Teen writers, you have to learn the rules before you can break them…

Here’s a story that pushes a lot of my buttons. It concerns a 17-year-old girl in Germany who has written and published a blockbuster book. Button #1: Whenever a teen puts out a blockbuster novel, I smell a gimmick. And I really despise publishing gimmicks.

Then the prodigy author, Helene Hegemann, is discovered to have lifted large portions of the text from other books. Button #2: Blatant plagiarism, or passing another writer’s work off as your own. Does this remind us of another teen blockbuster author?

Finally, rather than copping to what she has done, Hegemann claims she was “remixing,” in order to enter into a “dialogue” with the authors she stole from. This is what this generation does, she claims. Button #3: Misunderstanding the purpose of copyright.

Copyright is designed to protect both a creator of an original work and the public domain, which can benefit from open access to creative works. It does this by giving the writer legal protections for a certain period of time, after which time the work enters the public domain and is free for so-called “sampling” and “mashing up.” If Ms. Hegemann truly wanted to experiment with “intertexuality,” as she claims, she should have looked for works that were in the public domain. No one accuses the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies of plagiarism because Jane Austen‘s books are in the public domain, and this version is clearly playing with combining texts.

Also, even though Austen is long dead, she is still credited for having written some of the text in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Ms. Hegemann didn’t bother to credit the authors she ripped off. If she were truly entering a dialogue with them, she should have at least named them as her sources, even if she wasn’t going to get permission to use their words.

I suggest that budding teen writers spend a few years learning the rules of their chosen avocation and figuring out how to have an original voice. They might also want to study the literary techniques of homage, pastiche and parody to learn how writers play with other writers’ works, without resorting to plagiarism.

And publishers should figure out a way to sell books without resorting to stupid gimmicks.

Rant over.

More on this:

• Author, 17, Says It’s “Mixing,” Not Plagiarism (NY Times)
• The plagiarism paradox and 10 famous authors accused of plagiarism (Examiner)
• Watch those viral videos disappear: Some thoughts on copyright paranoia (me)
• Associated Press, your desperation is showing (me again)
• The Public Domain Is Getting Hungry (Slog)

• Plagiarism Is Like Rainbow Parties: All The Kids Are Doing It [War Of Words] (jezebel.com)
• Is Gen Y Membership a Pass to Plagiarize? (trueslant.com)
• Teen Remixes The Works Of Others Into Best Selling Novel… And Critics Love It (techdirt.com)