Gothamist: How Kaavya Viswanathan Got into Harvard, Got a Book Deal, Got Into Trouble

fred

Tue, 02 May 2006 20:54:13 -0500

If this scandal rekindles the Frey scandal then that's kinda good for this book A Million Little Pieces of Feces - The fake memoir that's so much more fun than James Frey's

Tim N.

Tue, 02 May 2006 20:01:55 -0500

My mistake, and thanks for pointing it out. Allow me to clarify: McCafferty and Viswanathan had the same editor, Claudia Gabel. Gabel was at Crown with McCafferty, and then went to Alloy to work with Viswanathan. And Alloy co-owns the Opal story. So, yes, Anon is correct that McCafferty never worked with Alloy, but her editor did. And she's not talking, as is no one else at Alloy. Let's face it, none of them were copying from Dickens. And in the world of packagers and mass-produced stories and co-owned manuscripts and pseudonymous work-for-hire, whose words are whose tends to become very grey.

pugsley

Tue, 02 May 2006 14:29:05 -0500

I suspect that J. Dobkin was ghostwriting both the McCafferty & Viswanathan books, hence the similarities. A close analysis of writing styles show that gothamist's use of the word 'totally' in every paragraph closely resembles the verbiage in these teen girl novels.

Krissa

Tue, 02 May 2006 14:17:33 -0500

Perhaps I haven't looked hard enough but I've found no confirmation that Kinsella or McCafferty worked with Alloy - funnily enough, though, tons of bloggers have RUMORED that to be the case.

anon

Tue, 02 May 2006 13:31:38 -0500

Let's get one thing straight--Megan McCafferty (everyone, please do this woman the courtesy of spelling her name right) waas NOT packaged by Alloy and has nothing to do with the company. Neither does Sophie Kinsella, as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong, of course). I agree the whole Alloy connection seems shady, but let's not get our facts mixed up.

pugsley

Tue, 02 May 2006 13:27:57 -0500

The nyc classified ads have plenty of jobs for 'ghostwriters,' but the pay is generally some paltry sum like a few thousand bucks and the deadlines are laughably short. The employer is generally listed as 'confidential.' I wonder who places these ads - is it the author, the packager, the publisher or the william morris agency? Could be that the teen girl novels are written by plump, middle aged men in Flushing. The players in the Viswanathan drama never seem to address the question of whether a ghostwriter was involved.

Tim N.

Tue, 02 May 2006 13:16:57 -0500

The joke of this is that these kids will write a chick-lit manuscript, send it to publishers or agents, and then when the story is signed, they send it to some packager or editing house that *completely rewrites it*! Has anyone noticed that Alloy Entertainment is the same book packager for Viswanathan, McCaffery, and Kinsella? And now What I am wondering is why no one is plumbing this mine for answers. Alloy has consistently said "no comment" when asked why the only three things these books have in common is THEM and their editors. Oh, and BTW, Alloy co-owns the books they package, which means the copyright is half theirs. So I'm sure somewhere they thought they were plagurizing themselves. It seems to me that someone either told this girl that it was okay to lift material since they co-owned it, or the editors/rewriters just went ahead and did it themselves, and now they are hanging this girl out to dry. But I have a hard time that a girl who is so success-driven, who is at Harvard, and who is focused would not know what kind of shitstorm she would bring on to herself by just copying other author's words.

Krissa

Tue, 02 May 2006 13:13:20 -0500

Why, thank you, Stickler. I'll correct that. And I DID look at the boxed copy. The animal-rights comparison seemed suspicious, but "eyes so dark they seemed black", is, well, just kind of a tired cliche, isn't it? But I suppose you can't take anything for granted once someone has plagiarized.

patrick

Tue, 02 May 2006 12:49:21 -0500

Little, Brown girl...big fat thief!

hr

Tue, 02 May 2006 12:23:20 -0500

It's either hit or miss with the indian chicks, they're either really hot or total dogs. still debating, the verdict is still out. what do you think?

pinboy

Tue, 02 May 2006 12:09:52 -0500

When things of a scandalous nature com-a-knockin’, there is usually a circle the wagons approach among those who are close to the perpetrator of the act in question. Yes, the publisher has stood by her, but we have not heard a peep from any of her acquaintances or so-called friends. Kinda strange. Also, this all must be so incredibly stressful for the plagiarist’s family. One wonders what must be going on there. Are they coddling her or excoriating her for bringing this great shame upon the family. Oh, to be a fly on that wall!

gabe

Tue, 02 May 2006 12:08:30 -0500

Look, whatever - everyone knows two or three people who've got a novel sitting on their CPU waiting to be sold but lack the sexy market glow of a 19-year-old Ivy-covered Indian-American. The publishers, as is their style, put the cart before the horse and are getting exactly what they paid for. Who cares about Kaavya? She's like any other kid - more ambitious than capable. This is an industry problem.

famdoc

Tue, 02 May 2006 11:58:22 -0500

Krissa hath saith: "I'm not quite as convinced by some of the parallels, which seem like you COULD just chalk them up to really unoriginal writing." puuhhlleeasse.....look at the boxed copy in the Times. Those passages are nearly identical. A statistical fluke or deliberate copying? You be the judge.

stickler

Tue, 02 May 2006 11:52:31 -0500

You know what else is a big word? Disingenuous.

Aristocrat

Tue, 02 May 2006 11:50:12 -0500

Here's another big word, Schadenfreude. In the words of the Gleason, oh how sweet it is!

Krissa

Tue, 02 May 2006 11:47:21 -0500

I saw that today. I'm not quite as convinced by some of the parallels, which seem like you COULD just chalk them up to really unoriginal writing.

nisey79

Tue, 02 May 2006 11:35:24 -0500

Now there are rumblings that she plagiarized sections of Sophie Kinsella's "Can You Keep a Secret?" http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Young-Author.html