fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2271 ]

[ SECRET POST #2271 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2271 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Book of Mormon]

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09. [troll]

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10. [repeat]

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[The Walking Dead]

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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

15. [SPOILERS for Once Upon a Time]

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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

16. [WARNING for abuse/non-con]

[A Cruel God Reigns]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #324.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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01. http://i.imgur.com/M3eqYtQ.jpg

A lot of stories share similar concepts, but if you think someone is plagiarizing you, call them out. Maybe ask them if they consciously did it, and if they could stop.

This; if it's an AU about the same general concept it's probably nothing (i.e. if there are two bakery AUs or w/e), but if the plot's that similar, call them out.

Calling them out is not a good idea if they write the most popular ship in fandom and if their story is popular. Their stans would attack the OP.

Instead of calling them out, you could email them personally. I was "called out" by someone once who was sure I'd stolen their concept, but I'd never heard of the person or read the fic. I found it after, and aside from some very surface similiarities (e.g., AUs characters with similar occupations), there was absolutely nothing in common between the two. You can't really own AU tropes. Not enough info on the nickname to know if that's something equally likely to happen or something highly specific no one else could possibly have stumbled upon, but I've also noticed that nicknames seem to catch on in a fandom once someone's used them.

Point is - don't call them out in public until you know for sure they've copied your fic. Try some non-public ways to gather info first.

It's pretty common for certain themes to be executed in similar ways, and nicknames aren't that odd to find repeated unless it's really specific to your story. But if you think they're copying you I'd confront them about it.

Didn't there used to be an LJ comm where you could go if you thought you were being plagiarized? You'd submit your complaint and they'd investigate for you. I don't know if it still exists but if it did that'd be handy for your situation.

http://plagiarismhaven.livejournal.com/profile

Yeah, what

elephantinegrace said. But if you think they are plagiarizing then I would take screenshots and report it to

stop_plagiarism.

Edited 2013-03-22 23:07 (UTC)

My guess is that what you wrote is a fairly obvious concept so lots of other writers have arrived at the same thing without you even factoring into it.

As others have said, you could just ask (even though there's no knowing if the person in question will be truthful). However...I've seen A LOT of very similar stories in my fandoms. In Hobbit there are about four stories where Bilbo dies and wakes up before he meets Thorin and company, then tries to change the future. I read one of them and it was excellent but all the summaries sound the same to me and I'm having difficulty finding it again because of that. So...maybe it's just a coincidence?

Granted maybe your idea is more unique, but we don't know the specifics.

There aren't too many of those though so if you tag search time travel or alternate universe: time travel you could probably find it there

True, true, I'm just shit at searching at Ao3. I'll keep that in mind though!

Peggy Sue fics are the single most common form of fanfic once you've taken out the plotless fucking fics. It used to be Gender Bender fics were most popular, but the SJWs ruined then by bleating about how they weren't realistic enough, were perpetuating negative gender stereotypes, or weren't using the right pronouns no matter how much that would fuck up the fic's characterization. Fucking SJWs not understanding what escapist pursuits mean. They ruin everything.

Anyway, if the OP wrote a peggy sue fic and is butthurt by others writing a peggy sue then they are stupid. As stupid as her mom was when she passed out in the dumpster her dad lived in.

While this comment is unnecessarily hostile, I doubt the author is talking about peggy sue fic. That's...way too obvious, I think.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-23 03:34 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

elaminator - 2013-03-23 03:47 (UTC) - Expand

As a side note, I'm kind of curious as to what your smaller pairings are :) (I'm assuming that the big powerhouse one is Rumbelle).

Is that what that picture is from? LOL I always assume any secrets that use that foggy night forest stuff is Teen Wolf now.

(no subject)

writerserenyty - 2013-03-22 23:49 (UTC) - Expand

Fanon, coincidence, and fandom nicknames. If you don't like it, get out of fandom.

All fanfic is basically recycling the same ideas and same fic, with occasional additions everytime a new fic comes around. Only rarely do you get anything new, and yours probably wasn't new either. Admit it.

OP, who are you writing for? I'm assuming it OUAT, and I'm always looking for pairings outside of Rumbelle, who I used to ship but now not so much. Recs?

How unique is the nickname? Obviously you had some logic for using that particular nickname, but is it the kind of logic someone else could've used entirely separate from you or not?

I mean, say you got a main character called John, any host of nicknames related to Johnny/J/Jay/Big Jay/Johnster would be fair game, I imagine and not much of an indicator of plagiarism. On the other hand, if your nickname for them in the fic is something very fic dependent like Captain underpants, you might have more of a case?

Suck it up. OTPS rule! Try writing the best pairing and then people will read your story, whether it's crap or amazing.

I agree with previous commenters that if they're taking plot-specific details and/or word-for-word descriptions from your stories, call them out on it (as tactfully as possible). If it's a generally story idea and/or the nickname is really obvious*, then you may have to let it go and keep working on your own stories.

*For instance, someone usually calls Thor "big guy" in my fics. I really doubt I'm the first person to use that nickname for him and I certainly won't be the last, so it really doesn't matter if someone else uses it.

Maybe take a look at stop_plagiarism?

OP, I'll give you the advice people gave me when this happened to me: a BNF who claimed never to have read my piddly stuff suddenly using things I'd invented in their fics.

Don't confront, because most people figure that fanfic is loosey goosey on copyright as it is, and once an idea's out there, it's fair game.

Also, it'll make you sound like a butthurt whiner who writes for popularity.

Instead, just sit back and enjoy the fact that you've contributed something to fanon. In fact, watch it spread. It's a pretty cool feeling. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, in a sense. Yeah it's tacky that BNF isn't hat-tipping you but that's on them.

Just feel smug they used your ideas. Fanfic writers can't expect any 'protection' against stuff like this, and that's life.
I'm always tempted to leave comments on their fics saying stuff like 'hey, love the way you used the nickname I gave X in my fic I posted in January last year' bla bla, but that is probably a waste of time, LOL.
Also, some people genuinely forget they've seen ideas somewhere else, after all, fanfic is all about rehashing stuff. BNFs who lurk, however, sucks a little.

I think the people who are saying to report it to stop_plagiarism and other plagiarism/confrontation suggestions are missing the point. When it's a general concept like this, even with the nickname, any complaining on the OP's part is just going to look like sour grapes. Even if it was their original concept, even if it was their nickname, unless they can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt with very specific, numerous examples that the BNF lifted this and this and this to put in their own writing, most people honestly aren't going to care because it's their pet ship in the new fic. Plus, it will make OP sound petty, because whatever, you can't copyright a ~concept.

That said, this really, really sucks, OP. I went through something similar to this a long time ago in another fandom where I wrote something AU for a relatively unpopular canon side ship, only to have the exact concept, situation, and time period show up in a much more popular fic for a non-canon ship with one of my pair a few months later. The other author even had the exact same mechanism of the two characters meeting the way I'd had them meet, just replacing one half of the couple to make their ship work. But there was nothing I could say without looking incredibly self-aggrandizing, because their stuff was so much more popular than mine and they had a huge following, and how dare I question this person's incredible creativity and their perfect unique mind when all I wrote was [unpopular ship]? The real kicker was when I got a comment later accusing me of ripping off the scenario from the BNF, and I just about strangled the person through the screen out of sheer rage.

Blah. I didn't mean this to get so bitter, but apparently this made me madder than I realized. Sorry, OP. I wish I could give you some meaningful advice. This sucks for everyone.

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