Biggest Wattpad Pet Peeves

Fake Writers

And now for the third and final installment of my "Fake" series: Fake writers.

'But,' I can practically hear you asking, 'How can someone even be a fake writer?'

Simple. It's called plagiarism.

In case you haven't heard the word (which you probably have, since if you're a Wattpadder, you're probably a writer, and it's one of every published writer's greatest fear), it means to claim someone else's work as your own. In other words, stealing their ideas.

Have you ever heard that copying is a form of flattery, because it means they admire you? Yeah, no, not the case. At all. That only applies when your younger sibling is pretending to be a parrot and repeating every single little thing you say. Thanks, parents, for teaching plagiarizers that copying is a good thing. (It's okay, parents. I know it's not really your fault. They should know better.)

Plagiarism is one of the highest insults that you can give. Plagiarizers basically think, "Oh hey, you wrote this? Cool, I'm gonna repost it and take all the credit for it. 'Cause I don't respect you or your efforts at all. Deal with it."

Plagiarism is sick. And I don't mean that in a good way. I've only seen a plagiarized work once (because real authors usually have loyal fans who take care of the problem, thankfully), and it made me sick.

The plagiarized author is an excellent writer, and I was so mad for her when she told her fans that her work was plagiarized. (She handled it very well though, for the record.)

The fake author had literally posted the same story word for word, just with different names. She kept saying things like, "Oh, I hope you like this, I worked so hard on it!" "I already have the whole thing written, so I will update regularly :)" "Some of the chapters don't flow really well, but the story will still be good, promise!" (Note: I paraphrased these, as the actual plagiarism has thankfully been removed so I can't refer back to it.) That last one made me so angry. I couldn't believe she had the nerve to criticize the work she was stealing!

But the responses made me even angrier.

Everyone was telling her, "Oh, you really outdid yourself with this one!" "This is absolutely wonderful!" "This is so good, I can't wait to read more!" *gag* I literally choked reading those. (Well, not literally since I'd probably be dead now if I did, but you know what I mean.)

You can't imagine how happy I was to see one of the real author's fans posting something like, "I can't believe you! This work is not yours. To all her fans, this has been plagiarized!" I saw that this particular fan became a member of that site (not Wattpad) that same day, just to tell the fan off, and I was so proud of her even though I didn't know her. I honestly considered doing the same thing, although mine would have been worthy of the Most Intense Rant of the Year Award.

Dramatic pause to prepare readers for rant.

(I know I don't like caps, so this shows you just how angry I was.)

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT STEALING SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK?! YOU LAZY BUTT, DID YOU KNOW THAT WHAT YOU DID IS ILLEGAL? I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!! YOU'VE FOOLED ALL OF YOUR PRECIOUS FANS, BUT YOU DIDN'T FOOL ME! I KNOW YOU'RE JUST A FAKE, AND I PLAN TO EXPOSE YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW FOR THE FRAUD THAT YOU ARE! YOU IMBECILE! YOU BETTER TAKE THIS DOWN RIGHT THIS SECOND, ADMIT THE TRUTH TO EVERYONE, AND APOLOGIZE TO THE AUTHOR WHOSE WORK YOU STOLE, OR ELSE!! I'M NOT AS NICE AS I SEEM, YOU KNOW! I WILL MAKE YOU MISERABLE, YOU THIEF!

Okay, so we all know I wouldn't have the guts to actually post that, but I was certainly thinking it in my head as I saw the comments.

And even after the fan defended the real author, people kept commenting on how good of a writer the plagiarizer was. I died then. There is no hope for the human race.

Here's a word to potential plagiarizers, if my rant earlier wasn't enough. Don't you dare even think about it, or I will hunt you down. Plagiarism is a serious offense, it's against the law, and when (not if) you're found out, everyone will hate you. Including me. And you don't want me to hate you, now do you?

If you're too lazy to write your own works, then get off of Wattpad, now. No one wants you here. You don't deserve to be here.

I'm intentionally being harsh. Plagiarizers shouldn't be dealt with leniently, lest they do it again.

Sorry if I happened to offend anyone who is NOT a plagiarizer with my harshness (although if you're not a plagiarizer, you have nothing to worry about, so you probably won't be offended.)