I'm not a plagiarist... I swear.

[MediocreAuthor]

Okay, this one is incredibly embarrassing, but I basically look like a rotten story thief, (or at least an idea thief)

I'm not... I swear on my life... but if I was in @Djmac1031's shoes, I'd probably be doubting me.

Behold 2 works.

The White Room by Djmac1031. (Sci-fi/Fantasy) Released 10/20/21

and

Test Subjects by MediocreAuthor. (NC/R) Released 11/3/22


These two stories share a myriad of similarities.

Now of course, you can choose to believe me or not, but I promise, until today, I never read The White Room (I did see Djmac talking about it in a thread a few weeks back, but I didn't get a chance to read it then.)

Now Djmac's story is a single story with a sequel (that I haven't gotten a chance to read yet) and mine consists of 4 separate chapters and a spin-off collab. I'm only dealing with the original T.W.R. vs the original 4 chapters of T.S.

For those of you who are not inclined to read it, allow me to point out a few of the most notable similarities. [Spoilers: (duh)]

1) A male and a female trapped in a featureless room.
2) The room is bare and white, with a sleeping "platform".
3) They're both naked
4) No visible light sources
5) Older Male/Younger Female
6) A booming voice gives them instructions/commands
7) Their ability sleep is somehow tinkered with in an unnatural way
8) Some unnatural/sci-fi alien healing technology
9) No memory of how they got there
10) And of course, as both of these are erotica, they are encouraged/forced to have sexual intercourse.

That's all in the first chapter of Test Subjects and The White Room. But if you continue deaper into both


11) Gradual mutual attraction (love) between the two characters
12) Intentional impregnation
13) Strange unnatural feeding methods
14) It's all done by Aliens (that's only revealed for sure in the final chapter of T.S. but the captives guess it pretty early on. I think it's revealed immediately in T.W.R.)
15) Both couples consider themselves married before they are released
16) MOST DAMNING OF ALL? Both stories start with a "T"!

I'm sure there's more. Djmac, you are welcome to chime in.
But yeah, I'm not a plagiarist, although the evidence does seem pretty damning.
The biggest difference is the category. T.W.R's MMC is a kind man. T.S's MMC is a reluctant rapist who nevertheless enjoys the terrible acts he's forced to commit.
Another huge difference is quality. Even a casual readers can tell that T.W.R. is better written. (That is is isn't false modesty... T.S. was my first story, and it desperately needs a rewrite)

 

[SimonDoom]

I wouldn't worry. When I started going through your checklist I thought "Slaughterhouse 5." These are all fairly general themes and ideas.

 

[lovecraft68]

Time to break this out

 

[AwkwardlySet]

 

[EmilyMiller]

At the end of Determination, Episode II of Coleoidphilia (should that be Episode V? Hmm…), the MMC is captured and removed from the spaceship he shared with the FMC by operatives of an interstellar law enforcement agency. This is just after a declaration of love between the two.

Disney sued, I won on the technicality that no actual carbonite was used.

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

The test of plagiarism is the number of sentence sequences that are identical or so similar that they can only have been lifted from the earlier piece into the later piece.

Otherwise, inspiration is the most sincere form of flattery; and if you genuinely had never read it, great minds think alike. I'm sure you're fine (someone else can do the text comparison, all I'll get is rectangles).

 

[MediocreAuthor]

Otherwise, inspiration is the most sincere form of flattery; and if you genuinely had never read it, great minds think alike. I'm sure you're fine (someone else can do the text comparison, all I'll get is rectangles).

You're a dang ole liar. There is no diacritics in Test Subjects EB.

 

[EmilyMiller]

At the end of Determination, Episode II of Coleoidphilia (should that be Episode V? Hmm…), the MMC is captured and removed from the spaceship he shared with the FMC by operatives of an interstellar law enforcement agency. This is just after a declaration of love between the two.

Disney sued, I won on the technicality that no actual carbonite was used.

Em

Actual text:

"I love you, David."

"I know."

I had much greater justification for the “I know” than those amateur hacks, Brackett & Kasdan, as David was telepathic space octopus. See George, no plot holes in my stories.

Em

 

[Djmac1031]

@MediocreAuthor

I first wanna go on record publicly to state I in no way feel you plagiarized my story.

Now that we have that out of the way: yeah, the similarities are pretty crazy, considering they were written years apart by two completely different writers.

That said; I'd be willing to bet if someone dug deep enough through the LE library, they'd find stories far older than mine that probably share many of the same elements.

We're all inspired by similar ideas; we all use a lot of the same tropes.

After reading all four parts of yours, it feels like a dark, inverted version of mine.

They each have very different moods and VERY different characters.

Even IF you read mine first, I would be fine with the idea that my story inspired you to write your own version of it.

But again, I believe you when you say you didn't.

Just one of those weird instances of two people having a very similar idea yet writing two very different versions of it.

 

[EmilyMiller]

@MediocreAuthor & @Djmac1031 - they are both rip-offs of a Kurosawa movie .

Em

 

[Djmac1031]

@MediocreAuthor & @Djmac1031 - they are both rip-offs of a Kurosawa movie .

Em

Somebody in @MediocreAuthor s comments mentioned a movie.

I'm unfamiliar with which one you're speaking of?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Somebody in @MediocreAuthor s comments mentioned a movie.

I'm unfamiliar with which one you're speaking of?

It’s called The Test Room, a classic.

Em

 

[Djmac1031]

It’s called The Test Room, a classic.

Em

I'll have to watch it now, obviously. Thanks.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

It’s called The Test Room, a classic.

Em

Are you sure that's the exact name? I'm Googling it, and coming up blank. Can you link something showing what you're talking about? Is it a porno or something?

 

[MediocreAuthor]

I'll have to watch it now, obviously. Thanks.

I think @EmilyMiller is trolling us.

How could you, Em?

 

[Djmac1031]

I think @EmilyMiller is trolling us.

How could you, Em?

She's very good at that .

I was Googling, too.

 

[EmilyMiller]

 

[EmilyMiller]

@MediocreAuthor & @Djmac1031

Hidden Fortress

Em

 

[MediocreAuthor]

@MediocreAuthor & @Djmac1031

Hidden Fortress

Em

She's very good at that .

I was Googling, too.

This IS very similar to our story, just read the opening premise!!!

Two bedraggled peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, sell their homes and leave to join the feudal Yamana clan, hoping to make their fortunes as soldiers. Instead, they are mistaken for soldiers of the defeated Akizuki clan, have their weapons confiscated, and are forced to help dig graves... EMILYMILLER IS A FITHY LIAR before being sent away without any food. After quarreling and splitting up, the two are both captured again and reunite when they are forced alongside dozens of other prisoners to dig through the ruins of the Akizuki castle for the clan's secret reserve of gold. After a prisoner uprising, Tahei and Matashichi go on the run, steal some rice, and make camp near a river.

Very similar in many respects!!!

 

[Cagivagurl]

As we travel through life. It is impossible not to be influenced by the world around us....
Writers, are no different to every creative being on the planet.... We see things, we heart things, read things, and sometimes subliminally, or subconsciously they influence us...
After all, there are only so many plots available to us...

Cagivagurl

 

[Djmac1031]

@MediocreAuthor & @Djmac1031

Hidden Fortress

Em

I'm well aware of the Star Wars / Kurosawa connections of course.

If it wasn't for someone in @MediocreAuthor s comments calling her story a "rip off" of a movie, I probably would have picked up on your ruse sooner .

 

[Euphony]

This IS very similar to our story, just read the opening premise!!!

Two bedraggled peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, sell their homes and leave to join the feudal Yamana clan, hoping to make their fortunes as soldiers. Instead, they are mistaken for soldiers of the defeated Akizuki clan, have their weapons confiscated, and are forced to help dig graves... EMILYMILLER IS A FITHY LIAR before being sent away without any food. After quarreling and splitting up, the two are both captured again and reunite when they are forced alongside dozens of other prisoners to dig through the ruins of the Akizuki castle for the clan's secret reserve of gold. After a prisoner uprising, Tahei and Matashichi go on the run, steal some rice, and make camp near a river.

Very similar in many respects!!!

Cons and thieves.

Cons and thieves everywhere!

Admittedly charming cons and thieves but let's not lose the main point, harumph.

 

[Djmac1031]

Another huge difference is quality. Even a casual readers can tell that T.W.R. is better written. (That is is isn't false modesty... T.S. was my first story, and it desperately needs a rewrite)

Full disclosure: I submitted a rewrite of the original White Room because the sequel I'd just finished was much better written.

I'd grown a lot between the two and the original was still very rough around the edges, as I was still very new to writing.

So I went back and reedited the thing, cleaned up some errors and mistakes that made me cringe looking back on it, and also to get it to match up better with the sequel.

I didn't change anything of the actual story, just updated it so it was cleaner and flowed better.

And tweaked a few things like putting the alien dialog in italics to match a choice I made in the sequel.

Little details, but it made it much better than my original version IMO.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

Cons and thieves.

Cons and thieves everywhere!

Admittedly charming cons and thieves but let's not lose the main point, harumph.

Hey, @onehitwanda got a story banned (or someone did it for her... here's the thread about it) and I don't think that story had as many similarities to hers as mine did to Djmac's

 

[Euphony]

Hey, @onehitwanda got a story banned (or someone did it for her... here's the thread about it) and I don't think that story had as many similarities to hers as mine did to Djmac's

Uniformity in policing? Are you new here?