Italy is a "little" country and women sometime are really bitches...

[reviews_and_ramblings]

As you know (due to all the post that redirect to it) I'm also a blogger of Isn't it Romantic. I'm not the owner neither one of the founder, but I use to post here about matters that can be interesting for Italian romance readers.

In Italy romance blogs are not so common, and I can proudly said that maybe our blog is the most visited. And we post a lot about books, but also other arguments like poems, love songs, movies.

Maybe one year ago we have created a special post, The book on trial. I don't know if outside Italy it was an original post, but in Italy was the first time that a blog did it. We have chosen a classical romance book, The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, and we have put the book on trial. I was the Defence Attorney and another blogger was the Public Prosecutor. And through the comments the readers were the Jury. Sincerely I didn't like it very much, cause it was a way for people to quarrel on a book!!! (a thing I find incredible, it's not possible to quarrel on a book when there are so other big problem in the world, and then I don't like to quarrel, I prefer to have my opinion, strong opinion, but I don't want to oblige someone else to think like me)

Now another blog has taken the idea and put under trial another book. Unfortunately it has chosen to use a way very similar to us (without asking or give us credit) and this has stirred up the anger of the owner and founder of Isn't it Romantic, who, without asking to any one of the other bloggers, has written a post to accuse the other blog of plagiarism. You can imagine what this has caused: angry comments, the other blog has reacted with similar nastiness, in a Italian yahoo group where all we write, people are commenting on it... And now, some friends of mine, write to me privately to know what I think and what I will do. A person who has interviewed an author more or less in the same period as me, has written to me to be sure that I will not accuse her of plagiarism!!!

And here I am, and try to ignore that post. For me, I think that internet is so wide that it's impossible to accuse someone of plagiarism, and even if the other blog has done it, well they have done it ONE YEAR after than our blog...

Comments

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

[wince]

That sort of argument is always very destructive and it's unfortunate that your blog owner decided to start it.

First, that wasn't plagiarism. (I'm assuming she used that exact word, or its direct Italian equivalent.) "Plagiarism" is copying someone's words and claiming them for your own -- actual words in a row, copied exactly. You can't plagiarize an "idea."

It's like... if another author wrote a story where someone was in love with a person who could control plants, and their lover made vines grow to tie them up and then they had sex, that would be very similar to the gimmick in my "Chasing Fear," but it would not be plagiarism unless they actually copied lines from my story, word-for-word, exactly. Just the similar idea is not enough to make it plagiarism.

If someone did do that, copying the idea but no actual lines, I'd probably ignore it. But if I were angry enough to want to make a comment, I might say something about how it was unfortunate that this other writer couldn't come up with her own original story gimmick. (Because although it's not plagiarism, it is derivative and unoriginal.) Or I might just comment on what a coincidence it was, our coming up with two such similar ideas. (And it might well have been a coincidence; ideas are not unique, and there've been cases of similar plotlines or story ideas or gimmicks used when no one had actually copied from anyone else.)

I think you're wise not to join the blog owner in making accusations. Even if the idea was "stolen," that sort of angry response never makes a person look good. People might look down on her for making a fuss over something minor, or might laugh at her for not knowing what "plagiarism" actually is, or they might even agree with her, but outside of her close friends it's unlikely anyone will admire her for getting angry and making nasty or self-righteous comments about this other person. Even if the other blog owner intended some actual malice, your blog owner is giving up the moral high ground by responding with an angry attack. Ir's probably best to stay out of it. :/

Angie