RARA-AVIS: theft

Charles Shafer (cshafer@chipsnet.com)
Thu, 22 Apr 1999 06:45:37 -0500 I too smile when someone suggests a writer steals words and style from other
writers. I write, and I know I do. But it's not criminal. It's no
different than a child learning to learns to walk and talk by watching
his-her parents.

Also, I can remember studying Shakespeare in HS--Well, kinda, it's been a
while--and the teacher saying, "Okay, what did Shakespeare mean by this or
that?" My first thought, and it still is, Why did he have to mean
something? Why wasn't he just trying to write something entertaining, and
hope the reader enjoys it?

I think that's why I enjoy hardboiled stuff. Most of what you read is
simply a story, with interesting, usually fun, characters.

By the way, I've already stolen Boston Teran's "crabbed across the floor."

So lock me up!!

Charlie Shafer

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