The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle -- Part XIII through Epilogue
The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle

Note: I will go through the quotations posted by others in Part XII tomorrow, and make additions or comments as necessary.

ETA, 8/10/07: The previous post has reached the JournalFen character limit.

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Contents: Part XIII: Is Cassandra Claire claiming credit for it?; Part XIV: Is Cassandra Claire profiting from plagiarism?; Part XV: Heidi; Epilogue: Why bother, five years later?

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Part XIII: Is Cassandra Claire claiming credit for it?
If lines are not properly annotated, by default, she's claiming she wrote them. She's had more than five years to fix her annotations at this point, and she's chosen not to do it. Beyond that, she's made several comments that indicate she takes credit for the Draco Trilogy.

In an interview with Jive magazine, she said:

JIVE: Getting back to your fic writing - I've always found your writing to be very canonically correct, your characters generally behave how Rowling has written them and your writing sounds much like hers. Do you do this consciously? Is it something you strive for?

Cassie: Well, that's nice of you to say! Hmm. I would say that I strove very much in the beginning to make my writing sound like hers, to echo the cadences of her style. Later, I started to evolve my own style more, especially as Draco Veritas became darker and more complicated, so I think it may have less similarity purely in terms of writing style with Rowling's work. As for the characters, I have tried to keep them rooted in canon while still allowing them to change and grow in believable ways as they are affected by their experiences.

In a comment referencing an interview by Russian fans (this comment comes from an entry which is now locked):

langoisse:I just read "The Girl's Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord." There's something about your writing, no matter what the subject matter or the circumstance. If you use another pseudonym for your trilogy, I do hope you'll tell your fandom what it is.

I also reread that first chapter of DD. Your style really has changed so much since then.

epicyclical:That was actually one of the interviewer's questions - apparently DD is so different in style from DS and DV that the Russian fans were puzzled.

And yes, I intend to give everyone all the details about the trilogy as they are finalized!

She seems to me to be taking credit for the writing.

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Part XIV: Is Cassandra Claire profiting from plagiarism?
When Cassandra Claire allegedly had laptops stolen from her New York apartment and Heidi organized a fundraising drive to replace them, several fans stated they were donating because they enjoyed Cassandra Claire's fanfiction:

i've never posted on anything before, but i've enjoyed cassie's writing immensely. thought that a little contribution is the least i could do, after reading all of her work! -- anonymous

For 3 years of amusement, this is the least I could do. -- fiumedellanoia

Cassie has brightened my day many a time with her wit and her writing skill, so I feel this is the least I can do to express my appreciation admiration. :) -- hybridutensil

I donated what I could, being a broke college student. But Cassie's writing has had a big impact on my life. -- breila_rose

It's Christmas and really, everyone should just take a few dollars to show their appreciation for such an interesting and talented young lady. -- Bobbi

one of my friends turned me to cassies writing and i love it soo much and i hope you can replace it and get back to life, being violated like that must be horrible, ill try to get some money together to give to you, much love -- lhbone0

I am a big fan of Cassie's stories too! Consider this a token of appreciation! -- canon_blast

In fact, Heidi initially advertised the laptop fundraising drive on the Cassie_and_Rhysenn list-- a list devoted to Cassandra Claire and Rhysenn's fanfiction (and with over 4000 members at the time). This was reproduced on Fandom_Wank at the time of the incident:

From: Heidi <lists@h...>
Date: Sun Dec 5, 2004 8:54 am
Subject: Update on Casse


ADVERTISEMENT


Cassie, don't read this. Everyone else, scroll down.




Some of you have probably already heard that Cassie & her roommate and
rubydebrazier suffered a break-in last night, and both of their
laptops were stolen, as was Josh (tromboneborges) laptop. You can see
her post at http://www.livejournal.com/~epicyclical/188992.html

copperbadge, Clio and I have been talking this morning about
organizing a whip-round to get them new laptops, or at least gift
certs that they can use towards new ones.

If you're interested in helping, please check out my post on my LJ at
http://www.livejournal.com/users/heidi8/412096.html?view=4018624#t4018624
to learn how to chip in.

And even if you can't, please be patient about the wait for DV15B, etc
- it looks like it might be longer than we'd expected, because
Cassie's lost a lot of her writing, poor thing.

Oh, and don't tell Cassie, Ruby or Josh about this. Thanks!


Heidi & Clio, with Sam
(C&R (Now Rhysenn) 10597)

I am well aware that Heidi made this post, and that Heidi organized the fundraising drive-- not Cassandra Claire. I support fans spending their money as they choose-- and I do think many felt they were helping out someone in need.

All the same, the appearance of this advertisement on a list devoted to Cassandra Claire's fanfiction strongly suggests a connection between that fanfiction and donations, despite later claims that the donations mostly came from close friends of Cassandra Claire.

Further, Cassandra Claire is using the popularity of these stories to advertise for her forthcoming professional novel; she's publishing professionally under a slight variant of her fandom name and posting notices about her novel on her fandom weblog:

I am happy to announce that my Mortal Instruments trilogy, starting with City of Bones, will be coming out in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. So those of you who live there, you'll be able to find them in any bookstore, should you so desire. They'll be out at the same time as the U.S. release and I believe are coming out in simultaneous hardback and paper.

To me, all of this smacks of profiting from plagiarism, whatever Heidi claims.

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Part XV: Heidi
I've considered the wisdom of putting this section in. It is almost certainly unwise, but my part in this conflict began with Heidi. It's only fair that my account of it end with Heidi.

While many things have contributed to the continuing conflict over the past five years, Heidi remains one of the main causes of bitterness among the "opposition."

Why?

First and foremost, her behavior during the original incident was astounding to me.

Carirny explicitly said that what cassie did could get them sued, and
that is why they removed her.
As regards the first part of that sentence, well DUH! It's impossible
to argue that Cassie's fanfic is not something that ffnet could get
sued over! She's incorporated elements from TONS of copyrighted works,
including JKR's copyrighted harry potter books and the schoolbooks. Of
COURSE they could get sued over it. But honestly, there is no rational
way for them to claim that they were any MORE likely to be sued over
the elements from the book they tossed her over than from the bits
from the HP books - in fact, the HP books are a much larger target
(unless they have a letter from WB in their hot little hands, in which
case we'd all probably better be using whatever disclaimer WB mandated
in their PERMISSION letter (and yes, they do have certain language
that they mandate - ask Steve VanDerArk of the Lexicon, who HAS
permission)).
ANd that is the problem I have with what they did. And why I feel it
puts my fics at risk as well. (C&R 1087; I previously quoted this post on FWGH; Heidi acknowledged it as her own.)

From ParadigmOfUncertainty (June 23, 2001; I did not record the post number-- this may have also been 9442, which I previously linked on FWGH):

We all know
that cassie doesn't post for financial gain! It is a very very very difficult
line to draw, and I am not sure that a court would rule that what cassie did
was copyright infringement. It certainly wasn't plagiarism - that's defined
as "to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use
(another's production) without crediting the source intransitive senses : to
commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived
from an existing source" according to merriam webster. She gave full credit to
the book when she posted the chapter; therefore, she did not pass off the words
from the book as her own.There is a distinction between plagiarism and copyright
infringement. Ffnet does not seem to realize that.

Heidi made several posts on the SugarQuill, mailing lists, and the FanFiction.Net forums defending Cassandra Claire and claiming she had not plagiarized. As previously described, she also accused Cairnsy of libel, apparently because Cairnsy suggested that people were being banned from mailing lists for disagreeing.

In 2005, Heidi objected to an edit Michela Ecks made to Cassandra Claire's page on Wikipedia:

Hi - this is Heidi, Cassie's attorney - I didn't get an email from the person who posted above me, but I can be reached at heidi @ heidi8.com (I'm traveling this month, so that's the best way to catch me). Yes, the posts that an individual or group of individuals persists in posting here are actionable libel, and they must stop. Examples of defamatory statements in the entry include things like "It would take Cassandra Claire four years to fix her disclaimers on her stories", which is a clear lie, given the existence of this entry in the WayBack Machine - [1]. I am cheered that earlier claims that no sourcing had been done by Cassie in her fic have now been corrected to read "The disclaimer did not attribute an author and cited the wrong books" - I wonder if the person posting here on Wikipedia finally read my post at the Fanthropology LJ, where I clearly [2] pointed out that no plagiarism had taken place because Cassie had never said that the scene was original to her. We have been having this argument for well over four years now, and it has to stop because it has gone beyond any actual discussion, if such a thing ever existed, and is now a personal vendetta by a person or persons against Cassie. She is not a plagiarist - she is a young woman who did not cite a book that she admitted to incorporating material from, with chapter and verse when she posted a fanfic in December of 2000. Stop posting defamatory accusations that she plagiarised, or we'll have to take this into the Wiki dispute zone, per the site's Terms, and that sort of thing can get those who defame banned from Wiki.

I rolled my eyes when I saw Michela's edit, but, as I believe this document has demonstrated, it is largely accurate.

Heidi also accused Michela Ecks of defamation on JournalFen:

I'm going to post this as a reply to the last post you made on July 5
and to the first post you made on July 5, but I ask the community mods
to please remove all the repeats of Michela's post, as well as mine.

Actually, it would be best if the mods removed *all* of your posts,
given they contain defamation, but I understand if they want to leave
them up for some reason or other.

There were similar accusations in a now-deleted post on the LiveJournal community fanthropology.

I have never been entirely certain whether Heidi actually understood what she was defending. However, even after demonstrating to Heidi that there was additional plagiarized material in Draco Sinister, her edits to the Fandom Wank Wiki four months later showed her making the same sorts of claims. At this point, it matters very little to me whether she understands or not. On the Fandom Wank's Greatest Hits thread last year, I posted examples of plagiarism, and I said:

To anticipate your next argument, I can play the same game with other published fiction which is not written by Pamela Dean, and with quotes from television which still remain unannotated or incompletely annotated-- all in the version currently posted on schnoogle.com.

She has never requested more information from me, and I do not think it is a stretch to conclude that she does not care.

In response to my query:

So, let's ask a hypothetical question. Suppose I create a piece of "fanfiction" that is 500 pages long. To do so, I lift 1 page each from 499 different 300-page published works, change the names, and alter a couple of words. Then I have about a page of bridging material (total) between the sections. Is this actionable infringement? Why or why not? At what point does something become actionable? Would it be different if I lifted 250 pages and wrote 250? Or if I lifted 50 pages and wrote 450?

She said:

It would not be actionable and my God I would love to read it. I can't imagine how it could be done in any way other than pastiche or parody - say you took 500 Mills & Boone or Harlequin novels and pulled them together that way, it might be readable as a story/narrative. But a random 499 novels, with a page pulled from each, that wasn't done to be a parody? Impossible.

Whatever your opinion of Michela Ecks, Heidi has consistently come down like a ton of bricks when Cassandra Claire's plagiarism is mentioned, spouting accusations of "libel" and "defamation." This keeps the incident quite firmly in the public eye.

Heidi is both Cassandra Claire's greatest asset and greatest liability.

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Epilogue: Why bother, five years later?
I tried to address this question 100 pages ago, but I'll address it here.

First, what do I want to happen?

• To tell this story as accurately as possible-- which I believe I have done.


• To be believed.

Second, what do I expect to happen?

I watched what happened to Colin and Michela five years ago. I read posts by people who wished for horrible things to happen to me. I've seen Cassandra Claire's fans rake Michela Ecks over the coals again and again for five years, spamming her Writers U site, spamming her Fandomination.net archive, and accusing her of being a pathological liar. Oh, yes, and I watched the Inner Circle's reaction to the Ms. Scribe story.

I think I have a very good idea what to expect:

• Claims that I've spent far too much time compiling this document-- "So much text! So much research! Oh, the grudge!"


• Claims that what I've said cannot possibly be true-- "Cassie's such a nice person, and she told me..."


• Enraged posts from Heidi that this is "actionable libel"


• Claims that I'm posting under my fandom name to gain attention for myself


• Claims that someone more neutral should post this account


• Claims that I should keep silent for the good of Cassandra Claire's professional publishing career


• Claims this should have been handled quietly through private contact with Fiction Alley or Heidi


• Let's not forget the buttons and banners of support for Cassandra Claire!

Yes, I expect to be run out of fandom on a rail. Fortunately, I do not care.

To specifically address the objections that I expect to see:

• Too much time: The amount of time I have spent compiling this document (exclusive of the "Plagiarism? What plagiarism?" section) is about a week of my life; it's worth it for the peace of mind. I spent about four weeks on the "Plagiarism? What plagiarism?" section. Given the number of times I've thought of this incident over the past five years, it's cheap at the price. As for gathering information, I have a very good memory, and Michela Ecks generally archives everything. Otherwise, it's fairly easy to find information if you were around at the time. As for grudge... granted.


• Can't be true: I have cited everything to the best of my ability, and I have done my best not to mischaracterize anything that was said.


• Actionable libel: I have striven for accuracy and done research on all of the mailing lists I was aware of and a member of at the time. I have done my best to cite accurately. If someone provides a well-cited correction to something in this account, I will make the necessary amendments.


• Gaining attention: I don't want it. I prefer to be left alone. I'm posting under my fandom name because it's unavoidable in telling this story. Please note: one of the main objections to charlottelennox's account is that the lack of "usual handle" undermines her credibility. You can't have it both ways.


• More neutral poster: At this point, only those directly involved in the incident have any access to the information. I can't see a way for anyone else to post an account that is not heavily reliant on me. I have done my best to be accurate.


• Silence for Cassie's sake: Cassandra Claire has had five years to fix her disclaimers or edit her fanfiction to remove incorporated material. By and large, she has not done it. Heidi advertised the plan to purchase laptops for Cassandra Claire to Cassandra Claire's fans on the cassie_and_rhysenn list. Cassandra Claire is publishing under a slight variation on her fandom name, and has been talking about her upcoming book on her fandom journal and fandom mailing lists. If anything about my revelations is damaging to her professional writing career, then that would seem to me to be a risk that she (and Heidi) deliberately chose to take. I have not gone running to her publisher over this, and I don't intend to. Still, her recent notice at the end of ''Draco Veritas'' that she would be removing The Draco Trilogy (and all of her fanfiction) from the web seems to be too little, too late.


• Private contact: That doesn't really address the "tell my story" portion of my goal. And, besides, that method wasn't particularly effective last time.


• Banners of support: Oh, well. At least make them artistic.

The above is my original epilogue. I will add this comment as well:
People have commented that this series of posts is less amusing than The Ms. Scribe Story, and I agree. Because I do have a "side" in this debate, I've tried to err on the side of objectivity instead of snark. Still, I am not neutral. Some quotations I've cited are available online for your review in one form or another. Check them. Check with other people around at the time; many are still available. Review. Research. Make up your own mind. -- Avocado, 8/6/2006