Getting Plagiarized. Should I care?

[BarryCaide]

I'm a new author, 4 chapters into my first book.
Comments are fantastic. Ratings and views are better than I ever expected. I'm feeling good about myself.
Now I stumble over a story that basically paraphrased my first chapter top to bottom and didn't even change the name of the protagonist.
It's not a copy & paste job. They clearly put some effort in copying someone else's homework. It's all there though.
So, assuming I'm right and this is at least in part a rip, I'm not sure how I feel about that. At first, I'm a bit angry. It's just rude. But I also keep the whole "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery." bit in mind.
I was worried about AI, but diction was a problem, so at least it's done by hand or AI can have trouble sentence right getting.
Right now my biggest worry is that they have the same ideas that I have about stuff I haven't written yet and then I would have to leave angry author's notes at the end of my stuff?

So, yeah, I don't know how to feel right now. Have you ever run across stuff you could have sworn was lifted from you? How'd that make you feel?

 

[StillStunned]

Report the story, follow up with a message to @Laurel. Nip this in the bud.

Sure, it's flattering that someone thinks your story is good enough to steal. It's happened to me, and I'm sure it's not the only one.

But it's stealing. We all know that writing isn't easy. You put in the work and emotion to create your story. And now someone wants the plaudits of being a writer but doesn't want to do the actual work. Name them and shame them, because if they've done it to one author's stories, they're likely to have done it to others.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So, yeah, I don't know how to feel right now. Have you ever run across stuff you could have sworn was lifted from you? How'd that make you feel?

If your story was demonstrably published first, and the lifts from your content are identical text or the story line is the same, report the story.

Plagiarism is the worst writer's sin, it's theft, pure and simple.

 

[StillStunned]

And another thing! (Yes, this kind of thing pisses me off.) They saw your story, but thought they could write it better? When they couldn't even be arsed to write their own story in the first place? How insulting is that?

 

[Cagivagurl]

I'm a new author, 4 chapters into my first book.
Comments are fantastic. Ratings and views are better than I ever expected. I'm feeling good about myself.
Now I stumble over a story that basically paraphrased my first chapter top to bottom and didn't even change the name of the protagonist.
It's not a copy & paste job. They clearly put some effort in copying someone else's homework. It's all there though.
So, assuming I'm right and this is at least in part a rip, I'm not sure how I feel about that. At first, I'm a bit angry. It's just rude. But I also keep the whole "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery." bit in mind.
I was worried about AI, but diction was a problem, so at least it's done by hand or AI can have trouble sentence right getting.
Right now my biggest worry is that they have the same ideas that I have about stuff I haven't written yet and then I would have to leave angry author's notes at the end of my stuff?

So, yeah, I don't know how to feel right now. Have you ever run across stuff you could have sworn was lifted from you? How'd that make you feel?

Definitely report it....
Theft is theft...

Cagivagurl

 

[BarryCaide]

I'm not sure though if the degree of alteration would inoculate it from reporting. I don't want to publicly point fingers, so I obviously can't ask for people to provide their own assessment, but if anyone is interested in giving a second opinion, I would respond to a PM.

 

[StillStunned]

Copy and paste the story into Word, then run Compare against your own story.

But at the very least report it to Laurel. In the end, it's her site, and she's the judge of what she will and won't allow.

 

[XerXesXu]

If your story was demonstrably published first, and the lifts from your content are identical text or the story line is the same, report the story.

Plagiarism is the worst writer's sin, it's theft, pure and simple.

Unless your plagiarising someone else's lyrics or poetry, of course.

 

[Rustyoznail]

What SS said. Laurels house, her rules.

 

[TiberiusPrime]

Report the story, follow up with a message to @Laurel. Nip this in the bud.

Sure, it's flattering that someone thinks your story is good enough to steal. It's happened to me, and I'm sure it's not the only one.

But it's stealing. We all know that writing isn't easy. You put in the work and emotion to create your story. And now someone wants the plaudits of being a writer but doesn't want to do the actual work. Name them and shame them, because if they've done it to one author's stories, they're likely to have done it to others.

100% this!

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

As the others have said: report it!

This happened to me a few months ago. A “new writer” copied my story verbatim, mixed it up a little, i.e., swapping locations of some verbatim paragraphs, and then submitted the first few thousand words. A couple of fans caught it and told me, and Laurel had it removed in hours, complete with a short note, after I reported it to her.

 

[BarryCaide]

I put in a report and messaged Laurel. I'll let her figure it out. Thanks for everyone's' input, I greatly appreciate it.

 

[StillStunned]

I put in a report and messaged Laurel. I'll let her figure it out. Thanks for everyone's' input, I greatly appreciate it.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Unless your plagiarising someone else's lyrics or poetry, of course.

Are you accusing someone? Every time the question of song lyrics or poetry comes up, writers will say they acknowledge the lyricist or poet explicitly in their text. There's a difference between a quotation, acknowledged, and plagiarism, not acknowledged.

 

[XerXesXu]

Are you accusing someone? Every time the question of song lyrics or poetry comes up, writers will say they acknowledge the lyricist or poet explicitly in their text. There's a difference between a quotation, acknowledged, and plagiarism, not acknowledged.

Reminding, not accusing. You've never denied infringing other's copyright but excused it as 'homage'.

 

[BarryCaide]

Holy...
Yeah, the other story is gone. The funny thing is that I think the most important part of that brief episode is that I wasn't imagining things. I was very afraid that I may have just been rather paranoid.

Thanks for the great advice, everyone.

 

[StillStunned]

Holy...
Yeah, the other story is gone. The funny thing is that I think the most important part of that brief episode is that I wasn't imagining things. I was very afraid that I may have just been rather paranoid.

Thanks for the great advice, everyone.

Congrats! A triumph for integrity and confirmation of your sanity.

 

[BlazonG]

This thread made me check out your story. No wonder someone tried to steal the idea, it’s so good and so much fun to read!

 

[shelleycat1]

Yes, chapter one is very good. Like the humour.

 

[BarryCaide]

Thank you, that is very kind of you.