Twilight Author Accused of Plagarism...

[RandomAnthony]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3228903...

[Matt]

I'm usually for the little guy, but this person sounds like an attention whore. These sort of plagiarism cases scare me, because it seems like something that if successful could get taken way too far (i.e. Hmm...your character has an existential crisis, I once wrote a book where a character had an existential crisis, thus I will drag you to court).

[RandomAnthony]

I had an idea for a book about happy robots. Therefore everyone who has ever written a book about happy robots owes me royalties. Pay up.

[Félix]

I wrote it first. You owe me.

[RandomAnthony]

Poop.

[Knarik]

the last passage explaines everything:"I think the fans have to read both books..." .Maybe he thought that this is the best way to advertise his bad book.
I despise people like this, who are like jackals!

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

That's what I thought, too, Knarik. It's a ploy to get people to buy HIS book. And if he can convince some judge to award him damages, all the better!

[Nuri]

Even if Twilight had been word-for-word plagiarized from my notebooks, I would be too embarrassed to claim ownership of that drivel.....


OKAY, done hating, bye.

[Félix]

heh heh

[Matthieu]

I saw a girl reading New Moon (I'm ashamed that I even know this); I laughed. Audibly.

And then I returned to my slender Denton Welch volume.

Do you see this, N.? You have fans!

[Knarik]

Nools, I like what you said (though I neither hate nor love twilight).

[Kevin]

agreed Nools. (how cool is she?)

i have not read Twilight or any other vampire book mostly because i am not the least bit interested but also because i do not like doing something just because everyone else is doing it. i do agree that i miss out on lots of good stuff by refusing to: read wildly successful books, listen to what the masses do (DAVE), watch the hottest shows, or wear AE or Old Navy stuff.

btw - i am humming the song I Gotta Be Me while typing this

[Heidi]

I've read all the Twilight books. I enjoyed reading them. And I would still be embarrassed to lay claim on authorship. What a bizarre thing to claim...

[Kevin]

i feel the guy because i invented the Q-Tip and totally got screwed on that deal

[Gus]

You mean Stephanie Meyer ripped off a work that was just as sucky as hers?

No, I haven't read "Twilight" or any of those books, nor do I intend to.

[Heather]

I read Twilight 5 years ago, when it first came out and I enjoyed it as I have enjoyed two out of the three sequels. The writing was sub par, but there is something about the characters, plot, or both that is alluring, and apparently the masses agree. Stephanie Meyer may not be a talented writer, but she is a talented storyteller as she has done something that other more talented writers have not, and that is sell millions of books. Furthermore, I have no shame in reading, listening to or watching a show that appeals to the masses as I see no sense in being contrary just for the sake of being contrary.

[Félix]

I see no sense in being contrary just for the sake of being contrary.

Everyone needs a purpose in life, Heather. ;)

[Kevin]

Heather - i am really not entirely mature enough to embrace that philosophy but i totally think you are right

[Félix]

Maturity is often over-rated, IMO.

[Heather]

I don’t think being contrary and being mature are mutually exclusive or inclusive concepts.

[Sally, la reina]

The tendency to snub pop culture just because it is pop culture is lame.

Says the girl who won't watch television and prides herself on never finishing the Harry Potter, the Twilight or the Outlander series.

[Félix]

Heather wrote: "I don’t think being contrary and being mature are mutually exclusive or inclusive concepts."

Yup.

[Heather]

I don't watch t.v. either, with the exception of monster quest, because I think most of t.v. is trash.
I won't read Outlander because I tend to loathe hokey romance novels.
But Harry Potter is another story, I loved Harry Potter.

[Kevin]

Heather wrote: "I don’t think being contrary and being mature are mutually exclusive or inclusive concepts."

ok, i totally don't understand that statement

but i do agree with sally about snubbing pop culture. i don't really do that (maybe i do) i just don't automatically get on board with things that i personally have not found entertaining or cool

[Félix]

The correlation between maturity and contrariness is very low.

[Heather]

I can relate to that Kevin, I think most people can say the same. Not partaking in something because you haven't enjoyed it is not the same as being contrary.

P.S. everyone has been contrary at one point in their lives. I'm not contrary in regards to pop culture, but I tend to be contrary about people. However, I often attribute that to having good instincts. :)

[[deleted user]]

Larry wrote: "Maturity is often over-rated, IMO."

I wish my wife thought this way!

[RandomAnthony]

Sometimes you look cool when you act contrary in regards to pop culture.

Sometimes you look cool when you act contrary in regards to being contrary in regards to pop culture.

Sometimes you look cool when you act contrary in regards to being contrary in regards to being contrary in regards to pop culture.

Fuck it. I'm just going to be myself.

[Kevin]

sometimes you look cool when you wear a hello kitty backpack backwards and a cod piece. not very often but sometimes

[Heidi]

I liked the Twilight series. I'm not going to rag on it. It was an enjoyable read... and I will never understand people who say that certain reading sucks when they refuse to read it in the first place. That's like saying you hate green eggs and ham when you never even tried them... and then when you finally did try them, you loved them. You can't know until you try it. Dr. Seuss was a smart man. He was definitely onto something with that. RA, you can definitely go all out in saying that you think that Meyer's books suck since you've read it. Everyone else who has a criticism about books they haven't read can bite me (if I don't get your nose first).

[RandomAnthony]

I gave Twilight three stars...check my review.

[Heidi]

RAWK! :D

[Heather]

Agreed Heidi.

[Nuri]

I'm with Bunwat. A codpiece? (how amazing is he?) :D


re: Twilight. I don't know. A girl in my 2nd-year biology course told me, shooting sparkles of earnest enthusiasm from her eyes, that it was the best book she'd ever read. I didn't know anything about it at the time, so I picked it up and gave it a read (the cover did make me wonder) and honestly disliked it.

I know I frequently indulge in indie-worship/pop-shunning, but this is not one of those instances. Twilight earned my contempt all on its own.

(An aside: I freely and shamelessly loved Harry Potter. Rowling and I had a couple disagreements on some character development issues, but I consider HP a big slice of my childhood/teenaged years.)

[Matthieu]

The fact that people think of the Twilight series as serious literature really depresses me.

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

I love a good vampire story, and I was willing to make allowances for the book being intended for a teenage audience, but Meyer lost me at the vampire baseball game.
Lame!!!

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

:::crickets chirping:::

[Nuri]

The girl in my biology class obviously did. She said something about the tone and imagery. : / I was really, really surprised when I got into the book. I kept thinking, "This can't be what she was talking about...."

She was a very nice person and a great lab partner, so I've got nothing against the people who like the books, but Twilight really annoyed me.

[Heidi]

While I'd admit that I enjoyed reading it, I'd never consider Meyer's Twilight series to be serious literature.

It is what it is - fluff, fun escapism, imaginative.

Nools and Jackie - having read it, you've also earned a place to rip, rip, rip on Meyers's books.

Nools, I enjoyed Harry Potter shamelessly, too. After reading The Razor's Edge in my bookclub, the gals wanted fluff, so we decided to read the first HP book since it was nearing Halloween that year. I read the rest of the series that had been written up to that point soon after... Jim Dale's narration of the audiobooks is nothing short of spectacular. I'm a fan. Then again, he won me over when I went to see Pete's Dragon with my dad in the movie theatre. He was a good charlatan quack doc. :)

[Kevin]

vampire baseball game? now i am semi interested. bet that was an intense game. were they out for blood? did they use bats? baseball is a game i suppose they could sink their teeth into

[Heidi]

Kevin, they had to play baseball during storms because the thunder masked the crack of the bat hitting the ball when the vamps used their superstrength to bat the ball. I actually enjoyed that little excerpt in the series.

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

You know, if it gets someone who wasn't a reader into books, the more power to Twilight. As Heidi says, it's not beautifully written, but it tells a story that appeals very strongly to young women.

Hopefully, after reading Twilight, those readers will keep on reading, and find even better books to rave about.

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

Heidi wrote: "Kevin, they had to play baseball during storms because the thunder masked the crack of the bat hitting the ball when the vamps used their superstrength to bat the ball. I actually enjoyed that lit..."

*snerk*
No, I just can't take that part seriously...

[Kevin]

heidi - please tell me you are joking

[Heidi]

:)

[Heather]

I enjoyed Twilight, but it is not literature. It's verbal crack, brain candy. That is all.

[Nuri]

I kind of ranted about this topic in another group. I'm not a big fan of this burgeoning YA literature market because a lot of writers seem to think that young minds are expendable, that they can be crammed with really sub-par writing -- and "at least they're reading." I'm not saying I don't like the YA genre -- on the contrary, it's one of my favorites (and definitely, the genre has its gems), but when I read some of the things that the publishing companies are churning out, I'm kind of insulted for our youth. As a long-time writing/lit tutor/mentor-thingy: Yes, there very often needs to be some kind of stepping stone between Where the Wild Things Are and Dostoevsky, but some meaningful themes and a slightly more challenging or varied vocabulary wouldn't hurt -- you know, any nutritional content at all. Young people are a lot cleverer than they're often given credit for.


Yes, yes, I'm kind of an elitist jerk. This isn't to disagree with anyone (I don't think I am, at least), but because I liked the sound of my own... typing. Or something. Stepping off the soapbox now.

[Heidi]

I can appreciate your POV, Nools. :)

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

Nools, sure - there's plenty of YA junk food books out there (Gossip Girl springs instantly to mind). I agree, everyone's jumping on the YA bandwagon because that's where the sales are, lately.

But there's an amazing amount of great stuff in the YA category these days. Some of the best fantasy fiction I've ever read (and am planning to read) is YA. Just a few examples:

Wicked Lovely
Terrier
The Hunger Games
Graceling

[Nuri]

That's really, really, true -- Sturgeon's Law and all.

I guess for me, it's that some writers seem to think that dumbing down lit for kids is okay. At least I hope that's what they're thinking, for their sakes....