Let's see if I can do this.
Let's start with this:
pla·gia·rism
noun \ˈplā-jə-ˌri-zəm also -jē-ə-\
: the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person : the act of plagiarizing something
I have spoken to fellow fanfiction author, Lissa Bryan about this and she has given me permission to quote her in this post. I'll try my best to make this as clear and concise as possible.
At approximately 9:45 PST, I received a PM from a reader, that for their sake will remain nameless. The reader took about 4 paragraphs to bash me and my current story, The Siren's Song.
The reader is implying that I not only stole the idea of the mermaid from Ms. Bryan, but also that I have used some of her premises and sentence structures.
Quote: "The fact that you have Bella as a mermaid and her and Edward destined to fall in love is a blatant rip off of The Selkie Wife and you should be ashamed of yourself. You think you're some great writer, but you're just a copycat and you should just give up!!!!"
Four exclamation points....FOUR!!!!
Honestly, that's the tamest thing this person wrote to me. While I truly loved The Selkie Wife and I wait patiently like everyone else for new chapters to the sequel, I would first like to point out the most obvious of differences.
1.) The Selkie Wife is set during the reign of "Bloody" Mary Tudor. The Siren's Song is set in present day.
2.) While anyone (including myself) could argue that there isn't much difference, selkies, mermaids, sirens.....there isn't much difference other than the legends and regions they originate from. I have created (in my mind) a legend that pulls from all of them for the purpose of my story. Ms. Bryan focuses solely on the legend of selkies.
3.) Not to freak anyone out, but seeing as I'm only six chapters in, who says that Edward and Bella are destined to fall in love. I love a good HEA as much as the next person, and I tend to write them, but to assume that everything will end up being sunshine and rainbows in the end is stupid.
I remain somewhat of an unknown writer in the great scheme of things in the fandom, and for the most part I prefer it that way. I can write and share my ideas purely for the creative outlet. If someone were to write a Twilight ghost story (done many times over!), would I have the right to say that they copied me? Absolutely not. If they were a fan of my story The Walk, and inspired them, that's great!
Lissa said it best: "Here's the thing: if one of my stories inspires someone to go write their own tale about aliens, or angels, or selkies, or anything like that, I am DELIGHTED by it! That's what fanfiction is all about! Inspiring one another to build our own tales and share them with each other. I think it's wonderful."
Well my stars! Someone who just wants others to be inspired! AH-Mazing!
I thank Lissa for her kindness and support. I admire her as an author and I appreciate her candor in regards to this.
She also had this say: "These old fairy tales are far older than we are, and they've been written about hundreds of times. We're all taking these old tales and re-imagining them as new stories. That's the joy of fanfic."
If we want to nitpick, isn't The Walt Disney Company just a bunch of plagiarists? I do not ever want someone to think that just because the subject matter may be the same, that a story is plagiarized.
As I sit here writing this I can tell you that the tears have subsided. I reported the reader for their threats against me, and I'm going to have a large cup of coffee.
I ask that you readers compare the two stories......and see just how dissimilar they are.
Again, many thanks to Lissa Bryan. Her kindness and support is always appreciated. If you haven't had the privilege of reading her work, please do yourself a favor and get to reading.
And a special thanks to my readers who have stuck by me while I'm busy with nursing school and the stories have gone a bit to the way side. You all are the best!
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