Ethics in Writing

Craft & Skills Nancy Greene The Fictorians No Comments

Every year, Virginia lawyers have to complete a certain number of class credits (CLEs) to remain certified as a lawyer. A certain number of those hours have to be in ethics. Yes, I know, insert applicable lawyer joke here. Regardless, I still attend ethics classes every year. So, I took a course in The Ethics of Legal Writing. I know-the jokes keep coming.

Most of what I write as a lawyer is derivative. I quote from cases, statutes and articles. The standards that govern my cases are often so ingrained that it’s tempting to repeat them without citation. Junior lawyers (associates) draft pleadings signed by senior lawyers. All these things are plagiarism if proper credit isn’t given to the initial author. One would think I wouldn’t need a class to tell me this. Anyway, the class, an opening written by someone who’d commented on one of my stories and using the same set-up I had (prompting a “déjà vu” comment from one of the critters), and a “Daily Kick” from Dave Farland (Davefarland.net) sent out on September 10, 2011 started me thinking about plagiarism.

A judge once used a paragraph I wrote in his final decision. His opinion didn’t reference that the section came from my brief. Is that plagiarism? Yes. It’s using another’s words without giving that person credit. But, while I’d see red over someone reproducing my fiction writing that way, I took the judge’s use of my paragraph as a huge compliment. I never even considered that the judge was guilty of plagiarism. On the contrary, I’ve pointed to that section of the published opinion with pride.
Senior lawyers have associates who write briefs (the legal documents we file with the Court). The senior lawyer then may file the completed brief without reference to the poor associate who slaved over the document. In the legal profession, as long as the partner reviewed and retained oversight over the work, his taking credit for the associate’s words is acceptable. Yet, in the non-legal writing world, this purest form of plagiarism-stealing someone’s words-destroys careers.

So, is it that lawyers don’t believe in plagiarism when it comes to legal writing? No, we just have different pressure points. The legal writing world is a bit schizophrenic about ghost writing. Ghost writing is when someone writes for a fee knowing that someone else will be listed as the author. In non-legal writing, ghosting is a time honored tradition. Writers are hired to make famous people’s good stories readable. The writer doesn’t get credit for the work, the famous person does. It’s an accepted form of plagiarism since the writer is fairly compensated for the use of his words. Even within the legal writing context, we accept certain types of ghost writing like the associate/senior lawyer example above.

But I can lose my law license if I ghost writing a pleading for an individual who then files the document on a pro se (i.e. without counsel) basis. A pro se party is likely to get more leeway from the Court than an attorney. So Cheatum hires Attorney Dewey to draft a law suit for him. Dewey then allows Cheatum to file it without Dewey’s role being disclosed. Because Cheatum is “pro se”, the Court will likely forgive some of “his” mistakes even if it would have raked Dewey over the coals for those errors. The Virginia Bar considers this form of ghost writing fraud on the Court and the opposing party.

Maybe there’s a reason lawyers need classes on plagiarism. We often don’t think of ourselves as “writers” even though a large portion of what we do, our craft, is written. Plagiarism is center stage in the information age. It’s not just college students trying to fill space in a paper who are plagiarizing these days. Dave Farland’s September 10, 2011 Daily Kick warns of writing scams offering to review or edit your manuscript in order to steal it. The availability of e-publishing allows “writers” to sell their books to readers before those books have been professionally vetted. Most of the time, that’s a good thing. But plagiarism can flourish in this unrestricted marketplace. Non-lawyer writers don’t sit through CLEs. All writers, legal and non-legal, need to be vigilant about the many forms of plagiarism given current technology. As David Farland suggests and the Bar Association requires, be careful with electronic documents. Don’t send them to people you don’t know.

Balancing the Butt in Chair

Colette Black The Writing Life 1 Comment

No, it’s not a new Yoga position. I’m talking about how we balance our time when our butt is in the writing chair. Most writers have to manage their time to write between jobs, family, and friends. There are dozens of blog posts about finding the time to write. But I’m talking about how we spend our time when we have our butt in chair, fingers on keyboard.

I used to take care of my emails first. Even after I delete the advertisements, sappy forwards from well-meaning friends and family, and other unnecessary emails, by the time I read my Daily Kick, Magical Words, and Duotrope update then take care of necessary emails, I’ve usually eaten up nearly an hour. Then there are critiques I’ve promised for fellow writers, submission updates for short stories, agent research, books on writing to read, books by other authors in my field to read, and you know…the list goes on.

So, in all of this, how do we become the writers we want and hope to be? The obvious answer to this; we need to write. Though it may sound selfish, we have to put our own work first.

I once read a parenting book that said you can’t do anything for your children unless you take care of yourself. The idea was that you’ll be a better parent if you take the time to exercise regularly, read, and spend time on goals that are important to you. Take a little time for yourself so what you give your family is of higher quality.

I think the same holds true in writing. I’m a better reviewer if I take the time to write. It’s not going help my writing goals to read books, fiction or otherwise, if I don’t take the time to write. My editing isn’t going to be worth crap unless I take the time to write.  In short, no matter what else I have to do or get done, I make sure the majority of my time is spent actually writing. And I do my story writing during my optimum, creative thinking time. Sorry, everyone else gets the leftovers.

I write while my kids are at school in the morning and, depending on how tired I am, I use the evening. In the afternoon, when my brain wants to go to sleep, I answer e-mails, send submissions, critique colleagues’ work, do blog posts (yes, it’s the afternoon at this moment), handle agent research, compile my other research, etc. I use spare moments to read: as the computer boots up, during breakfast, in between matches at my daughter’s badminton game, and so on. I can do all of these things without full focus and do them well, but I want the best part of my day, the most creative part, devoted to the reason I’m doing all the other stuff…to make my writing the best it can be.

The important part is to use the time you have to your best advantage. Balance.

I know most people are dealing with work schedules, perhaps schooling, and/or they have small children at home. What works for you and why?

Understanding your own Writer’s Block

Craft & Skills Frank Morin Writing Tools 5 Comments

This is a topic I’ve been thinking about lately, and is similar to the recent post from Kylie on Unleashing the Muse

Although the topics are similar, I’m taking a slightly different approach so hopefully it won’t seem like overkill.

I recently watched the movie “Stranger Than Fiction” with Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson.  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.  Very funny.  Emma Thompson is a novelist who kills her heroes, and somehow Will Ferrell becomes her next character and can hear her voice as she types and prepares to kill him.  Fascinating concept, moreso for the fact that Emma Thompson can’t quite figure out the right way to kill off Will Ferrell.  She gives a brilliant portrayal of a less-than-stable author suffering from writer’s block.  She goes to some amazing extremes in her attempt to get the right idea.

The following clip shows just how far she’ll go:  to an emergency room to view injured and dying patients to get real-life inspiration.

Stranger Than Fiction clip – Writers Block

As the clip so wonderfully portrays, some writers struggle mightily with writer’s block.

Do you?

What do you do about it?

I don’t suffer from writer’s block very often.  I spend lots of time in the early stages of story creation planning, considering different ideas, and fleshing out exactly what I want to achieve with the scenes, the characters.  Once that basic framework is nailed down, the actual writing of the story is pretty straight-forward.  The big exception is if a new, unexpected idea hits me while I’m writing a scene.

So am I just lucky?  Inspired?  Or do I not push the envelope far enough?

I believe that many times writer’s block is a symptom of one of these deeper problems:

  • Lack of clarity of a story’s mission or concept
  • Lack of understanding of the correct plot framework the story needs to build upon
  • Incomplete worldbuilding
  • Weak or inconsistent conflict
  • Trying to force a story down a direction that just doesn’t work, which the author may understand at an instinctive level, but lacks enough mastery of the craft to consciously identify the shortcoming and therefore begin the process of correction.

When have you run into writer’s block?  Is it at a particular phase in a story every time, or does it happen at random intervals?  How do you find ways around it?

As mentioned in Kylie’s previous post, one approach that often helps is the BIC_HOK (Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard) approach:  force yourself to work, to type, to drive yourself into “the zone’.   This actually works for me.  Sometimes playing the right music as I try to get into “the zone’ helps a lot.

Another way to help explore options is playing the “What If?” game.   Back up to the last part that worked in the story before you hit the snag that’s holding you up and start asking “What if?”.  Search for the most surprising, craziest possible twists you could add.  Or look at the scene and consider if anything similar has ever been done before, and then ask “What If?” you took the opposite track?

The worst thing you can do is just give up and say “I’ll write tomorrow.  Maybe I’ll feel like it then.”  ;or blame it on a Muse that just isn’t talking today.

 

Distractions and Avoidances Conquered

Clancy Metzger The Writing Life 4 Comments

…for the most part.  A little over a month ago I wrote about how I was avoiding writing.  Actively not doing my job.  And, though I failed that week in overcoming my issues.  I have since made progress.  Kylie asked for an update.  Here it is.

 At some point, a few weeks ago, I made a resolution (like for New Year’s – except I’m keeping this one) that I would wake up and write.  I would not check the insidious email distraction until I wrote for several hours first. 

 If I check the email first, then I get side-tracked by reading blogs, leaving comments in hopes of winning some prize for doing so, deleting the hundred emails I don’t have time for, answering questions, and doing tasks requested in emails.  Seriously, that can take me until noon if I’m not careful.  Then I try to write but my brain is fried from the afore-mentioned distractions, so I need a nap, and then I’m fuzzy headed and not feeling creative.  Another day gone and wasted and no writing to show for it.  Grrrr.

 But with my new resolution, if I don’t look at the email, don’t even open it until after I write, even if I don’t get back to the writing in the afternoon, I’ve accomplished my main goal of getting words on page.  HA!  Evil email and internet tool that I love, I have conquered you and I wrote despite your tempting ways. 

 Maintaining my resolution, I am working my way through my story.  Some days are more productive than others, but whether I get 600 words or 6000, I am getting closer to ‘The End’. 

How is everyone else doing?