Slightly Steamed?

Liralen · May 21, 2013

Nothing major, but it rankles a bit.

One of the women in the writing group I belong to -- and have been submitting pieces of my WiP to for critique for months now -- just started a new book.

The MC in my WiP is Quinn Thorenson, he's a Viking-esque sort, just dropped out of a liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest; it's set in the early 70s so yeah, he's got the long Nordic/Celt hair, pulls it back in a ponytail . . . you get the idea.

Now, guess how one of her main protagonists is described? And guess what his first name is?

And she says it's "coincidence," that she likes the name because one of her young relatives is named Quinn . . . There's nothing remotely Nordic in the family background.

Oh, and she'd gotten the entire file, to-date, several months ago.

The part that gets to me is the business about it being "coincidence." She's being disingenuous.

Am I worried that her doing this with her character is somehow going to adversely affect my work? No. It's just the principle of the thing -- or lack thereof.

*grumps*

mirandashell · May 21, 2013

That's a pretty shitty thing to do, I reckon.

Silver King · May 21, 2013

I'd bring it up to the group, in front of her, and ask them what they think of the coincidence.

Liralen · May 21, 2013

I did. That's when she blew it off as "coincidence" and then tried to rationalize it.

Once upon a time I'd have let it pass and made excuses for her all by myself, but I'm pretty much over that.

It's terribly disappointing, but you'd think that by this point in my life I'd expect it. It always seems to catch me off guard though.

Billtrumpet25 · May 21, 2013

I can round up the AW rebels if you'd like, and we can go and stomp her to oblivion!

The rebels shall ride again!!!!! :roll:

jjdebenedictis · May 21, 2013

It was a crappy thing to do by someone who apparently isn't creative enough to make it as a professional writer.

So try to let it go; she'll never get anywhere with her dreams, and that's punishment enough for her.

Liralen · May 21, 2013

Thanks

I kept wondering if I was being too sensitive. Stuff like that . . . I couldn't do it, and even if I did do it inadvertently I'd be horrified and mortified and would change it, not blow it off.

JulianneQJohnson · May 21, 2013

You aren't being too sensitive. But I agree with Jjdebenedictis, it's not likely to effect you, other than being understandably upset by the other writer's thieving ways.

Liralen · May 21, 2013

You're right, of course; it's not going to affect me or my story -- there's not much that could affect this one, it's going its own way, almost like it's THE story and I'm its writer, if that makes any sense.

I really dislike having to feel this way about someone though.

Caitlin Black · May 21, 2013

I do believe she should be sentenced to death by Vikings. You, uh, might need a time machine...

(It's a shitty thing to do.)

Billtrumpet25 · May 22, 2013

Cliff Face said:
I do believe she should be sentenced to death by Vikings. You, uh, might need a time machine...

(It's a shitty thing to do.)

Seriously, the AW rebels are not out of the question. :tongue

Ambrosia · May 22, 2013

At this point I would worry how much of the rest of her story is going to mimic yours. I wouldn't share anything else with her, that's for sure.

Liralen · May 22, 2013

It may help me get this baby finished in a more timely manner

I'm 50,000 words in, extensively and obsessively beta-ed and edited, so I shouldn't have an onerously lengthy a post-writing process.

Hers is a mystery/suspense set around an archaeological dig in Egypt, love triangle telegraphed in the first chapter.

Mine's . . . about as far from that as it gets, lol. Other than the character's name and physical attributes. If she starts trying to write him dialogue, internal or external, similar to mine . . . well, I don't think things will be tea and crumpets. I hope she's got more sense than to poke the redhead, and two of the other members of the group are attorneys of the sort not likely to let something like that go unnoted or unremarked if it went any farther.

Diem_Allen · May 22, 2013

Okay well there are a couple of routes you could take here:
1) Go with the AW rebels thing and we'll all go scratch her eyes out,
2) Write some hideously bad crap and give it to her to review, if she has to steal material to write then give her bad material and watch her fail,
3) fully believe in karma and know that what you reap you sow and she will have it come back and bite her in the end.

Sorry you have to deal with people like that.

Liralen · May 22, 2013

Oh, I believe in Kharma.

How could I not?

She's right here next to me, hogging the sofa

Lavern08 · May 22, 2013

Well, That Bites!

Liralen said:
...It's terribly disappointing, but you'd think that by this point in my life I'd expect it. It always seems to catch me off guard though.

No, you're not being "too sensitive."

Yes, I understand how you feel and I wouldn't trust her or share anything else with her - evah! :e2poke:

FluffBunny · May 22, 2013

My vote on your colleague is "despicable". Read the story at Snopes on "Blood for Odin!" here - http://msgboard.snopes.com/message/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/25/t/001186.html **

That there is what we'll do. *pulls out the chainmail for the rabbit and makes sure her scramseax is still sharp*

**As a mostly-proud-former-member of the SCA, I can verify that that story was making the rounds back in the day. No one ever believed it actually happened or, at least, not as described, but we loved it anyway.

Liralen · May 22, 2013

That's even funnier, FB, knowing a friend of mine. He's not 6'7", more like 6'4", and his hair's darker, but back in the day it's something I can picture him doing -- exactly. And yes, his name ends in "son." He made me my mjolnir

FluffBunny · May 22, 2013

I think I like your friend sight-unseen.

*looks back at all the Backlunds, Petersdottars and Hokansons in her own family tree* Does he have armor, a cloak and a battle-axe? Would he mind if we kitted him out and pointed him at Ms. Despicable?

Liralen · May 22, 2013

He probably has at one time or another, lol.

Some of the antics he's recounted to me have to show up in stories someplace . . . like the night he and one of his cohorts filled a couple of garbage bags with a mixture of flammable lighter than air gases, tied long fuses to them and sailed them off the side of a mountain . . . There was UFO hysteria for weeks.

ExitTheKing · May 22, 2013

Gah. That's more than a little annoying. Hopefully her "version" will be far different than yours. If it doesn't, I'd be interested to hear her explanation for that...

FluffBunny · May 22, 2013

That's perfect, Liralen! The rest of us can be the pitchfork-wielding horde. I'll bring the chain-mail-wearing Bunny o' Doom. She'll cave.

On the serious side, what a terrific violation of the trust people have in members of their writing groups. I declare her, "anathema". And wench.

Liralen · May 22, 2013

I guess I've been lucky up until now. The other group I belong to is a workshop with mostly fluid membership, people repeat, take time off, new people come in, and no one's ever pulled a stunt even remotely like this, not even the despised self-important doc (plastic surgeon) whose critiques are always "this is how I think you should write it," or "I re-wrote it so you could read it the way I'd write it." And then regales us with an anecdote from his one season sitting on the bench on a Canadian football team.

Oh yeah, he's gonna be a character in a story

You know, it hadn't hit me until now, but my friend Jake is likely going to be the main contributor to the character Bo, who's in this book, but has already told me I have to tell his story in the next one. There's a bit of Jake in Quinn too.

Liralen · Jul 5, 2013

And so it continues . . .

One of the attorneys called her out on it, via e-mail, when she sent her submission out for critique.

She told him to "get over it" and reiterated the story that she hadn't read any of my story previous to naming this character and describing him . . . which didn't wash, as she'd critiqued parts of it (including descriptive bits, as well as had the entire file to read for background, twice, once between Thanksgiving and Christmas) months before she started this one, when she was still worrying over a travelogue book (which I helped her figure out how to format) and finishing up her previous mystery.

He's quite pissed at her, professionally and personally. It's going to be interesting to see what happens at the July get-together, at the other attorney's house, for a barbecue as well as meeting . . .

I've not submitted anything, and may not for awhile.

Susan Coffin · Jul 5, 2013

Liralen,

You have every right to be upset. That was a crappy thing for her to do, and it's no coincidence.I'm glad you went to the group with this.

In my opinion, if you can't trust your critique group, you can't trust anyone

Slightly Steamed?

Miss Conceived

Megalops Erectus

Miss Conceived

is watching you via her avatar

Miss Conceived

Ferret Herder

Miss Conceived

Wild one

Grand Duchess

Miss Conceived

"Jane, get me off this crazy thing!

Miss Conceived

Sit Down, and Shut Up!

Disapproving plot bun disapproves.

Miss Conceived

Disapproving plot bun disapproves.

Miss Conceived

New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin

Disapproving plot bun disapproves.

Miss Conceived

Miss Conceived

Tell it like it Is