As I confessed in an earlier blog, I really do like chick-lit. So, ever since I heard last year about Harvard freshman, Kaavya Viswanathan's book deal with Little, Brown & Company (she was given an advance of $500,000 for a two-book contract), I'd been waiting to read her novel. Then, this month, I did.

How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life is a well-written, clever and funny story about an Indian girl who grows up in New Jersey and whose greatest dream (thanks to her parents) is to get into Harvard. The hilarious strategic planning that goes first, into giving her the academic and extra-curricular credentials and then later, into helping her "have a life," is the stuff good books are made of. But, even so, I wasn't sure that it was half-a-million-dollars good. The storyline struck me as kind of formulaic -- school nerd turns into one of the popular girls. The USP, I suppose, was that she was striving for popularity to get into college rather than in an attempt to land a guy. Oh, and her parents help her become cool. But still, it was fairly predictable. And yet, well-written for someone so young.

Then, today, the Boston Globe reported (though, the Harvard Crimson broke the story) that Viswanathan is facing plagiarism charges. Apparently, several parts of Opal Mehta are almost exactly like parts of Megan McCafferty's novels, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. Oops! The charges are being investigated and both parties are witholding much comment as yet.

The sad thing is, I read a bunch of the similar passages and it doesn't look good for Viswanathan. For example:

From page 6 of McCafferty’s first novel: “Sabrina was the brainy Angel. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: Pretty or smart. Guess which one I got. You’ll see where it’s gotten me.”

From page 39 of Viswanathan’s novel: “Moneypenny was the brainy female character. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: smart or pretty. I had long resigned myself to category one, and as long as it got me to Harvard, I was happy. Except, it hadn’t gotten me to Harvard. Clearly, it was time to switch to category two.”

And there's a bunch of other examples here.

This might be plagiarism. I guess we'll have to wait on the verdict. But, even before all this blew up, I was wondering about copyrights on ideas. Some chick-lit follows a fairly standard pattern -- the hip, young 20-something with the job she doesn't love and a penchant for designer labels and a guy who's good for her and one who's not. So, everytime there's a story that follows these lines, isn't that copying an idea that's already been done (ad nauseum!)? And what about all those teen movies -- where the school geek becomes popular. Aren't they all borrowing from the same basic formula? I know that plagiarism on actual words is seriously frowned upon -- understandably. But it makes me wonder why plagiarism of a concept isn't. Or at least, doesn't seem to cause as much trouble. Before I knew about the plagiarism charges, I was already a little annoyed that Viswanathan's ideas seemed borrowed (though admittedly, she did add a bit of a twist to them).

Another issue these charges brings up, however, is pressure. Viswanathan was a freshman while she was finishing the book, taking a full course load. She was expected, naturally, to meet the publisher's deadlines. And, I think, all the hype around the half a million book deal must have been an added stress. All eyes were on her and maybe, just maybe, she collapsed under the weight of it all. Perhaps publishing houses should think more carefully before putting young, emerging writers in the hot seat. Exorbitant signing amounts and insta-fame might not be the best thing for their creativity. This kind of thing is a lose-lose-lose situation, for the publishers, the writers and the expectant readers.