Hmm if this were true, I think all writers would be in trouble.

French novelist Camille Laurens is claiming that “fellow author Marie Darrieussecq committed “psychological plagiarism” with her 2007 book Tom is Dead. She says that Darrieussecq’s book is the retelling of the death of her newborn child, which she wrote about in her own 1995 book Philippe.

“Reading Tom Is Dead,” Laurens said, “I had the feeling that it had been written in my bedroom, that she (Darrieussecq) had sat on my chair, lain in my bed.”

Darrieussecq responded that retelling a story is not plagiarism. And she’s right. Plagiarism is to “present as new and original a product derived from an existing source,” (Merriam-Webster) i.e. stealing their words and passing them off as your own. What Darrieussecq has allegedly done is steal ideas. Ideas, the real commodity of writing, are not protected in the same way, nor should they be.

And so I have some advice for everyone: Never tell a writer a story if you aren’t comfortable with her writing about it. It’s a well-known fact that writers mine from life. They are always on the lookout for new stories and emotional material. If they are interested in your story, there’s a good chance some part of their mind is considering writing about it. And they just might do it.

Which doesn’t mean that Darrieussecq’s behavior is okay here. The person I know who has the best stories (Marcia) also happens to be another writer, and because of this I would never write about anything she tells me. That’s her material to do what she wants with, and to take that away from her would be a kind of stealing. Likewise I would never write about my close friends and family because that is disloyal. I want the people I love to trust me.

But that’s morality, that’s not legality. The fact is, there are many writers who have made a career out of stealing the ideas that they turn into part of their work. Some of it is okay, even wonderful. Some of it is morally icky. Either way, it’s a fact of the writing life. That’s why Lauren looks like a bit of a baby for complaining about it, especially since her own book was published 15 years ago. While it’s never fun to have another writer steal your ideas, it’s also a sign of a lesser creative mind. People steal what they do not have.