There has been much going on this past week. Let me start by saying that in no way is stealing another person’s work is right. I don’t even like the idea of playing with another’s work with their permission, and it would be only so after much time and internal fighting with my mental blocks on the issue.
Plagiarism has been a big topic in fan fiction this week between FaceBook and FanFiction.net. It was discovered that a user had taken someone’s work and shamelessly attempted to rewrite it, claiming it to be her own. There were just too many nuances of the story to be a coincidence and going back to the original story that was in question, it became blatantly obvious. The plot was stolen.
Granted in fan fiction, ideas may be repeated at times, but there are things that just should not show up in so many stories. Especially on well known writers in fandoms that have a history of being slow to update simply because they put so much time and effort into their chapters to make sure they are high quality and the research is sound. Grammar, spelling and punctuation is gone over with a fine tooth comb. Things, specific things, as mentioned by one of the victims in the current situation that had mentions, “inside jokes” that were between friends, the writer and her beta, or the writer and her close group of other writers, that no one else should have been privy to, should have included in their story if they were to have a similar plot idea. An inside joke in someone else’s story is like standing there with a neon beacon saying ‘Hello! This isn’t mine! I have no clue what I am doing with this!’
My love and support go eternally to the writers that fell victim to this girl that we have affectionately nicknamed the Delusional Psychotic Brat (DPB). Due to the events of this drama, a new page under the About Meeko tab will be added for links and such that will include information on her profile on FanFiction.net.
Now, I’m not going to repeat so much of what has happened here again. I simply do not have the energy to get into it as I have scored a victory with DPB in getting her to remove many of our stories from her favorites lists tonight. For more information on the beginning of this plagiarism drama, please visit these blog posts by some of the victims:
Kittyinaz – Plagiarism
Bertie Bott – Plagiarism vs. Inspiration
Cuinawen – Plagiarism Strikes Again
Kittyinaz – More on what is going on
There are more posts between the blogs if you look and you can get a larger picture.