All Comments on 'We Need To Talk... About Plagiarism'

A few years ago when all writers who submitted a celebrity hall pass story were being accused by commenters of plagiarism after they had read GA’s February Sucks story, I did a little research. There were over 1,000 CHP stories posted on this website alone that popped up when I entered that research criteria written before GA posted his.

Ah Ah, I had a good laugh.

Grades based on writing skills.🤣🤣

Here, it seems to me that we are only readers who like or dislike a story. Just readers.

And we're not professors of literature, academics, masters or PhD holders in languages.....

And personally, I vote according to how I feel when I read it: I like it or I don't like it.

Well written, and nice job. I avoid the forums. Just here for the stories.

Good article! I've been reading stories on this site since 2005. I fto readollow almost 400 writers on this site so I have plenty of stories to read. If I like the story I score it 4 or 5 and leave a comment. If I don't like the story, I don't give it a score or leave a comment. Maybe I'm naive but these writers make an effort so why rain on someone's parade. I remember reading a story back in 2005 by the Troubadour, How High a Price which was left open ended. He invited others to finish it and 10 or so did. GA also offered others to finish his story. Too many writers who took up his offer did not do a very good job. If a writer can't or won't finish his story, he should name a collaborator

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Enjoyed the article. Personally I think everything that can be written on here already had been and just about all new stories are a rehash of something thing that's already been published so your idea for a story exists at least in part. Most of us aren't writers, we aren't in it for money. We simply write stories because we enjoy it and hope we provide some enjoyment for others.

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Thanks NTH, I’ve also been accused with my ‘Nuclear Family’ series. When I wrote it I wasn’t thinking about Soul71’s ‘Betrayed’ but there is a lot of similarities that were not intended.

I think most of us who have posted more than a couple of stories have someone point out ‘Hey this is like…” But we all come here because we like to write or we like to read and there are themes and plot lines the drive emotion more than others. Feb Sucks, We Need to Talk and others really push those emotions so of course we want to read more on these topics, well I know I do.

Very nice discussion of a complex topic. I don’t currently read the fora that much, so I really appreciate your taking the time to summarize discussions there into this part of the site. I agree with your call to extend grace and slack to writers who try to find new gold in this well-trodden field. 5*

A controversial subject with many different views, hard to please all. A good example in the PC world would be Columbia Data Products who legally clean room copied IBM PC BIOS, producing the same result with different code. In my current story, a work in progress, I use WNTT as a tension builder before asking for her hand in marriage, now thanks to nici. Maybe someone will beat me to my troupe version! Hey, you nearly forgot Wolfenstein 3D FPS, 1992. Chunky, clunky, first with realistic sound, my boys loved it. So did I, for that matter.

Interesting topic, not a writer myself, but as a reader I’m not bothered at all when I read similarities in a story, as long as it is not a blatant copy/paste.

Two important points should be highlighted IMO:

1. When you write an author through Lit, you rarely get an answer from him. So asking permission to use a story mustn’t be easy either… (you did answer me NTH when I wrote you, so you are not targeted)

2. Anonymous comments is polluting this dite, free trolling doesn’t help, it should banned a cancelled option. (If the plagiarism claim comes from comments…)

Difficult to find original plots without revisiting ideas read somewhere anyway…

Thanks for writing this it really needed to be put out there. There are so many ways the finished product can be told while the basic framework remains the same. My wife would often comment to me about the romance novels she reads as the many variations of same "slap slap kiss" where she hates him or he hates her then they fall in love theme. You mentioned music has the same issues and would point to the law suit recently won by Ed Sheeran. He won the case but stated before that if he lost he may stop writing music all together. The judge ruled that the cord progression and harmonic rhythm are so commonplace and that that were used before the current plaintiffs song was published.

Thanks for writing

If the great Bard, was correct," There are only seven stories." (credited to shakespeare, but also to Christopher Booker-'The Seven Basic Plots'. This then makes all of us guilty of Plagiarism. Good essay,

NTH!

For someone who has been reading here for years, and is now trying to find the time to write, your essay is a great conversation to be considered.

I'm not a professional writer, although I have written and had published some industry-specific articles and white papers in the past.

I'm familiar with IP issues, because an article I wrote with another person was later updated in some minor points and then re-published without notice to me or including my name !

I think your essay gives a pretty balanced look at the issues, and also is instructive on using the forums as a source of guidance for a hopeful writer here.

To me, a highlight of the essay is the theme: give some grace and the benefit of doubt that the new story wasn't an unbridled attempt to steal IP of another. That said, I promise that I will certainly try to get permission and credit another's work if I do use any part of their ideas or themes in anything I post here.

Thanks for a very reasoned and instructive essay on a sensitive topic.

Good thoughts, thanks for sharing them. Some quick reactions...

1. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. GA should be thrilled on one level, he struck a cord very few have.

2. The people who probably most need to read this won't.

3. You can't give something you don't have. (In this case, grace) Rudeness is easier and feels better in the short run.

4. Don't let false accusations or hateful comments slow you down. I always allow for comments, even from Anon's for a few reasons. Some folks are pretty quick witted and their replies are fun. Some offer helpful thoughts. Others are idiots, but who cares?

I've sworn off reading ANYTHING based on Feb Sucks simply because of the real unforgivable sin: Insiped writing. A lot of the other trope followers suffer from the same problem No new twists, inconsistent / poorly developed characters, and so on. Bad writing is just bad writing, period.

I wasn't planing on having to "think" when I came here today. February and HWNTT appears to touch a nerve in most readers. I've read a few other that would also fit that category.

Thanks for your incite on the subject.

Thank you to the Authors who provide FREE stories for our reading pleasure.

I remember the nici story, as I was around then.

As for the "February Sucks" followups, most follow one of two outcomes, BTB or RAAC. @Grendelpuppy has by far the most original, funny, and different take on the story. That is the only one I have saved as a favorite.

As you have stated, there are only so many notes in music. It is how they are arranged that makes the difference.

Good discussion

Well done. I had read many hundreds of LW stories before posting my first story (February Sucks - Momma Bear's Cubs). That story was an attempt at humor that dealt with just a small portion of GA's story. I credited GA, saying my story was inspired by his. I thought he had granted blanket permission to write such a story, so my bad for not contacting him directly. I agree there are a limited number of themes being written in LW. I could say the same thing for every spy novel or who-done-it ever written. Obvious plagiarism should not be tolerated, but writing a story with a previously used theme is bound to occur. In fact, many fans enjoy reading their favorite theme over and over (BTB, Cuckold, HWNTT), so I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from attempting to put their own spin on an old theme. Thanks, NTH for your insights.

Interesting, and well presented, but I will admit it was too long for my attention span. But at the end of page one you hit on a very significant point. LITEROTICA IS A SITE FOR AMATEUR WRITERS OF EROTIC FANTASY. Most of us went pro at something else!! Copyrights, Citations, Original writer permission are all mostly irrelevant on this website where no one is making money. The only issue are the knucklehead critics, and Loving Wives trolls, who need something to bitch about, instead of just moving on to a story they prefer. And finally, RESPECT to both George Anderson, and Nici for their legendary work!!

‘All artists are either plagiarists or revolutionaries.’ - attributed to French painter Paul Gauguin. I would state further that most artists do so unwittingly, myself included. A great point of discussion for creative types struggling to distinguish themselves amongst their peers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights.

Thank you NTH for an insightful commentary on what is for some people a touchy subject. The comments have been insightful and encouraging. Now I am hopeful my wish will come true:

Can we all lighten up a little?

Definitely 5*s.

Excellent analysis, NTH! Well-researched and thoughtful, just like your stories. With few exceptions, I don’t think most writers here consciously plagiarize. Just difficult under the Loving Wives category to find truly new tropes.

Please finish Cultural Differences though! 😂

The other day I thought that I could take 57 of the February Sucks follow ons that pick up where Jim leaves the club, plus a pair of scissors, and cut them into segments a few paragraphs long.

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Then I could build dozens of follow ons by taping pieces together, (perhaps with trivial changes for tense, list order, berg names, etc.) and adding some glue text.

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It's to the point where somebody has the characters do things identically to another author's characters for several paragraphs. Then the story changes plot to something in a different author's plot line.

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The universe is getting so small that almost everthing I read suggests some form of plagiarism. But I strongly suspect that the submission was NOT literal cut and paste.

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And so we should pay homage to those before us, and say what our unique insight is which sent us off to write our variation.

I may be anonymous, but I have been reading stories on this site for around six years now. There seem to be some trends around "plagiarism" on this site. Moderators are inconsistent in the application of site rules that are clearly set out in editing/category guidelines. February Sucks is an excellent example of the inconsistency.

This is primarily a site for amateur writers. There are tropes, especially in Loving Wives, that trend well. Using the tropes shouldn't be considered plagiarism. They are rather like the finite number of notes for music. You do get a lot of similar stories, with a heap of dialogue phrases that are literally word for word. Using characters without permission from someone else work though, is plagiarism.

I can't help wondering if this episode reflects not a general dispute among Lit writers but the nastiness of the LW category in particular. Lie down with dogs, rise up with fleas.

Good points.

1. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. GA should be thrilled on one level, he struck a cord very few have.

2. The people who probably most need to read this won't.

3. You can't give something you don't have. (In this case, grace)

Bottom line is you cannot copyright an idea, only an execution. Literature is filled with versions of the same story told differently -- sometimes as homage, such as ee cummings "(ponder, darling, these busted statues" references Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" or Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead" is a retelling of "David Copperfield" and sometimes a reimagining and sometimes a straight and intentional rip-off done in a new way, and on and on. How many stories are there that retell one of Shakespeare's plots? When it comes to writing it's never about what and it's always about how. (And it's also oh so very typical that such an issue would rage particularly hot on an amateur site.) Plagiarism does not occur if a writer becomes inspired and adds something original to their work, even if it draws on an existing idea. Obviously, the devil is in the details here, and there are different standards for varying creative forms (songwriters certainly have a tougher line than fiction writers, and good luck ever proving anything if you're a screenwriter) but taking a trope and putting your own spin on it really shouldn't be all that controversial. In these instances the writer's sin is almost always less likely to be a plagiarist than it is to bring nothing new to the table and be boring.

Make all the excuses you want FTDS was a hack and couldn’t come up with ‘their’ own ideas which is why when one of the two passed away they were done. Excusing away the theft of a concept, the underpinnings of a story or other facets is just an admission of a lack of effort and originality. You chose the proper author name if you endorse it. I’ve seen way too many stories that have been lifter word for word by people on this site hoping they will get recognition and accolades for the efforts of others. And by the way... writing alternate endings to another person’s work is fan fiction and fan fiction always is lesser than the original.

Not a writer so I won’t comment on the IP technicals, except to say thanks for putting together this essay, which covers some great points. I did see part of the discussion on Feb Sucks and your contribution led me to read nici’s "Something We Have To Talk About," which I had not come across, so proves one of your points in the essay. Thanks again for all your hard work and for getting across how important it is to try and treat each well.

You're one of the best writers here. Thank you! By the way I have always wondered why the story "Ides of March" never got the attention FSucks does. It deserves the same level of attention and rewrites. Love to have someone with your skills tackle an alternate ending

Actually NTH, you are a writer. You can tell because it took you over 8K words to say what could have been said in 3K! Just funning. I always love your stories and insights. Keep up the great work!

NTH, I'm going to assume (this may be my ego jumping out) that you are referring to my story "Shifting Values" that got yanked in January.

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First, I got your message through Literotica about it, and thank you for your words. I responded twice, through Literotica Feedback, as I didn't want to create a new Literotica-dedicated email address, and I was using a personal one. I now assume you didn't get those Literotica-filtered messages. My apologies for that. I'll try again in a minute (minute = hour to next week) to try and get a discussion going again. I've seen a lot of issues with communicating through Literotica.

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Yeah, there's tropes, I agree. I don't dislike it, but I don't care for it either. If a thing gets too formulaic for me, it fails to entertain. There's been a number of stories that I've opened on Literotica that I get a certain distance into, and I go "I recognize this, let me skip to the end and see if... yeah, it did. *sigh*."

I like to slap tropes around a bit, myself.

I get a kick out of dropping something new into the pool too, be it a turd or a beachball.

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I got a LOT of people asking me for "Shifting Values" once it was taken down by a moderator. Currently, Shifting Values is sitting in a folder, looking at me and going "What happened?" with puppydog eyes.

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I like Loving Wives.

I started posting here, because on advice, Literotica is incredibly widely read, and I am having issues with the short-story format. I tend to write sprawls, and ramble a bit. I went to short stories, because I needed to work on compaction.... getting down to that perfect sentence. Or paragraph. Saying what I want to, as simply as I can, for maximum communication with as little static as possible.

Hence, I'm 'that vignette guy.'

Loving Wives has a bit more discerning fans, more of them are vocal than in other categories, and I get that feedback I want. Good, bad, crazy, and more. I get results. That's valuable to me at the moment.

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Yeah, there's a lot of re-hash going on currently in Loving Wives. I like some of the takes though. Some I don't care for.

I've not written a 'February Sucks' thing... I don't see that as something I want to do, even though I created one in my head... it involves a hockey team, a barfight, the blue dress, and an airborne malamute. Beyond that mental scripting, I just don't care to play with it. It's not my story. I think it's becoming a crutch, indulged in by some good writers, when they don't need the crutch.

Maybe my ego again, but I don't need the crutch.

Besides, someone just put up a excellent 4-part treatment of February Sucks, I think it's better than the original (because it's fleshed out), and the field has now been taken.

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I'm waiting for someone to take a shot at 'No Cake,' which I came on this scene with, even thought I've put a follow-up up already. I even have a third part 80% written. I have the entire story scripted out, from beginning part which is unseen, to the very end. Someone's gonna do something with it. I'm just hoping it's good.

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Be Well!

Cool. Good work.

If the story in question is not copy written, or explicedly stated it may not be used in any form, there is no reason why excerts of the story or a follow on may not be written. With or without permission or approval of the original author!

I'm new to this site. However, I have written a million words of fanfiction (and another million words of non-fiction) before trying this site. One thing I know for sure: we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Always. The most powerful writing taps into the emotions we all share. See: "archetypes".

If subsequent works didn't transform the originals in some significant way, then every write on AO3 would have been sued into oblivion by the studios and production companies that hold the IP rights.

Stealing words is wrong. Building upon previous works in a way that is new and different is fine, as far as I'm concerned.

I started reading Edgar Rice Burroughs when I was in 4th Grade (just celebrated my 72nd year on Earth). Talk about "Trope Masters!" I've been an avid SF&F fan since. 1972/3 I read a review of something put together by a group that published war gaming rules. I ordered it. It was called "Dungeons & Dragons." Yadda, yadda, Librarian, yadda, yadda.

Now, I just started reading stories on LIT and similar sites around three years ago.

Except for selling someone else's work on Amazon as your own, which is a big BTB, I would like to offer up two very simple platitudes. The first is a quote from the Bible.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Oh, one more: "I still live!" (John Carter, Jedwar of Barsoom)

Life is just too short to get bent out of shape over the antics of a few EGMs (Entertaining God-like Maniacs).

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I enjoyed reading your commentary. It is very well thought out and presented. I now have some new titles and authors to track down!

Thank you for sharing!

I don't know the legal definition of plagiarism but I suspect it's less objective than anyone other than an attorney realizes. At what point is attribution required? To quote Justice Stewart, "I'll know if when I see it." (See what I did there?)

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If an author writes, "so it goes," in a story, Vonnegut hasn't been plagiarized. Obviously, if I copy and paste a story and put my moniker on it, I've plagiarized the original author. What's the threshhold where attribution is necessary? Beats me, but I know I'd quickly tire of reading, "inspired by..." as a preface to every story, written soley for the purpose of avoiding plagiarism charges.

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Personally, I'd rather bitch about spelling and grammar. :)

The writer you refer to re the “Choices” story didn’t have his story pulled because it had a similar plot line as CAG’s. He had word for word copied CAG’s work in multiple places. It appeared that paragraphs had been cut and pasted or only had a preposition changed. He may not have done it deliberately, but it happened nonetheless. Secondly, if you read CAG’s biography you will immediately recognize how serious she is about retaining her creative rights. Those, I believe, are the reasons his story was pulled.

To your point on commenters and FS, I once read a story that was written over 10 years before FS. The commenter said the author plagiarized GA’s work, called him some names, then said he would never read another of that writer’s stories! I kid you not.

Really good essay. I’ve written a few stories for this site, but I do not consider myself a writer. A few were existing stories that I re-wrote, and a few were “original”. I agree that every story is derivative of another story from somewhere. My “original” stories had similar plots to hundreds of other stories that I’ve read, but I didn’t feel the need to acknowledge every one. The stories of mine that were sequels or re-writes had acknowledgements to the original authors. I read the story by Nici years before I read FS. My first thought that was that FS was not an original concept, just written in a way that pissed off tons of people (myself included). It was the catalyst for me writing my first story (yes, I did ask for and received permission to use his characters) which was an alternate ending story.

Should every cheating wife story acknowledge the film “Unfaithful” (Richard Gere and Diane Lane 2002)?

It does irk me when I read a comment stating that an author “stole the plot line of a wife being taken from a husband from FS” when there are hundreds, if not thousands, with that plot line written prior.

Hopefully this comment doesnt seem too disjointed.

I believe you are an excellent writer, whether you consider yourself one or not.

Very poignant!! I am a new writer who does this just for fun. I also read quite a few stories. I often question if I had thought of a plot line because of a story I read but have no idea how I would check. I have been accused once (or maybe twice) of stealing or copying someone else’s story, or part of it, but I had never read the story referenced. As you said, many stories have similar themes. I have read a story that had a section identical to one I was in the middle of writing. My stomach dropped but in the end I knew I didn’t steal it so I kept mine intact. I am also an editor. Once I edited a story that was very similar but still different to one I was writing. This time I informed the writer immediately so he didn’t think I took his story and just changed it. He was very gracious which I was thankful for. I’m not a very good writer so all this plagiarism stuff seems moot to me. My whole purpose is to be original and maybe be entertaining to a few people. However I was one of those that thought GA had given blanket permission and therefore wrote a version of my own. Now I feel bad. I will learn and do better going forward. Thank you for writing this though. It was both informative and entertaining. Shining light on some history of the site and other authors. I will be going back to read the stories you mentioned that I missed.

What you are describing here is jazz. There is a theme and people take a riff off of that theme. FWIW I think that it is fine. I think I recall one of the pulled stories that you were referring to and if I am correct (might not be) it seemed to follow the original beat for beat so... not jazz. You are correct when describing that people have different approaches to the "ownership" of work product. I come from a STEM field where proper citation of work is an imperative. So I had a bigger problem with that work - not enough to demand it be pulled (that is way more effort that I would ever endeavor) but enough to raise eyebrows and say "Really?" IF the author has more chapters ready, I hope that they revisit the original and change it up. It wouldn't require much for it to stand on its own.

"Ideas are a dime a dozen; execution is gold."

And there's only something like 12 ideas in the entire history of literature.

P.S. Every time you post an R&E entry, Lit should just automatically create an AH thread for it.

Excellent essay. When it first started, I thought I know what plagiarism is! I am an English teacher (or was before retirement) and have dealt with many examples of plagiarism and academic dishonesty. However, now I see that the same "rules" do not apply in each instance. The struggle for academic institutions these days is AI; it used to be basically cut and paste. I really enjoyed the essay and feel like I should get into the forums some. Loving Wives is my favorite category although I read stories in many of the other categories. I enjoy the tropes. Finding an original take on one is really fun. I admit I have thought, just in my own head, that I have been a writer and a poet at different times of my life. Really, I am just a person who has written some things which have been published or not that I enjoyed creating. I never came close to making a living that way. Thanks NoTalentHack for this essay. Well written by one of my favorite "writers" on this site.

A very worthy piece of writing, and an interesting insight into the discussions had between the Lit “authorati”! … but these debates about plagiarism, copyright and infringing on others IP are pretty meaningless in my opinion. The context used here is purely Lit, as is the means of punishment - removal of material and banishment from the site. To those actively and intentionally violating the rules of polite Literotica society these punishments have no meaning, they are sucking the IP into other sites, platforms and mediums, sometimes for financial gain, but other times just for the corresponding kudos points available there (stars, baby!)

The rabid attacks on authors who are attempting to find or use some material on this site to give spark to a creative process seems at best churlish and at worst rabidly narcissistic when attributable to authors, and the worst kind of cancel culture pile on when it’s our old friend anonymous or lurkers (to use an unfashionable term) such as myself. They’ll be sending out takedown requests next ffs! The amount of hurt and anger felt by the esteemed authors of these “plagiarised” works is as nothing I suspect, when compared to the vilification and truly febrile abuse directed at those who have been judged to have transgressed. Do we really believe that there is actually an intent to steal? Or could it be that the zeitgeist of the site is that of incorporation and retooling allied with a fanfic mentality and a constantly evolving meta interpretation of the vast poole of tropes and plots deposited here over the past 25 years. To be honest I think that some of the authors should give the pained artistic sensibility’s thing a rest and take a look at where we are and what the true purpose of this site is. Perhaps we could request that “high horses are not required” be added to the login, or better still the submissions page?

As usual context is everything, and is someone using the material posted in a free story on a free submission site, to create more free stories for said free site really worthy of such ire and condemnation? I personally don’t think so, but… hey it’s not my baby.

Anyway peace and love to all… and fucking and anal and bdsm and mommy !&@£?”$ Let’s not forget what we’re here for 😁

Just a quick hint. How many "Dickens Christmas Carol" we may read on Literotica.com? Each one so unique yet so similar.

The Edison's idea of "patent" is just a lie, tipica of his era.

Nothing is never totally "new" under the Sun, since Homer's Odissey (never wrote, by literally no-one named Homer).

Just show to some "original writer" what the word "tropes" means.

Each text we write, each tale we narrate, spoken or written ten thousand of time before in one hundred of languages.

You may rewrite Cinderella... After Disney, Grimm, Perrault, Basile, a dozen of cover of an Egyptian tale from India because of Chinese tale (the small feet).

Who may write a sentence never spoken before? Nobody does.

We just reread and enjoy.

Excellent essay, and the first time I've read all the comments. Great discussion about how different industries view borrowing. Thank you

Dear NTH...

Oh, I so very much want to glibly reply with a "obviously you stole all of this" quip...just to tease you if for no other reason...just because of the subject matter.

But, more seriously, I may have been the one to report the recent story you mentioned, and I did so due to a strong "wait, I've read this same exact story before..." reaction. I will admit not having researched deeply, but I also didn't catch any sort of disclaimer or accreditation to another's prior work...and admittedly, I could have missed that, had it been there. I did make at least a cursory check before reporting the story that I did, though, and came up empty.

So, if I stepped on someone's efforts errantly, mea culpa, but if I (as I thought at the moment) instead stopped a blatant plagiarism (which is too frequent a thing to ignore), then I offer no apologies for acting as I did.

I will, in either case, allow posterity to judge, which it shall do anyway.

Your message kind of disappeared into the verbiage.

Plagiarism- University of Oxford

https://www.ox.ac.uk › academic › guidance › skills

The University defines plagiarism as follows: “Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author.

The obvious problem is a writer owning an idea. That is a slippery slope. Is the strange car parked in the driveway an idea owned by anyone? What about hiding cameras in the bedroom. Banging the big titted secretary? Having a shyster lawyer? Sleeping with the identical twin? Going for a long car ride with Mom, Dad and a big-ass TV? Watching the wife for 2.5 days? Living the same day over and over? Crushing the wife's lover's nuts in a dark parking lot?

I don't think it is too difficult to write a story that is your own, even if elements of the plot have been used before. Using characters from another's story or copying and pasting lines from another's story truly is plagiarizing. Don't do that shit.

A very good discussion of plagiarism, While reading this it brought to mind what one of my HS english teachers said in his discussion of plots and movies. This was back in the late 50s when the majority of movies being made I think were westerns. He stated that there were only 6 different plots fo westerns and I think he's mostly right. That being the case I'm that plot line may also apply to a lot of the sci-fi space epics. A lot of them are just westerns in space with spaceships and fighters rather than horses. Lets face it we are influenced by stories, TV shows and movies we have experienced all our lives. I've been watching TV for about and going to movies for about 70 years. Some movies I thought were good I saw many years ago are not so good now but many of them are much better then todays offerings on streaming TV. You only need look at what movies are 'free' and what they are charging for. One example is a movie over 80 years old that should be in the public domain, that movie is: The Wizard of OZ made 1939 made 4 years before I was born. There many others that were mad in the 30s that are still popular today and we are being charged for if we wish to watch them. Originality is pretty well not a possibility out there anymore considering the number of movies available with any and all types of available plots. Right now there over 250,000 on streaming services. 5 stars for a good analysis and rationalization for plagiarism.

There are different concepts. Pastiche, homage and plagiarism. Don't confuse the first two with the latter and you'll do okay.

Wow - 50 comments in just one day!

Umberto Eco often said, "If you copy from only one single book, it is plagiarism. If you copy from hundreds of books, it is a masterpiece."

Thought provoking piece. More, you introduced me to Nici — probably long gone, but she said so much in the few pieces she posted. Credit you for raising my awareness. Guessing by dates she has moved on, but her perspective, wherewithal, agency dares to challenge the norm along with a few others writers currently active. She created pieces around storylines and flawed characters who wrestle with something real rather than the stereotypical “perfect, aggrieved husband and near bimbo wife” who suffers immeasurably while he finds everlasting satisfaction in the arms of a new love. Thanks.

The whole mess with Wandering Mongol's story looking like Cagivagurl's Promotion Comes With Strings Attached. There are multiple stories that use this exact theme that predate that story. We have a ton of trolls on this site and LW especially. You just deal with it. Even the best stories have anon comments that say "You suck" so no surprise at the people will throw charges around of plagiarism.

Wandering Mongol's story was different enough or are we going to say Cagivagurl owns that trope that multiple stories already used before Cagivagurl. Cagivagurl just wrote better than most of the previous stories using that trope.

Oh and as far as pissing off The Mouse.

It makes me wanna make an alt in Reddit and write something awful with all of those toons! LOL. Maybe a gangbang...

I just don't have the time or money to fight them!

LOL. Maybe I should include lots of sex involving the products ot The Motorcycle Company also infamous for being lawsuit happy.

A hidden trope for "Loving Wives" category is, the total absurd absence of STD sexually tramsmidded diseases.

Because all those Bulls always riding bareback is a fantasy more than Thinkerbell in a fairytale.

That trigger another hidden trope, the deep suspension of disbelief. In real life each one of us knows some cheating wife but we also know STD. It means that Category often shift in fairytales, more than other categories.

Give some thought to changing your name... You could, at minimum, upgrade to "Hack", or maybe even "TalentedHack".

I think landing on "TalentedStoryteller" is right in the ballpark. Thanks for speaking your piece!

This is the most interesting essay I've ever read... mind I don't read essays.... 😆

An interesting and very well thought out essay.

I haven't published any stories yet, but I have a list of about 50 different story ideas, some of which were inspired by a single plot element or character from another story.

As an example, there's a meme that makes me laugh every time I see it, and I definitely want to incorporate it into a story - Everyone in MC's life keeps telling him that the best revenge is a life well-lived. MC Googles for the second best revenge.

It's a meme. It's been seen all over the internet by hundreds of thousands of people. It's not an original idea. However, I think it makes a dandy plot point for a story.

So true! Lots of stories, many writers, so i read for my enjoyment. Stories also going to Reddit as talking instead of reading, some almost word for word as really happing!

One of the biggest challenges for any writer, in any genre, to take an idea or trope as it were and put a new enough spin on it that it reads as a new take on an old idea. There are a finite number of "new ideas" and blessed are those who can deliver a few for us greed and famished readers to devour. Thank you, not only for the stories, but also your continued foray into the ungrateful readers that feel the need and claim the "right" to cast accusations and declarations at your feet. I applaud your work and continued efforts to provide content for the great unwashed masses.

Enjoyed this. You might write better essays than stories, and that’s a very high bar. As one who spent 5 months in the hospital with hours of boredom facing me, I have probably read most every LW story. The ones I enjoy, I have read several times. I agree that there are only so many plot lines available to writers. The cuck stories are all the exact same story with the characters names changed. The good authors build an entertaining story around these old, much used plots. That’s what keeps me reading.

5 stars - COME ON - This is a FREE porn literature website for amateur writers, not a romance novel contest.

As far as I am concerned - I don't give a rats ass who uses phrases, or complete paragraphs from someone else's story, as long as the story in front of me is well written and amuses me.

I have liked most of what you have written so far - so please keep writing.

Appreciate the references to Nici’s work. What she got right that most authors miss is that for women, it is all about the relationship. Nici’s selfish wife character was a great example of this - sex was a byproduct of her relationship with the other guy. IMHO, women’s affairs are significantly more likely to start with a relationship with a perp than the dreaded Martian Slut Ray that hit GA’s Linda character. Old saying, women give sex to get love; men give love to get sex.

We are all plagiarizing Shakespeare to some degree. There are only so many ways to write erotic fiction, there's bound to be some coincidental duplication.

It is concerning that you seem to have excellent knowledge of the works you are accused of plagerizing, but seriously, it's erotic fiction. Nobody's making any real money here. Even if you're guilty as charged, it's a case of no harm, no foul.