BUSTED! Plagiarists, Fakers & Literary Hoaxes

[mojogirl]

I think they're both awful, but Celeste Ng was part of the writer's group and she added to the story on her Twitter that Dorland got Larson's cell number and started texting her incessantly, and also tried to get her suspended at work. Plagiarism is very wrong, but that letter to the kidney recipient was so super-cringey I can see why Larson wanted to use it.

Were the writer's group Mean Girls? Yes, but I would also shit-talk someone behind their back who did what Dorland did, she had super stalker energy even before the short story.

Which brings us to this final tweet from a bystander.

[chiqui]

Popular transman, social justice warrior, Twitter personality and woke literary critic exposed for being something other than what they presented themselves as.

Sort of a hoax, I guess? The news is three weeks old, the drama starting at the beginning of August. The link gives the bare bones of it. I still read Ana's blog for the literary deconstructions, but unfollowed them on Twitter long ago because they were were strident and self-righteous.

[piscessiren]

Whoa, that looks like one wild rabbit hole to fall into, chiqui!

Why hide you work for Lockheed for the health insurance and were a legacy hire? Not the first person to have to eat or need health insurance, or that golden goose-a pension or matching 401k?

But bless their heart!

[Ladybug]

There's a podcast I've been listening to called Pretend covering Frank Abagnale, the man who is the subject of Catch Me if You Can, the book and Spielberg movie staring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. You will be shocked to learn that the con artist conned the public into believing he was a brilliant con artist. The majority of the time he was supposedly pretending to be a pilot, doctor, lawyer, etc., he was actually serving time for writing bad checks. Most of what happened in the movie didn't actually happen and the host deconstructs Abagnale's lies. But it did make a fantastic movie! Anyway, enjoy going down the rabbit hole with this one.

[Ginger]

Aug 30, 2022 13:02:18 GMT -4 Ladybug said:

There's a podcast I've been listening to called Pretend covering Frank Abagnale, the man who is the subject of Catch Me if You Can, the book and Spielberg movie staring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. You will be shocked to learn that the con artist conned the public into believing he was a brilliant con artist. The majority of the time he was supposedly pretending to be a pilot, doctor, lawyer, etc., he was actually serving time for writing bad checks. Most of what happened in the movie didn't actually happen and the host deconstructs Abagnale's lies. But it did make a fantastic movie! Anyway, enjoy going down the rabbit hole with this one.

That is funny! Probably nobody really wanted to deconstruct such a good story.

Is it true that he wound up making a living as a forgery consultant, using the expertise he'd acquired from passing bad checks? From what I remember of the movie, they made it sound like he was really good at passing bad checks, but it sounds more like that he was really bad at it.

[Ladybug]

Ginger, he signed his real name to the bad checks, so no, he wasn't a brilliant forger, LOL. The episode that dropped today is delving into his supposed work with the FBI. The host has not been able to solidly confirm or deny and I'm still in the middle of the episode. The character played by Tom Hanks in the movie was a real agent, but he only chased Abagnale for 3 days, not 6 years like in the movie.

The Amy Adams character seems to have been based on a real person, and she's interviewed for the podcast. She was a flight attendant, not a nurse, and her family felt sorry for him and took him in. He ended up scamming them out of a lot of money and got arrested. She later confronted him at one of his book signings! The host also proved that it would've been impossible for him to pose as a doctor or pass the bar exam in Louisiana. He did pretend to be an airline pilot. There are some kernels of truth in a lot of his stories, but he just exaggerates and extrapolates until it's a total lie.

[ladyboy]

He followed the success of the book and movie with a lucrative speaking career- he spoke at a finance conference and they paid him 25-50k for his hour keynote.

Also, what is the deal with “self-plagiarism”? Why can’t an author just copy and paste their own work from one thing to another? I mean, it’s lazy, but why is it considered so bad?

[chiqui]

Can you give more info about what writer was accused of it? I think you mean Sarah J. Maas but I'm not sure.

[chiqui]

Publishing employee pleads guilty to stealing authors' unpublished works.

[boxofrocks]

Romance writer Susan Meachen resurfaces online two years after faking suicide (CW: suicide, bullying)