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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So what is the line between just being terrible and plagiarizing?[/quote]

Funny you ask that. I am one of the published authors who posted above and i just so happened to be turning in a MS this week and I ran this by my editor — what would you think if i included a verbatim private FB post in my book, and didn’t tell the original author? Would that be cool.

She laughed hard, and then said, “But seriously, no. Don’t do that.”

No legit author in their right mind is confused about this.[/quote]

But then why are SO many writers on Twitter brushing this off or justifying it? It honestly blows my mind. I thought plagiarism was like the number one thing to NOT do, as writers?[/quote]

For the purposes of this question — there are two kinds of writers. The first are “literary” writers whose heroes are Celeste Ng etc., most of whom will never publish a novel, but live off weird teaching gigs, day jobs, fellowships, and will spend their “careers” writing short stories that no one but other MFAs will read. They are a closed network, based out of few cities — Brooklyn, Boston, L.A, the Iowa writers workshop, Columbia MFA. They are a rarified bunch and very defensive about the fact that no one wants to pay money for their writing. There are so few shots at making it as an MFA writer that they are cutthroat competitive and very petty and resentful. So their currency is elitism, snobbism, classism. These are the writers in Twitter.

The second kind of writers are “commercial” writers, who get books deals, produce regularly, often collaborate with Netflix or other TV/Movie houses. The most successful of these are household names — think Lianne Moriarty or Michael Connelly — and most are not on Twitter and def.not part of this scene. They are “working” writers with deadlines and contracts and while their is much fellowship within genres, whether it is mystery, sci-if, women’s fiction, romance, thrillers . . . There is none of this clubbiness or exclusivity. In fact, in genre fiction, there are conferences where authors mix with fans, teach classes, help newbies etc. It’s a completely different vibe b/c working writers let the marketplace be the judge of a good story, while MFA writers think they are the ultimate judges.

Guess which type loves the petty toxic swampland of Twitter?

As Dennis Lehane put it, mystery writers are a great bunch who send the elevator down when they get to the top. And it’s true. 
[/quote]

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