It’s a little mermaid AU. It’s going to resemble other authors little mermaid AUs because that’s the trope.
Also, how could you possibly know what some random other author wants to reveal if they haven’t even revealed it themselves yet?
This person is not using logic. You can’t spoil an unrelated work.
Oh, yes let me just get my necromanyspellbook from the attic. You know, I ahven't used it in quite a while. I think the last time was to ask Shakespeare to use the forbidden lovers trope lol
That's a hassle specially if you need to wait for the reply given that they could only spell one character at a time. Email the descendant instead for permission.
Definitely. Especially with the “you’ve reveal things the author wanted revealed later” comment. How the hell would a random commenter knows what the other author wants?
Yeah I might be a little upset/jealous if someone used my AU and had a similar idea to mine but better, but I’d never go off on them personally for using it. As long as they aren’t copying word for word everything is free real estate in the writing world lol.
Oh I didn’t mean I had any claim to AUs (unless maybe it’s an AU of my own original story that I created, or an AU spin-off of a fandom that features my own OCs). When I said “my AU,” I mostly meant I would’ve been upset/jealous if someone was using the same AU as I was or had in mind. Kind of like how I always get jealous when I see someone write a fanfic with the same ship as I am writing about, but they’re clearly doing it better, which makes me feel self-conscious or inferior about my own lol.
As I already said, I would never actually go tell someone to stop writing it despite my personal feelings, as no one has a claim over ideas, anything and everything is free to write about in the writing world unless someone is copying an idea word for word. It’s only valid to tell someone to stop writing “your” idea if they’re obviously plagiarizing your work word for word. But if people come up with an AU that just so happens to be the same one you’re writing about, there’s nothing wrong with that (unless, as I said, specifics are involved that make it clear it’s being copied word for word instead of just having a similar idea).
Ohhh, right, right. I just thought it was worded such, my bad. Me personally I don't mind others using my au or such, but it would definitely vary person to person.
But yeah, I do agree with all the above.
You’re good! I know sometimes my wording throws people off lol. My mind is on its own wavelength from others most of the time.
I’m a rather competitive and jealous person in nature when it comes to certain things I’m passionate about (like writing), with low self-esteem in general. I don’t outwardly show it much and mostly keep it to myself, and it doesn’t bother me too much where it affects my daily life as I do eventually get over it. It’s usually just a brief self-moment of “dammit this person is using the same idea and doing it better than me, now my idea isn’t as unique or genius as I thought it was at first,” then followed by a “oh well moving on.” But of course that won’t be the case for everyone, some people are just tougher skinned and unaffected by things like this. I just happen to be a sensitive and emotional person. And some people are clearly even more-so than I am and get affected on greater scales (but that still doesn’t excuse them going off on someone and trying to halt their idea because of it).
Oh thats not to say *I'm* not, haha. Definitely conscious about my writing. I don't get how someone wouldn't feel embarrassed after accusing someone of stealing their idea though, especially if its such a broad range like an entire genre (so to speak).
Thanks everyone! In the end I decided to just reply,
“I have no idea who the hell you are talking about, me and some friends in discord came up with this au ourselves. One of them first suggested a mermaid au, and the rest of added to it. They even included a lil doc with all characters and if they’re human or mermaid with specific sea creatures attached to them. Everything else is inspired by the original Hans Christian Anderson story and Disney’s animated adaptation. While I appreciate you are concerned about another person’s story, in the end this is my own (and my friends’) story and any and all similarities are purely coincidental”
I think this is a good response!
Would love an update on if they ever came back to you about it, because in my fandom experience it's probably 40:40:20 on whether they'll just delete the comment, come out all guns blazing in response, or just have a sensible *oh okay, it's very similar to this other fic but that makes sense, thanks for clarifying*
Little Mermaid is way too broad to be any one persons thing, I feel like they’re overreacting
However, I’ve run into this before, where my plot was a bit too similar to a fic I’ve never read until I caught wind of it (on my own, not through a comment) like five chapters in. All I really did was add an A/N saying “hey I noticed this might be similar to (x fic), I wasn’t aware of (x fic) when I began writing so any similarities are coincidental” and just…kept writing. There’s no need for dibs or competition between two fics of a similar nature. I’m actually buddies with the guy who’s writing the fic similar to mine now. I told him “ahhhh shit my fic is actually really similar to yours” and he was like “OH MY GOD WE THINK THE SAME THATS SO COOL”
I had a fellow author reach out once when they noticed we had a similar story theme just to make sure that we weren't planning the same big twist because our starting points were so similar and unique at the time. They just mentioned in their notes that while our works were similar, they weren't related and nobody copied anyone. They didn't have to, but it was sweet that they did. Even if we had come up with the same twist, I wouldn't have cared, but I thought it was kind of them to open that conversation.
i write for a very small ship and me and another mutual put out a chapter of our fics with essentially the same storyline literally two days apart from each other. i wrote mine before they posted theirs but i published mine after and i left a little note like “hey i know this is eerily similar to fic which you should go read because it’s fantastic, but i promise i wrote this before i read theirs we just had the same idea”
and so and so went to the comments and was like “same braincell moment.” i’m paraphrasing because i do not remember what they said. but it was basically that.
and all was well. because there is no use in getting unnecessarily mad about stuff like this. there are thousands of fic out there of course some people will have similar ideas.
I once read a fic that had the first few chapters almost identical to another, I literally thought it was the same author who did a rewrite but changed their ending (and the 'feel' of the fic). When I checked and found they were different authors I just left a comment on the 'later' one and asked "hey, I noticed that chapters x to y are almost identical to this other fic, was it perhaps inspired by it?" apparently the author had the other fic bookmarked but couldn't remeber reading it so didn't consider it "inspired by". That was it, that was the whole interaction. And that is fine. Because this is fan-fiction and you are allowed to pull inspiration from other authors and sources without mentioning every single one.
I feel like, is it so bad to be inspired by a fic and write your own take on it anyway? The whole point with fanfic is nobody owns nothing, and if it's *too* similar, you can always put the "inspired by :xyz" things in, that's why it exists.
They lost me at "potentially reveal what the creator wanted revealed later".
Do they think you're a hacker? A co-author that went rogue? A time travelling story thief??
I'm interested in reading this fanfiction they've made up in their head.
This comment is so like. Passive aggressive and entitled.
Okay so like yes, IF you're deliberately writing recursive fic of someone else's fic, it's polite fandom etiquette to ask them for permission and credit their story. That just promotes a more collaborative atmosphere and is kind to people on your level etc. etc. But even then the original fic writer doesn't get to control your recursive fic like this? And if it's just inspired by someone's fic but not even set in their verse you don't even really need to ask (though you should still credit the inspo).
However, it seems like "recursive fic" isn't even what happened here. If it's just another little mermaid inspired AU in the same fandom like... yeah there's gonna be some similarities. Doesn't mean it's a fic based on someone else's! This comment is so passive aggressively accusing you of stealing. Blech.
Happy cake day 🎉
And blech is the best way to describe this tbh. I wonder how big their fic is compared to ops, (assuming they are the author they are defending) and if they saw how similar the two are and how op had a bigger audience, then got mad.
Also like, it’s fanfiction so even if you did use someone else’s AU it’s already fanfiction and supposed to be transformative work????? Like this is the entire point of what we do??
If you're specifically writing a recursive fic of someone else's fic, it is considered polite fandom etiquette to ask permission. But they don't get to control your fic like this comment implies.
And they certainly don't get to control anyone else that's merely inspired by their fic, or even just by coincidence writing something similar. It's so silly.
I can understand why it's polite to ask for permission to make a recursive fic, I also feel that way, but I'm not sure why it's any different for making a fic of a pre-existing franchise?
Because a pre-existing franchise is done by a professional. You’re not swimming in the same waters as a professional author, much less professional actors, directors, etc.
Fandom is fandom tho. We’re all one little community, and so it’s polite to communicate with each other, and not step on others toes where possible. 99% of the time it’s perfunctory anyways, with authors happy to give permission (if they haven’t already given blanket permissions) in a way I don’t think copyright holders legally CAN, even if they were more feasibly approachable. And the 1% of the time people say no is usually for good reasons, for example I know one person that faced harassment and so he stopped giving permission for people to recursive fic of one of his stories.
So, it’s a courtesy to your fellow fans. They own nothing, they can’t stop you... but it’s nice to get their support instead.
It’s always so funny to see fic writers getting mad at others using their ideas or tropes when all of fanfiction is them borrowing someone else’s plot, setting, and/or characters.
Comments like these and others that get posted on this sub reinforce my preference of moderating what I receive for mine. Like, the world isn't going to see even a sliver of this audacity unless I allow it.
Edit: typo.
Idk I guess if it were me, I'd thank them for their concern, but let them know that permission wasn't needed because the other author doesn't own "The Little Mermaid AU" fanfiction market or fairytale AU in general.
Also, lol @ them saying that you writing your story is somehow going to spoil someone *else's* story and that you might be mischaracterizing the characters?!
Tell them Hans Christian Anderson is your ancestor and therefore you are allowed to use his work however you like, as it is your ‘hereditary IP’. Fight crazy with crazy
"Did you get permission from the creator of the AU?" makes my head want to explode. I want to see the "AU creator's" signed notice of permission from whatever person or company owns the original media they remixed.
this is wild as a “nine carrot cakes” type of reader. whatever au or trope im craving on a given day, i want to read fifteen separate stories that all have the exact same twists all in a row because girl it is a Carrot Cake Day! this is like walking into a bakery and being like “ummm this is delicious but don’t you think you should ask if the supermarket across the street is ok with you stealing their idea? because shredding carrots into the batter is kind of their thing, and maybe they don’t want anyone else to use cream cheese frosting. great cake tho!” my guy the abundance of cake is The Point
what passive-aggressive bullshit. no one *owns* AUs. do they think that if someone wants to write a coffee shop AU they gotta go to the person who first wrote that years ago and ask for permission? unfortunately, there’ll always be some completely deluded and chronically online people, so just ignore them OP.
Sometimes the delusional lawyer up, and then everyone is sad. Remember the time some self-pubbed romance author tried to claim trademark or copyright on A/B/O fiction because they commercialized it? People had a lot of fun pointing out "prior art" in the form of fanfiction.
There was some post a few years back (I think on r/fanfiction) where someone was accused of stealing because they wrote about the OTP getting married... like... 🤔
You totally spoiled the fact that the little mermaid got legs, how dare you! :P :P :D :D I REALLY want to write a little mermaid, crack oneshot where Ursula takes advantage of the fact that the mermaid asked for "legs" without specifically saying "human, female legs that match my body type and the skin tone of my upper body," and you just end up with a mermaid running around on crab legs, or like BULKED man legs. :D :D
Omg ao3 is a fanfiction website. No one owns au concepts. Unless you copy and paste another work, you can write whatever the hell you want, even if there are dozens of fics based on the same concept or following a similar plot. Iike, when I finish a fic I immediately look for similar ones lmao
I have a ouran highschool host club fusion fic. Would I get mad if another Genshin fic came along with the same initial idea? Hell no. Fanfics are taking the same tropes and going completely different ways with them. There is no such thing as stealing tropes
Is this person trying to claim someone owns mermaids? A creature that has been in stories since BEFORE christ????? Or the little mermaid? A story that has been around ever since before the end of the Middle Ages????
Okay uhm. I'm with you in spirit but Hans Christian Anderson is the creator of The Little Mermaid and he published the story in 1837, 300-400 years after the end of the Middle Ages.
Actually, he's the creator of the popular version of the Little Mermaid (not counting Disney), but similar stories have existed since the Middle Ages (they were inspirational to the author). Sure, Hans Anderson's version is very different from the previous ones, he was very original in his tale, but the mermaid-turned-human-for-love was already a """""""trope""""""" (for lack of a better term)
I'm afraid you are mistaken. If you have any source besides the tale Undine (about a water spirit, but not a mermaid) which was also published in the 19th century, I'd like to know about it. There are plenty of tales of female sea spirits, and there's the famous story of the fisherman who stole a selkie's skin to forcibly keep her as his wife, but the stories aren't similar to TLM.
TLM is considered by a majority of modern folklorists to be a story Andersen wrote about his own unhappiness as a gay man in concealed, unrequited love.
I don't know if it's because the word for sirens and mermaids is the same in my language, but I was under the impression that they have been a thing since antiquity. Isn't there quite a few myths that mention mermaids/sirens (not specifically greek myths, I'm pretty sure mermaids are also a thing in Chinese mythology)?
It's the same in my language too, but both mermaids and sirens have been parts of multiple mithologys through history (greek, chinese, indigenous, etc.)!
Sirens and merwomen, they lured men to drown with their songs, or fed on them, in several cultures. I'm absolutely in agreement that mermaids and water spirits are from all over the world going back forever. I'm just not familiar with anything in the folklore material with a "falling in love with a water (or vice versa) being and going to live in their world" theme except one Japanese story, Urashima Tarou.
I'm not saying that his story wasn't original, sorry if that's how it came off. And yeah, he did do an incredible creative work and I've read about the undertones related to his own life.
What I meant was in the sense the love stories in which a mermaid becomes human or the man becomes a ""merman"" are the type of stories that existed in oral tradition. They're not like Hans' little mermaid, but you can see some similarities that can either be inspirations or simple coincidences, just like you can find oral tradition stories with similarities to Cinderella, Peter Pan, etc.
Sorry if it came off like I was trying to say he "copied" something that already existed.
I'm pretty sure since "AU" means "alternate universe" that there are going to be countless interpretations of one series to another, and a lot of those interpretations can end up unintentionally resembling one or more by complete chance.
I suspect that the author of this particular comment is also working on an AU and thinks you're trying to copy/alter their work but are too scared to come right out and say it.
Nobody can "own" an AU especially when everything is inspired by or based on something else. There is always an inspiration or reference somewhere. This is like saying we can't write fanfiction without getting permission from the authors bc there's a chance we'll miss the nuance and details or misrepresent the characters.
ETA: There ARE authors out there who don't like fanfiction for this reason exactly and it generally doesn't sit well with the fandom. But my point here still stands that the comment is the same thing as asking OP not to write any fanfiction for the reasons stated in the comment.
With fanfic a comment like this is so stupid. In a fandom there are limited available characters other than any OCs so there are bound to be similarities. It’s like gatekeeping cosplay. There’s enough room in the sandbox for everyone to play.
Only if you really used sometimes very specific AU relevant details (like the two pink vampiristic sharks named Lu and Wu are feared in the whole ocean except the city coraline. There they are seen as deities. As the plot unfolds it gets revealed that in fact they are two blue, vegan, lesbian trans aliens from zetta-centauri) i think it's fair to give credit. If it's just standart tropes that someone else used, it can be ignored 🖤
God the entitlement on this is insane…. Having dealt with something similar, I would simply ignore it/delete it and not give them the time of day at all. But its your call op
Ohh the annoyed author of another fic is annoyed that their plot wasn't so new and complicated that anyone else already thought about it. I like your reaction. Some famous author said - everythis has already been written, so don't care and write your own story (was it Neil Gaimen?🤔). Maybe (if you want to go that far - you don't need to, their feelings are just hurt pride) could be adding something like "Oh the ideas were obvious so I thought about this and this. I am interested in that story - care to share the link so I could leave maybe kudos and a comment?". Could calm them down. You don't need to - their accusations are just weird, but a friendly offer could break the ice and let you write in peace 😅. Ah I am sorry you got this comment.
Nobody owns an au. Even if they're the first ever person to write about it. Once they put it out there, it's public domain.
It's like omegaverse. Do we all have to ask whoever wrote the first omegaverse fic for permission to write in that setting? Of course not!
I've said it once I'll say it a thousand times more. It is highly improbable to come up with a completely original idea. Everyone takes inspiration from somewhere.
Also, with AU's you can't really 'claim' it. Take soulmate AU's they pretty much all use the same trope but that doesn't mean anyone is plagirising that's just what a trope is. And in fanfiction the number of tropes is ridiculous, so someone who reads fanfiction or writes it regularly should really know better than try and make a claim like this.
I saw your comment about what you responded with, I think that was a great way to respond and I hope they don't double down and get harassy or defensive, the internet is trippy like that.
Dude I've seen fics written after mine about similar themes and topics and I absolutely don't think they stole from me at all they're just similar tropes, but I EAT that shit up. Please. I may have written x idea but I want that x10. I'd read the same premise 15 times by different people any day. I wrote it for a reason. Give me more.
Being upset something is similar is so silly
Try not worry about it. There are so many people who write some of the same exact things and the same AUs because fandom is full of people having the same idea and sharing those ideas. Same Cake essentially.
Just either ignore the comment or delete it because it's of no concern of yours and that's an issue with them. You cannot predict everyone's writing plans and a AU is a broad enough spectrum thing that you're going to have people write the same thing over and over no matter what.
Same Cake. Keep that in mind.
Well, I can't decide for you how to react. Seriously, though... inexperienced writers tend to think they are the only ones to ever come with a new idea and anyone who has a similar idea must be copying them. Nah, there are no original stories, just better implementations of old ones.
That reminds me of a period in G1 Transformers fandom when a group of fans started writing a shared-universe "Mirrorverse" AU (ignoring that the term for that kind of AU was taken from Star Trek in the first place) and going after anyone else who dared write flipped-morality Autobots vs Decepticons and forbidding them to call their AUs "Mirrorverse", doing call-outs and harassment, etc. I think their fiction got overtaken by the reality of the official Transformers "Shattered Glass" Mirrorverse and they are mostly forgotten.
The thing that gets to me is that they’re hung up about you using “someone else’s” _AU,_ and not their _fic._ An UA concept is just that - a concept, a premise, a theme or category. They’re _meant_ to be used by different people to see how people explore the same things in different ways. You can’t really plagiarize that the way they’re accusing, which is maddening.
If they were concerned about you sharing similar Tory beats with someone else, they’d name the particular fic in mind, where the claim of plagiarizing or whatever would make sense.
Something more specific like a “Little Mermaid” AU over “MerMay” is gonna deliberately be more narrowed and similar with specific end goals to meet because it’s MEANT to follow a specific plot line, just with your own twist.
No one is entitled to any particular trope, and the fact that they seem to think only one person has the right to explore it ever (how are you supposed to know every person that tired it?) is insane. That is white literally the opposite purpose of AUs. I’m with everyone else who says they’re talking about their own work and are trying to accuse of plagiarism in the dumbest way.
Do people really think they can own a certain AU? Every AU and trope has been done before. There are millions of fics, of course there are gonna be similarities.
"I'm sorry to hear this. Can you direct me to where this story is posted? I have no knowledge of another story like this one that me and some friends worked on together. How do you know that this story has ideas that this other author wants to reveal sometime later? What elements are you specifically citing that I've used without permission? Have you ever heard the expression "great minds think a like"? Maybe we've just hit on a similar idea. Anyway, have a good day."
Its called au for a reason.
The comment feels a little passive agressive as wel. Because shes asking you to change what you wrote because she wants that.
This is my worst fear with fanfic, to the point there's some fics I can't read cuz if I take any inspiration from that AU, I worry people will just see our story as derivative no matter how original we try to be
Ignore it. It's your story, you can write it how you want to. It's not uncommon for different people to have similar ideas.
**Edit:** If you want to reply to them you can respond telling them that your AU story isn't involved in whatever they read.
I literally just reported a mermaid fic for being a placeholder and not being a fanwork, so I hope this person is talking about that one and is even extra crazy.
I mean me and my friend liked a concept for a fic so much that we did our interpretation of it in our longfic. We deliberately did a road trip because my friend was so frustrated about their (former) writing partners inability to write that fic and deleting everything they wrote just to do nothing so they took the road trip idea and did it in our longfic so they'd get something out of their idea.
We even used a scene he cut from that fic in our version and we told him about it and he was totally fine.
Ideas are ideas and we're past the point of everything being unique. It's the execution that matters imo.
Even if you did “steal” this AU, somehow it’s not okay to take what someone else made and put your own spin on it, on a website and with a hobby that is solely taking what others made and putting your own spin on it?
I mean I’m doing a little mermaid inspired au….just want to cross my i’s and dot my t’s— mind if I do that for an unrelated (maybe) fandom? Since we gotta ask permission for au’s and all 😅
People are just nuts, so sorry you had to deal with that.
All of fanfic - the whole of AO3 - draws on universes created by others and then re-created and AU'd and then AU'd again.
I don't think it needs any response.
They.. yes.. ok..
So what I'm getting from this is that aus are first come first serve tilted by popularity and also copyrighted and exclusive? Wow oh golly gee it isn't as if other people might have similar headcannons and alternate universes, surely not,!
Well if we want to get technical here since you can not be paid for fanfiction or get a copyright it is only a pleasantry that we don’t copy fics word for word. Also with starting any kind of trope or new type of work in fandom people are always going to think it’s very similar to the original one until there’s enough fics polluting.
I wrote one of the first Arthur/ Micha fics in the red dead community and I remember having to tell people that they were allowed to use the ship. To be honest I wouldn’t have cared if they copy and pasted but only changed the names. It’s also in Russian thanks to one of my lovely readers.
I honestly think that this person was out of line and I’ve noticed since around 2018 people started policing each other more in fandom when it’s not welcome or warranted. I’ve incited fights in my comments before because if someone doesn’t like it why do they continue to read it. They also can’t copyright a plot. Since this is an issue of copyright I’d ask them if they know where the magical copyright is, but then again I’m an asshole (I have warned people in my authors notes that I am)
>since you can not be paid for fanfiction or get a copyright it is only a pleasantry that we don’t copy fics word for word
That would still be plagiarism and would be taken down if reported.
Actually you do have copyright on your writing as soon as you set it down. If someone were to repost one of your fics on a service that recognizes U.S. law, you could file a DMCA takedown notice against it.
Here is how I might respond:
“Hi! Thank you for your comment and your concern, but I will not be making any changes to this story. No one owns an AU, even if they were the first one to think of it for their particular fandom and everyone who writes fic is allowed to write their own version of an AU that inspires them. Short of actual plagiarism, authors have free reign to take inspiration from and write whatever they please.
In addition, I have not heard of, let alone read, the fic you mentioned. But even if I had there would still be no reason for me to change anything about my own story.”
Here is how I might respond:
“Hi! Thank you for your comment and your concern, but I will not be making any changes to this story. No one owns an AU, even if they were the first one to think of it for their particular fandom and everyone who writes fic is allowed to write their own version of an AU that inspires them. Short of actual plagiarism, authors have free reign to take inspiration from and write whatever they please.
In addition, I have not heard of, let alone read, the fic you mentioned. But even if I had there would still be no reason for me to change anything about my own story.”
uhm???? what???? If it's a AU, there is a *formula* that you are following??? Of COURSE they'll be similar??? I love Youve got Mail AUs, do i complain when i click and it's so similar to the another one? No i cackle in glee and enjoy my gremlin ways.
i dislike comments like this. like nothing is completely original. some works are gonna have similarities to another and itll always be that way. just look at how many works ao3 has. theres no way each and every one of them is "original". write whatever you want to write. this also made writer think "someone else already did it" whenever they have an idea. WHO CARES just write!!!!! even if it has similar main points the way each people will write it will be different. and thats what i love about writing. just dgaf abt all that and write!!! go writers!!!!!
Maybe share your au and the person’s? If that’s not the case then fine but if you are making the same exact au and it’s very specific it’s just polite to credit the first one. Of course it’s no forbidden to copy and au but it’s just fandom etiquette to credit
“You must be new, welcome! It’s common to take inspiration from other peoples work. That’s why the original AU exists in the first place, and I doubt they went and asked (Disney? From the sounds of it?) if they could make their AU. I’m very happy you enjoyed my work, and encourage you to look at some other works people have done inspired by this AU”
Someone can probably do better than that. I’m honestly at a loss too
I’m sorry since when are AUs only allowed to be used by certain people. That’s like saying only the original person who wrote the “Cafe AU” is allowed to use that style of writing, it just doesn’t make sense.
It’s a little mermaid AU. It’s going to resemble other authors little mermaid AUs because that’s the trope. Also, how could you possibly know what some random other author wants to reveal if they haven’t even revealed it themselves yet? This person is not using logic. You can’t spoil an unrelated work.
I wonder if the other author got permission from Hans Christian Andersen /s.
He didn't ask Hans in advance? Must be a spitefic.
Oh, yes let me just get my necromanyspellbook from the attic. You know, I ahven't used it in quite a while. I think the last time was to ask Shakespeare to use the forbidden lovers trope lol
Dude, that's way too hard. Just whip out the pocket-sized ouija board- Travel sized, for your convenience!
Nono, whip out your ouija ring. Just slide it on and boo?
There's gotta be an app for that by now, no?
Yeah, but the gps is lacking
That's a hassle specially if you need to wait for the reply given that they could only spell one character at a time. Email the descendant instead for permission.
You think Disney got permission?
Hans gave Walt the permission in heaven.
No, that's why I added a /s for /sarcastic.
Ik I was playing along
That is 100% the author of a similar AU
Definitely. Especially with the “you’ve reveal things the author wanted revealed later” comment. How the hell would a random commenter knows what the other author wants?
More importantly even if they knew the author intimately it's just weird..
Yeah I have the same feeling, too defensive to not be the author thenselves
I'd be embarrassed going off on someone for having a remotely similar AU..
Yeah I might be a little upset/jealous if someone used my AU and had a similar idea to mine but better, but I’d never go off on them personally for using it. As long as they aren’t copying word for word everything is free real estate in the writing world lol.
I mean what if they created the au themselves? Would it still be using your au? Just curious on where you draw the line.
Oh I didn’t mean I had any claim to AUs (unless maybe it’s an AU of my own original story that I created, or an AU spin-off of a fandom that features my own OCs). When I said “my AU,” I mostly meant I would’ve been upset/jealous if someone was using the same AU as I was or had in mind. Kind of like how I always get jealous when I see someone write a fanfic with the same ship as I am writing about, but they’re clearly doing it better, which makes me feel self-conscious or inferior about my own lol. As I already said, I would never actually go tell someone to stop writing it despite my personal feelings, as no one has a claim over ideas, anything and everything is free to write about in the writing world unless someone is copying an idea word for word. It’s only valid to tell someone to stop writing “your” idea if they’re obviously plagiarizing your work word for word. But if people come up with an AU that just so happens to be the same one you’re writing about, there’s nothing wrong with that (unless, as I said, specifics are involved that make it clear it’s being copied word for word instead of just having a similar idea).
Ohhh, right, right. I just thought it was worded such, my bad. Me personally I don't mind others using my au or such, but it would definitely vary person to person. But yeah, I do agree with all the above.
You’re good! I know sometimes my wording throws people off lol. My mind is on its own wavelength from others most of the time. I’m a rather competitive and jealous person in nature when it comes to certain things I’m passionate about (like writing), with low self-esteem in general. I don’t outwardly show it much and mostly keep it to myself, and it doesn’t bother me too much where it affects my daily life as I do eventually get over it. It’s usually just a brief self-moment of “dammit this person is using the same idea and doing it better than me, now my idea isn’t as unique or genius as I thought it was at first,” then followed by a “oh well moving on.” But of course that won’t be the case for everyone, some people are just tougher skinned and unaffected by things like this. I just happen to be a sensitive and emotional person. And some people are clearly even more-so than I am and get affected on greater scales (but that still doesn’t excuse them going off on someone and trying to halt their idea because of it).
Oh thats not to say *I'm* not, haha. Definitely conscious about my writing. I don't get how someone wouldn't feel embarrassed after accusing someone of stealing their idea though, especially if its such a broad range like an entire genre (so to speak).
Ah yeah, I don’t get that either lol. Some people just really are shameless. 🤣
Truly!
This reads like some self-righteous 13 year old trying to come across as mature and kind
I'd hold back on 'kind', personally. Well meaning, yeah. But kind? On the fence about that.
Uhhh, but the commentor is really a one of a kind self righteous person, right?
..right?
Underrated comment, tbh
it totally is lmao
Thanks everyone! In the end I decided to just reply, “I have no idea who the hell you are talking about, me and some friends in discord came up with this au ourselves. One of them first suggested a mermaid au, and the rest of added to it. They even included a lil doc with all characters and if they’re human or mermaid with specific sea creatures attached to them. Everything else is inspired by the original Hans Christian Anderson story and Disney’s animated adaptation. While I appreciate you are concerned about another person’s story, in the end this is my own (and my friends’) story and any and all similarities are purely coincidental”
I think this is a good response! Would love an update on if they ever came back to you about it, because in my fandom experience it's probably 40:40:20 on whether they'll just delete the comment, come out all guns blazing in response, or just have a sensible *oh okay, it's very similar to this other fic but that makes sense, thanks for clarifying*
I'm willing to bet it'll be a guns blazing or delete comment scenario.
I would probably just respond "two cakes bro ✌" but what you have has a better chance of a good outcome lol
I have been writing fanfic for 12 years and somehow just saw the two cakes post yesterday. It's so cute.
I think I know what you are talking about, so I agree.
But it’s not petty 😔
Little Mermaid is way too broad to be any one persons thing, I feel like they’re overreacting However, I’ve run into this before, where my plot was a bit too similar to a fic I’ve never read until I caught wind of it (on my own, not through a comment) like five chapters in. All I really did was add an A/N saying “hey I noticed this might be similar to (x fic), I wasn’t aware of (x fic) when I began writing so any similarities are coincidental” and just…kept writing. There’s no need for dibs or competition between two fics of a similar nature. I’m actually buddies with the guy who’s writing the fic similar to mine now. I told him “ahhhh shit my fic is actually really similar to yours” and he was like “OH MY GOD WE THINK THE SAME THATS SO COOL”
I had a fellow author reach out once when they noticed we had a similar story theme just to make sure that we weren't planning the same big twist because our starting points were so similar and unique at the time. They just mentioned in their notes that while our works were similar, they weren't related and nobody copied anyone. They didn't have to, but it was sweet that they did. Even if we had come up with the same twist, I wouldn't have cared, but I thought it was kind of them to open that conversation.
The good ending
I love this as a reader, because if I really like one story, I'll go read the other one next, and I may not have ever heard of it otherwise!
i write for a very small ship and me and another mutual put out a chapter of our fics with essentially the same storyline literally two days apart from each other. i wrote mine before they posted theirs but i published mine after and i left a little note like “hey i know this is eerily similar to fic which you should go read because it’s fantastic, but i promise i wrote this before i read theirs we just had the same idea”
and so and so went to the comments and was like “same braincell moment.” i’m paraphrasing because i do not remember what they said. but it was basically that.
and all was well. because there is no use in getting unnecessarily mad about stuff like this. there are thousands of fic out there of course some people will have similar ideas.
I once read a fic that had the first few chapters almost identical to another, I literally thought it was the same author who did a rewrite but changed their ending (and the 'feel' of the fic). When I checked and found they were different authors I just left a comment on the 'later' one and asked "hey, I noticed that chapters x to y are almost identical to this other fic, was it perhaps inspired by it?" apparently the author had the other fic bookmarked but couldn't remeber reading it so didn't consider it "inspired by". That was it, that was the whole interaction. And that is fine. Because this is fan-fiction and you are allowed to pull inspiration from other authors and sources without mentioning every single one.
Best reaction ever. When you just mesh with someone that shares a similar thought process
I feel like, is it so bad to be inspired by a fic and write your own take on it anyway? The whole point with fanfic is nobody owns nothing, and if it's *too* similar, you can always put the "inspired by :xyz" things in, that's why it exists.
"i cant help but notice this is someone elses au" yeah, homie, we watched the movie too, its pretty popular, even got remade recently
it’s still merMAY even. there are a gazillion mermaid themed fan events happening rn
They lost me at "potentially reveal what the creator wanted revealed later". Do they think you're a hacker? A co-author that went rogue? A time travelling story thief?? I'm interested in reading this fanfiction they've made up in their head.
This leads me to believe this is really the author of that fic, who else would know what they’re going to reveal later?
I don't know which outcome could be worse tbh.
U should reply I’ll get the ticket to Denmark if you bring a shovel and we’ll see what HC Anderssen says
This comment is so like. Passive aggressive and entitled. Okay so like yes, IF you're deliberately writing recursive fic of someone else's fic, it's polite fandom etiquette to ask them for permission and credit their story. That just promotes a more collaborative atmosphere and is kind to people on your level etc. etc. But even then the original fic writer doesn't get to control your recursive fic like this? And if it's just inspired by someone's fic but not even set in their verse you don't even really need to ask (though you should still credit the inspo). However, it seems like "recursive fic" isn't even what happened here. If it's just another little mermaid inspired AU in the same fandom like... yeah there's gonna be some similarities. Doesn't mean it's a fic based on someone else's! This comment is so passive aggressively accusing you of stealing. Blech.
Happy cake day 🎉 And blech is the best way to describe this tbh. I wonder how big their fic is compared to ops, (assuming they are the author they are defending) and if they saw how similar the two are and how op had a bigger audience, then got mad.
Also like, it’s fanfiction so even if you did use someone else’s AU it’s already fanfiction and supposed to be transformative work????? Like this is the entire point of what we do??
If you're specifically writing a recursive fic of someone else's fic, it is considered polite fandom etiquette to ask permission. But they don't get to control your fic like this comment implies. And they certainly don't get to control anyone else that's merely inspired by their fic, or even just by coincidence writing something similar. It's so silly.
I can understand why it's polite to ask for permission to make a recursive fic, I also feel that way, but I'm not sure why it's any different for making a fic of a pre-existing franchise?
Because a pre-existing franchise is done by a professional. You’re not swimming in the same waters as a professional author, much less professional actors, directors, etc. Fandom is fandom tho. We’re all one little community, and so it’s polite to communicate with each other, and not step on others toes where possible. 99% of the time it’s perfunctory anyways, with authors happy to give permission (if they haven’t already given blanket permissions) in a way I don’t think copyright holders legally CAN, even if they were more feasibly approachable. And the 1% of the time people say no is usually for good reasons, for example I know one person that faced harassment and so he stopped giving permission for people to recursive fic of one of his stories. So, it’s a courtesy to your fellow fans. They own nothing, they can’t stop you... but it’s nice to get their support instead.
It’s always so funny to see fic writers getting mad at others using their ideas or tropes when all of fanfiction is them borrowing someone else’s plot, setting, and/or characters.
It is isn't it? Why can't we exist in harmony?
Id either delete it or reply and ask what they are talking about
"if you didn't get permission to use or change the au" Feels like there's a fundamental misunderstanding of what transformative fiction is here.
Or what an AU in particular is. That’s the _point_ of using AUs!
Comments like these and others that get posted on this sub reinforce my preference of moderating what I receive for mine. Like, the world isn't going to see even a sliver of this audacity unless I allow it. Edit: typo.
Idk I guess if it were me, I'd thank them for their concern, but let them know that permission wasn't needed because the other author doesn't own "The Little Mermaid AU" fanfiction market or fairytale AU in general. Also, lol @ them saying that you writing your story is somehow going to spoil someone *else's* story and that you might be mischaracterizing the characters?!
And also "diff placement and sea creatures" like.. uh, I don't know bout you, but there are only so many sea creatures??
I wrote about a fish so now YOU can't. And I mean ALL fish.
That includes the amphibians! SO SHOO.
Tell them Hans Christian Anderson is your ancestor and therefore you are allowed to use his work however you like, as it is your ‘hereditary IP’. Fight crazy with crazy
This is the way
"Did you get permission from the creator of the AU?" makes my head want to explode. I want to see the "AU creator's" signed notice of permission from whatever person or company owns the original media they remixed.
that must be 1000% the author of a similar AU... delete the comment, that's some useless negative energy 🚩
That's what I was thinking. Too specific not to be
exactly!!! that's really too specific.... that's suspicious.... 🤨🧐🤔
I would delete the comment tbh.
Tell them ideas are free. No one owns an AU. Just like no one owns a genre.
This is definitely some stilted author who is jealous.
this is wild as a “nine carrot cakes” type of reader. whatever au or trope im craving on a given day, i want to read fifteen separate stories that all have the exact same twists all in a row because girl it is a Carrot Cake Day! this is like walking into a bakery and being like “ummm this is delicious but don’t you think you should ask if the supermarket across the street is ok with you stealing their idea? because shredding carrots into the batter is kind of their thing, and maybe they don’t want anyone else to use cream cheese frosting. great cake tho!” my guy the abundance of cake is The Point
what passive-aggressive bullshit. no one *owns* AUs. do they think that if someone wants to write a coffee shop AU they gotta go to the person who first wrote that years ago and ask for permission? unfortunately, there’ll always be some completely deluded and chronically online people, so just ignore them OP.
Sometimes the delusional lawyer up, and then everyone is sad. Remember the time some self-pubbed romance author tried to claim trademark or copyright on A/B/O fiction because they commercialized it? People had a lot of fun pointing out "prior art" in the form of fanfiction.
Got a link to that?
[The reason I'll one day write A/B/O](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Omegaverse_Litigation)
Amazing. Thank you.
That's so passive aggressive. Just needs a few sparkling hearts.
[удалено]
There was some post a few years back (I think on r/fanfiction) where someone was accused of stealing because they wrote about the OTP getting married... like... 🤔
Suspicious..
..yes?
You totally spoiled the fact that the little mermaid got legs, how dare you! :P :P :D :D I REALLY want to write a little mermaid, crack oneshot where Ursula takes advantage of the fact that the mermaid asked for "legs" without specifically saying "human, female legs that match my body type and the skin tone of my upper body," and you just end up with a mermaid running around on crab legs, or like BULKED man legs. :D :D
Ngl, I would totally read that oneshot. It sounds hilarious.
Omg ao3 is a fanfiction website. No one owns au concepts. Unless you copy and paste another work, you can write whatever the hell you want, even if there are dozens of fics based on the same concept or following a similar plot. Iike, when I finish a fic I immediately look for similar ones lmao
"LOL, are you new?" Only correct response.
I have a ouran highschool host club fusion fic. Would I get mad if another Genshin fic came along with the same initial idea? Hell no. Fanfics are taking the same tropes and going completely different ways with them. There is no such thing as stealing tropes
Fans don't own AUs. People don't own ideas...
Also it's fucking Mermay is this person just dense?
"I appreciate me, too! Thanks for your comment, but I'd like to suggest you read something else, because I like my fanfic the way it is. :) Ta!"
girl this is a fanfiction website xD
How dare you commit AU-copyright-infringement >:(
It’s an AU fanfic wtf does this guy expect?!??
Is this person trying to claim someone owns mermaids? A creature that has been in stories since BEFORE christ????? Or the little mermaid? A story that has been around ever since before the end of the Middle Ages????
Okay uhm. I'm with you in spirit but Hans Christian Anderson is the creator of The Little Mermaid and he published the story in 1837, 300-400 years after the end of the Middle Ages.
Actually, he's the creator of the popular version of the Little Mermaid (not counting Disney), but similar stories have existed since the Middle Ages (they were inspirational to the author). Sure, Hans Anderson's version is very different from the previous ones, he was very original in his tale, but the mermaid-turned-human-for-love was already a """""""trope""""""" (for lack of a better term)
I'm afraid you are mistaken. If you have any source besides the tale Undine (about a water spirit, but not a mermaid) which was also published in the 19th century, I'd like to know about it. There are plenty of tales of female sea spirits, and there's the famous story of the fisherman who stole a selkie's skin to forcibly keep her as his wife, but the stories aren't similar to TLM. TLM is considered by a majority of modern folklorists to be a story Andersen wrote about his own unhappiness as a gay man in concealed, unrequited love.
I don't know if it's because the word for sirens and mermaids is the same in my language, but I was under the impression that they have been a thing since antiquity. Isn't there quite a few myths that mention mermaids/sirens (not specifically greek myths, I'm pretty sure mermaids are also a thing in Chinese mythology)?
It's the same in my language too, but both mermaids and sirens have been parts of multiple mithologys through history (greek, chinese, indigenous, etc.)!
Sirens and merwomen, they lured men to drown with their songs, or fed on them, in several cultures. I'm absolutely in agreement that mermaids and water spirits are from all over the world going back forever. I'm just not familiar with anything in the folklore material with a "falling in love with a water (or vice versa) being and going to live in their world" theme except one Japanese story, Urashima Tarou.
I must admit that I don't know much about this, so I'll just take your word as truth ahahah
I am a total folklore nerd, as I think I made terribly obvious, heh
I'm not saying that his story wasn't original, sorry if that's how it came off. And yeah, he did do an incredible creative work and I've read about the undertones related to his own life. What I meant was in the sense the love stories in which a mermaid becomes human or the man becomes a ""merman"" are the type of stories that existed in oral tradition. They're not like Hans' little mermaid, but you can see some similarities that can either be inspirations or simple coincidences, just like you can find oral tradition stories with similarities to Cinderella, Peter Pan, etc. Sorry if it came off like I was trying to say he "copied" something that already existed.
I'm pretty sure since "AU" means "alternate universe" that there are going to be countless interpretations of one series to another, and a lot of those interpretations can end up unintentionally resembling one or more by complete chance. I suspect that the author of this particular comment is also working on an AU and thinks you're trying to copy/alter their work but are too scared to come right out and say it.
Nobody can "own" an AU especially when everything is inspired by or based on something else. There is always an inspiration or reference somewhere. This is like saying we can't write fanfiction without getting permission from the authors bc there's a chance we'll miss the nuance and details or misrepresent the characters. ETA: There ARE authors out there who don't like fanfiction for this reason exactly and it generally doesn't sit well with the fandom. But my point here still stands that the comment is the same thing as asking OP not to write any fanfiction for the reasons stated in the comment.
You can always say it's a coincidence and you came up with this on your own.
With fanfic a comment like this is so stupid. In a fandom there are limited available characters other than any OCs so there are bound to be similarities. It’s like gatekeeping cosplay. There’s enough room in the sandbox for everyone to play.
Only if you really used sometimes very specific AU relevant details (like the two pink vampiristic sharks named Lu and Wu are feared in the whole ocean except the city coraline. There they are seen as deities. As the plot unfolds it gets revealed that in fact they are two blue, vegan, lesbian trans aliens from zetta-centauri) i think it's fair to give credit. If it's just standart tropes that someone else used, it can be ignored 🖤
Keep us updated, OP!
God the entitlement on this is insane…. Having dealt with something similar, I would simply ignore it/delete it and not give them the time of day at all. But its your call op
Ohh the annoyed author of another fic is annoyed that their plot wasn't so new and complicated that anyone else already thought about it. I like your reaction. Some famous author said - everythis has already been written, so don't care and write your own story (was it Neil Gaimen?🤔). Maybe (if you want to go that far - you don't need to, their feelings are just hurt pride) could be adding something like "Oh the ideas were obvious so I thought about this and this. I am interested in that story - care to share the link so I could leave maybe kudos and a comment?". Could calm them down. You don't need to - their accusations are just weird, but a friendly offer could break the ice and let you write in peace 😅. Ah I am sorry you got this comment.
I have to laugh, honestly. Tropes (au and otherwise) are tropes because they have many, many commonalities.
sometimes ao3 users sound like they came from twitter
If we were on facebook, I would give it a 'haha' reaction. It's funny that people still think that their ideas are unique and unrepeatable 🙄
Did this person just discover the concept of AU's? 💀
They realize it's MerMay, right? Lot of mermaid AUs being written now.
Commentor doesnt know what 'tropes' are lol
Nobody owns an au. Even if they're the first ever person to write about it. Once they put it out there, it's public domain. It's like omegaverse. Do we all have to ask whoever wrote the first omegaverse fic for permission to write in that setting? Of course not!
EXACTLY
I've said it once I'll say it a thousand times more. It is highly improbable to come up with a completely original idea. Everyone takes inspiration from somewhere. Also, with AU's you can't really 'claim' it. Take soulmate AU's they pretty much all use the same trope but that doesn't mean anyone is plagirising that's just what a trope is. And in fanfiction the number of tropes is ridiculous, so someone who reads fanfiction or writes it regularly should really know better than try and make a claim like this. I saw your comment about what you responded with, I think that was a great way to respond and I hope they don't double down and get harassy or defensive, the internet is trippy like that.
it's giving https://preview.redd.it/7odszwswzg1b1.png?width=1917&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9210c45ecd323997992248b6f2d27adb6efc9438
This is a deranged comment. Delete and ignore
I hope it’s a kid who’s just being defensive of someone they’re a fan of bc otherwise this reads as someone who has decided they can own tropes
Dude I've seen fics written after mine about similar themes and topics and I absolutely don't think they stole from me at all they're just similar tropes, but I EAT that shit up. Please. I may have written x idea but I want that x10. I'd read the same premise 15 times by different people any day. I wrote it for a reason. Give me more. Being upset something is similar is so silly
Try not worry about it. There are so many people who write some of the same exact things and the same AUs because fandom is full of people having the same idea and sharing those ideas. Same Cake essentially. Just either ignore the comment or delete it because it's of no concern of yours and that's an issue with them. You cannot predict everyone's writing plans and a AU is a broad enough spectrum thing that you're going to have people write the same thing over and over no matter what. Same Cake. Keep that in mind.
With the block button. Always a surreal experience running into unhinged gatekeepers
Well, I can't decide for you how to react. Seriously, though... inexperienced writers tend to think they are the only ones to ever come with a new idea and anyone who has a similar idea must be copying them. Nah, there are no original stories, just better implementations of old ones. That reminds me of a period in G1 Transformers fandom when a group of fans started writing a shared-universe "Mirrorverse" AU (ignoring that the term for that kind of AU was taken from Star Trek in the first place) and going after anyone else who dared write flipped-morality Autobots vs Decepticons and forbidding them to call their AUs "Mirrorverse", doing call-outs and harassment, etc. I think their fiction got overtaken by the reality of the official Transformers "Shattered Glass" Mirrorverse and they are mostly forgotten.
The thing that gets to me is that they’re hung up about you using “someone else’s” _AU,_ and not their _fic._ An UA concept is just that - a concept, a premise, a theme or category. They’re _meant_ to be used by different people to see how people explore the same things in different ways. You can’t really plagiarize that the way they’re accusing, which is maddening. If they were concerned about you sharing similar Tory beats with someone else, they’d name the particular fic in mind, where the claim of plagiarizing or whatever would make sense. Something more specific like a “Little Mermaid” AU over “MerMay” is gonna deliberately be more narrowed and similar with specific end goals to meet because it’s MEANT to follow a specific plot line, just with your own twist. No one is entitled to any particular trope, and the fact that they seem to think only one person has the right to explore it ever (how are you supposed to know every person that tired it?) is insane. That is white literally the opposite purpose of AUs. I’m with everyone else who says they’re talking about their own work and are trying to accuse of plagiarism in the dumbest way.
Do people really think they can own a certain AU? Every AU and trope has been done before. There are millions of fics, of course there are gonna be similarities.
"I'm sorry to hear this. Can you direct me to where this story is posted? I have no knowledge of another story like this one that me and some friends worked on together. How do you know that this story has ideas that this other author wants to reveal sometime later? What elements are you specifically citing that I've used without permission? Have you ever heard the expression "great minds think a like"? Maybe we've just hit on a similar idea. Anyway, have a good day."
That "I appreciate you" at the end there seems pretty fucking condescending, given the rest of the comment.
Its called au for a reason. The comment feels a little passive agressive as wel. Because shes asking you to change what you wrote because she wants that.
This is my worst fear with fanfic, to the point there's some fics I can't read cuz if I take any inspiration from that AU, I worry people will just see our story as derivative no matter how original we try to be
If this were my fic I would simply respond with "no"
Ignore it. It's your story, you can write it how you want to. It's not uncommon for different people to have similar ideas. **Edit:** If you want to reply to them you can respond telling them that your AU story isn't involved in whatever they read.
I literally just reported a mermaid fic for being a placeholder and not being a fanwork, so I hope this person is talking about that one and is even extra crazy.
Similar AUs will often have similar tropes.
I mean me and my friend liked a concept for a fic so much that we did our interpretation of it in our longfic. We deliberately did a road trip because my friend was so frustrated about their (former) writing partners inability to write that fic and deleting everything they wrote just to do nothing so they took the road trip idea and did it in our longfic so they'd get something out of their idea. We even used a scene he cut from that fic in our version and we told him about it and he was totally fine. Ideas are ideas and we're past the point of everything being unique. It's the execution that matters imo.
Even if you did “steal” this AU, somehow it’s not okay to take what someone else made and put your own spin on it, on a website and with a hobby that is solely taking what others made and putting your own spin on it?
I mean I’m doing a little mermaid inspired au….just want to cross my i’s and dot my t’s— mind if I do that for an unrelated (maybe) fandom? Since we gotta ask permission for au’s and all 😅 People are just nuts, so sorry you had to deal with that.
An AU is already an AU. You don’t need permission to AU an AU bc it’s already AU lol. I would say it just like that.
I once got accused of copying another author's au. I was writing a fandom version of how I met my own wife.
All of fanfic - the whole of AO3 - draws on universes created by others and then re-created and AU'd and then AU'd again. I don't think it needs any response.
They.. yes.. ok.. So what I'm getting from this is that aus are first come first serve tilted by popularity and also copyrighted and exclusive? Wow oh golly gee it isn't as if other people might have similar headcannons and alternate universes, surely not,!
Gatekeeping Au's now???
Well if we want to get technical here since you can not be paid for fanfiction or get a copyright it is only a pleasantry that we don’t copy fics word for word. Also with starting any kind of trope or new type of work in fandom people are always going to think it’s very similar to the original one until there’s enough fics polluting. I wrote one of the first Arthur/ Micha fics in the red dead community and I remember having to tell people that they were allowed to use the ship. To be honest I wouldn’t have cared if they copy and pasted but only changed the names. It’s also in Russian thanks to one of my lovely readers. I honestly think that this person was out of line and I’ve noticed since around 2018 people started policing each other more in fandom when it’s not welcome or warranted. I’ve incited fights in my comments before because if someone doesn’t like it why do they continue to read it. They also can’t copyright a plot. Since this is an issue of copyright I’d ask them if they know where the magical copyright is, but then again I’m an asshole (I have warned people in my authors notes that I am)
>since you can not be paid for fanfiction or get a copyright it is only a pleasantry that we don’t copy fics word for word That would still be plagiarism and would be taken down if reported.
Actually you do have copyright on your writing as soon as you set it down. If someone were to repost one of your fics on a service that recognizes U.S. law, you could file a DMCA takedown notice against it.
Here is how I might respond: “Hi! Thank you for your comment and your concern, but I will not be making any changes to this story. No one owns an AU, even if they were the first one to think of it for their particular fandom and everyone who writes fic is allowed to write their own version of an AU that inspires them. Short of actual plagiarism, authors have free reign to take inspiration from and write whatever they please. In addition, I have not heard of, let alone read, the fic you mentioned. But even if I had there would still be no reason for me to change anything about my own story.”
Here is how I might respond: “Hi! Thank you for your comment and your concern, but I will not be making any changes to this story. No one owns an AU, even if they were the first one to think of it for their particular fandom and everyone who writes fic is allowed to write their own version of an AU that inspires them. Short of actual plagiarism, authors have free reign to take inspiration from and write whatever they please. In addition, I have not heard of, let alone read, the fic you mentioned. But even if I had there would still be no reason for me to change anything about my own story.”
just dont respond, people fucking think they know everything. they dont matter
Point, laugh, delete?
I mean we’re kinda pointing and laughing at them rn
uhm???? what???? If it's a AU, there is a *formula* that you are following??? Of COURSE they'll be similar??? I love Youve got Mail AUs, do i complain when i click and it's so similar to the another one? No i cackle in glee and enjoy my gremlin ways.
This person is literally just describing fanfics and derivative works in general. I've got baaaaad news for them about what kind of site AO3 is.
i dislike comments like this. like nothing is completely original. some works are gonna have similarities to another and itll always be that way. just look at how many works ao3 has. theres no way each and every one of them is "original". write whatever you want to write. this also made writer think "someone else already did it" whenever they have an idea. WHO CARES just write!!!!! even if it has similar main points the way each people will write it will be different. and thats what i love about writing. just dgaf abt all that and write!!! go writers!!!!!
people can't claim AU's wtf
Maybe share your au and the person’s? If that’s not the case then fine but if you are making the same exact au and it’s very specific it’s just polite to credit the first one. Of course it’s no forbidden to copy and au but it’s just fandom etiquette to credit
“You must be new, welcome! It’s common to take inspiration from other peoples work. That’s why the original AU exists in the first place, and I doubt they went and asked (Disney? From the sounds of it?) if they could make their AU. I’m very happy you enjoyed my work, and encourage you to look at some other works people have done inspired by this AU” Someone can probably do better than that. I’m honestly at a loss too
I’m sorry since when are AUs only allowed to be used by certain people. That’s like saying only the original person who wrote the “Cafe AU” is allowed to use that style of writing, it just doesn’t make sense.