The author of the Twilight saga, Stephenie Meyers, is being sued for plagiarism. Another less famous, less rich author named Jordan Scott claims that Stephenie's 4th installment of the Twilight saga (Breaking Dawn) is a rip off of her work "The Nocturne".
Jordan, who's also a singer, started writing "The Nocturne" in 2003 when she was 15 years old. "The Nocturne" was published in 2006, two years before "Breaking Dawn" was published. Scott says Meyer's book -- "Breaking Dawn" is a "significant literary departure from [her] early books..." She says it seems the book is "written by a teenager."
Some similarities between the two books:
-- Both books contain a post-wedding sex scene
-- Both books contain a scene about a woman who's sick because she's carrying a child with "evil powers"
-- Both books contain a scene with the death of the main character's wife
And according to Scott, the dialogue in all of these scenes is extremely similar. She also finds striking similarities in the plot lines, themes, mood, setting, pace, characters, sequence of events and ideas.
Scott is asking for damages, and that the court impound the "Breaking Dawn" books that are being sold.
In Kim's World:
As an author myself I understand the importance of this issue. When writing a manuscript, it's not just a bunch of papers with words on them. To the author it's like a baby. You nurture, groom and protect it. I myself am extremely protective of all my manuscripts and ideas. Very few people know what I'm writing about. If I was accused of plagiarism, knowing it wasn't true, I would fight it till the end. That is my baby and you don't mess with my baby!
Stephenie Meyer became a household name with her Twilight saga. Certainly many people might be jealous of her success. Jordan Scott is not as famous or as rich as Stephenie. She sure got more attention now though. If she is right and Stephenie pretty much copied her work, I hope she gets what she deserves. However, if these similarities are just coincidental, I hope both ladies can just admit to this and go on their way.
Isn't there enough space in the world for both stories to exist?
Updates will follow on this story as they develop.
Toodles,
The Kimster
nice blog.
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