Oh joy...

[ffutures]

A reviewer on ff.net has just more or less accused me of plagiarising the final scene of chapter XVI of Dead Trouble - apparently it's similar to a scene in a story published four years ago. It's difficult to see how I could avoid writing the scene like that, given the essential ingredients of a certain reporter and a certain domestic appliance, and some need to make the reporter encounter the appliance, but apparently I am supposed to rewrite it to reduce the similarity. Yeah, right. I took a look at the story and am bloody sure I never read it - it's an angsty and VERY long pure Potterverse fic, a genre I tend to avoid - but I suppose that I will have to put some sort of disclaimer at the end of the next chapter.

Comments

[averageshmoe.livejournal.com]

So let me get this straight.

With the hundreds of thousands of Potterverse fanfictions out there an author has to be knowledgeable of each and every one of them and if they do something faintly similar to a story that they may or may never have read . . .

I'm really trying to wrap my mind around that one. If you acknowledge them just remind them of the chap who sent his paper on his ideas about how animals change and adapt to their environment to a distinguished man of science. I am of course speaking of Wallace's letter to Charles Darwin.

And my compliments for all the fine remarks concerning Skeeter's fate. You certainly won over the Potterites over at TTH who were so avid for a knock down drag out fight between the Slayers and the Wizards . . . with the Wizards winning, of course.

pgavigan

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I probably will put in some sort of disclaimer - if the quote in the review is accurate there's a LOT of similarity.

As for Rita; well, they say that if you give the public what they want...

[averageshmoe.livejournal.com]

And if you finished up the story with Xander having acquired a set of superpowers so he can swoop in and solve all the problems in a single paragraph and have all the girls, including Kennedy, madly in love with him you'll get the rest of the Twisting the Hellmouth community.

Just read one of your comments over at TTH about the trouble that the Ministry would be in for concluding secret treaties with domestic organizations that were out of control. I don't know if I was reading it wrong, but did you mean treaties with just one of the groups, the Watchers or the Wizards, or both?

pgavigan

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Was that my comment?

[averageshmoe.livejournal.com]

My apologies. It was from a reader and I misread it.

pgavigan

[dsample.livejournal.com]

If you never read the other story, it isn't plagiarism, it's just a coincidence. If we added disclaimers for ever coincidental similarity between our stories, and someone else's, the disclaimers would outweigh the text.

(Even if you had read the other story, it probably still wouldn't count as plagiarism. Is every movie that has a car chase in San Francisco plagiarizing [i]Bullet[/i]?)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The quote he gives is similar enough to what I've written that I felt it necessary to check out the story. Judging by the number of reviews it's fairly well-know, just not to me. So I will be putting in a disclaimer.

[davidkevin.livejournal.com]

The same thing happened to Peter David, who wrote "Quantum Beast" (Part 1 (http://peterdavid.malibulist.com/archives/001260.html) and Part 2 (http://peterdavid.malibulist.com/archives/001259.html)), completely unaware that Lee Kirkland had already written the identically titled and similarly plotted "Quantum Beast" (Part 1 (http://jacalyns.u28.nozonenet.com/classic/classic_pg/qthrur/qballwell.html) and Part 2 (http://jacalyns.u28.nozonenet.com/classic/classic_pg/qthrur/qbwaiting.html)).

Some fanfic ideas are just so obvious that more than one person writes them.

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't bother with a disclaimer. It's one fanfic amongst thousands.

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

I think you're taking that review a little hard, matey. Having read the review in question, it doesn't feel like an accusation to me, just pointing out that Rita's death in Dead Trouble is very close to something that's been written before. The suggestion that you might want to think about re-writing it is just that; a suggestion.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I've added a disclaimer to the existing chapter on ff.net, which ought to keep the guy happy, I hope.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Back during S2 of Buffy, Selena and I wrote a demon character whose name I forget, but she was basically identical to Glory. Right down to the shoes and shopping obsession, living in a hotel, with scabby minions.

I'm sure that's the reason why writers of shows never admit to reading fanfic, in case they wind up getting sued at some point for plagiarism.

But yes, a disclaimer should stop any potential moaning from the FF reviewer.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm more worried about fanfiction net's poxy automatic abuse system, which has been known to freeze accounts without bothering to check if the complaint is valid.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't know they had an automatic abuse system... On ff.net, that must lead to much hilarity on a regular basis.

I await the insanity that will ensue if LJ are stupid enough to introduce a 'report abuse' button at the bottom of every LJ entry.

Tempted...

[j-a-c-s.livejournal.com]

I thought what you did to Rita was a logical result of witch who can transform into a bug meets muggle world. I rarely read straight Potter fics and haven't come across a scene like this in any crossovers before and thought it was fairly original. (And if I had read something like this before you're the fic writer I read most likely to have done this anyway, IMHO.)

Of course, now I'm tempted to use a similar idea in one of my HP crossover fics. (I wonder how many times an idea has to be used before it becomes a cliche...)

Re: Tempted...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

By all means do it - or if you don't want to use quite the same trick, make it fly paper or pyrethrium mothballs or bug killer spray - or just hit her with a newspaper!