𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎, SPAM ¹

* . 18 ━ ᵃ ᵖˢᵃ ᵒⁿ ᵖˡᵃᵍⁱᵃʳⁱˢᵐ.

alright, so this is a psa. it'll be a lot more serious than any of my other spam chapters

i've been getting pretty irritated about this lately, because it's a topic i'm passionate about and it happens so frequently on wattpad that i'm pissed off. i've been making so many rant tweets and posts about it & only just realised, wait, i've never actually posted about it here, which this book is like for, so here we go.

plagiarism is NOT OKAY. idk who needs to hear this, but it's NOT. not in any form. i guess i'll be making a chapter about this in my writing tips book since some people really just seem to not understand, but let me lay it out for you. copying aspects of someone's story, fic, characters, plots, playlists, aesthetics, graphics, layouts, is never okay. you cannot just steal someone's work, change some tiny aspects, and call it your own. this is such a big issue on wattpad bc people think they can get away with it easily. well, you won't. so many of my mutuals have been plagiarised recently, i've seen DIRECT PARAGRAPHS copied with a few words changes. exact plots. and then ??? people are just like ?? well i changed a few things so it's not "stealing" ??? um ?? YES IT IS

this isn't to call anyone out, i'm not trying to start a fight. i'm just venting. but if you think that stealing other creators' hard work is okay, then boy do you have it coming for you. now, i could go on about this all day (& will in my writing tips chapter for ppl who genuinely don't understand plagiarism) but i'm mainly here to talk abt my own experience with it. bc i've been hella frustrated and upset lately.

again, i'm not calling anyone out. just be,,, respectful, ig ?? like please don't steal my ideas from my fics. i work super hard on them and try incredibly hard to be original, and it really hurts to see them plagiarised. pls be understanding and don't copy them.

now with this, i'm only referring to ones that i have proof for. as in, people i know have read my books bc they've voted/commented, who've then gone ahead and copied my fic. unless something is SO OBVIOUSLY ripped or you have proof they've read your book, it's not always plagiarism. like, i've come across a few books on wattpad before (only after i wrote dreamwalker) that have also used sara hopper as the main protagonist. and i know that they haven't copied me bc these accounts have never interacted with me before, or their plots are very different! in fact, i met one of my most cherished wattpad friends bc she also had a sara hopper book posted!! (that was in no way plagiarised, and had no connection to my book). the problem comes when i know you've voted or commented on my story, and then i see that you've since posted a book that uses my main original ideas. that really hurts :(

i'm not saying i own sara hopper, or the moonmaiden and selûne ties, but they are technically my own creation in reference to stranger things fics. like they're one i haven't seen anyone really use before (apart from the few other fics that expanded on the concept of sara hopper, which are obviously fine & haven't interacted w/ me before). and so when someone uses all those concepts or a few of the major ones after being a mutual, or a reader of dreamwalker, or friends with me, where i can tell it's directly copied, that's very upsetting. 

and i know that because dreamwalker has over 520k reads it's going to be under more people's radars and is easier to plagiarise, especially since i can't keep tabs on all my readers (and don't want to — i don't want to be paranoid!). and bc of that it seems that ppl think it's free for the taking ??? "this book has so many views, it's okay to copy" NO IT'S NOT!! it's not for dreamwalker or for any wattpad author's work !! us having that many views doesn't mean it's free for the taking, it's still my hard work and i've worked so hard on that damn story and it's so near to my heart that of course i'm going to be protective over it. it's my favourite story i've ever written and is what single-handedly got me back into writing. it's not just a story you can take. no matter if you're a stranger, a mutual, or a friend. it's not yours.