i do wish i was able to stop making these announcements but this stuff happens to me and other writers on wattpad continuously and even though i've stated multiple times what i'm not okay with, i figure that i must need to make it even clearer. again, there's no fun meme in this chapter because i have to be serious now

as of what i can tell right now, ciarah's taken a break from plagiarising me (it continued until the end of january and then she plagiarised another mutual of mine word for word lmao so learning lessons isn't for her), but i'm sure she's still reading this anyway somehow so hi ciarah lol

something that i'm still experiencing though is people using assets of mine without permission and borrowing stuff that i'm not comfortable with. this kind of thing has been going on for years now so it's nothing new for me (and a lot of other authors) but i really need to put my foot down now

at some point in the future i'll write a long writing tips chapter on what plagiarism is and how you can avoid plagiarising, why it's harmful, etc, but not right now. so this is just going to be a FAQ list of rules about what i'm simply not okay with in regards to plagiarism and using my assets

(i'll probably make a profile guide at some point where these rules will be present)

FAQ RULES.   →      *   .    &

━  can i use your layouts (bio, fics, summaries, etc) or take inspiration from them as my own?

━  i am mostly okay with people using my layouts, but you need to ask me first. you need to. simple credit isn't enough. send me a dm or post on my message board asking if you could use one of my layouts either directly or as inspiration (if the inspiration is significant). otherwise it's pretty rude. i work really hard on my layouts and it makes me uncomfortable and stressed when i see people using them, or using layouts heavily inspired by mine, without asking me first or without credit. this goes for any layout of mine: story summaries, acts, descriptions, profile bios, stuff from my misc books like my meet my ocs, apply fic, writing tips, character names, etc. pretty much just any layout i've made. again, i'm okay with people using these but you need permission from me so i can keep track of it. be respectful and ask me first.

━ can i use direct wording choices from your fics / misc books, or use yours as a template?

━ no. i've been okay with people taking direct inspiration from my wording before but after the ciarah-plagiariser incident, this is something i will not allow anymore. taking wording from my fics, apply fics, misc books, or other works of mine isn't okay. this includes taking heavy inspiration, such as just twisting words around, or changing the structure of sentences while still using the same type of overarching paragraph — typically i can tell when this is copied and it's usually when people are using my layouts. so, again, no. if you really want to use a line from mine or use blatantly inspired wording then, once again, dm me to ask. if it's just a few things then i may give you permission with credit, but you must send me a message and we can talk through it out there. otherwise, this is an absolute no. apologies if i'm being intense about this but the ciarah situation went on for about 5 months where copious amounts of direct wording was copied and pasted or blatantly stolen, even after i told her not to, and it's left an awful taste in my mouth about the whole thing, so yeah. this is pretty much a guaranteed no.

━ can i write my own version of a misc book inspired by yours, like character names or fic commentary?

━  yes, of course you can! but once again please ask me because a lot of times when people tag me in books where they got the idea from my own stuff, my layouts and assets that i created are also taken and used in these books. as an example, i got the idea for a fic commentary book after i saw knivescrossed do it (they're no longer on wattpad, moved to ao3) so i simply dmed them to ask if i could create a book inspired by that and gave them credit in the summary. please just ask.

━ can i use your disclaimers/warnings, etc?

━ flashbacks of this from the ciarah situation, LMFAO. getting inspiration and ideas from what people say in disclaimers and warnings, etc, is of course fine! i don't mind if you use mine as inspiration for warning tags, or more-or-less how you should phrase that you don't own the maze runner, for example. but please don't do it word for word. what i mean by that, is don't do something like this (ciarah example bc i'm still furious over everything that she did, still wanting to drop that full google doc lol):

mine is the first image, ciarah's is the second. as you can see, she copied the direct wording of everything, even down to the "don't steal from me or you'll regret it", which is just,,... so, don't do something like that. there's a pretty distinct line between being inspired while using mine as reference for what tags to put in a warning or how to phrase a disclaimer, and plagiarising by straight-up copying. (a bit of advice, look at lots of different peoples' disclaimers and warnings if you're looking to create your own, same with EVERYTHING else, and then be inspired by a mix of people rather than just copying one).

━ can i use your ideas in my fics?

━ this is a tricky one to answer because i don't own ideas. like, i don't own the idea that sara/sarah hopper is alive, even though i came up with that on my own, because i've since discovered it's an existing theory among some stranger things fans, and i've since seen other people writing their own unrelated version of sara/sarah hopper before based on those theories. but, if you read my sara hopper fic and then decide you're going to go write your own, that's kind of a bigger deal. mostly because my entire story is centred around her, and you've read that, and then have decided you'll make your own centred around the same idea? it's just, like, not really okay. it's the same if you started calling your stranger things oc "moonmaiden" or "selûne" after having read and taken the idea from mine, since i was the first on wattpad to make that a stranger things oc's alias back in 2017. but stuff like having a third targaryen child of mad king aerys, or playing with the fairy tale of sleeping beauty — they're ideas that i came up with on my own, but they don't necessarily belong to me. they're harder to police. if you then made the third targaryen child of aerys escape across the sea and start a kingdom of their own by their lonesome, with several of the same plot points in hiraeth, after having read mine, that wouldn't at all be okay.

so, like,, it depends? again, it's hard to come up with a definitive answer. research the difference between inspiration and plagiarism and make sure that what you're using as "inspiration" isn't stealing. and if you're unsure or want to check in, literally just dm me. no hard feelings. i've had people ask me if they could use similar ideas before and i've of course allowed them to! but i only knew about it because they asked, otherwise if a mutual or follower of mine started writing a similar story after evidence proves they've read my own, it would just seem like blatant plagiarism. again, this would need, like, an entire chapter to explain — the divide between inspiration and stealing — but this is the only answer i can really give. i don't own every idea, but there are some very definitive ones that i came up with for my fics. if you were to decide to take those important points, or multiple of them, from my own stories, and write them as your own, that wouldn't be okay. just ask me.

━ can i use your ocs in my fics?

━ likely no. my ocs are very important to me and they're pretty personal so i wouldn't be comfortable with anyone else writing them or putting them in a fic. i have had a friend do this before, however, which was fine because they asked beforehand. once again, the key here is ask me. send me a dm (i'm more likely to see it) if you want to add my oc in a fic for whatever reason, but please be prepared to hear "no" because depending on the context and situation it's likely i won't want to hand them over. 

━ can i dm you if i'm unsure?

━ yes, don't hesitate to ask me if you're unsure if you're allowed to use something. i'm more likely to see it and respond if it's a dm, and i promise i'm typically nice! i'm just being serious in this post because people won't stop using things without my permission and it's getting super annoying lol.

━ what happens if i plagiarise?

━ go to jail. lol, half-joking, but understand that copyright laws exist for a reason and it's an inconsiderate and asshole move considering i'll likely find out about it anyway. if i discover you using my assets/works without permission then i'll follow it up with you privately but if it persists without approval or while breaking these rules despite me telling you to stop, then i will make it public. don't steal from me, i'm serious. this is a no-plagiarism zone.

━ basically, can i use anything of yours without asking?

━ no. just ask me.

if you want extreme examples of why i need to restate these rules, view my spam chapter 72 ("srs post about plagiarism"), where i have just the tip of the iceberg of what ciarah had done. i still want to drop the full google doc lmaoooooo it's just 200 pages of screenshots of what she plagiarised and how she treated me when i asked her to stop,,, but i don't want to start it all again. this chapter is just because since that incident i've seen multiple examples of people going against these rules with my works, and i felt like this needed to be restated. i'm not mad at these people but please just ask next time lol, and everyone else here has no excuse after seeing this

tea

ANYWAY please listen to these rules, you cannot use my stuff without permission, and that includes layouts. people are still using assets of mine without asking and it's seriously stressing me out, particularly since most of my active followers are aware of the extreme plagiarism i was experiencing with ciarah over the past 4 or 5 months, so it's pretty rude. so yeah, ask thanks. if you break these rules then i'll have to speak with you about it so please just follow them and don't make me chase you down lol. we don't need that