Jumi Bello and Plagiarism

There are some career paths where "fake it 'til you make it" is a viable strategy to get ahead. Some of my favorite musicians stole songs from other musicians and made millions. 

I have known people in the information technology or accounting fields who lacked the leadership experience or knowledge that they claimed to have or should have had given their expected salaries or job titles. Sometimes this worked out for them because they worked diligently to catch up. 

Sometimes this worked out for them because they were related to, friends with, or married to more powerful people who ran interference for them. Sometimes this worked out for them because they were the correct complexion or gender. So it goes. Life isn't fair.

However in today's world it's easier than ever to check up on someone and verify that they have the credentials they claim to have or have created the work they claim to have created. So regardless of what people have gotten away with in the past, it's probably the best move today to be honest about things like credentials and creations. 

Jumi Bello, an aspiring author, learned this the hard way. Bello, forced to admit that portions of her debut novel were plagiarized, wrote an explanation and mea culpa that were also plagiarized. 

A writer’s personal essay explaining why she plagiarized portions of what was to have been her debut novel was removed from a literary website on Monday after the essay itself was also found to have included plagiarized material.

The writer, Jumi Bello, had reached the final stages of publishing her book when she admitted to plagiarism, she wrote in the essay, which was published on Literary Hub on Monday. 

The essay chronicled her history with mental illness and the pressures of producing a debut book, examining how she had allowed herself to accept the ethical sin of copying someone else’s work.

Her novel, “The Leaving,” had been scheduled to publish this summer but was canceled after she disclosed the plagiarism to her publisher, Riverhead Books, in December. The book was about a young, Black woman’s unexpected pregnancy. In her essay, Ms. Bello said she had never been pregnant and had sought out richer descriptions of pregnancy online.

“I tell myself I’m just borrowing and changing the language,” Ms. Bello, 30, wrote in the essay. “I tell myself I will rewrite these parts later during the editorial phase. I will make this story mine again.”

LINK

Should a creative person use other people as inspiration? I think they can.  Stephen King said that "If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all others: Read a lot and write a lot." But I don't think King ever said you need to use other people's words and pass them off as your own. 

What makes me read someone's work is that for good or bad, it's their work. Sure I may recognize some of their influences. The artist may even tell the audience that so-n-so was a primary influence. But I like hearing what the artist has to say, not just regurgitations of someone else's ideas. Bello is still pretty young, so maybe she can use this setback as a stimulus to change her creative process and find her own voice. We'll see.