Yep, I’m on this again. Since I’ve been pushing education so much at the DA blog, I feel I should at least try to explain my methods.

I don’t tend to research as much as some writers.

Fantasy worlds require world-building skills, but what I know about world-building comes from years and years of reading fantasy books by authors who have a talent for that. World building takes time, it takes thought.

Paranormal aspects of my writing tend to come from a lifetime of fascination with ghosts, spooks, vamps and other things that go bump in the night. Silver is believed to bad for vamps as well as wolfies and nearly every culture has some version of the vampire. I know this.

The books I’ve written that had nurses/doctors in them, medical references within those come from information I picked up in my line of work. As a nurse, I know that head wounds bleed a lot. I don’t need to research that.

It’s possible to take information you know from whatever your life experiences have taught you and create your own story from it.

But you can’t use somebody else’s words to tell your story, or even just add to your story, without crediting the source. This doesn’t really have anything to do with pop-culture references…I think if I made a comment in a book, May the force be with you, people in general aren’t going to think I’m trying to claim credit…I’d probably put the line italics for emphasis on that. If I quoted a line from the Star Spangled Banner, I don’t think people are going think I’m claiming authorship over that.

But references that tend to be a little more obscure… or a lot more obscure…if you put somebody else’s words down, without crediting that person…this is different.

I mentioned earlier that nearly every culture has a vampire-type myth. Say in a story…bear with me, this is totally spur of the moment….

Sarah looked at all the notes and books piled on the table in front of John. She picked up one, squinted as she read some of the scrawl in the sidelines and then looked back at her brother.

“Vampires? Come on…Johnny, you have to let this go.”

Johnny remained focus on his work. She thought maybe he wasn’t even aware of her and then he glanced up. His brown eyes had that vague I’ve-been-looking-at-these-books-too-long look that she recognized. He blinked, almost surprised to see her and then he looked back down at the books. “Did you know almost every culture has some sort of vampire myth?”

That last line

~ Did you know almost every culture has some sort of vampire myth?~

incorporates knowledge that I’ve picked up from reading so many books about paranormal creatures. I can’t even remember the first book I might have read it in. But they are my words~I put my knowledge into my words and put it in my story.

BUT… if I had said something like….

Johnny remained focus on his work. She thought maybe he wasn’t even aware of her and then he glanced up. His brown eyes had that vague I’ve-been-looking-at-these-books-too-long look that she recognized. He blinked, almost surprised to see her and then he looked back down at the books. “The vampire is truly a global creature, with myths related to the dead which rise to drink the blood of the living coming out of cultures all around the world.“†

And then tried to claim authorship over

The vampire is truly a global creature, with myths related to the dead which rise to drink the blood of the living coming out of cultures all around the world.

I’ve plagiarized. That last little bit doesn’t quite read like my words & stands out like a sore thumb to me. They aren’t my words, but without citing the source…plagiarism.

(**Generally, I think most people see plagiarizing as taking more than just one line, but I’m shooting for expediency here**)

Now a way around this could be…

Johnny remained focus on his work. She thought maybe he wasn’t even aware of her and then he glanced up. His brown eyes had that vague I’ve-been-looking-at-these-books-too-long look that she recognized. He blinked, almost surprised to see her and then he looked back down at the books. “Hey…check this out. I read this on the website, Encyclopedia Mythica: ‘The vampire is truly a global creature, with myths related to the dead which rise to drink the blood of the living coming out of cultures all around the world.’“†

Again… these aren’t my words, but I credited the source. Which is… Encyclopedia Mythica’s article on vamps.†

Of course, if I actually wanted to use that line…the vampire is truly a global creature in one of my books, I’d be in a quandary, because the site has a policy clearly stating that information isn’t to be used for commercial purposes. So how that does work for writers who plan to publish their works? Could I use the line, if I wanted to, provided I gave acknowledgments? That’s a question for the legally minded, and it’s one I’d put before my editor, since I’m really not sure.

Another way of incorporating knowledge into a book…this example is from Hunters: Declan and Tori (mine, I don’t need to state the source)

“Silver can hurt them. Wood cannot, unless it totally destroys the heart, not just pierces it. Destroying the heart will kill. Taking their heads will kill them. Fire will kill.”

“You may not be able to kill him now. You may want to die later. But you will live. And then you can become strong enough.”

It’s pretty clear that somewhere I’ve read up on the general mythology surrounding vamps. But I haven’t taken somebody else’s ideas or words. I’ve taken the knowledge I’ve gathered just from reading so much of the folklore on legendary creatures and applied it to my book.

Plagiarism rules aren’t intended to completely smother a writer’s creativity. We aren’t required to document each and every source we’ve used when writing a book. If it’s a subject that I wasn’t too familiar with and I did heavy indepth research from a few select books, I’d most likely credit those sources on the acknowledgment’s page.

But crediting every single source for every single fact I know? If we mention that gravity is the reason we can walk around on the planet the way we do, are we supposed to mention and credit Sir Isaac Newton? Nope. Now I went and read up on his theories, took them and placed them within the book pretty much word for word or just rearranging a few and not crediting him…plagiarism.

Our lives can be research. Trying to cite every source for every fact I know… well, I’d never get the book turned in because the acknowledgments would be unending.

Now let’s say I wanted to do a workshop on worldbuilding (FYI… not happening…I don’t do workshops unless forced and I’m probably not a good source for info) but I’m all for throwing out examples.

Different writers have different methods for world building.

Some just jot down the details (like me) on a notepad and maybe put together a reference list to refer back to if they create a language or if there will be terms within that world that are specific to that world. I did this with Through the Veil while I was still in the early stages of writing. It helped to make the world clearer in my minds, so that I could make it clear for the readers.

If your world has magic, make sure the rules of magick are clearly defined in your world…can only women be witches? If so, make sure you don’t throw in a guy witch. Is there a reason why guys can’t be witches? Can vampires be killed and by what…ask yourself questions, answer them within the story because you can bet readers will.

Some authors go a lot more in depth~they might suggest drawing a picture of your world, how it looks, whether there is a language unique to that world, what words will mean what. Some recommend writing stories set within that world that are more or less just for you… not meant for readers, because through writing the stories, you can get to know the world better.

Again, my words…in this example. since I’m fictionally attempting (were I so inclined) to teach or explain a method, and incorporating ideas of others into it… acknowledging those sources is at least a courtesy…might be required, I don’t know. For this particular bit, the only one source I checked out was PBW’s posts on world-building.

But since I’m fictionally making an attempt to share somebody else’s theories, suggestions and practices, ethics would lead me to give her credit.

Some authors go a lot more in depths~they might suggest drawing a picture of your world, how it looks, whether there is a language unique to that world, what words will mean what. Some recommend writing stories set within that world that are more or less just for you… not meant for readers, because through writing the stories, you can get to know the world better. These are just a couple of the suggestions that Lynn Viehl offers to readers through her blog, Paperback Writer.

The lines around plagiarism do tend to get blurry. My thinking about it is pretty much based on applying the golden rule… do unto others… to writing and writers. Would I be happy if I saw somebody take snippets out of my books and put them within theirs? No. Would I be happy if I found out that somebody went and read up on a psych paper I turned in while in nursing school and then turned around and copied it, turned it in as theirs? Nope. The Heat with Heart workshop I did…would I be happy if I saw somebody out out a workshop Putting Heart in the Heat that went on to just basically paraphrase my workshop? Nope.

Turning it around and trying to see how you’d do feel if the tables were turned is probably going to be one of the best guidelines to go by. I’d say, if you’re in doubt…either discuss it with a knowledgeable source…or just credit the source, to be safe.
† © copyright 1995 – 2005 Encyclopedia Mythica. All rights reserved