Illuminating the Dark Prince

Important Note On Plagiarism

Whelp, prepare for one hell of a rant.

I'm writing this note today from my couch, with a sleeping cat cozily snuggled up on my lap and my laptop awkwardly balanced on my knee, because as the title suggests, I've most likely been plagiarized.

Now, it's happened before where I've had to get Unbinding the Demon taken off of some obscure site that I had not posted it on. But today I received a little message from a helpful bird upon the grapevine informing me that a much more well-known author on inkitt has a very similar story to Illuminating the Dark Prince. So, with an open and objective mind, I read through what she has so far of her book, and here's what I found...

A blonde girl falls into some water and gets stuck beneath the surface, then is sucked into a portal leading to another world. A world full of monsters that always looks like nighttime, where there's a black sky with crimson auroras. She finds herself lost in a creepy forest... Is this sounding familiar?

This girl ends up isolated in a dungeon with a very tall scary demon named Vadric whose features "any male model would kill for." He's a bit frightening, but is kind, takes care of her, and vows to protect her. The whites of his eyes are black, and yes they go completely black when he's aroused. He has a long freaky tongue that wraps around hers and other similar salacious things. He has a bloodlust, pointy ears, sharp teeth, claws, wears leather pants... Familiar yet?

"Vadric" doesn't know what kissing is and is taught by the MC. And get this, only after they do the deed and some feelings have developed does she find out that he's actually royalty and the rightful ruler of the land. And where it leaves off, it's looking like he's going to have to overthrow an evil relative for his throne. (Oh and they ride a skeletally horse too.)

These are only a few of the MANY similarities I found. I don't want to bore you guys with the huge list I accumulated, but it seems like even my writing style has been mimicked in this book. There were phrases throughout it that seemed like reworded things I've written in Illuminating the Dark Prince.

To be fair, there are also a lot of differences between the two books. It's not complete plagiarism. But considering all the similarities that I have found, it's hard not to think that I've been buzzfeed-style ripped off here.

What really ticks me off is that this person has over 4,500 followers. They're making money with this on their patreon and even won an inkitt award with the book. She is not just stealing my ideas, but the unique experience I like to give my readers. If someone reads her book first and then mine, mine won't stand out as something creative and memorable anymore.

Within my measly year and a half of being a writer, I have strived to make my characters and plotlines unique. I go out of my way to not copy other artists. Not only because it's a downright shitty and self-serving thing to do, but because the only thing you create while copying someone else's work is a cliche. You're not advancing your own creativity nor are you improving literature when you do that. In fact, you're only making both things worse.

(My husband is literally trying to show me a cute video of a seal happily spinning around in the water to calm me down, because I'm so flipping furious right now.)

I have spent a lot of time and effort on my books. I lost my job during the beginning of the pandemic and now work at a new place where I make only a third of what I used to. My husband is in school full time making me the breadwinner, and I have two elderly cats who accumulate expensive vet bills regularly. I come home and type these stories out with bleary eyes but a smile on my face, because I love both writing and all you wonderful readers. I love this creative outlet. And it's so disheartening to see my hard work stolen and someone else profiting from it.

As of right now, I'm choosing to put both of my ongoing books on hold until I can decide how to go forward with this. I'll still be working on the chapters, but I need to figure out the best way to protect my work. I have a very epic ending planned for Illuminating the Dark Prince (or at least I think so) and I really don't want to see it written in someone else's book.

If any fellow authors have any advice on what I should do further, I'd love to hear what you have to say. I called up a good friend of mine who's a lawyer and he recommended to first call them out in order to confront them in hopes that they'll stop. (Which is what I'm doing now.) And I am also looking into possibly reporting them too.

Well, I'm either going to pour a glass of red wine and listen to some overly aggressive death metal, or go meditate. I'm not sure which one yet. Thank you to all of you who have been faithfully reading my books, and I'm truly sorry about this. But please understand that I don't want to post the next chapter only to have my ideas snatched up by greedy hands.

~Datura Moon