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/lit/ - Literature

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11694651 No.11694651 [Reply] [Original]

I just got a novel accepted by a small but reputable publisher. And what's more, I didn't have to write it.

A couple of years ago I made a habit of digging up books that are so obscure that they are virtually forgotten. No goodreads reviews or even goodreads pages at all- stuff like that. I would read them casually for pleasure and would jot down any exemplary passages I came across in my commonplace book. Eventually I filled several notebooks doing this. Finally I was stuck on a writing project and started going through my notebooks hoping to read something that would give me a jolt of creativity. I was just looking for inspiration. But I came across a sentence so good and so unknown (google searches of it yield only a few unrelated results) that I thought I would just put it in my book. Writers are expected to steal, I figured. I loved the resulting effect on my work so much that I immediately began pilfering my notebooks for any great prose or ideas that could be made to fit in my book. I justified it by thinking of myself as a curator, that I was being artistic if not wholly literary.

Anyway, long story short I now have a finished novel that I would estimate is 85% the work of other, unknown writers. And even some obscure passages and concepts from very famous writers made it in. A publisher that some of you have undoubtedly heard of will be bringing it out sometime in fall 2019. They don't know about my plagiarism or at least haven't mentioned it if they do. Feels good man.

>> No.11694663

>>11694651
post some excerpts or gtfo

>> No.11694673

>>11694651
The good side is that you found beauty in shitty places. The bad side is that you plastered together all those good bits and formed a Frankenstein monster.

>> No.11694693
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11694693

>>11694651
>They don't know about my plagiarism
Don't worry, OP.
The world will know soon

>> No.11694697

>>11694693
I doubt it. Most of what I lifted cannot be Googled and the press that is putting my book out is fairly small so I'm sure my book eon't get a ton of attention. And even if I do get caught I'll just pretend like I'm a collage artist working in literature.

>> No.11694703

>>11694697
>steals from forgotten books
>also gets forgotten
What's the point, you fool?

>> No.11694705

>>11694651
You are a bad person.

>> No.11694706

>>11694703
Getting a little bit of money, being able to say I'm a published author, making some connections in the literary world. My editor is acquainted with one of my literary heroes and is going to send an advanced copy to him for a blurb. I'm thrilled.

>> No.11694714
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11694714

>>11694697
I'll know. I know what you did.

>> No.11694732

>>11694706
I'm published.
It's not that big of a deal.

>> No.11694745

>>11694732
I'm not talking about a short story in some online journal. I'm talking a novel at a publishing house that has published some of the best living writers. It looks good.

>> No.11694763

Jesus, even thinking of the legal case this would cause is mind boggling. The fact is that there are databases for plagiarism that include books that aren’t on the internet. Once that’s found out the authors, or whomever olds the rights to it, could collectively sue, possibly even a class action, you and the publisher for statutory copyright infringement damages, taking you for all you are worth and bankrupting them. You have met all three of the requirements for copyright violation.Then it would be up to the court to do the bullshit balancing test on on fair use, which if you fail, is you admitting you stole it. But you’ll have a pretty good case for fair use, conpared to most fair use cases, though once it’s known and public, they’ll never hire you again. So you’re fucked either way.

>> No.11694768

>>11694745
Same.
I guarantee you'll be sued into poverty when they find out. I'm sure your lawyer had a good read over the contracts though and he advised you on your liability.

>> No.11694776

>>11694651
If you wrote in English and plan to publisj in the US, you're fucked.

>> No.11694780

>>11694651
What's your methodology for finding extremely obscure books with top tier prose?

>> No.11694787

>some library nearby decides to digitize their collection and make them available on Google books
>all your passages are instantly googleable

>> No.11694792
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11694792

>>11694651
If they're too stupid to notice your plagiarism, then I'd venture to say that you deserve the success, no matter how unmerited. Enjoy the cash flow while it lasts, though. You'll be exposed eventually. I suggest that you spend the next year or so making up some post-modernist excuse why 85% of your novel is from the toils of other, mot successful authors. Say something about how it's a literary scrapbook or some gay shit like that.

>> No.11694798
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11694798

Is positive existentialism the solution to postmodernism?

Considering the Hollywood bust of Bladerunner 2049 (hated by audience, loved by critics) and the concurrent ascension of the video game Cyberpunk 2077 (hated by SJW elite, loved by the gamer proles), are video games, not only a legitimate form of art, but also that their supplanting films as the mouthpiece medium of America?

Is existentialism right-wing while postmodernism left-wing?

Many right wing figureheads, Donald Trump, Alex Jones, and Scott Adams, firmly believe in a philosophy of perception > reality, but nonetheless, playing with the hand that they were dealt and trying their best to game the system, to win. Are they existentialist?

>> No.11694801

>>11694651

>I'll the fearful pseuds ITT

Big, old libraries are great for writers because you can find the most pre-Google stuff. You can essentially re-publish someone else's good ideas. If they were profitable at one time, they'll probably be popular again. The "databases" these knobs are quivering over aren't as well maintained as you'd think. There aren't enough söyîm admins to help them do an accurate search. Publishing is full of lazy, non-technical roasties and dopey diversity hires. There aren't crack teams of word smithies who will scour the Canon for every submission.

>> No.11694803

>>11694798
sorry, meant to start my own thread>>11694651

>> No.11694808

>>11694651
I think that's fine. Although you stole the pieces, the overall work is original. What's the name of the book, I think I'll want to read it. What's it about?

>> No.11694830

If J.K. Rowling can get away with it then so can OP.

>> No.11695114

>>11694830
You dare speak Ill of her?!
Swine.

>> No.11695119

This is a fake story, but if you're ever caught out just say you're the vaporwave of litterature

>> No.11695157

>>11694651

>obscure passages and concepts from very famous writers made it in

Yeah someone will pick up on those.

>> No.11695221

>>11694763
think of all the old moldy books in libraries that no one checks out. Who is going to digitize them, and then upload them (for free) to a ((((((plagarism))))) server?

OP isn't submitting an essay for a college class, he's writing a book

>> No.11695255

>>11695221
I don't think you realize that happens. A lot of estates decline offers allowing google to display them on their public database.

t. someone who has photographed works of this sort for archival.

>> No.11695356

>>11694651
This actually happened a few years back with a spy novel, Assassin of Secrets by Q.R. Markham. Its text was lifted from lots of other spy novels.

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/q-r-markhams-plagiarism-puzzle

>> No.11695358

>>11694798
AMAZING POST

>> No.11695384

>>11694801
This, the digitisation of books is very arbitrary and depends on how motivated an archivist is.

>> No.11696156 [DELETED] 

>>11694651
one possible problem with it is that the writers, though dead, might not appreciate your lifting

>> No.11696236 [DELETED] 

>>11694651
What do you get from lying on the interwebs? Internet points?

>> No.11697237

>>11694706
You should read The Fountainhead again. Or Macbeth. Or literally every story about ill-gotten success. It will destroy you.

>> No.11697266

how do you honestly sleep at night senpai

>> No.11698734

you should write a novel about this

>> No.11699342

>>11697266
Personally, I admire his boldness.