Busted!

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear - no sooner had I written my post about How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life then I stumble across an article claiming big chunks of the book were completely ripped off from another author's work:

Not coming to a theater near you: the movie version of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, the debut novel by Harvard sophomore Kaavya Viswanathan that was yanked off shelves this week when it was found to contain multiple plagiarized passages.

A source close to DreamWorks, which had optioned Opal Mehta, said Friday that work on the movie, which was in the early stages of development, has been halted.

Viswanathan lifted scenes, language and plot points from two novels, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings by popular young adult novelist Megan McCafferty.

Via Los Angeles Times

Tut tut tut is all I can say!

I feel kind of sorry for it's author though as she has achieved a lot. Anyway, it has inspired me to get off my ass and get something down, I think I could write chick-lit with my hands tied behind my back.

But I'd like to write something really funny and clever instead. Ha - we'll see.