Faking Credentials

dire

Absolutely awful idea. Forget you ever thought about it.

caw

The mafia would break into your house, set fire to your gran and make you lick the toilet bowl clean with your teeth.

Then they'd beat you with sticks, cut you up into chunks, feed you to the dogs, wait 'til the dogs pooed you out, then feed the poo to poo-eating sharks.

IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?

Srsly. Don't do it. It's lying and unless you want a reputation as a liar who WILL be found out, DON'T DO IT.

The person could be branded a fraud (and rightly so), and all the talent in the world would find that barrier a tough one to break down.

I'm a little baffled why someone would even have to ask this question, although I seem to remember that some unsavory individuals (usually ones who dispense writing advice for some kind of profit) have advised new writers to do this very thing.

Tisk. Tisk.

Consequences?

A total lack of respect from anyone that person could hope to be published by in the future leading to the end of a career before it started.

I was raised that honesty is the best policy. Your character is all you really have. If you tarnish that by lying about your credentials you will never get anywhere. Don't do it! It's better to admit that you are unpublished and let your work speak for you.

scarletpeaches said:

The mafia would break into your house, set fire to your gran and make you lick the toilet bowl clean with your teeth.

Then they'd beat you with sticks, cut you up into chunks, feed you to the dogs, wait 'til the dogs pooed you out, then feed the poo to poo-eating sharks.

IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?

Srsly. Don't do it. It's lying and unless you want a reputation as a liar who WILL be found out, DON'T DO IT.

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And that's if they're LUCKY!

Sorry, had to.



On topic - Really not a good idea. Like everyone else has said, if they were found out (and they almost definitely would be), it would ruin any reputation they'd built up.

Your reputation will be ruined, no respectable man will every ask for your hand...

Ehem...
If they wanted to buy your story, they won't, because they checked your credentials.

Please don't tell me that you're considering this. Don't do it.

I was told that honesty is the best policy and then shown that ...no, not so much. Writing is personal though. It is to me anyway.

This subject gets to me because I could have gone nuts lying in my memoir without any fear of reprisal. I just can't do it.


If you make it on a lie, you really didn't make it did you?

It would be wrong. Don't do it. And if you're still considering it after all the arguments against it, I've got one word for you -- Google.

What's more it is utterly unnecessary. An author can get published with absolutely no credits to her name. So not only is it dishonest, but a waste of effort.

I was assuming greatfish was just asking only out of curiosity. Heck, I wonder what would happen if I stick my hand down the garbage disposal, but...

There were a bunch of posts on the Making Light blog a while back about a guy who did this (sorry I didn't manage to find them, perhaps someone else will help by digging them up!). Not only does it put you lower than an unpublished author as far as your likelihood of getting published in the future, it also makes you a laughingstock.

The first thing agents and editors do is look up any publication credentials you've told them about. If they can't find them, the s**t hits the fan.

Same as if you lie about your education or use fake employment history and references when applying for a job. Or try for bigamy. Bad stupid-assness.

Is the piece you're submitting really that weak?

Bad things.

But seriously, don't do it.

d&f.

jamiehall said:

There were a bunch of posts on the Making Light blog a while back about a guy who did this (sorry I didn't manage to find them, perhaps someone else will help by digging them up!).

Click to expand...

Wait, I believe I've found it:

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/005212.html

We appear to have achieved a first: Utter unanimity in responses to an OP. I'll need to start a thread about the desirability of drowning cute kittens.

caw

blacbird said:

We appear to have achieved a first: Utter unanimity in responses to an OP. I'll need to start a thread about the desirability of drowning cute kittens.

caw

Click to expand...

Forget that. With odds like these, I'm playing PowerBall.

I have to agree with everyone else. The very idea is personally insulting to me, because I worked hard for my own credentials. Secondly, editors talk to each other, and it's very easy to find out the truth.

Not only would you be disrespecting yourself, but every other person trying to get published. It also shows that you think whoever you're submitting to is too dim witted to ever figure out what you've done, they're not. Remember in High School when you learn about plagiarism? It's basically the same consequences.

It might have worked before this little invention all AW's use.

Okay, get ready for it.

Drum roll

The internet.

We're in the information era of baby! meaning that people deal in information most and first. just think about how easy it is to get the stuff before you try making fake info.


but if you do do it, then they will cut off your hands, chain your feet to a boulder and launch the boulder from a trebuche into the middle of a lake.