I am writing my first fiction book right now, you know... And after five years of experience in web writing with its plagiarism issues (I mean, we all know that online texts are copypasted all the time, and bloggers struggle for copyrights every now and then), I wonder how does it work in fiction writing? Well, how do I know that my writing style or the plot of my story haven't been copied by others? Or, how do I know that I am not a plagiarist myself? In web writing, academia, and journalism, specific tools a la PlagiarismCheck exist to scan articles for duplications; but I suppose it won't work for books
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
Shall I read - or at least know the plots - all the bestselling books in my genre?
![Hmm :hmm:](./images/smilies/ges_hmm.gif)
I've heard about some cases of idea plagiarism among world-famous writers. Not sure if it's true, but the Internet can't lie
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
1) William Shakespeare stole Othello and Romeo and Juliet
![Image](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a7/97/a5/a797a51d9de9d6a22510bedc96204fa1--shakespeare-plays-william-shakespeare.jpg)
2) George Orwell stole Nineteen Eighty-Four (oh please, no... I can't believe this! My favorite book!)
![Image](http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/www-robinmalau.jpeg)
3) Benjamin Franklin with his quips
4) Jack London rewrote The Call of the Wild
![Image](http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/cvr9781442434110_9781442434110_hr.jpg)
5) Alexandre Dumas stole the characters of The Three Musketeers ??
![Image](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/36/6d/13/366d138417ad64493abc73a84248cf34--the-three-musketeers-historical-fiction.jpg)
Does it mean we should follow their steps to get popular?
![No :no:](./images/smilies/ges_no.gif)
![:kap: :kap:](./images/smilies/kap.gif)