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Do you remember when you were at school, and you were asked to do a project for homework, about which you knew nothing about? Back in those days, for me, the internet was non-existent and I had to be cunning if I wanted to plagiarise without getting caught.

When I was about seven, I won a short story competition. I was very proud, but also very scared. I was scared because I lifted the entire concept, and even some of the words, from Enid Blyton. Back then, she was a goddess to me, and I couldn’t think of anything to write, so I let Aunty Enid do the hard work for me.

I never got caught, but I learned a lot. I learned that losing sleep for fear of getting rumbled is a bad thing. I also learned that plagiarism is fine, as long as you do it properly.

There is no original writing…

There’s an old idea out there that Shakespeare (or Bacon, depending upon your view) wrote every story imaginable, and all literary output since that point has been a form of plagiarism. When you think about it, it makes sense. We only have a finite number of words which we can lay done in any particular order as writers. Perhaps being an original writer these days is tougher than ever before, because more words are recorded online, under copyright, and we need to find new and interesting ways to present our ideas without repeating the work of others.

There are two ways, to my mind, of cheating well when we write. The first is to be honourable and use direct quotations, citing references and sources just as we did at university. This is safe, and makes you sleep well, and also makes you smile as you see large chunks of your word count being attributed to someone else, legally. However, there is a more satisfying way of cheating with your writing.

Learning to cheat with finesse

My favourite way of cheating is a skill in itself. You go online and do your research, learn everything you can about your subject from experts, and then roll out what you have learned in your own words. I ghost-blog every day of the week for news sites, and my job is to hunt out great articles from well-respected places, and re-present the information so it remains current and passes copyright laws. I love it. I get to look at what great writers have produced, and then twist and shape and mold their language until it becomes my own.

This is another perfectly acceptable way of cheating.

This week, I wrote a killer introduction to an ebook for someone. I learned everything beforehand, and wrote a blazer of an article. It was funny, original, on the money and one of the best things I’ve ever done. I submitted it for review, and my client remarked that she knew where I had taken it from.

I was mortified. The words had spilled out like gold dust from my own pen, and I was devastated that it wasn’t noted for its originality. I looked at the site which my client thought I’d taken the ideas from. It wasn’t the same language, but the concept was similar.

This got me thinking again about the perils of trying to be original in any given subject. It’s tough. I had to protest my innocence, and lick my wounded pride.

When you choose outsourcers for your work, you have to make sure that they are one of two things. Either they are capable of original, creative writing which flows from their pen quickly and cheaply, or they are damnably good at cheating. Both options are fine. When writers are asked to produce copy for a number of different publications, coming up with new ideas is almost impossible. At the moment, I ghost-blog on insurance, e-commerce, blogging, health and fitness, happiness, book publishing, technical writing, real estate, web marketing, financial services and technology. I am not an expert in any of these fields. I like to think, however, that I’ve learned from Enid Blyton how to produce a document which is untraceable to anything else out there, and will safeguard my clients against potential litigation for copyright violation.

Watching your back against plagiarism

There’s a great little site called Copy Scape which checks all documents you intend to publish online through a plagiarism locater. I think, as content owners, it’s important that you make sure your writers are kosher and won’t get you in to trouble.

Thinking back to winning that competition, perhaps I shouldn’t feel so guilty anymore. It was there that I honed my re-writing skills, and learned to cover my tracks by changing words around until they become new, and my own. Perhaps I have more to thank Enid Blyton for than The Famous Five?