedback before publication. Even experienced betas have been doing things that are frankly unethical, so I thought perhaps we just need some guidelines on what is appropriate and not for a beta reader.

The ethical beta

3726858061_8c21ebdc63_mYou have been taken into a position of trust. The author has helped you to make their book better before they publish it. The ethical beta reader understands that they are reviewing a book in a prepublication format. Errors, typos and room for improvement are to be expected. The ethical beta reader gives feedback to that effect—as complete and detailed as asked for & warranted.

Unless the author instructs you that they would like to drastically change their work, the ethical beta reader does not demand the author change the voice or style or entire book to suit the reader’s vision. The ethical beta reader only makes suggestions that they believe will make the author’s book stronger from a “neutral” standpoint, not change it into something different the reader would prefer personally.

Although it may not be mandatory, the ethical beta reader should also try to point out positives in their feedback. It’s not your job to stoke the author’s ego (unless you really love the book 😉 ), but letting the author know what does work is not only helpful but encouraging. A list of entirely negative feedback is likely to be discarded in anguish. Note that the term “textbook,” even when meant as praise, sounds like an insult, especially if that’s the closest you can come to positive feedback.

The ethical beta reader does not use abusive or insulting language about the author’s work. All original novels require a lot of effort and the author has taken you into a position of trust. Insulting their work or them as a writer/person shows a total lack of not only professionalism but also common courtesy.

The ethical beta reader makes clear the issues they have with your book in their feedback to you, not through a public review after the book has been published. Not only is your feedback of no help at that point—when that it exactly what the author asked you for, prepublication help—but it’s unethical to withhold your real feedback from the author, especially if you’ll turn around and publicly attack the book for it.

The ethical beta reader only reviews a book if they have read the version that’s being sold (or are pretty darn sure the author made the changes necessary to the book). The ethical beta reader does not mention the issues that the book had prepublication if they are resolved. If an author has told you that they have addressed a concern such as citing sources or a particular subplot, it is unfair and unethical to publicly air your complaints about their inferior quality work, which they asked you for help with and which they (may have) improved before publishing.

Now, to be sure, if an author doesn’t take your advice, you can mention the perceived weakness/fault in the review, but there’s also no cause to say, “I warned her not to do this,” or anything of the kind. (Who do you think that reflects upon?)

The ethical beta reader has absolutely no reason to create a profile for an unpublished book on a site like Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, etc. When the book is ready for publication, the author may create a profile—or you might even do that, but again, it is unethical to air your grievances against an earlier version of the book.

The ethical beta reader does not use the author’s other books as a platform to review and attack a different book or the author. The ethical reader shouldn’t do this, and as someone who has been accepted into the author’s confidence, you have an even greater responsibility.

If the ethical beta reader realizes the book is plagiarized from another book s/he has read, the beta reader says something. This might include notifying the plagiarized author or the plagiarizing author, or both. (Note: if a beta reader comes to you to report your book has been plagiarized, do not share their name with the plagiarizing author!)

Note to authors

The term “beta reader” means different things to different people—and often it means nothing to people outside of the writing industry. Be sure to clarify what level of feedback you need (general plot notes, characterization, logical flow, wording & line editing, etc.) when you send the file.

What do you think? What else do ethical beta readers do/not do?

Photo credit: Tim

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Works, News & Contests

Cover reveal & special surprise: get Tomorrow We Spy today!

Today I’m revealing the cover for the final book in the Spy Another Day series—with an awesome bonus!

More about the book

CIA operative Talia Reynolds (Fluker) is off the clock, off the continent and off on her Paris honeymoon. But the happy couple’s trip to the City of Love is cut short when the CIA tracks them down for a top secret mission. Only this time, the Agency’s assignment isn’t for Talia — it’s for her husband Danny.

As an aerospace engineer, Danny’s the one with the connections they need to get to their target, an aerospace executive and a dangerous Russian FSB officer. After all she’s done to protect Danny from her spy life, Talia won’t okay the op until she’s allowed to accompany her husband. And the only safe way for her to do that? Deep undercover.

Balancing her personal and professional personas requires more precision than a Russian ballet. But all the covers in the world can’t protect Danny and Talia when the FSB officer turns the tables on them. Now Talia must use her every skill to save her marriage, her husband and herself — or their first mission together will be their last.

Read an excerpt from Tomorrow We Spy now!

And the cover!

TomorrowSpy_CVR_MED

GET THE BOOK TODAY!

That’s right—you can get a special pre-release copy of Tomorrow We Spy . . . today—for only 99¢!

This is a limited time offer, for my most faithful blog readers. The sale will only last through MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2014! Then TWS will be off the market for a couple months while I edit the final prequel novella. The 99¢ price is only good for this week; when it goes into general release, it will be full price!

This offer has expired!

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Technique, Publishing

Critique partners vs. editors

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So earlier this month, we talked about what a difference critique partners make. And they do—mine routinely suggest the exact thing I needed to fix a plot line, a story arc, a scene, a character. They are truly amazing.

But even amazing critique groups are probably not acquisitions editors. They may not think like acquisitions editors. As Alicia Rasley has blogged before, sometimes your editor hates what your CPs love, for myriad reasons. It seems sad and counterproductive to think that a book you’ve spent six or twelve months with in critique group may now spent that long in editing because it fundamentally doesn’t work.

Part of that, as Alicia mentions, is the protracted reading your critique partners must do. In a standard critique group format, the group reads a scene or a chapter at a time (or perhaps isolated scenes), while an editor is trying to whip a whole book into shape, hammering out those overarching problems of plot or arc or character that a critique group who reads the book in a drip at a time just can’t see.

But there’s another issue at work, too. In many groups, critique partners’ job is to work with what you’ve got. It’s hard to suggest overarching changes without a high-level vision of the novel, so they do what they can: work on polishing the prose you present. You have to really develop trust in addition to fiction-vision to suggest (and take) the major changes that will make your story deeper, more engaging, more complex (in a good way), more coherent, more resonant.

But those changes are an editor’s job, her wheelhouse. She works not to be your friend but to make your book everything it can be. Her job is to knock it down and make it better.

Your critique partners may be right: your book may be great. Or they may be biased (by incomplete information or lovin ya, goshdarnit). The point isn’t that they’re wrong, but that it’s often beyond their purview—or perhaps beyond what you want them to do—to spot and fix the large-scale problems that an editor will home in on. Your editor’s job isn’t just to be right: it’s to make your book absolutely all that it can be. For the best book possible, use both!

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Works

Woot, Canada!

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Today is my tenth wedding anniversary! I mentioned in passing that my husband took our anniversary trip last month to Alaska and the Yukon. In case you missed it in geography classes, the Yukon is in Canada.

Which means I got to go to Canada last month. Granted, I was thousands of miles away from Ottawa, where my stories are set, but still, I got to enjoy some quintessentially Canadian things!

20140618_182302The Real Canadian Superstore (a warehouse style grocery store) and me
Whitehorse, Yukon

20140617_200407Tim Hortons . . . and me.
Whitehorse, Yukon

I’m not sure what planet people thought I was from, getting a picture at Timmy’s & TRCS, but I was too excited to care.

Obviously.

And FOOD.

SAMSUNG

Our donuts from Tim Hortons, clockwise from top:
Old Fashion Glaze (I think), Honey Dip (I think), Strawberry Shortcake, Birthday Cake, Strawberry Shortcake, Boston Cream

20140619_151349Me enjoying a butter tart (a little like a pecan pie with no nuts)
a place called Moose Crossing (I kid you not), between Whitehorse and Dawson City, Yukon

Also enjoyed that day:
Nanaimo bars!
I failed to get a picture, but here’s a shot by Jamieanne via Flickr & CC:
Nanaimo Bars
(The top layer is hard chocolate, the middle layer is made with custard powder, and the bottom layer is chewier chocolate, often with a base of coconut, etc.)

My husband lived in Scotland as a missionary for two years, so he loves Cadbury and other UK candy—which is imported here in the States, but available at every grocery store in Canada. We picked up a Crispy Crunch bar, a Crunchie bar, and Crunchie biscuits (which were a little weird). Here are our candy bars!

SAMSUNG

(A Crunchie bar is chocolate on the outside and “hokey pokey,” burnt sugar honeycomb. A Crispy Crunch is chocolate on the outside and peanut buttery toffee like stuff inside.)

And this isn’t in Canada or Canadian, but it’s related to my stories, so I had to get a photo!
20140616_193856
Remember how we bought Alaska from Russia? Marketers do!
Dom Rossii and me (after climbing a glacier!)
Juneau, Alaska

What have you been up to this summer?

Mechanics

Fix-It Friday: Fixing those prepositional phrases

Prepositional phrases can be tricky! They can easily become misplaced modifiers, throwing a money wrench in your sentence’s meaning. fif

Let’s fix these sentences

Why would she share the secret he’d confided in her in the hall with her parents?
We’re really confused here. It’s unclear that we’re talking about two different conversations here. The way it’s written, it sounds like “she” is sharing a secret that he’d confided in her with her parents, in a conversation that took place in the hall.

Probably not what we’re going for.

Instead, we need to shuffle these prepositional phrases or even drop some of them:

  • Why would she share with her parents the secret he’d confided in her in the hall?
  • Why would she share the secret he’d confided in her with her parents? (Though this may not fully fix the problem, it’s a bit less ambiguous.)
  • Why would she share his secret with her parents? (Shortest, simplest and probably best.)

He remembered the dog he’d found as he was walking in the apartment in the street.
Again, the meaning is all over the place here. Did he find the dog in the street? In the apartment? Or is the apartment in the street? Did he find the dog while walking, or remember it while walking?

Try again for clarity.

  • As he walked into the apartment, he remembered the dog he’d found in the street.
  • As he walked in the street, he remembered the dog he’d found in the apartment.
  • He remembered that dog—he’d found it as he was walking in his apartment.

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas.
This one is a famous joke, with the punchline “How he got into my pajamas, I shall never know.”

For humorous purposes, this works—but you have to call attention to a somewhat minor ambiguity, as in the scene I shared last time from Clue:

A man was bitten by a bat walking down the street on his thumb.
The bat here is the one walking down the street . . . on his thumb.

This cuts to the heart of the issue: make sure the prepositional phrase is closest to whatever it’s modifying.

“On his thumb” describes where he was bitten, so it should go by that. He was walking down the street when he was bitten.

  • A man walking down the street was bitten on his thumb by a bat.
  • A man was walking down the street when a bat bit him on the thumb.
  • A bat bit a man on his thumb as he was walking down the street.

She couldn’t believe he was standing there after their conversation yesterday on the sidewalk.
If the conversation took place on the sidewalk, this might be a little clearer with “yesterday” at the end. Otherwise, we need to move “on the sidewalk” closer to “he was standing there” to show it modifies that phrase, not the sentence.

  • She couldn’t believe he was standing there after their conversation on the sidewalk yesterday. (Conversation on sidewalk.)
  • She couldn’t believe he was standing there on the sidewalk after their conversation yesterday. (Standing on sidewalk now.)

Again, often the problem is using multiple modifiers or more than one prepositional phrase. As we stack the phrases, we have to be sure the meaning doesn’t get lost, or we’ll leave our readers confused!

So how would you fix these sentences? Any good ones you’ve seen?

Photo credits: tools—HomeSpot HQ

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