Today I am feeling particularly bitter for no apparent reason, so I decided to make a chapter where I rant about all the times I have been plagiarized. Or, at least, all the times that I can remember.
I'm going to attempt to do them chronologically, but since a lot of them were so long ago, the timeline may not be so secure.
INSTANCE #1
Let's rewind all the way to 2016. This one hurt the most because not only was it my first time experiencing plagiarism, but it was done by someone I considered a friend. This so-called "friend" made a new Bellamy Blake fic and tagged me in it, so of course I checked it out. And it was suspiciously similar to Conflate.
It was obvious from the first line. In the prologue of Conflate, Fallon is sneaking around the Ark to deliver a bracelet to her best friend, Clarke, made out of materials that she'd stolen. It not only establishes their friendship, but also hints to readers how reckless Fallon is getting in her thievery, which eventually leads to her getting caught and being put in the SkyBox. This fic started off with the exact same thing in the prologue— AND I STILL HAVE SOME OF THE TEXT.
Here's how Conflate starts:
"I RUN THROUGH THE corridors of the Ark as soundlessly as I can, my feet barely making any noise as I swiftly move on the metal floor. I have taught myself to walk and run this way over time, even through the adrenaline coursing through my veins; it's one of the things that prevents me from getting caught.
I slow to a stop in front of a gray door that would be identical to everyone else's if it wasn't for the name Griffin in a card slot on the front. I'm in Alpha Station — where the Privileged live — which is quite a distance away from where I live in Walden. Running all this way is necessary, though— it's my best friend's birthday."
And here's how the other book started:
"My feet skidded hurriedly as I had a small smile on my face.
The Ark was cool, the air sending mediocre shivers and tingles through my skin. Nah, it was probably from the excitement. Today, it was my friend Clarke Griffin's sixteenth birthday. She's been my playmate since we were in diapers, so I guess that's why we became friends."
Keep in mind that she TAGGED ME IN THIS!!! Like... did she not think that I would immediately notice the fact that the prologue was the exact same concept as mine??? I was befuddled. Astonished. Reading it had me like:
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BUT THE SIMILARITIES DIDN'T STOP THERE!!!! As if the prologue wasn't enough, she also included, almost word-for-word, an original conversation I'd written between Fallon and Octavia in chapter one. Fallon is seated next to her on the dropship and she's the first friend Fallon makes out of the other delinquents. I don't know if the author was trying to use my fic as a transcript or something, but her OC was using all of Fallon's lines, just paraphrased, and I couldn't believe my eyes. Plus the reunion between her OC and Clarke was basically the Fallarke reunion 2.0. Fallon got wounded by the river monster and so did her OC.
