Main Menu

Life Spugs because...

Started by Dog Deever, 04 March, 2009, 08:00:25 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Peter Wolf

I wish i was owed some money.
Worthing Bazaar - A fete worse than death

locustsofdeath!

Rant on:

A few days ago I received the book "Dark Forces" a collection of short horror stories written by some of the top authors in the genre, including Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Karl Edward Wagner, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King and so forth. This morning, I read the tale "Dark Angel" by Edward Bryant and found myself incredibly angry. Here's why:

As a freshman and sophmore in college I took a creative writing course. The first year went on and a fellow whose name eludes me now established himself as the teacher's pet - he was constantly praised, his work continually rea aloud to the class. I have to admit I was a bit envious, because he always presented well-polished lyrical prose for reading sessions while, the rest of the class generally showed up with what amounted to rough or first drafts. Stories were due at the end of every week, and had to be anywhere from 5 to 10 pages. Fine, except most of us were full-time students with a heavy workload - so a 10 page story was a difficult task. Anyway, this bloke was flawless every week while I had many of my endeavors ripped into by the professor. Quite disheartening.

There was a story he wrote - and I only remember it because that night we both were to read our works aloud to the class - that dealt with a voodoo curse a woman puts on a man. He had abandoned her after getting her pregnant and she returned the favor by using magic to have him conceive a child, the hitch being that when she fashioned the clay voodoo doll, she left out a birth canal. His story was praised by the teacher and the class, again was extremely well-written and well thought out. Again I will admit I was jealous, though mostly because my effort was dismissed with little comment.

At the end of every year, like most schools, the creative arts department published an annual showcasing art, photos, poems and short stories. I had a story or two in the annual every year, but this guy didn't. I put it off to him being stuck up about it - because I figured he had to be publishing elsewhere. Well, there was a much different reason for that...

Well, this morning as I read "Dark Angel" I was struck by how familiar it was to me even though I had never before heard of the author. As the tale unfolded I began to realize I had read it before - in that damn creative writing class. That bastard had ripped it off word-for-word, and had probably ripped all of his stories off.

Maybe I should feel good about it, that I "caught" him after all this time, that he couldn't really have been that good - but I feel sick instead, and disgusted. I think about how I struggled to complete those stories in between classes and on late nights while my buddies were partying, and I remember how amazing the teacher thought he was and how marked up my pages were when returned to me.

How I wish I would have read this then and could have shot him down. But then, that's petty isn't it? I shouldn't have been envious anyway. So he got away with it. Looking back now I realize that he was an idiot; had be been caught, he would have been booted from the university and that would have been that. Hell, maybe he did get caught at some point. I guess the my revenge is that when I got my first story published I felt immense satisfaction and pride - he may have snowed the professor, but had to feel extremely empty afterwards. Especially if he truly wanted to be a writer.

Anyway, not sure anyone will read this rambling post but it is nice to get this out.

TordelBack

#572
The sniveling bastard.   And what a maroon of a teacher that he didn't cop it at the time.  In my mercifully brief stint as a lecturer plagarism (and there was plenty) stood out like a bloody beacon, and yet students always seemed shocked when they were caught out (my favourite:  cut-and-paste sections from Encarta that still had their American spellings intact).  Obviously there's a far wider field to police in creative writing, but still....

The sniveling bastard.

locustsofdeath!

Quote from: TordelBack on 12 August, 2009, 04:00:07 PM
The sniveling bastard.   And what a maroon of a teacher that he didn't cop it at the time.  In my mercifully brief stint as a lecturer plagarism (and there was plenty) stood out like a bloody beacon, and yet students always seemed shocked when they were caught out (my favourite:  cut-and-paste sections from Encarta that still had their American spellings intact).  Obviously there's a far wider field to police in creative writing, but still....

The sniveling bastard.

The thing that bothers me most, I think, is that most people that sign up for creative writing classes - or any other class artistic in nature - want to be creative and express themselves. This may be good or bad depending on the student's talent, but at least work is being put in. This fellow took the space of someone that wanted to be there to learn and practice, and stole his passing grade.

American spelling intact? Wow, that is bad. No wonder they were easy to catch!

Roger Godpleton

Radiohead aren't making rekkids no more.
He's only trying to be what following how his dreams make you wanna be, man!

Peter Wolf

All the while this idiot in the writing class was cheating he was only cheating himself and wasting everyone elses time as well as well as giving apples to the teacher.

You wont learn anything by cheating.
Worthing Bazaar - A fete worse than death

Dandontdare

Quote from: Roger Godpleton on 12 August, 2009, 07:37:41 PM
Radiohead aren't making rekkids no more.
Is this on the right thread? ;D

IAMTHESYSTEM

Life spugs because everything that could go wrong -did go wrong! My computer vaped itself and I had to get a new one that took me ages to get up and running. Ah well hopefully the worst is behind me now.(SIGH)
"You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."

http://artriad.deviantart.com/
― Nikola Tesla

Peter Wolf

Quote from: dandontdare on 12 August, 2009, 08:10:12 PM
Quote from: Roger Godpleton on 12 August, 2009, 07:37:41 PM
Radiohead aren't making rekkids no more.
Is this on the right thread? ;D

I was going to say exactly the same thing . 8)
Worthing Bazaar - A fete worse than death

locustsofdeath!

Quote from: peterwolf on 12 August, 2009, 07:47:43 PM
All the while this idiot in the writing class was cheating he was only cheating himself and wasting everyone elses time as well as well as giving apples to the teacher.

You wont learn anything by cheating.

Being honest with myself, what bothered me most is that I was jealous - and I rarely get jealous. But as an 18 year old with aspirations of being a writer, looking across the room at a fellow not much older and churning out great professional stuff beyond his years was difficult to take. I got jealous, got mad at myself for being jealous, and went home and tried to glue my fragile psyche back together. Stupid as the whole thing was, I was incredibly sensitive about it - so much so that it stuck with me through these past eight years. And for some reason, even though I found out he was a fraud, I don't feel any better.

And that's why Life Spugs.

Noisybast

I've just started a second job working evenings and weekends doing PC-repairs on a call-out basis.

Yeah, I thought it was good news, too. That's before you factor in the relatively low hourly rate, the distance I'm having to travel to and from jobs (2 jobs in and I've yet to have a round trip under 70 miles). And the sheer stress of fixing faults against the clock in an uncontrolled environment (customer's homes), without access to all my usual tools and fallbacks (like, say, the internet or Windows OS CDs).

I'm giving it one more go before I kick it in the head as not worth my while...  >:(
Dan Dare will return for a new adventure soon, Earthlets!

TordelBack

QuoteBut as an 18 year old with aspirations of being a writer, looking across the room at a fellow not much older and churning out great professional stuff beyond his years was difficult to take.

Without being even remotely over-dramatic (well, maybe a tad), I think you need to make the ruination of this pathetic creature the sole focus of all your energies for your remaining years.  Start slow, send him postacards of kittens with just "I know" written on them, and build from there.    Then, later, when his life lies in tattered heaps around his ankles, and his sole remaining possession is his undeserved diploma, write a book about it!

Or, as The Proclaimers would have it, harness pain.

Old Tankie

Or failing that take a chill pill!!!

TordelBack


locustsofdeath!

Ah chill pill taken. Nothing calms me down like a good night's sleep!