Is it acceptable to plagiarise yourself?

[Dark_Logan_]

For an upcoming chapter I’m debating a cut and paste of a large chunk of previous published chapter.

With loose context it’s a ‘process’ that’s meticulous to my central protagonist so while aspects like name and physical description of the second character involved will naturally change I want to genuinely portray the mirroring of the actions that have previously taken place and the best way I can think to do this is a word for word duplication

75% of the chapter I’m penning is original content

I’m possibly cheating the reader a little I appreciate and I may also be over thinking this as many simply may not even spot the duplication

I’m also conscious that the moderators possibly scan check work for duplicates to avoid authors work being plagiarised. So I’m thinking a note on submission might be advisable.

What are your thoughts; Is this acceptable behaviour or not?

 

[StillStunned]

Songwriters do it: I know that Bruce Springsteen has recycled lines from songs that didn't originally make it onto an album, but were released later. Texas has done it as well.

So if those artists who are being paid chunks of money can get away with it, so can you.

 

[mildlyaroused]

Academically, you can actually plagiarise yourself - and this can get you into trouble.

In fiction, not so much. Repetition is a tool in the writer's toolbox, and you have a right to use it. Though I would recommend being careful, especially if the duplicated passage takes up an entire 25% of the chapter. It may come across to readers as lazy or stale, rather than thematically intentional. There are definitely ways to repeat a meticulous process with new flavour and wording (maybe new characterisation or introspection, if the protagonist has been through change), but you're the author so you should do what you think is best.

As for Lit, I don't know. A note to the moderator is the best you can do.

 

[Agent0069]

You’d better watch out, or you might file a copyright infringement notice against yourself, leading to long court sessions and exorbitant payouts. Better to get a permission from yourself first.

 

[Dark_Logan_]

I’m too lazy to ask myself for permission so I probably wouldn’t chase myself

 

[ElectricBlue]

In fiction, not so much. Repetition is a tool in the writer's toolbox, and you have a right to use it. Though I would recommend being careful, especially if the duplicated passage takes up an entire 25% of the chapter. It may come across to readers as lazy or stale, rather than thematically intentional. There are definitely ways to repeat a meticulous process with new flavour and wording (maybe new characterisation or introspection, if the protagonist has been through change), but you're the author so you should do what you think is best.

Yep, I reckon it's a tad lazy to repeat yourself verbatim. Still, it's way better than dropping someone else's content into your story!

 

[TheLobster]

Does it have to be verbatim? I think even in Groundhog Day scenarios, you'd never just repeat the beginning of each day to establish the MC is in an endless loop. It would get shorter and shorter each time.

Perhaps this doesn't apply in your case, but I'm sure you can do something that'd allow you to avoid word-for-word repetition while conveying the same notion you're looking for. It's definitely worth trying for, especially it means avoiding annoyance in readers who'd feel like they have to skim through what obviously looks like a page of repeated text because there could be something different and important there.

 

[Yarglenurp]

Don't do it. Your past self will sue you. Then you'd have to owe your past self a blowjob to settle the debt.

 

[Bazzle]

You shouldn't have told us...as it would have been interesting to know how many people spotted it.

 

[Cagivagurl]

For an upcoming chapter I’m debating a cut and paste of a large chunk of previous published chapter.

With loose context it’s a ‘process’ that’s meticulous to my central protagonist so while aspects like name and physical description of the second character involved will naturally change I want to genuinely portray the mirroring of the actions that have previously taken place and the best way I can think to do this is a word for word duplication

75% of the chapter I’m penning is original content

I’m possibly cheating the reader a little I appreciate and I may also be over thinking this as many simply may not even spot the duplication

I’m also conscious that the moderators possibly scan check work for duplicates to avoid authors work being plagiarised. So I’m thinking a note on submission might be advisable.

What are your thoughts; Is this acceptable behaviour or not?

As a suggestion, and I am no expert.
What if you were to release excerpts of the previous work into your new one as flashback memories.
Sprinkle them throughout the story. Little glistening memories that take the readers back...
It doesn't, perhaps shouldn't be as an info dump. Simply bundle up the bits you want to reuse and bundle them together and then like fairy dust.
Spread them through your new work...
It gives you both fill, and perhaps opens new avenues to use that information...
Just a thought.

Cagivagurl

 

[TheRedChamber]

Generally if it's clear to the reader that it's a stylistic choice (a la Groundhog day) and there are minor variations built into the copied text, it may be okay.

But in a commerical book, I'd definitely raise my eye-brows at an author having 25% copied from somewhere else if I'd paid for the book. That argument doesn't really float on Lit though...

 

[StillStunned]

But in a commerical book, I'd definitely raise my eye-brows at an author having 25% copied from somewhere else if I'd paid for the book. That argument doesn't really float on Lit though...

Robert Jordan wrote a short story for the first "Legends" anthology, which he later expanded into the novel "A New Spring". It was quite annoying to have to pay twice.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Robert Jordan wrote a short story for the first "Legends" anthology, which he later expanded into the novel "A New Spring". It was quite annoying to have to pay twice.

No, in fairness, if the back cover says 'this was originally a short story which people liked so much it's now expanded to a full novel' then it'd be more understandable.

 

[StillStunned]

No, in fairness, if the back cover says 'this was originally a short story which people liked so much it's now expanded to a full novel' then it'd be more understandable.

Fair enough, but I'd already bought the anthology. The novel wasn't any cheaper because of it.

 

[Lifestyle66]

For an upcoming chapter I’m debating a cut and paste of a large chunk of previous published chapter.

With loose context it’s a ‘process’ that’s meticulous to my central protagonist so while aspects like name and physical description of the second character involved will naturally change I want to genuinely portray the mirroring of the actions that have previously taken place and the best way I can think to do this is a word for word duplication

75% of the chapter I’m penning is original content

I’m possibly cheating the reader a little I appreciate and I may also be over thinking this as many simply may not even spot the duplication

I’m also conscious that the moderators possibly scan check work for duplicates to avoid authors work being plagiarised. So I’m thinking a note on submission might be advisable.

What are your thoughts; Is this acceptable behaviour or not?

I've done the copy & paste a few times.

You write a particularly good scene in one story, then when another idea for a new story comes, you use that same scene to try creating a new, better story.

Two years ago, I posted "A Different Proposition - 750 Words". It's a scene from my MCs marriage proposal from the story "Lifestyle Ch. 03 - Together Again", a story of 4.7K words. It's clipped and editted to meet that 750 word challenge.

The site admins don't care, because you're creating new clickbait for them.

If you do it too often, readers will recognize you ID and many will probably avoid your stories.

 

[KeithD]

That wouldn't be plagiarism. The definition of plagiarism specifics it's something down with the work of "another."

 

[SimonDoom]

It's not exactly plagiarism, but I can't figure out the purpose of doing this based on the information provided. It doesn't make any sense to me, so I can't make a judgment about it. For me, I would need a very compelling artistic reason to justify duplicating a previous story in this way. I can't figure out why one would want to do that.

 

[Dark_Logan_]

Don’t over think it @SimonDoom … it’s a process that’s meticulous followed by my protagonist (he might actually be an antagonist) and it’s by no means duplicating an entire story (437 words of 6898 as it happens before ediiting so more like 7% than the 25% I originally mentioned)

I’d say he’s a compulsion to replicating said process like for like as a character flaw/quirk and I want to ensure that’s adhered to/captured.

As the above would suggest it’s in now and likely staying

Equally as @Bazzle suggests it might even be interesting to see who, if anyone, notices.

Cheers for the feedback all.

 

[SimonDoom]

Don’t over think it @SimonDoom … it’s a process that’s meticulous followed by my protagonist (he might actually be an antagonist) and it’s by no means duplicating an entire story (437 words of 6898 as it happens before ediiting so more like 7% than the 25% I originally mentioned)

Asking me not to overthink things is a tall order. But I'll take your advice in this case. I think you can do this at this Site if you want to, and if you want to, go ahead.

 

[KeithD]

I've taken paragraphs out of one story where they were just a passing thought and used them more centrally in another story where they are more central to the story (and probably so because they have continued to live in my thoughts) or linked stories. Rarely more than a paragraph, though. When I do it, I see it as being creative. I would be quite pleased if a reader remembered it from a previous use--and can savor it being repurposed as much as I do when I do it.

In at least one series of related stories--different writers over time coming to the same village to write and have different but similar sexual experiences that informed their writing--I purposely used the same description of the writer coming down to the restaurant in the village square (The Tree of Idleness) in their loneliness to begin their journey of hooking up.

It is a variation of this, tailored to meet the needs of the present story, but close enough in wording to link the stories in the series (this one from sr71plt's "Bellapais Villa Henson Possession"):

"Ahh, the days of drifting down to the square after lunch and sitting around ogling the local Turkish Cypriot men and letting them ogle me until I got that certain look from one I fancied and took him up to my Lawrence Durrell-rented villa and let him vigorously, joyously, and noisily fuck my brains out on a lounger under the sun on the terrace overlooking the Mediterranean.

"And then back down to the square in the twilight after dinner with those fairy lights in the olive trees around the fringe of the stone café terrace, and, in that soft light and twittering laughter of the Mediterranean men and wisps of strong Turkish tobacco drifting up, eyeing and being eyed until I got the certain look from one I fancied and took him back up to the villa and let him fuck me in long, slow, sweeping strokes on the terrace under the stars."

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Fair enough, but I'd already bought the anthology. The novel wasn't any cheaper because of it.

Asimov's Nightfall started as a short story and later became a book as well.

 

[TheLobster]

437 words of 6898 as it happens before ediiting so more like 7% than the 25% I originally mentioned

This changes the equation drastically. I don't think many people will bat an eye on a repeated section of 400 words in a 7k story, especially if serves to elucidate the character's OCD or whatever else in a poignant, evocative manner.

 

[Britva415]

Is it acceptable to plagiarise yourself?

Plagiarism is copying and re-using without permission and attribution, so, if you can give yourself permission, then you aren't plagiarizing yourself.

I want to genuinely portray the mirroring of the actions that have previously taken place and the best way I can think to do this is a word for word duplication

I don't think this is the best way, unless it's a short passage and you have a good reason for repeating it more than just the once. I know we writers say "show don't tell," but simply stating that the character is doing this in a ritualistic way (or however you'd prefer to characterize it), and stating that the procedure is identical to the last time the reader saw it, and rewriting it so that it's not word for word but describes the same actions, these are all better than only lifting the words and dropping them back in, without any other frame around it.

I can imagine a scenario where, as a writing technique within a single piece, repeating word-for-word actions from a sentence from before could be useful. Especially if it's done not just once.

 

[KeithD]

Plagiarism is copying and re-using without permission and attribution, so, if you can give yourself permission, then you aren't plagiarizing yourself.

As I've already noted, you've left out the most important part. By definition, it's using the work of ANOTHER, not yourself. It doesn't require some convoluted interpretation.

 

[Britva415]

It doesn't require some convoluted interpretation.

it's cute though