Wattpad Rants

23. Hey, That's My Homework!

"The poor girl walked along the familiar winding cobblestone pathway to what she once called home. After the death of her mother and what she referred to as "the dragon incident" all that was left of her only comforting dwelling place was a pile of ashes. Though tears stung her eyes, she sifted her fingers through the rubble in an attempt to find anything that could ease the painful wound known as grief. Eventually, she grasped a piece of charred parchment. The faded red ink was barely legible, but she was able to make out the words, "I'm still out there."

Girl walked back to the house she called home once. After what she referred to as "the dragon incident" and the death of her mother, the entire comfortable dwelling place was burned into a pill of ashes. Tears stung her eyes but she sifted her fingertip's through the rubble trying to find something that could ease the painful wound known as gref. Eventually she picked up a piece of paper. The faded red ink was barely legible, but she was able to make out the words, "I'm still out there.

"Me thinks there's some foul play taking place here," says Coffee with a suspicious look and multiple screenshots of uncannily similar stories in hand."

So, like, you obviously came here to discuss copyright, right? Right?... No? Well, you're here now, I think it's a bit too late to back out... so...

Introducing: (drumroll, please) THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF PLAGIARISM!

Oh, yessiree, the marvelous miracle of blatant blasphemy! Frivolously stealing another's hard work, and usually forgetting that punctuation exists in the process!

Okay, I'm feeling a bit less optimistic and carnivalesque this paragraph, let's actually discuss this. Plagiarism. Bleh, it hurts just to say. I'm sorry, it's just something about snatching another person's ideas and calling them your own for some sort of ego boost that really gets me ticked off. And not the "I wanna punch you—BAM" kind of ticked off, it's the "You failed the assignment" kind of ticked off.

What do I mean by "You failed the assignment"? Well, every author needs to learn how to read and write somewhere. You can't just tell me you popped out of the womb making fantasy stories, or you've never read one before writing your own and you just so happened to know what a unicorn is anyway. Here's the spark notes on that one—Every story, no matter how original it may be, takes inspiration from something else.

At this point, the likelihood of you creating a 100% grade A original book is next to impossible. Hey, technically the idea of a book in itself is taking inspiration from every other book in existence.

Oh, there's the word there! Inspiration. Yes, inspiration and plagiarism are two entirely different things.

All books are made with inspiration not plagiarism.

Here, how about I explain it with the help of a very well known book that just so happens to be one of my own personal favorites: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (more commonly known as "Alice in Wonderland" after the trippy Disney movie that would never have been marketed to children if it were first made in 2024– ok I really need to stop rambling).

Now, say I wanted to make a book and I adored the idea of a character using their imagination to take them off to a wonderful place that doesn't exist outside of their mind. I could make that book without any problems. I make up a character, I make up a place, I have some fun memorable events, simple as that. You practically wouldn't even be able to tell what my inspiration could have been because there are so many different ways I could pursue the idea. Maybe my character is already known for being "loony" and is biding their time all alone with other patients in an asylum; maybe my character has entered some sort of other state of consciousness (a different dimension? Digital realm? Taken some suspicious substances?); etc.

Okay then, what if I like the Red Queen? I could write a story about a tyrant, about a lousy ruler who shouldn't have been left in charge and would rather pursue something else (croquet?), about a girl trying to rise from humble beginnings just to find herself beheading subjects by the day, the list goes on.

But... what if I wanted to write about more than one element? What if I wanted to write about a young girl who follows an anthropomorphic animal into a hole to then find herself in a strange world where flowers speak, mad hatters dine outdoors, and cards act as soldiers? Then, well, things start getting a little familiar.

You see? I can take elements from multiple stories and mash them with my own random ideas or interests to make a fascinating tale, but if I constantly take from one story, I'll just end up making another version of the first story.

But that's nothing. I mean, this is just taking inspiration from it; there are no deliberate falsehoods to be seen. And besides, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is in the public domain (aka, I could also make a questionable children's movie about it as long as I'm careful not to get into trouble with a certain M. Mouse).

What I planned to focus on is plagiarism.

Now, from what I explained above—not to mention the example paragraphs I made up—you (yes even the ones who just came out of the womb and don't want to get in trouble writing their fantasy books) probably have a good enough handle on what plagiarism looks like in comparison to inspiration.

Now, on this website, you can choose what form of copyright your book is placed under. While I'm definitely not the first person you should be going to for legal advice, here is a quick rundown of the most important two.

All Rights Reserved: Your work cannot be taken, rewritten, or adapted in any way without your permission.

Public Domain: Your story can be printed, adapted, turned into a movie, tv show, etc. by anyone without your permission.

I would love to explain the others, but this is already getting ridiculously long.

Anyways, don't steal from others. We will find you. Always ask authors for permission before using their work in any way. If you see a story that is suspiciously similar to your own that also happens to update just a little later than all of your chapters do, don't jump to conclusions. Ask the author about it (or at least try to reach out—R.I.P pms) and try to get the situation sorted out. If not, report and hope for the best.

Remember, your ideas are beautiful, and much more unique than something someone else made with your name on it. The feeling of making a story yourself from the ground up is something I couldn't possibly imagine describing. Don't waste the chance on copying someone else's homework.

~•~

1171 words

"I way too tired to edit this :p Do you guys agree with me on this one? If there's one thing i know isn't controversial it's that (when done on purpose) copying another book is unacceptable. Cheese and crackers, I sound like a school teacher. Anyways, vote if you agreed, comment your thoughts, and I'll see you next chapter!"

- Coffee