Joe Lansdale si lascia andare e su Facebook accusa i “ladri di libri”, coloro che copiano libri celebri e cercano, nonostante questo, la pubblicazione.
Non è tenero con loro. Esattamente come non lo sarebbero i protagonisti dei suoi libri con chi si autodefinisce scrittore, ma che non fa altro che copiare. Hap e Leonard, ad esempio, con chi osasse rubare qualche frase dai libri dell’amico Joe non ci andrebbero molto leggeri!
This isn’t a lesson, but something writers should know. You aren’t a writer if you steal other writer’s work. All of us are influenced by writers, and the influence can be seen by the well read, but influence is different from theft. The number of novels written today that have been recalled for stolen sections is amazing. So many young writers who have grown up in a world where it’s okay to steal music, and movies, and books, think it’s also okay to steal the words. Listen you goddamn fucking thieves, if you want to be influenced by a writer, that’s fine, but let the influence come through with your story and your way of putting it down. Borrowing a stylsitic trick is one thing, but borrowing the exact book is not. Note that there have been at least two books recently that had to be withdraw for being stolen from other books. One had whole unchanged passages taken from other books, thirteen for sure, and maybe more. It does matter if you stole the words that a writer worked hard to create. It matters a lot. It’s no different than me coming to your house and stealing your car to drive around because I can’t get mine to start.
Nei commenti poi aggiunge:
The book I’m talking about lifted as much as six pages at a time unchanged, all through the manuscript. In fact, this guy had been published before and had been stealing from Graham Greene. I meet young people all the time that don’t think it’s bad to steal music, books, movies, and I don’t get it. This is why business is so bad, and one of the reasons for the rise of the internet is it’s easier to publish. I’m not saying aren’t good books done directly to the internet without editor or publisher. There are. But, if you add them up, the same as the old self published books, the bulk of them aren’t too good. No one wants to earn their chops anymore. Work is hard.
