Why would that author consider plagiarism to be such a grave offense?

Answer 1

If you are talking about the author who went after Dan Brown for supposedly plagiarizing The Da Vinci Code, he did it because The Da Vinci Code outsold his book something like 100 to 1 and he saw dollar signs. Sadly, it cost Mr. Brown a great deal of money not to mention his privacy during a very public trial. However, he did prevail in the end. Pax - C

Answer 2

Asked by someone who's never written a story.

A writer puts his/her words in print, changes, edits, and nurtures them. S/he's developed characters and places, built a story, and entrusts it to the public. Taking the bad comments with the good.

WHY? not for the money--it doesn't pay the expenses let alone make the author rich (only a small percentage can even make a bare living off of writing) BUT because they have something to say. A way to entertain. A world to expose to readers. THEN SOMEONE STEALS IT?!?! its like having your baby snatched from its crib, your house invaded by strangers who take whatever they want.

It is a "grave" offense, I'd be sorely temped to put a plagerist in his/her GRAVE if the occasion were to arise--literally thru a story, of course. SUE, of course.

Answer 3

Plagiarism is taking credit for something that you did not do or not create. It is the same situation as an student presenting an ideas as his (instead of giving credit to the author), as if someone will steal your research paper and turn it in as his own.
Plagiarim is basically stealing ideas (which is as grave as stealing objects).

Answer 4

JKRowling raised a good arguement in her last book.
She has used some of the classics to come up with Hagrid's 3 headed dog (Cerebus from Hades), and many other characters / creatures.

Then she used a goblin to say that they consider the owner to be the one who created the thing, not the one who bought it.
Goblins were proved wrong.
That sounds like, "Buy a book and you can do with it whatever you want. You now own it"

Answer 5

Like any original concept the "patent" belongs to the originator who should recieve total recognition for thier work. Like an inventor with an original product or medicine, any and all cudos, and possible monetary proceeds and societal acknowledgments belong to the original founder. Not a knock-off artist who makes their profits by stealing the legitimate work of others.

Answer 6

it is stealing! If you made bikes, wouldn't you get mad if someone stole one of your bikes? Writers make literature, and get mad when people steal their words.

The writers that really get screwed on plagiarism are the stand up performers because their work isn't published and therefore not covered by copyright laws

Answer 7

Simply put, because it is their word product, the way they make a living. If someone puts all of their best effort and tireless hours into writing a novel and then someone casually steals from it and makes beaucoup d'argent, they have a right to be upset!

Answer 8

Because writers, like every other artist type, are coming to grips with the Interweb Information Superhighway and the consequences.

Once they've evolved through the tough thinking, the leechy agents and other money grub types will follow suit. But for now, we're stuck with Whining Through The Law.

Answer 9

Plagiarism is steeling someone else's work, just like illegally downloading music. If you use someone else's work you need to cite it as theirs because they wrote it and had it published, not you.
God Bless!!

Answer 10

if you had just composed the best poem you had ever written, and it came from your heart and soul and had YOU deep in every word, and then someone else came along and tried to say that THEY wrote it....wouldn't you find that to be somehow hurtful and offending?