In case anyone of you were wondering what happened to the New Trials plagiarism issue involving a fanfiction.net author who decided to copy and paste New Trials under her account and claim it as her own, there was some drama, some histrionic name-calling, and then the erasing of evidence. Well, this was her response to my (in my opinion very civil and polite) message to her on fanfiction.net. PG-13 because of language (not that it's particularly intelligible):
If you know me, I wasn't insulted by the uncouth response. I AM insulted that it was just a copy and paste message from her profile page (seen screencaptured below with name erased) and didn't reply to my message at all. Sigh. Some people just never learn. I would have loved to get a personalized message, you know? As I mentioned previously, I vehemently hate the world "plagiarism" and its variants because it is misused and overused, but in this situation, because the plagiarizer herself stated that she has stolen and doesn't care she has, then I guess that is what she is. Yeah. She decided to rename "New Trials of CCS" to "New Trials." What makes me sad about this affair is that the individual did not really seem to learn anything from this experience (perhaps other than "don't mess with CCS fangirls,") which was NOT the message anybody was trying to relay to her. I think somebody reported her since then (thank you whoever did), and currently New Trials seems to be permanently removed from her profile.
Truthfully, the individual in me wants to reach out to this girl and try to figure out what is wrong. The realist thinks ignoring is the best measure. As we all know, it happens all the time on the internet and will continue to happen. However, the writer in me just heaves a long sigh. This could have happened to anyone, and one way or another, I might have expected it to happen to me at one point. The person shows no sign of logical coherency, therefore I am not going to think that New Trials was particularly targeted for any reason of logical coherence or devise. New Trials is the variable, the interchangeable factor, and the constant is that individual who could have substituted New Trials for any number of anime fanfiction out there. That is why I am writing this post, because writers ARE helpless in this situation. All we can do is spread awareness. I am grateful to all those who cared enough to point out the plagiarist's wrongdoing, because it is all of you who do bring about relative "justice," but at the same time, I feel bad that you all had to waste time on someone like her and probably woke up to having such an unpleasant copy-and-paste message waiting in your inbox. And I also regret that the plagiarizer herself probably came out of this mess feeling like the victim, that she was flamed and she was wronged.
I went through bemusement at the situation to befuddlement then disappointment. I get disappointed when a person acts according to what is expected of them. What is more cliched than a plagiarist who is seeking attention, denies wrongdoing, can't write proper English (by proper, I mean sentences with punctuation and without profanities and doesn't apply to those who are not native-speakers, but hey, English wasn't my first language either), flames everybody and then quickly destroys all evidence, as is easy to do online? Yeah, I've worked in the legal field, so I'm big on evidence-keeping, hence the ready screenshots of profile pages that keep disappearing. I was writing a longer blog entry trying to make sense out of things, but at the end of the day, I grew weary of making excuses for this individual and really didn't see much resolution to the larger issue at hand which is not plagiarism but why this individual (and many others out there) was compelled to commit this act (as I mentioned before, I classify internet plagiarism differently from academic or professional plagiarism). It could happen to anyone, but it happened to me, so now, it is something that I am going to ponder over. I will love to hear what others feel about this issue and how you would handle this situation because truthfully, I am stumped.
Anyhow, it's all for the better to just let her be. All I can say is, girl you picked the wrong fanfic author to mess with.
I'm really behind on emails at the moment (sorry, I'll get around to replying soon), but to my surprise, I got an email yesterday from a kind reader stating that the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura was being plagiarized on fanfiction.net. This is not really the first time I received such an email that NT was being plagiarized, but the other time it happened, I was far more shocked. The plot was reworked so that it wasn't completely word-for-word, and it was is in the New Trials First Arc days, hence I didn't know how to react, and I just let it slide.
So, I was rather surprised to find an author on fanfiction.net decided to simply copy and paste my work into their account, even kept the title in tact as "The New Trials of CCS." I was actually more bemused by the whole situation more than anything else yesterday; plagiarizers, please at least change the title if you're going to copy and paste someone else's work. More than anything, I was very moved by the reviewers who did stick up for me, and I thought, "Ah, I guess there is justice." What actually irked me was not the copy-and-pasting part; since I like to give people the benefit of doubt, perhaps this is just a young kid who doesn't know better. But then, she did choose to remove my disclaimer and add her own, and it amused me so much, I took a screen shot of it today (I removed her name and ID because I don't want flaming).
I really can't dislike someone who likes Card Captor Sakura, I just can't. So I sent her a polite message reminding her that I am the writer of New Trials and that I would appreciate if she could take down my fanfic. Earlier today, I checked and saw that she had taken down New Trials and changed her ID name. I wasn't expecting an answer to my email/ message, but I guess ideally I would have liked to hear what had motivated her to do so, or at least, I hoped it was just an honest, youthful mistake. Anyhow, I checked a while ago, and it seems like the story and reviews are up again, indicating she might have chosen to ignore my email and message and the reviewers' comments. Her profile states she is 16, so I tried to justify that she might not know better. But how much can I excuse blatant stealing? (I still love you Kai ^_^;). I was thirteen when I wrote that very prologue, and there are many younger writers out there with integrity and common sense, and I think if you are a part of the ff.net community and a fanfic writer, it is minimal courtesy that you don't take another writer's work (also on ff.net) and copy and paste it into your account, with a rewritten author's comment stating, "This is my very first story for Cardcaptor Sakura... I'll continue this story chapter 1 through 95. Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura and the Characters." I'm sorry, but that disclaimer, and her note at the chapter's end asking, "How do you like things so far?" under her name annoyed me more than the whole copy-and-paste issue.
Truthfully, I am not sure what is worse. Blatant copy and pasting of the text or "reworking" someone else's idea into your own. I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as an original story, only how originally you can present it. I think that all writers and artists begin cultivating their craft by reading and mimicking their favorite authors/ artists. I went to the New York Comic Con last year and listened to an interesting panel of renowned sci-fi and fantasy authors who are at the top of their craft, and was glad to hear that they basically echoed this notion, stating that they too shamelessly get inspiration from every where. I know clearly what authors have influenced me. Same with art. I think a lot of us learn to draw by copying other artists. Eventually, once you get enough practice, you start developing your own style. That is why the term "plagiarism" doesn't rest well with me because it is often overused/ misused and there are many situations where the boundaries do become murky, and I am always on the side of creative progression. However, there are cases when some people do INTENTIONALLY cleverly disguise someone else's ideas and words into their own; but those who are talented enough to rework someone's ideas surely is talented enough to come up with something that is their own? There was someone in school who got caught plagiarizing on a paper, but I was confused as to why she did it because she was our school salutatorian and a smart person. I always figure it's more deceitful when someone with the craft and knowledge commits the act than someone inexperienced or naive.
I can at least understand the motivations of those who plagiarize in the real world, whether it be because of grades, laziness, fame, or most often, money. But why do it on the internet? What is there to profit? People write fanfiction for a various assortment of reasons: self-gratification, to communicate with others with similar interests, to practice writing (?), for entertainment, to fantasize what-ifs... The internet has spawned into a mega-communication network over the past decade; I began writing New Trials in 1999 when I was still using dial-up modem from a long cable that stretched all the way from the living room phone to my room (and yes, nobody could use the phone while I was on the internet). That seems like ages ago. That was before internet became commercialized, and the pages on the net were often pages made by individuals who had a serious dedication to and interest in that subject matter. In a way, it was sort of a haven, a magic mirror doorway to reaching out to others with similar hobbies/interests as yourself. But then came the commercialization of the internet, all the profile pages ie. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, blogs (yes, I am writing one too), etc., and the internet became more about "me, me, me." Which is fine, so long as you don't try to take the easy way out and steal somebody else's identity or body of work. I'm not really sure what to do in this situation, but I figure that if it's attention she wants, the best thing to do is simply ignore her. I do understand the frustrations of writers (or any other craftsman) who do not receive the recognition or feedback they desire, because I know that fear as well. I remember how nerve-wracking it was to post my first couple chapters, and even rereading my comments then reflect how insecure I felt about releasing my writing to the public. Perhaps this plagiarizer did so because she wanted more readers or wanted her name to be known. Who knows. I just don't know what she was thinking or wasn't thinking--anyone care to enlighten me? I didn't start writing New Trials because I wanted fame or recognition (if you want that, fanfiction writing is not the route to go). I wrote simply because I love to write. Thus, I can't comprehend how copy and pasting fanfiction can bring anyone any sort of gratification. When I began this fanfic, I said, "If I have even one reader left, I will continue writing," and it is that dedication which has carried me through 1,010000+ words. I've been very lucky that even after ten years, I still do have loyal readers to this monster of a fanfic, and I am always grateful for the opportunity I had to communicate with some wonderful people and find people who love Card Captor Sakura as much as I do. I began writing New Trials for self-gratification and for entertainment purposes, but now, I am writing New Trials because I have a story to tell, and I want to finish it because I owe it to the readers who have stuck by for 67+ chapters, and I owe it to myself to finish the project I have dedicated a good decade to. Moral of the story, don't plagiarize off of Wish-chan, or else she will start psychoanalyzing your motives and then jump into a broad generalization on the evolution of the internet instead of finishing up Chapter 67 of New Trials. Second, writing is ENJOYABLE in itself.
On a more positive note, I've been able to communicate with so many creative people ranging from fellow writers, artists, musically talented people, etc. Over the years, numerous people had emailed me regarding using New Trials as inspiration for their various projects varying from fanfics, doujinshi, film projects and even reworking Star-Crossed as a school play. Truthfully, I'm not sure what happened to a lot of these projects, but I've never refused a request till this date regarding the use of NT for personal use, as long as due credit is given (or not given, because what I don't know, I won't know). I will feel very blessed if at the end of New Trials, I can say that this work has encouraged some people to explore their artistic outlets. So if you're going to plagiarize, do it creatively, and at least I'll be entertained. (But 99% of you are awesome and always check in first, and I love seeing everyone's creative work).
Thank you very much for those who defended me on ff.net! That might have been the only bright side to the ugly affair of plagiarism. I still haven't figured out what to do with this individual on ff.net, as she did not respond to my message. Maybe I'll just send her the link to this blogpost. There are many malicious people on the internet, those who intentionally try to harm or hurt others. But really, if a person likes CCS and fanfiction (and presumably New Trials, at least enough to look it up and ctr+v, ctrl+p), then the optimist in me says that person just needs a good hug from Sakura-chan and be pointed in the right direction (and never repeat the offense again).
UDPATE: Seems like ff.net finally took the story down (or not?). I'm not sure what's going on. I didn't mean to rant, but I guess I was more irritated by the whole situation then I thought I was. Hopefully, I will have better news next time. Chapter 67 is a whopping 97 pages at the moment--I'm going to have figure out how to cut it down. ^_^
I've been working so hard to try to finish Chapter 66 in time for Syaoran's birthday, but I think I'm going to be several days late. I've been dealing with some stressful issues in "real life," moving amongst one of these stresses, hence this chapter kept getting delayed. But on the bright side, I've been simultaneously writing Chapter 67, so probably less wait for the next chapter. Hopefully. I hate making excuses, and didn't want to make a blog full of apologies, but I'm also currently very back-logged in emails as well. Anyhow, my priority is finishing the next chapter ASAP! Thanks for having on!
Couple times a year, I get a little angsty when I get tired of all the songs on my playlist when I write but somehow Yoko Kanno always composes something new to cheer me up. I think I mentioned before how I'm a big fan of Aoi Teshima ever since I heard her voice Therru in the Tale from Earthsea (Gedo Senki). I am especially in love with her first album because it has minimal instrumental bgm and really brings out her fresh and soothing voice. If you close your eyes and listen to the album, it makes you feel like you are standing in thee middle of a vast field of barley in the countryside, the clouds high over your head, the wind blowing from the mountains. I think it's pretty obvious how big of a fan of Yoko Kanno I am, so I was ecstatic to find that Yoko Kanno has collaborated with Aoi Teshima on her new single: Because. The lyrics are all in English and Aoi Teshima's lovely voice is really brought out by Yoko Kanno's piano accompaniment. I heard the song will be part of the Ogura Shun directed movie "Surely Someday," which is scored by Yoko Kanno. The B-side "A Little Because" is a slower rearrangement of the song, and I might even like it better than "Because."
I feel bad because I think I always celebrate Sakura-chan's birthday more than Syaoran's. Oh well, check out the omake I drew two years ago for Syaoran's birthdday and reminisce of dear Wolfie-chan.
If you know me, I wasn't insulted by the uncouth response. I AM insulted that it was just a copy and paste message from her profile page (seen screencaptured below with name erased) and didn't reply to my message at all. Sigh. Some people just never learn. I would have loved to get a personalized message, you know? As I mentioned previously, I vehemently hate the world "plagiarism" and its variants because it is misused and overused, but in this situation, because the plagiarizer herself stated that she has stolen and doesn't care she has, then I guess that is what she is.
Yeah. She decided to rename "New Trials of CCS" to "New Trials." What makes me sad about this affair is that the individual did not really seem to learn anything from this experience (perhaps other than "don't mess with CCS fangirls,") which was NOT the message anybody was trying to relay to her. I think somebody reported her since then (thank you whoever did), and currently New Trials seems to be permanently removed from her profile.
