The Biggest Crime For A Writer

What is the biggest crime for a writer?

Here, in Writer's Headquarter, it is plagiarism. The act of copying other's ideas and claim it as your own, while discrediting the originator.

And I am about to do it. The grass is always greener on the other side, right?

You might ask me, "Why are you doing this, Anne?"

It is because I am bored with just writing a cheerful, heartwarming story, with limited word count. I am bored with making the characters to have a happy ending. I am bored with creating the main character that is twelve years old or younger.

Yes, I, Anne Marianne, the number one Children Book author on Writer's Headquarter, gets bored of writing for the kids.

I want to write something dark and scary. I want to make people's heart to race and be thrilled by the twist at the end of the story. I want to have an adult who is at least 35-years-old as the main character.

But, I do not know how to make this kind of story. I have been writing for children genre for 15 years, and I never get training to make other types of literature.

So, I hover my mouse and click on the profile of the number one writer on the Mystery & Thriller genre, Nathan Gremory. I plan to read his works to create a new story for my submission.

His recent work is about a psychopath that kills by chainsaw. I will make a story of the same genre, just changing the weapon.

The main character is a lawyer by day, a murderer by night. The victim is the client of the main character. Sure, I will change the job but I am keeping the same concept.

A police officer has suspicion on the lawyer, nearly catches the main character in action. However, the lawyer is smart enough to dodge the bullet, making himself innocent in front of the law. Nice, I will make sure to include the same progression in my submission.

The story ends as the lawyer directs all evidence towards the police officer, framing him of the murder, putting him into the jail for the crime that he never committed. See, this kind of ending will not be allowed if you write Children's Book! 

Enough of reading, I am going to start writing a mystery genre and submit it!

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What is the biggest crime for a writer?

In Writer's Headquarter, the platform for aspiring authors, it is plagiarism. If the editors read your weekly submission and find it similar to other authors, you will get a big penalty.

But with that in mind, I am still going to do it. 

I, Nathan Gremory, am completely out of ideas to write mystery and thriller stories. I do not even have the idea to write for the Horror genre, which is quite similar to my style of writing.

I have done zombies and monsters, even detective-based stories. And last time, I did a psychopath murderer.

This week, I want to submit a beautiful piece of work. It will still be in the same dark, scary, gloomy vibe, but in a less grotesque way of presentation..., like poetry, for example?

Let's have a look at the number one Poetry writer, Samantha Pevny. Let's read a couple of her works, and mix them up into my own poetry.

Her first submission is about a girl who pretends she is fine after the breakup. Okay, so it should be something emotional, I will keep that in mind.

Her second submission structurally planned to make an image of a vase, to match the story about a cursed vessel that kills people. Wow, this is what I wanted, to create a picture out of the words!

Her third submission, all of the sentence ends in a rhyme, but the story flows naturally. On top of that, the first letter of each sentence creates the title of the story. Damn, I should try to do this for my upcoming submission!

The more I read them, the more amazing they look. Noticeably, it rhymes only on the few sentences, while the other sentences rhyme with one another. Often, it comes in rhythm when you mouth it out loud. Some other times, the syllables in each line cut to match a specific number.

Compiling all the information from Samantha's poetry, I start to write mine.

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What is the biggest crime for a writer?

It is plagiarism. 

In this online community called Writer's Headquarter, where authors are expected to submit a story per week, plagiarism is taken very seriously. To the point that no one would ever think of doing it.

But, here I am, thinking of doing it. No, I have decided, I will do it.

Why? 

Because I want to express my thoughts in more words, in a less restrictive way than poetry.

Because I want people to read my story with fun, without the need to understand it in a roundabout way.

Because I want my story to be easily understood by whoever reading it, regardless of age.

On top of that, I, Samantha Pevny, have just given birth. 

So, in the future, I would like to create a picture book where my son learns to read from, understand the world more, and hopefully fall in love with book reading activity.

So, I open my laptop, get to the website, and visit the number one Children Book writer, Anne Marianne. And I start to read her work, hoping that I can steal some ideas for my own submission.

Anne's first work is a picture book for 5 years old and older. The story is simple, the word choice is also simple, but paired up with a colourful illustration. Oh, I can see why it is engaging for young readers!

Anne's second work is another picture book for kids from 8 years old. The story is still simple, the colourful illustration is still engaging. But this one has a lot more words and complex vocabulary. Oh, so I should match it to the target audience!

Anne's most recent work is for middle grader, those aged 10 to 14 years old. The main character is a boy who gets bullied in class, and how he overcomes it with the help of his family and best friends. Oh, I guess a book for children also needs to show an example of good and bad behaviour.

Okay, let's take the risk and try to submit a story suitable for children this week!

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Dear Authors,

What is the biggest crime for a writer? Plagiarism.

No matter what kind of genre you are good at, you might want to challenge yourself and write out of your comfort zone. And that is fine; that is a great thing!

But please, respect other writers around you. 

From this week submission, I can tell that you have submitted a plagiarized work. The style of writing has completely changed along with the genre.

Therefore, unfortunately, Writer's Headquarter has to suspend your account for the whole month. We hope you can use this time to reflect on your action. 

We will continue to anticipate your great works in time to come.

Sincerely,

Editor Team

Writer's Headquarter