How Opal Mehta REALLY got a life...
I read about Kaavya Vishwanathan a couple of weeks ago in the Sunday Times. The journo raved about her as the newest and fairest torchbearer of the chic-lit-chick-lit sorority. Actually even raving seems inadequate- the article fawned over her. You can't really blame them, Ms Vishwanathan has something that would make every parent proud- the girl got into Harvard. I'm sure this is but one of her many lovely attributes, but hey, Harvard trumps nice glossy hair and good manners any day.
I must clarify, I have nothing against the girl. I honestly don't like passing judgements. But here's someone who has truly messed with the art of writing. Regardless of the quality of the prose in 'How Opal Mehta...', I actually thought "You go, girl!" when I read she'd gotten a $500,000 advance for writing the book. In comparison, it is common for established authors to be given a $2-3 million advance. I thought, "Hey, maybe she's an amazing writer!"
But as it turns out, Opal Mehta really got a life not from Ms. V's pen, but from that of another author- Megan McCafferty. I read the reports in TOI and the NYTimes, and felt bad for Ms Vishwanathan. I genuinely sympathised. It is easy to love a piece of writing so much that one internalises it and finds oneself applying it to the situations in one's own life. But could it be that one also cut-pastes them in one's writing? I thought maybe the similarities between Ms McCafferty's and Ms Vishwanathan's work couldn't be that great. But unfortunately, I'm wrong. Website boston.com highlights a few of the purported 40 similarities with great clarity.
Its a good lesson for all aspiring writers- it's one thing idolising someone, but plagirism is another thing altogether.
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on 26.4.06 at 11:21 PM.
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I know what you are saying about the internalising part. I do it all the time but not when I am getting paid the earth for it and have contractual legal agreement. She fucked up. I think she would od well just to own up and move on. You could do worse in life than making a mistake.
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