It has been a month since the WIK 13 (Writing and
Illustrating for Kids) conference in Birmingham at which keynote speaker, Matt
de la Pena, made his call to “Plagiarize life!” For me, the idea that
plagiarism can be a good thing echoes Picasso’s claim that “Good artists
borrow. Great artists steal.”
No one is suggesting that we break any copyright laws. Lazily slapping your name on someone
else’s work does not make it yours. I believe that the spirit of these two
mandates to “plagiarize” and “steal” is more about internalizing ideas and
making them your own. It is about noticing, applying, and transforming. There’s
nothing lazy about it.
When non-writers briefly meet a girl at a party named Charlie,
they think “cool name” before walking away and never giving it another thought.
When writers meet Charlie, they think “cool name for a meat-and-potatoes girl
with a gift for sarcasm. This will be the friend of my protagonist in my next
young adult novel.” Never mind that “Miss Marple” and “Eleanor Rigby” are the
names of real people. Agatha Christie and Paul McCartney own those names now.
Of course writers take more than names; they borrow, steal, and
plagiarize personality traits, feelings, and experiences. They steal from their
own life!
Having a place (be it a poem, journal entry, stand up comedy
routine, or screen play) to channel your experiences is a gift. A
writing-mindset can turn unpleasant and uncomfortable experiences into stories. It can turn a painfully inefficient carpool lane into productive work
time. It can turn drama queens and energy leaches into interesting characters.
Say your boss chews you out you in front of your co-workers.
You could be filled with humiliation and hate. You could climb under a rock.
You could plan your vengeance. OR you can step outside yourself and notice his
popping eyes, the harshness of each word’s consonant sounds, and the stabbing,
accusing finger. You can empathize with people who deal with rage-filled
control freaks. Now you are qualified to write a believable scene about a child
being bullied by his teacher! You
can exercise poetic justice on the pages because writers get the last word.
Embarrassing situations are easier to laugh at when you get
into research mode. When you are focused on documenting an experience, you
aren’t focused on yourself; when you are experience-conscious,
you are less self-conscious.
Tonight as I pulled a cookie sheet of taco shells out of the
oven, the kitchen filled with smoke and a burned chemical smell. One bite was
one bite too many. When I checked the date on the box I realized that they had
expired two years ago. (Obviously we Applebees don’t eat hard-shelled tacos
very often).
“Good news!” I said, “These aren’t poisoned, they are just
really old. We can still trust the company.”
“We can trust the company but we can’t trust you,” one of my
sons chided.
I immediately remembered the dinner scene where Ramona and
Beezus Quimby realized that they were eating tongue and that they could no
longer trust their parents. I had to wonder if Beverly Clearly had ever
unknowingly been fed or if she had ever fed some unknowing child something
suspicious like cow tongue or rancid tacos. Her Ramona stories always ring true
to me.
It is good advice to write what you know. The bonus is that through
writing, that you can know more, just as an artist learns about an object from
drawing it. Ideas are infinite as long as we continue to observe, notice, transform,
and learn from our lives.
Here is Micheal Allen Austin and I acting blurry. Amazon named Micheal 's book
“Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg” a Best
Book of the Year (picture book category).
Lori Nichols received SCBWI Portfolio Showcase awards the last two years.
Look for
her book "Maple" coming soon.