"It's Like Faking An Orgasm" With A Blow-Up Doll
Now that I've been alerted to these online spats involving book-deal wielding chick-lit bloggers I can't tear myself away from the ringside action and ring-size drama. Ahhh, the drama. Ol' Johnny. Or like the Sleater-Kinney song puts it, "The Drama You've Been Craving." There are those among us who take up permanent residence at the Dramada Inn where the pool is pear-shaped and the motto is: "You can check-in any time you want, but be careful where you dry-heave."
Enter the current thread between blogger with a $$$ book deal Stephanie Klein and Tale of Two Sisters (note: newly located site), a Stephanie Klein parody blog that has the potential to be offered a publishing deal somewhere north of a six-part comic strip series wrapped around a piece of bubblegum. So Ms. Klein (or her handlers) are none too happy about the parody and have threatened to sue for copyright infringement. I'm no lawyer and to me "fair use" sounds like a deal between two teenage boys time-sharing a stack of Playboys, so I won't comment on the merits of either side's arguments.
But here's an interesting itty bitty titty twist. It's been revealed (not by me) that the Judith Regan crowned blogger/aspiring writer who is suing the parodists for plagiarism is quite possibly a plagiarist herself. (That's Drama with a capital "D" right here in cry me a river city.) The material in question comes from, of all things, a grade-school storytelling exercise called "Watering Hole." (The imagery is impossible to make up.) Behold:
The Smoking Google Search
Imagination Exercise: Watering Hole
Pretend to be an animal in the jungle. Think about how it moves - fast and sneaky, or slowly and majestically, with heavy footsteps or on dainty tippy toes, slithering, hopping, swinging, or creeping? Every animal moves differently. Use your whole body, not just your arms and legs. How does the animal move its head? Its chest? Its tail? How does it stand when it listens to a faraway sound? How does it grow sad or angry or happy?
Stephanie Klein: "Make Believe"
The song "Nothing" in Chorus Line is about a woman who couldn't pretend to be a bobsled or ice cream cone, so she was kicked out of her acting class. In Miracle on 34th Street, small Susan refuses to play "zoo" with the other children. And why should I pretend to be a monkey when I'm a girl? Pretend to be an animal - excuse me, I can't do that. Go on, think about how it moves - fast and sneaky, or slow and majestically, with heavy footsteps or on dainty tippy toes, slithering, hopping, swinging, or creeping? How does it stand when it listens to a faraway sound? Um, no, I don't think you quite get it. I can't pretend.
Perhaps there's a perfectly reasonable explanation (like maybe she knows Gerald Fierst and helped him write the exercise for Scholastic?) but it sounds like Klein's prose was picked from the playground lot in "fairly used" condition.
UPDATE: Gerald Fierst, of Scholastic's Storytelling Workshop and author of the "Watering Hole" imagination exercise, gives his take on the situation:
Enter the current thread between blogger with a $$$ book deal Stephanie Klein and Tale of Two Sisters (note: newly located site), a Stephanie Klein parody blog that has the potential to be offered a publishing deal somewhere north of a six-part comic strip series wrapped around a piece of bubblegum. So Ms. Klein (or her handlers) are none too happy about the parody and have threatened to sue for copyright infringement. I'm no lawyer and to me "fair use" sounds like a deal between two teenage boys time-sharing a stack of Playboys, so I won't comment on the merits of either side's arguments.
But here's an interesting itty bitty titty twist. It's been revealed (not by me) that the Judith Regan crowned blogger/aspiring writer who is suing the parodists for plagiarism is quite possibly a plagiarist herself. (That's Drama with a capital "D" right here in cry me a river city.) The material in question comes from, of all things, a grade-school storytelling exercise called "Watering Hole." (The imagery is impossible to make up.) Behold:
The Smoking Google Search
Imagination Exercise: Watering Hole
Pretend to be an animal in the jungle. Think about how it moves - fast and sneaky, or slowly and majestically, with heavy footsteps or on dainty tippy toes, slithering, hopping, swinging, or creeping? Every animal moves differently. Use your whole body, not just your arms and legs. How does the animal move its head? Its chest? Its tail? How does it stand when it listens to a faraway sound? How does it grow sad or angry or happy?
Stephanie Klein: "Make Believe"
The song "Nothing" in Chorus Line is about a woman who couldn't pretend to be a bobsled or ice cream cone, so she was kicked out of her acting class. In Miracle on 34th Street, small Susan refuses to play "zoo" with the other children. And why should I pretend to be a monkey when I'm a girl? Pretend to be an animal - excuse me, I can't do that. Go on, think about how it moves - fast and sneaky, or slow and majestically, with heavy footsteps or on dainty tippy toes, slithering, hopping, swinging, or creeping? How does it stand when it listens to a faraway sound? Um, no, I don't think you quite get it. I can't pretend.
Perhaps there's a perfectly reasonable explanation (like maybe she knows Gerald Fierst and helped him write the exercise for Scholastic?) but it sounds like Klein's prose was picked from the playground lot in "fairly used" condition.
UPDATE: Gerald Fierst, of Scholastic's Storytelling Workshop and author of the "Watering Hole" imagination exercise, gives his take on the situation:
"I am astonished to discover that not only would someone plagiarize my study guide for creative dramatics, but that someone else would recognize the words as mine and pull that paragraph out of a whole book. Beats me how Stephanie Klein got to use my words for fantasy play. I don't even know who she is. I guess I could be flattered that my words are worth stealing. Considering what I get paid and what I understand she gets paid, I think I have been underestimating my talents."
