Can the creative world really be free from plagiarism?

Recently, Harvard undergraduate, Kaavya Vishwanathan, was said to have plagiarized the works of Megan McCafferty, in her debut novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life.

Certain passages in her novel were said to be having a striking similarity to some passages from McCafferty’s books, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. Once the allegations surfaced, Kaavya went ahead and apologized to McCafferty for the supposed ‘unconscious internalizing’ of her (McCafferty’s) writings into her own style of writing. She claimed to have been a ‘huge fan’ of McCafferty. I wonder if Cryptomnesia can really be an excuse to ride on someone else’s success boat?

The question here is, can the creative world really be free from plagiarism? Not just writing, other creative fields like painting, music, fashion designing, film-making etc. have all had professionals, at some point or the other, being accused of plagiarizing. But what really is the cause of these allegations being leveled-out so often, especially pertaining to the creative field? The most talked about example was that of Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) being accused of plagiarism by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Of course, Dan Brown won the case.

It does leave one wondering, though, that plagiarizing obviously exists in the creative fields, but can something be done to curb it and once plagiarism takes place, can the losses, as a consequence of it, be recovered?

In case of Kaavya Vishwanathan, the striking similarities were brought to the notice of the publishers pretty soon, within a month’s time. Kaavya also apologized for her error, which was not accepted by McCafferty and her publishers. But the fact is, Kaavya’s book did hit the market, did become bestseller for a month and sold innumerable copies in the first month itself. So even if the remaining copies are withdrawn, even if her two-book deal is cancelled, the book did serve its purpose. It reached-out to the masses, was widely appreciated, and almost became rather popular, albeit for a short while. So basically, at the expense of Cafferty’s writing talent, a budding novelist did get it all…fame, name and money!

The drive for success, can make you do things, you may not want to, or don’t know you can. And that’s precisely what happens with plagiarists.

However, keeping my spirit of optimism alive, here’s hoping that people begin to trust their inherent abilities rather than trying to depend on another’s skills, while on their search for a better life!

After all, creativity is basically your personal expression and hence, must be self inspired...inspired from within!