Self Respect

[LadyDarkFire]

What happens when you completely loose all respect for yourself because of one act?

I have. Tonight, I apologized for something that was not my fault to get proof that a character was mine, so I could continue to use him. The person who I apologized to is very likely mentally unbalanced, and is most likely, going to have a very troubled life. He took an in character love spell to mean out of character love, and when it was shown that was not the case, he lost his temper. I have just debased myself to keep my mental property. I have used this character in manuscripts that I hope one day to get published.

Now, I'm wondering, what would you do?

This character had hours of work behind him, and the family of characters in the book with him in it have been developed over several years. He's an intergral part of the book, one of the best written in the series.

The apology was to get an agreement letting me use this character, since he'd made false claim to the character once before.

 

[Ayaka]

You compromised because you saw it was more important to have what was yours than to fight a meaningless battle.

I don't understand all of what you said but if my perception is correct, I think you did the right thing.

 

[SilverVeil]

I think I get it. It is a tad confusing the way it is written. And if my understanding is correct, I agree..... you did the right thing.
I have apologised for something before that was not remotely my fault. I can understand where you are coming from.

 

[nasty]

Well, I've havn't loose self respect for myself. But, I don't have complete self respect for myself. Excuse me for a sec., let me tighten up my self respect, it's loose. I apologize for things that I don't think are completely my fault all the time. I just have a thing were I HAVE to have people like me. At least, people who I already know, those people that I don't know at all, they could want me to die, for all I care.

 

[MissTaken]

Sometimes the choices we make do not neccesarily fall into little boxes labelled "right" or "wrong".

Look backwards, did you get what you need? While you may be uncomfortable with the decision you made, did you achieve something greater in the long term? Your writing is part of you, therefore preserving parts and pieces can involve sacrifice and difficult choices. You and your writing deserve protection and care. You did that.

If I understand you correctly, I would have done the same thing.

 

[daughter]

A hard lesson

LadyDarkFire--

For too long, I thought it was better to be right above all else. I no longer hold that belief. Today, I value being at peace rather than being right.

I'm not sure I would call what you did a reason to feel you disrespected yourself. I would ask that you ask yourself what did you gain? What is the long-term affect? Was the compromise wise?

From time to time, we need to re-evaluate what we believe and value, and why. We grow and we change. And doing so doesn't necessarily mean we had been wrong. It may simply mean that what was good for us before is no longer what we need or want today.

Lastly, as a fellow writer, part of respecting your craft is protecting it. If you invested that much energy into a something take time to learn how to protect it and exercise your rights.

I have a collection of my earliest works registered with the Library of Congress. Yep, I have an official isbn. While I don't think most of it is in danger of being plagarized, it still is my work.(With acquired skill and more polishing, I believe it will be publishable)

Give some thought to what you've learned in this experience and move on. Wish you well with your writing.

Peace,

daughter