PLAGIRISM - WHY?

Today, a friend of mine had one of her stories plagiarised in such a blatant and obvious way, that it makes me sit back in my chair and scratch my head in confusion - kind of like Curious George - because I just don't get it.

I don't mean I don't understand why someone would plagiarise her work, that I get totally, because she is a fantastic writer who pulls you in from the very first word and immerses you in stories that leave you wanting more. I just don't get why someone would get any gratification from passing off someone else's work as their own. Or why they would think they could get away with it. This guy even used her surname as one of the characters in his plagiarised version of the short - I mean - really? And, to compound the felony, which is basically what it is, the original version was a free read on a Goodreads Group. This arsehole is charging money for someone else's talent! Luckily the publisher has been very understanding and has immediately removed it from sale pending a full investigation.

I know of several authors this has happened to over the last couple of months and I am completely appalled by the bare-faced cheek of these... lets give them their proper title... just like this little chap - thieves.

Writing a story and bringing the characters in your head to life is a deeply emotional and draining experience, and they are, in fact, your baby. 

You wouldn't steal someones baby, would you?
You wouldn't think to yourself, ooh that's a nice one, I'll just pop it under my jacket and take it home--tell the neighbours I'm taking care of it for a relative... surely not? 

And if they are not inclined to walk into Fort Knox and slip a couple of these into their handbags, what on earth makes them think that it's okay to steal these

and it won't matter?

The thing is, all you future plagiarisers out there who think that we won't notice... the m/m genre is a relatively small community compared to others and the chance of no one else having read the story you're pinching is NIL. Someone, somewhere will have read it, or at least have heard its plot from someones third cousin's auntie's sister's brother's uncle's dog walker. Do you get where I'm coming from? Have you twigged that you can't run, you can't hide and you can't avoid being named and shamed - because you will be found - trust me. 

So... the moral of this story? Simple.

Keep your fingers out of the cookie jar and you won't get the lid slammed down on them - HARD!