Lotripper

I've read a hell of a lot of LOTR RPS, and I've never seen one which used the exact words of the original, without author credit.

But the evidence of extensive copying and pasting of text in the published version of namarie120's story "A Hidden Passage", about her incorporation of original text from "Jane Eyre", is compelling. I admire caras_galadhon for bringing out into the open.

My problem with this the situation is that the author accepted the praise, awards, and publication as though she deserved credit. If she'd said something about how great a writer Charlotte Brontë was, and explained that a huge part of the story was lifted from the original, that would have been appropriate attribution. Accepting those compliments was more than just a lie, and accepting the award it wronged the writers who wrote every word of their fic.

Here is the original fanfic disclaimer, which was pasted in a thread in telesilla's post.

Disclaimer: This is a work of total fiction, using characters based on the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I don’t pretend to represent the actors in any realistic way – I’m just dressing them up and playing with them."

(From Chapter 37 header of "A Hidden Passion" by namarie120.)

Here is the warning from the published book, as transcribed by rocketbalm, a friend of namarie120, posted this in a thread:

"In retelling the story, I have tried to remain as true to the tone and language of the original novel as possible. Some sentences (the opening lines of the first and last chapters in particular) are so iconic I have left them unchanged. While there are of course alterations and additions to the original plot, I hope the work as a whole will be seen as the homage I certainly intended."

Author's Note of A Hidden Passion, by Lucia Logan, August 2007

That note strongly implies that -- aside from the opening lines and last chapter -- the rest of the text was in fact changed. Perhaps by "changed" she meant, "rearranged and slightly reworded". That's certainly not what I expect from an experienced fanfic writer, and wish she'd been somewhat less "true to the tone and language".

an anon said: i was betrayed by someone i trusted. i was made to feel a fool for lavishing praise on someone who claimed someone else's work..

That makes me very sad. I don't want namarie120 to delete her journal and run away. What I'd like to have seen, and to see now, would be an acknowledgment that large parts of the story were not hers, an apology for misleading people, and for her to return the Slashy Oscar award so it can be given to the runner up.

What should we do next time, if we see something in a fic that's way too familiar? I don't really know, but in this case, emailing to her clearly did not work, because several people tried that. Perhaps friends in a group could approach the author and encourage her or him to come clean. And, as a final step, posting to a journal or to a community might be necessary. Because it's a moral and ethical error to plagiarize, and the faster we get it over with, the better. Anyone with other thoughts or useful experience, please tell me, I want to know!

More useful posts on this topic by caras_galadhon (the original post), slashfairy's meditation on it, telesilla's lively discussion, and jasmineskie's comment.

To end on an up note (via ruuger), a fabulous pastiche with a very distinctive and un-Brontë voice: Jayne Eyre!