alright, so this is a psa. it'll be a lot more serious than any of my other spam chapters

i've been getting pretty irritated about this lately, because it's a topic i'm passionate about and it happens so frequently on wattpad that i'm pissed off. i've been making so many rant tweets and posts about it & only just realised, wait, i've never actually posted about it here, which this book is like for, so here we go.

plagiarism is NOT OKAY. idk who needs to hear this, but it's NOT. not in any form. i guess i'll be making a chapter about this in my writing tips book since some people really just seem to not understand, but let me lay it out for you. copying aspects of someone's story, fic, characters, plots, playlists, aesthetics, graphics, layouts, is never okay. you cannot just steal someone's work, change some tiny aspects, and call it your own. this is such a big issue on wattpad bc people think they can get away with it easily. well, you won't. so many of my mutuals have been plagiarised recently, i've seen DIRECT PARAGRAPHS copied with a few words changes. exact plots. and then ??? people are just like ?? well i changed a few things so it's not "stealing" ??? um ?? YES IT IS

this isn't to call anyone out, i'm not trying to start a fight. i'm just venting. but if you think that stealing other creators' hard work is okay, then boy do you have it coming for you. now, i could go on about this all day (& will in my writing tips chapter for ppl who genuinely don't understand plagiarism) but i'm mainly here to talk abt my own experience with it. bc i've been hella frustrated and upset lately.

again, i'm not calling anyone out. just be,,, respectful, ig ?? like please don't steal my ideas from my fics. i work super hard on them and try incredibly hard to be original, and it really hurts to see them plagiarised. pls be understanding and don't copy them.

now with this, i'm only referring to ones that i have proof for. as in, people i know have read my books bc they've voted/commented, who've then gone ahead and copied my fic. unless something is SO OBVIOUSLY ripped or you have proof they've read your book, it's not always plagiarism. like, i've come across a few books on wattpad before (only after i wrote dreamwalker) that have also used sara hopper as the main protagonist. and i know that they haven't copied me bc these accounts have never interacted with me before, or their plots are very different! in fact, i met one of my most cherished wattpad friends bc she also had a sara hopper book posted!! (that was in no way plagiarised, and had no connection to my book). the problem comes when i know you've voted or commented on my story, and then i see that you've since posted a book that uses my main original ideas. that really hurts :(

i'm not saying i own sara hopper, or the moonmaiden and selûne ties, but they are technically my own creation in reference to stranger things fics. like they're one i haven't seen anyone really use before (apart from the few other fics that expanded on the concept of sara hopper, which are obviously fine & haven't interacted w/ me before). and so when someone uses all those concepts or a few of the major ones after being a mutual, or a reader of dreamwalker, or friends with me, where i can tell it's directly copied, that's very upsetting. 

and i know that because dreamwalker has over 520k reads it's going to be under more people's radars and is easier to plagiarise, especially since i can't keep tabs on all my readers (and don't want to — i don't want to be paranoid!). and bc of that it seems that ppl think it's free for the taking ??? "this book has so many views, it's okay to copy" NO IT'S NOT!! it's not for dreamwalker or for any wattpad author's work !! us having that many views doesn't mean it's free for the taking, it's still my hard work and i've worked so hard on that damn story and it's so near to my heart that of course i'm going to be protective over it. it's my favourite story i've ever written and is what single-handedly got me back into writing. it's not just a story you can take. no matter if you're a stranger, a mutual, or a friend. it's not yours.

i understand being inspired by a fic. i understand wanting to just take it and put your own characters or ideas into it bc you love it, or think the ideas are great. trust me, i think most writers will have experienced that. but you can't just take another author's work. that's not inspiration, that's plagiarism. there's a big difference. 

and the thing is, OBVIOUSLY i don't own sara hopper bc she's a canonical character (even if i came up with all of her plot). but if you're going to get her idea from my fic, please ASK? like,,, idk it just upsets me to have readers i really value & love to take those ideas from my fic without asking :// i'm really trying not to sound like an assuming, confronting bitch here, sorry if it sounds like that, but it just upsets me a lot. i value my ideas so much. dreamwalker/moonmaiden is my favourite series ever and i was so happy with the fact that i came up with a totally original idea. again, maybe it's dumb and i'm just being stupid, but i can just tell when it's been stolen from my book.

i wouldn't mind if you asked if you could use inspiration for my book (pls, this isn't an invite for everyone to take my ideas, only if u were genuinely inspired). i've had ppl ask this before & i've said yes, because that's totally fine !!! i wouldn't mind credit, but don't need it, just ASK me !! let me know! because otherwise, i'm going to come across it and immediately assume you've just plagiarised my story bc ik u've read my fic before. and it'll make me super anxious and upset. like,,, ik that confrontation can be scary, but i'd so much rather you just ask me if u can use some of my plot points as inspiration. also bc i'd like to read the fic it's turned into ?? like i'll be nice about it, i'm not mean or anything like that. i'm not scary, i promise! it's just, otherwise, it is stealing.

and the same goes for every author out there, and every story, not just me. wattpad authors get plagiarised all the time, because for some reason ppl on wattpad think that the "COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED" label under every wattpad book doesn't mean anything bc we're posting online. the work is still ours. you can't steal our stories and think it's ok just bc we're doing this shit for free. i love writing, but goddamn it gets hard when i'm so anxious every time i log on that the person copying my story is stealing more ideas. 

and yes, even i, when i was little have used others' ideas. but NEVER in fics that i have posted or even continued to write in private. i've always realised that it's too similar and have either scrapped that idea and changed it totally, or discontinued the story. i've never posted it on wattpad, and never claimed it was my own. because that's wrong. it's easy to do when you're younger and you don't understand that's it's stealing and also illegal. this is why minors need to realise that plagiarism is wrong. it's taking someone's hard work and passing it off as your own without credit or permission. and it's against the law. copyright laws exist for a reason, and all books on wattpad are copyrighted.

so younger people, please understand why plagiarism is so cruel. inspiration is not plagiarism. & even so, you should just ask the author, in case. bc if we're mutuals or friends and i stumble across a fic that seems to rip off my story, i'm going to presume that's what you've done. so if it's deliberate inspiration & not just an accident just ask me. i'll be fine, but just ask. otherwise it feels a little like a betrayal

and, of course, no writer is ever going to be original. number one, we're fanfic writers, there's only so much we can do in the world we're establishing the story. number two, there are just so many fanfics that it's bound to happen. there's going to be overlaps, and that's okay! part of the beauty of writing is someone who's got a fic similar to yours and seeing how they've written it. like i have with other sara hopper books after i finished dreamwalker, or other books that follow a story like run wild's (because that idea is nowhere near original, and about 1000 fic writers had the same ideas i had). but it becomes a problem when it's been stolen, and you've read that fic first and decided to nab it. accidents and deliberate stealing are very different. (again, which is why it's important to have PROOF when accusing people of plagiarism!). & if you're worried an idea is too similar that you're not sure if it's bordering inspiration or plagiarism, or you're not sure if it's okay, ask the original author. a lot of the time they'll be 100% fine with it. other times, you'll just need to change that idea and work around it.

i take a lot of pride in my fics, because i try extremely hard to make them original. pretty much all of them have totally original aspects that i hadn't seen anywhere else and decided to expand on. i've put years into writing some of them, and months and months and an uncountable amount of hours into the others. i spend ages plotting them out, coming up with totally original ideas like a mermaid in hawkins or a sorceress who can bend blood like a water-bender, or a girl who could walk through mirrors like alice through the looking glass. i just,,, try really hard to come up with original ideas and am always really proud of them. so pls don't steal them. and if you're going to use an aspect of them that's rather obvious (like sara hopper or the moonmaiden, which is the clearest fic i can thing someone getting away with copying) just ask me. i'll probably be okay, it just upsets me when people don't ask.

this whole rant has probs been pointless & it's 2,000 words but i'm just upset at this and i just found another fic so,,, just ask me if ur going to use my story as inspo. i'd rather u ask or let me know rather than stumbling across it myself and getting anxious that my readers are plagiarising my stuff. idk, i don't want to overact but it stresses me out a lot when that happens & sets off my anxiety (which isn't fun & makes me feel like i'm going to throw up) so just ask to relieve all that and i'll be happy with it :)

again, i adore my readers, my friends, and my mutuals, and i'll still adore u if u take inspiration, but you need to ask. please, just ask.

proud of u if anyone reached the end of this lol this had been long and convoluted but it's nice to get off my chest. remember, inspiration & asking for permission good, plagiarism bad. if ur confused abt the differences between inspiration & plagiarism, google it or ask or check out my chapter that'll be up sometime in my writing tips book. also rip for how angry/aggressive i was at the beginning of this rant, i was very heated

thanks guys, ily all <3