#also any meanie anons about this will be blocked and deleted so don't waste your time :)

[highsviolets]

a note on fic writing

I’m not entirely sure how to preface what I need to say, so I’m just going to jump into the heat of things.

Lately I’ve noticed an increase in fics that sound awfully similar to one another. A certain amount of this is to be expected: working with a finite number of characters and the same source material is bound to ignite similar ideas in lots of different people across the fandom. 

So, too, individual bloggers cannot lay claim to tropes (there was only one bed!), genres (Western AU!), or k*nks (bondage!). 

However, individual authors do own their ideas, their characterizations, and their plot points; in essence, they own the things that make their fics unique. 

The sort of similarities that myself and other authors been witnessing lately unfortunately fall into the second category, where other creators on this site are using ideas in fics posted by others and claiming them as their own without a) permission from the original author and/or b) crediting the original author and citing them as an inspiration. 

I cannot find the words to say how devastating it is to encounter your work featured as someone else’s. Authors work incredibly hard to cultivate original, inspiring ideas to share and then spend countless hours bringing them to fruition. Seeing someone else base a fic off of your own work without credit is disheartening, disappointing, and discouraging -- not to mention rude. 

One of the glories of Tumblr is that it allows creative people a space to interact with other creative people. It puts you in contact with writers and other creators that you not would know otherwise, and provides you with exposure to hundreds of new ideas each day. 

All of that being said, if you are inspired to write a fic based off of someone else’s fic or an original post on their blog, please credit them. 

I also encourage you to do one better and DM the author to make sure you’re not plagiarizing. The line between plagiarization and inspiration is a fine one and talking to the author can help you determine on which side of that line your fic would fall. 

This post isn’t a call-out, and it’s not intended as gatekeeping or telling people what they can and can’t write. It’s simply pointing out some upsetting trends that myself and other authors have been affected by and offering a solution. 

#also any meanie anons about this will be blocked and deleted so don't waste your time :) #cris rambles #writing things #please i am so tired of this. for myself personally and for other people. it just really sucks.