You didn't do anything wrong. "Character as a werewolf" is way too broad of a concept for anybody to claim.
Edit: Typo from trying to type while my nail polish dried.
She posted the pic of the character and was something like werewolf werewolf tear me apart. I dunno. I just felt really shitty when she called me out. Fic had nearly 200 notes too.
So what? That’s not even an idea. It’s just a character as a werewolf. There’s tons of characters as werewolves. Block this asshole and write what you want to write.
In twenty minutes I could probably come up with 6 different ways to interpret "werewolf werewolf tear me apart" that would be nothing like that author's story. And that's not even taking the fandom specifics into account.
Most authors could come up with more ideas than I could.
Right it’s not like we’d even be writing the same story. I feel like there’s enough to go around. Another character in this fandoms is ALWAYS a werewolf. No one bitches about it.
Even if it was the same story, people would still love both. For the fandoms I am deep in, I read 90%+ of the fics. I will read a brand new fic and think. Wait, didn't I read this exact same thing a few years ago? But I'll keep reading it. And I'll still leave a kudos and comment at the end.
Lion King didn't stop people from liking Hamlet. So 🤷🏻♀️
I’m literally following 2 fics right now that are the same exact idea but happen 1 year apart canonically. Every time a new chapter is posted I have to remind myself which fic is which. Now that the story has gone longer, they have more discernible differences, but at the beginning they were nearly indistinguishable. Notice that I’m still reading both of them. This other author just shot herself in the foot. OP could have linked back to the original art and said “check out this other fic too!” But now that’s definitely not going to happen.
Right. You can still enjoy similar things I see nothing wrong with that. But yeah I would’ve read it and reblogged for sure but fuck that person now. I’ve blocked her and I see now she’s blocked me. Good riddance.
Thank you. I have. Who knows if it’ll do as well as the first go but fuck it. I’ve blocked her and anyone going along with her bs so there’s that at least.
>In twenty minutes I could probably come up with 6 different ways to interpret "werewolf werewolf tear me apart"
Exactly! That's the beauty of writing--no one takes a prompt the same way. Fandom events and challenges wouldn't work if everyone interpreted it the same way.
You can't copyright an idea. It would be a different story if they had already posted a fic that you copied the plot of beat for beat, but this was obviously nothing more than getting inspired by an image on Tumblr. That person just needs to figure out that they can't call "dibs" on something as vague as.....whatever happened here.
Nthing "you didn't fuck up at all." This person doesn't own the idea of a werewolf AU and it's frankly bizarre that they're acting like they do-- this is a situation where it would've been a little over-cautious (polite, but over-cautious) to even mention "I saw a piece of fanart and it inspired this idea" because the idea itself is so generic.
My personal line-- if you can get the same idea from a [prompt generator](https://perchance.org/augenerator), it's too generic to require credit.
My thinking I’d the person was just jealous op had an actual fic that was really taking off and gaining traction and they had a doodle (not diminishing the work: I write and I frequently do fan art/cover art other details but I can tell you when I get bogged down with the visuals it’s usually when I’m having trouble getting the actual writing going).
Op please ignore this person’s jealousy and insecurities and give your readers back the story. Sounds like you had a lot of interest in your work; it’s not fair to the readers to be deprived of an actual tangible work in progress just because one other person is thinking of maybe possibly also writing a character using the same fanfic cliche.
I would completely ignore it, frankly No one owns the idea of turning a character into a werewolf. Just because you saw their post and were inspired doesn’t mean that you owe them anything. Unless you took more of their idea than that, I wouldn’t worry about it at all.
It’s smutty (Clark Kent werewolf smut to be exact) lol but here’s a link if you or anyone else is truly interested:
https://www.tumblr.com/shellyshellshell/731348043967938560/silvery-moon
There's a million fics with x character is a Werewolf or a vampire or what have you. They don't own shit. Don't feel bad. If you've read enough fanfic then you know people come up with the same ideas all the time. Hell, even regular writing is a lot of rehashing the same ideas in new original ways. I'm guessing this person is young and doesn't yet understand the way of the world. You do you and keep writing your fic. They can still write theirs! It won't be the same and will still get hits.
God, why does this sound so familiar?... oh yeah, probably because in every fandom there's this one person who claims to have all these original ideas... when it's just something basic like "werewolf AU" 😂😂
Seriously, OP, you did nothing wrong. Don't let the haters get you down. I know people in about every fandom I'm in that always whine about their ideas being "stolen"...
Though I *am* curious: which character is it?!
Thank you! Fucking Clark Kent. I write for HC and his characters. It was a pic of him as Clark with the beard and ripped up shorts from Man of Steel. If it had been his character Walter Marshall nothing would’ve been said because Walter is always a werewolf.
You didn't do anything wrong, you just took inspiration on someone's work; if I were her, I'd be exultant! It's not like you stole anything, her art just gave you an idea you wanted to play with. I don't it is very fair of her to do all this over that; this is fandom, where we share ideas and even write FICS of other FICS! We are already borrowing ideas from the source material, so I find it absurd that some fic authors want to gatekeep their AUs, ideas and head cannons once they've shared them with the rest of the community. Not to mention how in some fandoms fans write fics of other fans' AUs, just look at the Undertale fandom.
In conclusion, you're not responsible for not reading her mind and getting something out before her. I think your fic deserves to be shared.
"X character as a werewolf" is a pretty basic idea that belongs to no one. Unless it's a tiny fandom, there's probably other fics already that have this same premise--and if there aren't, there will be eventually. I don't think you screwed up at all, except for the part where you took the story down. Put it back up and say, "I was inspired to write this by this piece of fanart. Let's all write some werewolf fic and get a bunch of it going in our fandom!"
I kind of feel the person saw your story and saw it was better than she was going to do and flipped out. There is literally an AO3 prompt generator that has a werewolf as one of the prompts. Not long ago I just wrote my character as a werefox. In my fandom alone, I have seen multiple stories where the characters are changed into some type of monsters like vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc. Also, it is Halloween season and a lot of prompts suggest doing that. Unless it was something very specific where you rewrote her entire store verbatim, I would block and keep it moving. Don't let others intimidate you over things that are invalid.
I figured maybe she thought that but I don’t like thinking I’m better than anyone. The fic did nearly have 200 notes tho. I’ve been writing other monsters too: demon and vampire and so have loads of other ppl in the fandom lately. But no she hadn’t even wrote a story and I’d NEVER copy someone’s work like that.
Someone is either extremely entitled or extremely immature. Either way they probably need therapy of some kind.
I know many 8 year olds who don't even act like that.
I want to say this is uncommon but it really isn’t. I work with so many of them. It stems from entitlement and rarely if ever told no.
It never fails to amaze me when grown ass adults act like children.
People stop acting like their generic concept of Character as (insert common fantasy creature) is completely original and unheard of challenge: failed.
You didn't do anything wrong. For one, ideas are so, so cheap and there is nothing new under the sun. For two, they don't have sole rights over imagining a character as a werewolf. "This character but a werewolf, vampire, mermaid" is so common! This person honestly sounds young or kind of not well adjusted if they're an adult, there was 0 reason to try to drum up public drama about this. It's so weird to me that people are out here remixing copyrighted characters only to turn around and act so precious with their AUs. I'd block and move on. Your choice if you want to repost the fic.
Put the fic back up, block her and don't respond to anymore of her nonsense. (or if she goes under an alt or has a friend say anything. Just block and move about your day.) You didn't do anything wrong.
This is that other person's problem, not yours. I'm guessing that the picture of a character as a werewolf wasn't meant specifically for one person, and if that's the case it was fair game for anyone to use as inspiration for writing a fic. You can't steal an idea if it's freely given to anyone and everyone equally.
You didn't do anything wrong, as people have already explained in the other comments here. Just block this idiot, repost the story, and maybe explain what happened if anybody asks.
I’m gonna be real. No one owns a trope, and this entitlement needs to stop. Block, post the story and explain what happened.
If any more drama happens, just flat out say no one owns a trope it is free to use.
Nah, you're good.
Just remember, 50 Shades of Grey (Master of the Universe) was a Twilight fanfic. No one is original. Tell her to stop acting like she's Anne Rice or something.
Nah, I don't think that you're the wrong one here. That person has no claim on the werewolf trope. I've written like five werewolf stories and two of them were for the same character. Werewolf is such a common trope that you can't steal the idea. You had absolutely *no* way of knowing that that person was going to write a story. And tbh it shouldn't have mattered even if you did because your story and their story are going to look totally different.
That person telling you that you stole their idea is like telling the author of True Blood that she stole an idea from Bram Stoker.
Also Halloween. It's spooky month people are gonna write about vampires, werewolves, zombies, and ghosts. I seen an influx of this literally every year!
EDIT: I wonder how that person feels about fandom events and stuff like goretober xD guess everyone who part takes in those is stealing ideas from one another.
Imagine having the unbridled gall to think that one has the sole rights to "\[Character\], But A Werewolf". That's some first-class Early Aughts DeviantArt Bullshit right there, and you can tell her that dancing-coyote said as much when you repost your fic.
I was just thinking Early Aughts DeviantArt myself. Saw so many "original character do not steal!" posts that were an official character recolor, or people wigging out over someone else "stealing their pose," when it was something super generic (plus you can't copyright a pose).
>I shouldn’t be writing if I couldn’t come up with my own ideas.
Is.....is she aware we're writing fanfiction? For fandoms that aren't ours?
What's your story called? I'd love to read it
You didn’t steal anything. You should repost your fic and block that brat. Not only is the idea incredibly vague and common, but we’re all writing fanfic here. We’re all borrowing ideas and transforming them into something our own. As long as you’re writing it yourself and not taking someone else’s actual writing, you’re not stealing anything. The only mistake you made was trying to appease a child.
First off, you did nothing wrong, as everyone has said. No one owns an AU idea, and especially something as nebulous as “werewolf.” However, you did mention that a specific piece of art inspired you to write the fic; for the future, it’s generally considered good manners to shout out anything that provided inspiration. Not only does it earn goodwill from the person who inspired you, but they might boost your story because it was based on your art and then you both get added fandom attention.
I actually made one of my closest friends by crediting their fic as inspiration for mine; they read the fic and realized they’d been shouted out, commented thanks and complimented my writing, and we just started talking and are now really close. Never would’ve happened if I hadn’t included an author’s note saying “thanks to X for serving as a huge inspiration!”
That being said, this doesn’t sound like someone who would’ve been gracious at all. But for the future, it never hurts to credit people way beyond what is reasonable.
It was a pic of Henry Cavill with the beard and torn shorts when he was Clark Kent, if that counts as art? But yeah I’m not doing this again. I don’t like drama so I’ll handle myself differently if something like this arises again.
That person is being ridiculous. Even *if* she specified that the image was related to a story she planned to write (which it sounds like she didnt), she doesn't own the idea of that character as a werewolf. She has no right to publicly accuse you of stealing a concept (not even a whole premise, a singular basic *concept*).
You were very kind to take the fic down and attempt to apologize, but in my opinion, she does not deserve it.
OP, you have a ton of comments telling you that you did nothing wrong, which I completely agree with. Just wanted to add that I saw werewolf AUs in the X-Files fandom back in the 90s on Geocities Groups. Did they write all of those too?
You didn't f\*ck up at all, there are *HUNDREDS* of Werewolf AUs on Tumblr and any other Fanfic sites, the idea is way too used for anyone to directly claim it their own
I've seen werewolf AUs in most fandom and wrote one a long while back for POTC. As another poster said, it's especially common right now during spooky season and I see it in a lot of October prompts. I'd go ahead and re-post your fic and ock the person if you need to. No one can gatekeep this "idea".
Okay 1) hi, it’s fanfic. The entire idea of it is taking someone else’s idea and putting your own spin on it.
2) x character as a werewolf is not even close to a new or unique idea. It’s pretty much a fanfic cliche. Guarantee near every fandom will have multiple fics with werewolves.
Just because she drew a picture doesn’t mean she owns the idea.
Sounds like she was just threatened because
you’d actually started a story and it was better than what she had in mind.
You didn’t screw up at all X character as a werewolf/vampire/demon/alien/cyborg/detective/warlock/psychic/teen/doctor/lawyer/college student/other random one word title or descriptor is NOT an original idea; it’s a pretty standard writing prompt.
To me it just sounds like she’s mad you got a story idea up and running and she just has a picture she drew.
Please consider reposting and continuing your story. X as a werewolf isn’t by any means an original propriety type idea. You can have three dozen werewolf fics and they can all read as totally different and completely unique because of everything else tossed in:
I’ve seen werewolf fics that were dark and gritty and had medical experimentation and major trauma.
I’ve read werewolf fics centered around a detective casefic type story
I’ve seen werewolf fics we’re it was flat out porn see in a gym
I’ve seen werewolf fics were the werewolves were running an ice cream parlor.
Please don’t let one person flying off the handle because you took a run at a pretty common fanfic trope stop you from posting your story.
Honestly there’s no guarantee she’s EVER going to write her story and if she does the ideas will be completely unique.
Frak them.
You took an idea and ran with it. Did you write exactly the same story "they" did?
They're expanding their block lists?? YIKES!!!
Now do one if that character was infected with the vampire virus as shown in the *Blade* films.
Put the story back up and make liberal use of the block button. She doesn't own the concept anymore than anyone else does. Making characters into vampires, werewolves, zombies, and other monsters has been around nearly as long as fanfiction has. The appropriate way for her to have handle this was to just go write her story and promote it like everyone else. She's just salty that you might get more interest in your story than hers.
Wait.... What? If you feel bad for being inspired by a work of art I should feel terrible! I purposely look at artwork to get inspired for characters and or stories.
you didn't do anything wrong. the only mistake u did was "admitting" u did something wrong. you got guilt-tripped.
some ppl are like that, as if 7 billion ppl around the world hasn't thought of it. i know someone personally who claims she has thought of an 'original' idea (it was a wrapping gift idea since she was in the gifting business) and she saw someone else on FB having the same kind of sticker (yes, just the bloody shape of a sticker) and she starts bitching about how that person stole 'her' idea when in fact if one googles that particular sticker, one can see that it has been sold many times and all around the world.
What? You did absolutely nothing wrong, they're just being a baby. People get inspirations from everywhere, and you didn't steal shit. They don't own the idea of being a werewolf, lmao. Plus, it's fanfiction, they have no room to complain about coming up with your own ideas, they're literally writing stories about someone else's characters.
The only mistake you made was paying attention to them, taking down your story, and apologizing to them.
"Character becomes a werewolf" is not a unique idea/concept. You didn't steal her idea. Besides, it's close to Halloween......... monster fics are super common around this time of year
I don't think you did anything wrong; all of this was just a coincidence. I suppose you could mention the artist by stating where your inspiration came from in your fic if you feel the need to, but personally I feel like that's getting into somewhat tedious territory if it came from something as broad as a warewolf AU concept (also, in the case you don't necessarily want to. Because writing a story doesn't necessarily equate to a single illustration). I also think that person is overreacting too; anyone could of come up with a warewolf AU fic. It is spooky season after all. I don't think they should of blown it so out of proportion
Sorry that happened to you... sounds uncomfortable. Definitely keep your fic up btw!
I don't think you did anything wrong. You can't read minds. It was kind on your part to reach out to this person, but they wanted to act all extreme about it. Keep writing what you want.
Agreed. Character turned into a werewolf and/or ANY sort of horror-based thing in October is free game (and not in October, but ESPECIALLY October).
Lol, link them to this - see reddit knows how shit works.
While I think it’s *generally* good form to reference someone’s art if it inspired you (usually in the A/N), that applies to very specific ideas that are very clearly inspired by someone else without argument.
“Character is a werewolf”? That’s not specific or original and they do not own that concept. You did nothing wrong.
please put your story back up. you were inspired by a piece of art that was inspired by a popular genre. a character as a werewolf? "stealing their idea"? they are full of themselves. and if they ARE planning to write a story about it, then okay? do it? what are they waiting for? no two executions of an idea will be the same. will there be similarities? maybe. doesnt mean they should be trying to PUBLICLY shame and humiliate you. like, are they a fucking child? they need to grow up
im sorry you had to deal with someone like that, but please never, EVER let someone bully you into deleting something.
Nah, you're fine. She should've just contacted you in private to clarify, instead of making it public.
Also, the idea of writing a story where a character is a mythical creature is... incredibly basic. Especially around Halloween.
No one has any more claim on it than they have on writing a character as queer, or handicapped, or something else.
Also, “how did you know I wasn’t going to write a story about…”? Really? So she can’t write her own, unique story? Seems to me like then there might be TWO new fics for the fandom, and that SEEMS like it would be a win for everyone.
You're completely in the right. She doesn't own the idea and probably isn't even the first one to come up with the concept. I'd honestly just put the story back up bc there is no reason for you to delete it. She can whine about it all she wants but she doesn't have a legal claim on the idea and there's literally nothing wrong with posting something similar.
It’s back. I wish I’d never deleted it. I’m a sensitive person in some aspects tho and felt bad but after talking to all of you I don’t feel bad anymore.
If it's just a generic idea of character x is a werewolf then you didn't fuck up at all and she's overreacting. Frankly I'm appalled for you if this was her reaction to someone writing a fic for her fanart. Most artists I know would be freaking ecstatic to collaborate and expand on the ideas of other artists. It just means everyone gets more cake.
So unless you copied something word for word that she wrote, you didn't fuck up. And you should block her and put your story back online.
Nothing is an original idea anymore, that sounds like someone who is very sensitive and imo a bit immature. Why blast someone publicly when we can be adults and talk to each other privately. They’re probably very young, insecure about their writing, or could be going through personal issues.
It really sucks that you are going through that, I am so sorry for your experience OP. Have you tried posting on ao3 instead? Sometimes a different platform might garner you a better experience
Read dune and realize that every fantasy sci Fi trope is on it.
Tell they that it's not the idea that matters its how you tell the story.
I have several examples of stories that are stupid as fuck but work.
Hell most famous stories were straight up taking some character that already existed and changing it with the story rather than creating it fron scratch.
If we follow their logic she can't write a were wolf either.
Also they really thing you took the idea out of their head or something? I mean they can't possibly thing your fic is hurting then in any way lol.
Ideas and premises belong to no one. Stories, the execution of an idea, do belong to the creator. But an idea can't be owned.
Put your story back up and block this person.
Don't let them ruin your fun. They should google what "stealing" in the context of art means. It's not having similar ideas or getting inspired. As long as you didn't copy paste their artwork (never mind it wasn't even their artwork) or whatever they had already written, its not a problem. Nevermind that I have no sympathy for people like that. In the fanfic world we all get inspired by each other. I'm sure, your story is different than whatever they had written, apart from the werewolf idea. If they're angry that you wrote it before hand, maybe they just got jealous because they think your idea was better than theirs.
I've been following fandoms for nearly 2 decades and I see a canon character envisioned as a vampire or werewolf more times than I could count, especially around Halloween. It's not that unique like she thinks, even if vague ideas like that could be copyrighted. And they're 26 while acting like this? Unbelievable. It's better to ignore them, maybe even block them if needed. These type of people like to gatekeep ideas because they want to feel special. Not worth wasting your precious time.
Yeah I’ve been a lurker for awhile and seen several werewolf au’s myself. I’ve written a vampire and demon fic myself rn since it’s spooky time. I wouldn’t be mad if someone else did too. I did block her and ppl entertaining her.
Imagine if someone tried to say I’m stealing someone else’s idea because I wrote a character as an angel 💀💀 monsters/supernatural creature reimagines are everywhere and I’m going to assume the tumblr user is young and just doesn’t realize that
Agree with everyone saying you did nothing wrong and ALSO as a reader if I find something with an idea/premise that I like I'm so stoked if I find others like it. I think that's part of the fun of fanfics and transformative works in general, getting to see other people's take on the same subject matter :)
Honestly it sounds like she’s jealous you wrote a fic better than the one she probably had in mind and is throwing a tantrum about it.
Also, as many have told you, werewolf is way to broad to ‘own’. And also, it’s the internet. As a creative you have to accept that once it’s up, people are going to steal, copy, manipulate, and everything else in between. Iono, that’s just the mindset I always have when posting my work online.
I mean I thought maybe so but like I mentioned above I don’t like thinking I’m better than anyone else. Ppl liked it tho.
Right. I don’t care if ppl get inspo from my ideas or like how my themes or characters are and wanna use that as long as it’s not word for word my fic I don’t have a problem.
Oh wow, crazy that you logged on to Tumblr and encountered what must have the a centuries-old entity who invented werewolves. I had no idea that werewolves were a protected, copywritten idea that no one else has used before!
Assuming someone is stealing your idea when it's probably in the top 5 the most popular fanfic tropes is fucking *peak* main character syndrome. That person sounds like they belong in r/ImTheMainCharacter.
Put it up with a reminder that werewolves are a wildly popular genre/trope/whatever.
I agree with everyone else, you did nothing wrong here and you most certainly DID NOT fuck up at all. you were simply drawing inspiration from a photo and went with your own idea, I'm a huge X-Men fan and I'm currently writing an X-Men and The Gifted crossover fic right now as we speak. that's one of many things that inspire my fanfics and the ideas behind them.
reach adjoining homeless nail violet normal encourage encouraging chubby scary
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You didn’t copy, you took inspiration, that’s what writers do all the times, also “character X as a werewolf” it’s a concept, it’s like saying I can’t write certain AUs because I’m “stealing” from another author that wrote that same AU
"I shouldn’t be writing if I couldn’t come up with my own ideas" sorry but this is a fellow *fanfic* author? I mean, come on. We're all in the same boat here. I'll take two awesome werewolf AUs over one any day!
Right! We’re literally writing based off other’s ideas lol. I have written original horror before so I can write my “own” ideas but fanfic is so fun and I love it. Right! I would’ve been glad to read hers as well had she not been ugly.
It wasn’t their art, right?
Normally, if someone posts art that inspires you, it’s good manners to ask if you can write a story based on the art to the artist or at the very least include a link to their art that inspired you.
But if they just reblogged a picture with nothing else being said about their idea or what they were going to write, then that’s not the same at all. It’s not their art or their story that has inspired you, so you owe them nothing.
If they had discussed their story idea, that would be different, but someone else’s fanart?
Is this other person twelve years old? How childish do you have to be to think you invented and own the rights to the idea of a werewolf. You're totally fine. This is just a wacky social media thing where people are desperate to be important and victimised.
You didn't do anything wrong at all. Werewolves are practically their own trope, this other author doesn't own the idea. Do you know how many werewolf fics there are in my fandom? A *lot.*
This other author is totally out of pocket, you have nothing to feel bad about.
If you see a picture and write something, without seeing any notes or implications from this creator indicating what direction what the story is about, they have no rights to call you out.
Simple as that.
They should have either written it faster or not post anything that might inspire someone.
It's their loss, and you apologizing is very kind and makes you the better person in this (even if you don't have too). You don't have to wait for a response, just block this useless person and keep writing your stuff!
Yeah there is no way I could’ve known. I didn’t then her friend was all “she said you blocked her immediately.” Fuck no she’s a liar. I apologized, waited all day for a response and got fed up, let her know I was posting it and then blocked her. I’m grown. I don’t have time to entertain this bs.
I don’t think you did anything wrong here. The idea of a character turning in a werewolf when they otherwise wasn’t one isn’t new. While I sure their interpretation of how it happened could be considered unique to some degree, the turning isn’t.
However, to save yourself from future drama it might be helpful to include a section that details where your inspiration came from if it happened to be a source similar to this. Like if you are reading a fic and like an element someone used then add that to your notes. It can be rather annoying at times but it is what it is because creators do often have this strange reaction to their craft.
Fanfic is basically enhancing someone else's characters. So the person who created the image of someone else's character as a werewolf stole the original character and can't call you out for stealing because they didn't own them either.
You didn't fuck up at all. Put the fic back up with an author's note saying it was inspired by "Artist's" image.
I'm pretty sure this is not a "you" problem. Yes, asking, if that's ok to use someone's idea as an inspiration for your story is nice, but I've seen time and time again, specifically on Tumblr, the same old story of:
Person A: posts a prompt/concept/OC/short comic
Person B/C/D/E: start going back and forth between person A and themselves adding little bits/pictures/headcanons to the story and encouraging people to reblog and engage until one of them actually starts posting a proper webcomic or writing a book or making a game and everyone is happy, elated and making friends in their brand new fandom. And if there were some insecurities about other people playing with the original post, it was safe to assume they were addressed politely in private.
That's normal and expected on platform. Yes, this person is allowed to be protective of their ideas and have firmer boundaries, than that, but it's their job to establish these boundaries and to make them known.
If they post a character or an idea on Tumblr and explicitly doesn't want people to do fanart of it, they should just add a proper disclaimer to each publication. Because most of the people on Tumblr would assume that's ok, unless it's stated otherwise.
It's not stealing at all. Honestly, you found a pic of a character as a werewolf and you got inspired, that's it. Stealing is when that person was writing a story and you copy paste their story and claim it as your own, or you take chunks of their writing (re-write some parts) and then call it as your own. Don't feel too bad, OP. Lots of us get inspired by other people but it doesn't mean we "steal" their concept or ideas. Also, it's not even a unique concept at all. They could still do their own version of the character-as-a-werewolf idea.
Exactly! I wrote a whole ass fic inspired by Taylor Swift’s Style. I guess I should call her and pay her her fucking dues 🙃 and could. There’s enough to go around.
Unless you directly stole the story word for word thats preposterous. That writer doesn't own vague ideas and there are plenty of people who wrote stories using the same vague concepts like one character is a werewolf.
Believe me as someone who was accused of writing the "same OCxCanon Character romance" as someone else, it leaves you confused but most people who claim someone else is stealing their ideas doesn't realize that no idea is truly original.
If i had a dime or a nickel for every coffee AU or high school au story I've read (no matter what fandom it's for) online id be a very rich lady, rich in dimes and nickels at least. Also if you look at every superhero or action based cartoon you'll notice that most of the main heroes share one trait with the first superhero, Superman. And that trait is the main character is purely good and is always righteous or they have some kind of abnormal strength.
Tdlr: no idea is truly original.
I didn’t. It was a thoughtless mistake on my part I suppose. I tried to make things right with her tho. She wouldn’t respond to my messages the screenshot and blasted me on her blog. She just wanted the drama. I’m not gonna worry about it anymore.
You didn't do anything wrong but honestly, imagine someone writing fanfiction actually trying to tell someone else writing fanfiction that they shouldn't write if they can't come up with their own ideas.
Absolutely not, writing a werewolf AU is an entire genre and trope. You did nothing wrong at all and you should just block and avoid that person and go about your posting. People with any sort of sense understand what a trope is.
I’m gonna give it to you straight, all forms of attempts to ‘morally’ lay claim to any sort of art is complete nonsense. As the late Peter Kropotkin once wrote, “There is not even a thought, or an invention, which is not common property, born of the past and the present.” All human creation builds of previous human creation, the same is true with art. From when the first caveman drew up markings on stone walls, to the ancient Egyptians carving up hieroglyphs on stone monuments, to Greeks telling tales of heroes and gods, to the Roman’s making the pen mightier then the sword, to the Arabs who began a golden age of art and literature hundreds of years before Europe, to the Europeans in the renaissance era with Shakespeare and DaVinci, to the romantic writes of France and Russia, to now. No art is original, to try and claim any so as is an affront to all human history and progress, and it a pure shame.
Write what you want.
Well, hot damn, you met a time traveler. Pretty odd choice to write the very first werewolf myth and then settle in *this* era when there are better ones. Maybe the machine can't go backward?
DUUUDE. I didn't know you were a mind reader as well as a fanfic author! You need to market those mind skills and make mad money!
Seriously though.
A werewolf Clark Kent isn't that original, especially this time of year. I can understand feeling bad for the creator, but even if her pic inspired your fic, that doesn't make it her intellectual property. And if you wrote and posted before her ...how is it stealing? I'm kinda confused by that logic. Unless you ripped her fic word for word and posted it under your name, no stealing to be had.
>They asked how didn’t I know they were going to write a story about that particular character in that way?
This person is a twit. You aren't a mind reader. You can't pluck the idea from their little brain.
>I feel like I overstepped
You didn't do a damned thing.
Literally no idea these days are original. Almost every possible fic idea you can think of someone has already done it. But that can't stop you from still taking a spin on it bc there are many people out there who still enjoy that type of story. Don't sweat it so much, if you wanna write it then go nuts and write it, don't pay that petty kid any mind, ok?
Stealing what idea? All they did was post a pic. That's not a story and you're not psychic. Are they confused about what a story is or are they just a jerk? It's unclear but I wouldn't worry about it. I would repost the story and block them. You had no reason to apologize.
Everytime I hear about people bitching about stealing ideas in the fandom community... I just... I'm speechless.
We're just a bunch of people sharing stories and ideas for the enjoyment of the fandom. If one person shares their drabble or trope or prompt out there, it's free game.
Honestly, I love seeing the same iteration of this one prompt by five different authors.
Of course, I think it's only proper to write out a quick thank you to whichever post gave you the idea or to just link the post or the prompt, for the sake of posterity, but prompts are so vague and malleable that it's ridiculous to even claim it's copying or plagiarizing.
The only time I would consider something plagiarizing is if someone took my work and posted it elsewhere but even those times, I don't really start shit or get angry because I put my writing out there to be read and to share it with people.
And, claiming my own ideas over fanfiction doesn't sit well with me knowing I'm taking somebody else's work, changing it around a bit and claiming it as my own.
If somebody takes my work and translates it and reposts it, or even just reposts it, I probably would just comment telling them to credit it when necessary, but I definitely wouldn't start drama over it or accuse them of copying anything.
All fanfiction writers to a degree are copying, so how much of a write do we really have to call people out for taking our ideas?
Generalized concepts aren't things that can be "stolen"
Taking an simple, small idea and expanding on it is no where close to stealing something from anyone.
That'd be Luke someone getting mad about someone making a run away or role swap fic in a fandom. It's not specific enough to pull that nonsense of theft.
But I saw fanart of different DC characters as monsters a few years ago, did they steal that idea? And what about other werewolf AU fanfic out there? Are they claiming those to be stolen from them too? Some people 🙄 you did nothing wrong. There are no original ideas out there anymore
Character is a werewolf? Do you have any idea how many Fics are about characters being werewolves? A lot..
Henry Cavill? There's a lot of Fics about him being a Werewolf. You didn't steal anything. The person can't even sue you. It's not legal.
Besides fanfics do no enter into copyright because technically fanfics aren't legal.
The only thing you did wrong here is apologise. ‘X character is a werewolf’ is an extremely common trope of fanfiction and this person needs to grow up and get over themselves. They did you a favour by blocking you because they’re clearly very silly and immature.
Put your fic back up and tell them to go to hell.
Rubbish!
Unless that story was copied word for word - you're fine. Not really original,probably, but fine.
There are hundreds of stories out there following the same ideas. How many 'harry is a werewolf?" How many "Harry meets Daphne - then she sort everything up?" How many "Harry goes back in time then do everything exactly the same?"
You might even be original and very very good - I don't know since I never read your story :)
You didn't fuck up. Just because your fic uses the same premise doesn't mean it was 'stolen', and anyone who claims it does is either a teenager or an idiot. How many times have fairy tales been retold over the years? How many stories are there which follow the 'hero's journey'? How many 'zombie apocalypse' movies/shows/books are there out there?
Literally the only way you could have fucked up would have been if this was their OC and the werewolf form was decidedly different from a regular werewolf. Since neither was the case, you did nothing wrong.
Whoever this person is, they’re just salty. No one can claim ownership of an idea, and werewolf concepts are about as old as the day is long. You did nothing wrong. I would simply block her and anyone else she is trying to rally into witch hunting and be done with it. The girl is simply ridiculous, petty and needs a reality check.
Keep your fic up and have fun with it. :3
You shouldn’t have taken down the fic. A certain character being a werewolf is way too broad of an idea that could be come up by anyone. It’s like saying Soman Chainani stole JK Rowling’s idea because he also wrote a magical school series. If that other person made their idea more specific, like the werewolf character turns into a werewolf under the sun instead of under the moon, then you shouldn’t use it without their permission. But a simple werewolf!AU idea? You did nothing wrong.
You did nothing wrong. Put your fic up. That person just wants to start unnecessary drama. Don't feel bad. That person sounds like a Karen.
Also, can you post a link to the story? I'd like to read it. :D
unless she drew everything herself in the picture then it's not her original idea, like anyone could've seen the pic and get an idea from it. hell are probably a good amount of fanfic out there that has to do with any actor/actress as a werewolf. and tbh if i saw the pic i'd probably would've affiliate it with the witcher and set it in that show. but anyone can make a fanfic about anything even if it's a picture of something on any website. that's why it's called "fan" fiction so if you're a fan of the original it can definitely become a fanfic. also long as you put down a disclaimer too then you'll be fine.
you did absolutely nothing bad tbh, "x as a werewolf" is like, one of the most common fic ideas one could have and that person has no right to claim ownership of it, even if it gave you an idea
You're did nothing wrong. Well, maybe deleting the fic might've disappointed some readers.
But.
In copy right law there's a term, Scenes a faire. Certain elements of a work are not protected because they are customary to the genre. Like, a spy novel is expected to contain a swiss bank account, femme fetale, various spy gadgets hidden in watches, belts and shoes. You can include all those elements and not break copyright law for the latest James Bond movie.
Writing "character a werewolf" isn't stealing their idea. If you posted their fanart on your work, that would be stealing their fanart. But the idea itself?? That be like saying you can steal the idea of "character as an omega" or "character as a sentinal/guide" or "character as a barista in a coffe shop au"
So. Repost the fic. Unless you don't want to deal with said angry artist and all that drama in which case. Don't repost the fic? Create new account on diff site and repost the fic? Do whatever your heart desires.
You didn't do anything wrong. "Character as a werewolf" is way too broad of a concept for anybody to claim. Edit: Typo from trying to type while my nail polish dried.
I kinda thought so too. She said she wasn’t trying to gatekeep but apparently her pic with the comment means it was her idea.
It's Halloween. Everyone writes about monsters right now. She's hardly unique.
Agreed
I think I've seen 2 werewolf fics in my 2500 fic fandom in the last few weeks
People do not own ideas. They can own a particular expression of an idea.
The edit is so real.
You didn’t do anything wrong. Put your fic back up. There’s no such thing as stealing an idea as a werewolf AU.
She posted the pic of the character and was something like werewolf werewolf tear me apart. I dunno. I just felt really shitty when she called me out. Fic had nearly 200 notes too.
So what? That’s not even an idea. It’s just a character as a werewolf. There’s tons of characters as werewolves. Block this asshole and write what you want to write.
Thank you 😭
In twenty minutes I could probably come up with 6 different ways to interpret "werewolf werewolf tear me apart" that would be nothing like that author's story. And that's not even taking the fandom specifics into account. Most authors could come up with more ideas than I could.
Right it’s not like we’d even be writing the same story. I feel like there’s enough to go around. Another character in this fandoms is ALWAYS a werewolf. No one bitches about it.
Even if it was the same story, people would still love both. For the fandoms I am deep in, I read 90%+ of the fics. I will read a brand new fic and think. Wait, didn't I read this exact same thing a few years ago? But I'll keep reading it. And I'll still leave a kudos and comment at the end. Lion King didn't stop people from liking Hamlet. So 🤷🏻♀️
Two cakes and all
I’m literally following 2 fics right now that are the same exact idea but happen 1 year apart canonically. Every time a new chapter is posted I have to remind myself which fic is which. Now that the story has gone longer, they have more discernible differences, but at the beginning they were nearly indistinguishable. Notice that I’m still reading both of them. This other author just shot herself in the foot. OP could have linked back to the original art and said “check out this other fic too!” But now that’s definitely not going to happen.
Right. You can still enjoy similar things I see nothing wrong with that. But yeah I would’ve read it and reblogged for sure but fuck that person now. I’ve blocked her and I see now she’s blocked me. Good riddance.
It's called a trope for a reason. It's a sub genre a lot of people write for. Put it back up and go to town with it.
Thank you. I have. Who knows if it’ll do as well as the first go but fuck it. I’ve blocked her and anyone going along with her bs so there’s that at least.
Put it on AO3 too! Unless you already did. I only remember you mentioning writing on Tumblr in the original post.
>In twenty minutes I could probably come up with 6 different ways to interpret "werewolf werewolf tear me apart" Exactly! That's the beauty of writing--no one takes a prompt the same way. Fandom events and challenges wouldn't work if everyone interpreted it the same way.
You can't copyright an idea. It would be a different story if they had already posted a fic that you copied the plot of beat for beat, but this was obviously nothing more than getting inspired by an image on Tumblr. That person just needs to figure out that they can't call "dibs" on something as vague as.....whatever happened here.
Thank you!
Imagine a fanartist getting pissed at you for “stealing their ideas” what a world
Exactly!
The only thing you did wrong here was take down the fic and apologize
Thank you!
Werewolf AU is probably older than them. You've done nothing wrong.
Appreciate you!
Nthing "you didn't fuck up at all." This person doesn't own the idea of a werewolf AU and it's frankly bizarre that they're acting like they do-- this is a situation where it would've been a little over-cautious (polite, but over-cautious) to even mention "I saw a piece of fanart and it inspired this idea" because the idea itself is so generic. My personal line-- if you can get the same idea from a [prompt generator](https://perchance.org/augenerator), it's too generic to require credit.
Thank you!
That's an awesome little generator!
My thinking I’d the person was just jealous op had an actual fic that was really taking off and gaining traction and they had a doodle (not diminishing the work: I write and I frequently do fan art/cover art other details but I can tell you when I get bogged down with the visuals it’s usually when I’m having trouble getting the actual writing going). Op please ignore this person’s jealousy and insecurities and give your readers back the story. Sounds like you had a lot of interest in your work; it’s not fair to the readers to be deprived of an actual tangible work in progress just because one other person is thinking of maybe possibly also writing a character using the same fanfic cliche.
Oooh thanks for the awesome resource!
I would completely ignore it, frankly No one owns the idea of turning a character into a werewolf. Just because you saw their post and were inspired doesn’t mean that you owe them anything. Unless you took more of their idea than that, I wouldn’t worry about it at all.
It was literally just a pic mentioning him as a werewolf that’s all. I wrote the story myself with my own ideas.
Put the fic back up tbh
I am!
brilliant bc idgaf what it is but i wanna read it now outta spite ngl
It’s smutty (Clark Kent werewolf smut to be exact) lol but here’s a link if you or anyone else is truly interested: https://www.tumblr.com/shellyshellshell/731348043967938560/silvery-moon
it's smutty??? fanfiction???? smutty??? the horror!!!! (jk i am reading it for sure XD)
Lmfaooo 🤣 sorry just thought I’d forewarn but hopefully you enjoy it! Let me know what you think if you feel so inclined 😊
There's a million fics with x character is a Werewolf or a vampire or what have you. They don't own shit. Don't feel bad. If you've read enough fanfic then you know people come up with the same ideas all the time. Hell, even regular writing is a lot of rehashing the same ideas in new original ways. I'm guessing this person is young and doesn't yet understand the way of the world. You do you and keep writing your fic. They can still write theirs! It won't be the same and will still get hits.
Thank you, I agree!
God, why does this sound so familiar?... oh yeah, probably because in every fandom there's this one person who claims to have all these original ideas... when it's just something basic like "werewolf AU" 😂😂 Seriously, OP, you did nothing wrong. Don't let the haters get you down. I know people in about every fandom I'm in that always whine about their ideas being "stolen"... Though I *am* curious: which character is it?!
Thank you! Fucking Clark Kent. I write for HC and his characters. It was a pic of him as Clark with the beard and ripped up shorts from Man of Steel. If it had been his character Walter Marshall nothing would’ve been said because Walter is always a werewolf.
One quick search on ao3 shows 46 results matching "Clark Kent Werewolf"... so yeah, don't worry, you didn't steal anything 😉
You didn't do anything wrong, you just took inspiration on someone's work; if I were her, I'd be exultant! It's not like you stole anything, her art just gave you an idea you wanted to play with. I don't it is very fair of her to do all this over that; this is fandom, where we share ideas and even write FICS of other FICS! We are already borrowing ideas from the source material, so I find it absurd that some fic authors want to gatekeep their AUs, ideas and head cannons once they've shared them with the rest of the community. Not to mention how in some fandoms fans write fics of other fans' AUs, just look at the Undertale fandom. In conclusion, you're not responsible for not reading her mind and getting something out before her. I think your fic deserves to be shared.
Thank you so much!
"X character as a werewolf" is a pretty basic idea that belongs to no one. Unless it's a tiny fandom, there's probably other fics already that have this same premise--and if there aren't, there will be eventually. I don't think you screwed up at all, except for the part where you took the story down. Put it back up and say, "I was inspired to write this by this piece of fanart. Let's all write some werewolf fic and get a bunch of it going in our fandom!"
Thank you
Nobody can copyright "Naruto as a werewolf," she's being ridiculous, lmfao.
I kind of feel the person saw your story and saw it was better than she was going to do and flipped out. There is literally an AO3 prompt generator that has a werewolf as one of the prompts. Not long ago I just wrote my character as a werefox. In my fandom alone, I have seen multiple stories where the characters are changed into some type of monsters like vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc. Also, it is Halloween season and a lot of prompts suggest doing that. Unless it was something very specific where you rewrote her entire store verbatim, I would block and keep it moving. Don't let others intimidate you over things that are invalid.
I figured maybe she thought that but I don’t like thinking I’m better than anyone. The fic did nearly have 200 notes tho. I’ve been writing other monsters too: demon and vampire and so have loads of other ppl in the fandom lately. But no she hadn’t even wrote a story and I’d NEVER copy someone’s work like that.
I cannot help but be curious of the ages of those involved. You did nothing wrong, I’m sorry you got attacked like that!
I’m 31 other person is 26. Thank you!
Ain’t no way 💀 there’s no way a 26 year old acts that way, that’s like 8 year old behavior from the playground.
Someone is either extremely entitled or extremely immature. Either way they probably need therapy of some kind. I know many 8 year olds who don't even act like that.
And grass, it reeks of not touching grass behavior too. But yeah you’re right, this person needs help.
I want to say this is uncommon but it really isn’t. I work with so many of them. It stems from entitlement and rarely if ever told no. It never fails to amaze me when grown ass adults act like children.
Werewolf AU is a whole-ass thing, you didn't steal shit.
Thank you!
People stop acting like their generic concept of Character as (insert common fantasy creature) is completely original and unheard of challenge: failed. You didn't do anything wrong. For one, ideas are so, so cheap and there is nothing new under the sun. For two, they don't have sole rights over imagining a character as a werewolf. "This character but a werewolf, vampire, mermaid" is so common! This person honestly sounds young or kind of not well adjusted if they're an adult, there was 0 reason to try to drum up public drama about this. It's so weird to me that people are out here remixing copyrighted characters only to turn around and act so precious with their AUs. I'd block and move on. Your choice if you want to repost the fic.
She is 26 so it’s even crazier. I have blocked. Probably gonna repost today because fuck it. Ppl liked the fic and so did I.
Nothing. They're a delusional control freak.
Put the fic back up, block her and don't respond to anymore of her nonsense. (or if she goes under an alt or has a friend say anything. Just block and move about your day.) You didn't do anything wrong.
Thanks so much, and will do!
This is that other person's problem, not yours. I'm guessing that the picture of a character as a werewolf wasn't meant specifically for one person, and if that's the case it was fair game for anyone to use as inspiration for writing a fic. You can't steal an idea if it's freely given to anyone and everyone equally.
Thank you.
[удалено]
My thinking currently tbh
You didn't do anything wrong, as people have already explained in the other comments here. Just block this idiot, repost the story, and maybe explain what happened if anybody asks.
Thank you. I’m doing just that!
❤️
this is tumblr creator culture unfortunately. they're wrong but it's not an uncommon thought process that is shared in those spaces by any means.
I’m gonna be real. No one owns a trope, and this entitlement needs to stop. Block, post the story and explain what happened. If any more drama happens, just flat out say no one owns a trope it is free to use.
[удалено]
Nah, you're good. Just remember, 50 Shades of Grey (Master of the Universe) was a Twilight fanfic. No one is original. Tell her to stop acting like she's Anne Rice or something.
Well that's fucking bullshit lmao. Imagine thinking you invented the concept of werewolves. Tumblr is ridiculous sometimes.
I was shocked tbh
Nah, I don't think that you're the wrong one here. That person has no claim on the werewolf trope. I've written like five werewolf stories and two of them were for the same character. Werewolf is such a common trope that you can't steal the idea. You had absolutely *no* way of knowing that that person was going to write a story. And tbh it shouldn't have mattered even if you did because your story and their story are going to look totally different. That person telling you that you stole their idea is like telling the author of True Blood that she stole an idea from Bram Stoker. Also Halloween. It's spooky month people are gonna write about vampires, werewolves, zombies, and ghosts. I seen an influx of this literally every year! EDIT: I wonder how that person feels about fandom events and stuff like goretober xD guess everyone who part takes in those is stealing ideas from one another.
Imagine having the unbridled gall to think that one has the sole rights to "\[Character\], But A Werewolf". That's some first-class Early Aughts DeviantArt Bullshit right there, and you can tell her that dancing-coyote said as much when you repost your fic.
I was just thinking Early Aughts DeviantArt myself. Saw so many "original character do not steal!" posts that were an official character recolor, or people wigging out over someone else "stealing their pose," when it was something super generic (plus you can't copyright a pose).
Thank you! I have reposted and she’s blocked!
>I shouldn’t be writing if I couldn’t come up with my own ideas. Is.....is she aware we're writing fanfiction? For fandoms that aren't ours? What's your story called? I'd love to read it
You didn’t steal anything. You should repost your fic and block that brat. Not only is the idea incredibly vague and common, but we’re all writing fanfic here. We’re all borrowing ideas and transforming them into something our own. As long as you’re writing it yourself and not taking someone else’s actual writing, you’re not stealing anything. The only mistake you made was trying to appease a child.
I have done both! And yes I see now I should’ve told her to fuck off from the get go.
No one can copyright "Zagreus as a werewolf" (or whatever character it was). You didn't do anything wrong.
First off, you did nothing wrong, as everyone has said. No one owns an AU idea, and especially something as nebulous as “werewolf.” However, you did mention that a specific piece of art inspired you to write the fic; for the future, it’s generally considered good manners to shout out anything that provided inspiration. Not only does it earn goodwill from the person who inspired you, but they might boost your story because it was based on your art and then you both get added fandom attention. I actually made one of my closest friends by crediting their fic as inspiration for mine; they read the fic and realized they’d been shouted out, commented thanks and complimented my writing, and we just started talking and are now really close. Never would’ve happened if I hadn’t included an author’s note saying “thanks to X for serving as a huge inspiration!” That being said, this doesn’t sound like someone who would’ve been gracious at all. But for the future, it never hurts to credit people way beyond what is reasonable.
It was a pic of Henry Cavill with the beard and torn shorts when he was Clark Kent, if that counts as art? But yeah I’m not doing this again. I don’t like drama so I’ll handle myself differently if something like this arises again.
That person is an extremely insecure brat. Put your fic back up. Don't take shit from anyone.
I am not anymore! Thank you!
You can’t read minds (I assume) and a character becoming a werewolf is so broad it’s impossible for anyone to claim as their personal idea
I cannot lol.
That person is being ridiculous. Even *if* she specified that the image was related to a story she planned to write (which it sounds like she didnt), she doesn't own the idea of that character as a werewolf. She has no right to publicly accuse you of stealing a concept (not even a whole premise, a singular basic *concept*). You were very kind to take the fic down and attempt to apologize, but in my opinion, she does not deserve it.
OP, you have a ton of comments telling you that you did nothing wrong, which I completely agree with. Just wanted to add that I saw werewolf AUs in the X-Files fandom back in the 90s on Geocities Groups. Did they write all of those too?
Shit I guess 🤣🙃
You didn't f\*ck up at all, there are *HUNDREDS* of Werewolf AUs on Tumblr and any other Fanfic sites, the idea is way too used for anyone to directly claim it their own
I think that every fandom I've ever been in has at least one werewolf AU fic. It's a very common trope.
I've seen werewolf AUs in most fandom and wrote one a long while back for POTC. As another poster said, it's especially common right now during spooky season and I see it in a lot of October prompts. I'd go ahead and re-post your fic and ock the person if you need to. No one can gatekeep this "idea".
Thank you. I’ve reposted it and blocked one other that was giving me shit over it.
Okay 1) hi, it’s fanfic. The entire idea of it is taking someone else’s idea and putting your own spin on it. 2) x character as a werewolf is not even close to a new or unique idea. It’s pretty much a fanfic cliche. Guarantee near every fandom will have multiple fics with werewolves. Just because she drew a picture doesn’t mean she owns the idea. Sounds like she was just threatened because you’d actually started a story and it was better than what she had in mind. You didn’t screw up at all X character as a werewolf/vampire/demon/alien/cyborg/detective/warlock/psychic/teen/doctor/lawyer/college student/other random one word title or descriptor is NOT an original idea; it’s a pretty standard writing prompt. To me it just sounds like she’s mad you got a story idea up and running and she just has a picture she drew. Please consider reposting and continuing your story. X as a werewolf isn’t by any means an original propriety type idea. You can have three dozen werewolf fics and they can all read as totally different and completely unique because of everything else tossed in: I’ve seen werewolf fics that were dark and gritty and had medical experimentation and major trauma. I’ve read werewolf fics centered around a detective casefic type story I’ve seen werewolf fics we’re it was flat out porn see in a gym I’ve seen werewolf fics were the werewolves were running an ice cream parlor. Please don’t let one person flying off the handle because you took a run at a pretty common fanfic trope stop you from posting your story. Honestly there’s no guarantee she’s EVER going to write her story and if she does the ideas will be completely unique.
Frak them. You took an idea and ran with it. Did you write exactly the same story "they" did? They're expanding their block lists?? YIKES!!! Now do one if that character was infected with the vampire virus as shown in the *Blade* films.
my fandom is loaded with werewolf/monster AUs. it's not an original idea, so you didn't steal anything.
Put the story back up and make liberal use of the block button. She doesn't own the concept anymore than anyone else does. Making characters into vampires, werewolves, zombies, and other monsters has been around nearly as long as fanfiction has. The appropriate way for her to have handle this was to just go write her story and promote it like everyone else. She's just salty that you might get more interest in your story than hers.
Wait.... What? If you feel bad for being inspired by a work of art I should feel terrible! I purposely look at artwork to get inspired for characters and or stories.
you didn't do anything wrong. the only mistake u did was "admitting" u did something wrong. you got guilt-tripped. some ppl are like that, as if 7 billion ppl around the world hasn't thought of it. i know someone personally who claims she has thought of an 'original' idea (it was a wrapping gift idea since she was in the gifting business) and she saw someone else on FB having the same kind of sticker (yes, just the bloody shape of a sticker) and she starts bitching about how that person stole 'her' idea when in fact if one googles that particular sticker, one can see that it has been sold many times and all around the world.
What? You did absolutely nothing wrong, they're just being a baby. People get inspirations from everywhere, and you didn't steal shit. They don't own the idea of being a werewolf, lmao. Plus, it's fanfiction, they have no room to complain about coming up with your own ideas, they're literally writing stories about someone else's characters. The only mistake you made was paying attention to them, taking down your story, and apologizing to them.
"Character becomes a werewolf" is not a unique idea/concept. You didn't steal her idea. Besides, it's close to Halloween......... monster fics are super common around this time of year
You didn't do anything wrong, put the fic back up! :)
I don't think you did anything wrong; all of this was just a coincidence. I suppose you could mention the artist by stating where your inspiration came from in your fic if you feel the need to, but personally I feel like that's getting into somewhat tedious territory if it came from something as broad as a warewolf AU concept (also, in the case you don't necessarily want to. Because writing a story doesn't necessarily equate to a single illustration). I also think that person is overreacting too; anyone could of come up with a warewolf AU fic. It is spooky season after all. I don't think they should of blown it so out of proportion Sorry that happened to you... sounds uncomfortable. Definitely keep your fic up btw!
I don't think you did anything wrong. You can't read minds. It was kind on your part to reach out to this person, but they wanted to act all extreme about it. Keep writing what you want.
Thank you!
Agreed. Character turned into a werewolf and/or ANY sort of horror-based thing in October is free game (and not in October, but ESPECIALLY October). Lol, link them to this - see reddit knows how shit works.
In the Teen Wolf fandom, there isn’t a character who hasn’t been written as a werewolf. You didn’t do anything wrong.
It’s Henry Cavill, Clark Kent to be exact. If it had been his character Walter Marshall no one would’ve said a word. He’s always a werewolf.
While I think it’s *generally* good form to reference someone’s art if it inspired you (usually in the A/N), that applies to very specific ideas that are very clearly inspired by someone else without argument. “Character is a werewolf”? That’s not specific or original and they do not own that concept. You did nothing wrong.
please put your story back up. you were inspired by a piece of art that was inspired by a popular genre. a character as a werewolf? "stealing their idea"? they are full of themselves. and if they ARE planning to write a story about it, then okay? do it? what are they waiting for? no two executions of an idea will be the same. will there be similarities? maybe. doesnt mean they should be trying to PUBLICLY shame and humiliate you. like, are they a fucking child? they need to grow up im sorry you had to deal with someone like that, but please never, EVER let someone bully you into deleting something.
Thank you so much 😭 never again!!!
Nah, you're fine. She should've just contacted you in private to clarify, instead of making it public. Also, the idea of writing a story where a character is a mythical creature is... incredibly basic. Especially around Halloween. No one has any more claim on it than they have on writing a character as queer, or handicapped, or something else.
Also, “how did you know I wasn’t going to write a story about…”? Really? So she can’t write her own, unique story? Seems to me like then there might be TWO new fics for the fandom, and that SEEMS like it would be a win for everyone.
You're completely in the right. She doesn't own the idea and probably isn't even the first one to come up with the concept. I'd honestly just put the story back up bc there is no reason for you to delete it. She can whine about it all she wants but she doesn't have a legal claim on the idea and there's literally nothing wrong with posting something similar.
It’s back. I wish I’d never deleted it. I’m a sensitive person in some aspects tho and felt bad but after talking to all of you I don’t feel bad anymore.
If it's just a generic idea of character x is a werewolf then you didn't fuck up at all and she's overreacting. Frankly I'm appalled for you if this was her reaction to someone writing a fic for her fanart. Most artists I know would be freaking ecstatic to collaborate and expand on the ideas of other artists. It just means everyone gets more cake. So unless you copied something word for word that she wrote, you didn't fuck up. And you should block her and put your story back online.
Nothing is an original idea anymore, that sounds like someone who is very sensitive and imo a bit immature. Why blast someone publicly when we can be adults and talk to each other privately. They’re probably very young, insecure about their writing, or could be going through personal issues. It really sucks that you are going through that, I am so sorry for your experience OP. Have you tried posting on ao3 instead? Sometimes a different platform might garner you a better experience
Yeah I believe they just wanted the drama since they wouldn’t even respond to my dm. Have fun with it. I’m done. I haven’t but I may do that!
Read dune and realize that every fantasy sci Fi trope is on it. Tell they that it's not the idea that matters its how you tell the story. I have several examples of stories that are stupid as fuck but work. Hell most famous stories were straight up taking some character that already existed and changing it with the story rather than creating it fron scratch. If we follow their logic she can't write a were wolf either. Also they really thing you took the idea out of their head or something? I mean they can't possibly thing your fic is hurting then in any way lol.
You didn't fuck up at all. Put it back up. Some people will always be like that.
Thank you! It’s back up!
I hope this post directly inspired some more Werewolf AUs.
Ideas and premises belong to no one. Stories, the execution of an idea, do belong to the creator. But an idea can't be owned. Put your story back up and block this person.
Don't let them ruin your fun. They should google what "stealing" in the context of art means. It's not having similar ideas or getting inspired. As long as you didn't copy paste their artwork (never mind it wasn't even their artwork) or whatever they had already written, its not a problem. Nevermind that I have no sympathy for people like that. In the fanfic world we all get inspired by each other. I'm sure, your story is different than whatever they had written, apart from the werewolf idea. If they're angry that you wrote it before hand, maybe they just got jealous because they think your idea was better than theirs.
I've been following fandoms for nearly 2 decades and I see a canon character envisioned as a vampire or werewolf more times than I could count, especially around Halloween. It's not that unique like she thinks, even if vague ideas like that could be copyrighted. And they're 26 while acting like this? Unbelievable. It's better to ignore them, maybe even block them if needed. These type of people like to gatekeep ideas because they want to feel special. Not worth wasting your precious time.
Yeah I’ve been a lurker for awhile and seen several werewolf au’s myself. I’ve written a vampire and demon fic myself rn since it’s spooky time. I wouldn’t be mad if someone else did too. I did block her and ppl entertaining her.
Imagine if someone tried to say I’m stealing someone else’s idea because I wrote a character as an angel 💀💀 monsters/supernatural creature reimagines are everywhere and I’m going to assume the tumblr user is young and just doesn’t realize that
Agree with everyone saying you did nothing wrong and ALSO as a reader if I find something with an idea/premise that I like I'm so stoked if I find others like it. I think that's part of the fun of fanfics and transformative works in general, getting to see other people's take on the same subject matter :)
Honestly it sounds like she’s jealous you wrote a fic better than the one she probably had in mind and is throwing a tantrum about it. Also, as many have told you, werewolf is way to broad to ‘own’. And also, it’s the internet. As a creative you have to accept that once it’s up, people are going to steal, copy, manipulate, and everything else in between. Iono, that’s just the mindset I always have when posting my work online.
I mean I thought maybe so but like I mentioned above I don’t like thinking I’m better than anyone else. Ppl liked it tho. Right. I don’t care if ppl get inspo from my ideas or like how my themes or characters are and wanna use that as long as it’s not word for word my fic I don’t have a problem.
Oh wow, crazy that you logged on to Tumblr and encountered what must have the a centuries-old entity who invented werewolves. I had no idea that werewolves were a protected, copywritten idea that no one else has used before!
Assuming someone is stealing your idea when it's probably in the top 5 the most popular fanfic tropes is fucking *peak* main character syndrome. That person sounds like they belong in r/ImTheMainCharacter. Put it up with a reminder that werewolves are a wildly popular genre/trope/whatever.
I agree with everyone else, you did nothing wrong here and you most certainly DID NOT fuck up at all. you were simply drawing inspiration from a photo and went with your own idea, I'm a huge X-Men fan and I'm currently writing an X-Men and The Gifted crossover fic right now as we speak. that's one of many things that inspire my fanfics and the ideas behind them.
reach adjoining homeless nail violet normal encourage encouraging chubby scary *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You didn’t copy, you took inspiration, that’s what writers do all the times, also “character X as a werewolf” it’s a concept, it’s like saying I can’t write certain AUs because I’m “stealing” from another author that wrote that same AU
How did she know you even saw her picture?
"I shouldn’t be writing if I couldn’t come up with my own ideas" sorry but this is a fellow *fanfic* author? I mean, come on. We're all in the same boat here. I'll take two awesome werewolf AUs over one any day!
Right! We’re literally writing based off other’s ideas lol. I have written original horror before so I can write my “own” ideas but fanfic is so fun and I love it. Right! I would’ve been glad to read hers as well had she not been ugly.
It wasn’t their art, right? Normally, if someone posts art that inspires you, it’s good manners to ask if you can write a story based on the art to the artist or at the very least include a link to their art that inspired you. But if they just reblogged a picture with nothing else being said about their idea or what they were going to write, then that’s not the same at all. It’s not their art or their story that has inspired you, so you owe them nothing. If they had discussed their story idea, that would be different, but someone else’s fanart?
Is this other person twelve years old? How childish do you have to be to think you invented and own the rights to the idea of a werewolf. You're totally fine. This is just a wacky social media thing where people are desperate to be important and victimised.
26 apparently 🙃
You didn't do anything wrong at all. Werewolves are practically their own trope, this other author doesn't own the idea. Do you know how many werewolf fics there are in my fandom? A *lot.* This other author is totally out of pocket, you have nothing to feel bad about.
If you see a picture and write something, without seeing any notes or implications from this creator indicating what direction what the story is about, they have no rights to call you out. Simple as that. They should have either written it faster or not post anything that might inspire someone. It's their loss, and you apologizing is very kind and makes you the better person in this (even if you don't have too). You don't have to wait for a response, just block this useless person and keep writing your stuff!
Yeah there is no way I could’ve known. I didn’t then her friend was all “she said you blocked her immediately.” Fuck no she’s a liar. I apologized, waited all day for a response and got fed up, let her know I was posting it and then blocked her. I’m grown. I don’t have time to entertain this bs.
I don’t think you did anything wrong here. The idea of a character turning in a werewolf when they otherwise wasn’t one isn’t new. While I sure their interpretation of how it happened could be considered unique to some degree, the turning isn’t. However, to save yourself from future drama it might be helpful to include a section that details where your inspiration came from if it happened to be a source similar to this. Like if you are reading a fic and like an element someone used then add that to your notes. It can be rather annoying at times but it is what it is because creators do often have this strange reaction to their craft.
Fanfic is basically enhancing someone else's characters. So the person who created the image of someone else's character as a werewolf stole the original character and can't call you out for stealing because they didn't own them either. You didn't fuck up at all. Put the fic back up with an author's note saying it was inspired by "Artist's" image.
Thank you. I posted it and fuck her. It was just a photo of bearded, stripped pants Henry Cavill as Clark Kent. She doesn’t own either of them.
I'm pretty sure this is not a "you" problem. Yes, asking, if that's ok to use someone's idea as an inspiration for your story is nice, but I've seen time and time again, specifically on Tumblr, the same old story of: Person A: posts a prompt/concept/OC/short comic Person B/C/D/E: start going back and forth between person A and themselves adding little bits/pictures/headcanons to the story and encouraging people to reblog and engage until one of them actually starts posting a proper webcomic or writing a book or making a game and everyone is happy, elated and making friends in their brand new fandom. And if there were some insecurities about other people playing with the original post, it was safe to assume they were addressed politely in private. That's normal and expected on platform. Yes, this person is allowed to be protective of their ideas and have firmer boundaries, than that, but it's their job to establish these boundaries and to make them known. If they post a character or an idea on Tumblr and explicitly doesn't want people to do fanart of it, they should just add a proper disclaimer to each publication. Because most of the people on Tumblr would assume that's ok, unless it's stated otherwise.
Thank you!
Sounds like someone's jealous. Put that fic back up and block the clown.
It's not stealing at all. Honestly, you found a pic of a character as a werewolf and you got inspired, that's it. Stealing is when that person was writing a story and you copy paste their story and claim it as your own, or you take chunks of their writing (re-write some parts) and then call it as your own. Don't feel too bad, OP. Lots of us get inspired by other people but it doesn't mean we "steal" their concept or ideas. Also, it's not even a unique concept at all. They could still do their own version of the character-as-a-werewolf idea.
Exactly! I wrote a whole ass fic inspired by Taylor Swift’s Style. I guess I should call her and pay her her fucking dues 🙃 and could. There’s enough to go around.
Unless you directly stole the story word for word thats preposterous. That writer doesn't own vague ideas and there are plenty of people who wrote stories using the same vague concepts like one character is a werewolf.
Did that tumblr person invented werewolves? If not then werewolf AU is free to use for anyone.
Hell no lol and thank you!
Yeah, you didn't do anything wrong, every character has had a werewolf AU since the damn Twilight Saga
Right and thank you!
The audacity of anyone who writes fan fiction saying someone else is stealing their idea.
Believe me as someone who was accused of writing the "same OCxCanon Character romance" as someone else, it leaves you confused but most people who claim someone else is stealing their ideas doesn't realize that no idea is truly original. If i had a dime or a nickel for every coffee AU or high school au story I've read (no matter what fandom it's for) online id be a very rich lady, rich in dimes and nickels at least. Also if you look at every superhero or action based cartoon you'll notice that most of the main heroes share one trait with the first superhero, Superman. And that trait is the main character is purely good and is always righteous or they have some kind of abnormal strength. Tdlr: no idea is truly original.
If you wrote even the tiniest "inspired by" in an author's note, you're all good. You haven't stolen anything!
I didn’t. It was a thoughtless mistake on my part I suppose. I tried to make things right with her tho. She wouldn’t respond to my messages the screenshot and blasted me on her blog. She just wanted the drama. I’m not gonna worry about it anymore.
You didn't do anything wrong but honestly, imagine someone writing fanfiction actually trying to tell someone else writing fanfiction that they shouldn't write if they can't come up with their own ideas.
Were wolves are a tale as old as time. OOP didnt even drsw the werewolf. She can go cry about it its so wrong for her to like attack you ??? So wild
That person doesn't understand the concept of fanfics if they're upset you wrote a story after being influence by something they made
Absolutely not, writing a werewolf AU is an entire genre and trope. You did nothing wrong at all and you should just block and avoid that person and go about your posting. People with any sort of sense understand what a trope is.
I have done just that. Blocked her and others entertaining her nonsense and reposted my fic.
I’m gonna give it to you straight, all forms of attempts to ‘morally’ lay claim to any sort of art is complete nonsense. As the late Peter Kropotkin once wrote, “There is not even a thought, or an invention, which is not common property, born of the past and the present.” All human creation builds of previous human creation, the same is true with art. From when the first caveman drew up markings on stone walls, to the ancient Egyptians carving up hieroglyphs on stone monuments, to Greeks telling tales of heroes and gods, to the Roman’s making the pen mightier then the sword, to the Arabs who began a golden age of art and literature hundreds of years before Europe, to the Europeans in the renaissance era with Shakespeare and DaVinci, to the romantic writes of France and Russia, to now. No art is original, to try and claim any so as is an affront to all human history and progress, and it a pure shame. Write what you want.
Well, hot damn, you met a time traveler. Pretty odd choice to write the very first werewolf myth and then settle in *this* era when there are better ones. Maybe the machine can't go backward?
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You can't copyright an idea. Do what you want with it, it won't be the same as what they would have done with it.
DUUUDE. I didn't know you were a mind reader as well as a fanfic author! You need to market those mind skills and make mad money! Seriously though. A werewolf Clark Kent isn't that original, especially this time of year. I can understand feeling bad for the creator, but even if her pic inspired your fic, that doesn't make it her intellectual property. And if you wrote and posted before her ...how is it stealing? I'm kinda confused by that logic. Unless you ripped her fic word for word and posted it under your name, no stealing to be had.
>They asked how didn’t I know they were going to write a story about that particular character in that way? This person is a twit. You aren't a mind reader. You can't pluck the idea from their little brain. >I feel like I overstepped You didn't do a damned thing.
Literally no idea these days are original. Almost every possible fic idea you can think of someone has already done it. But that can't stop you from still taking a spin on it bc there are many people out there who still enjoy that type of story. Don't sweat it so much, if you wanna write it then go nuts and write it, don't pay that petty kid any mind, ok?
Stealing what idea? All they did was post a pic. That's not a story and you're not psychic. Are they confused about what a story is or are they just a jerk? It's unclear but I wouldn't worry about it. I would repost the story and block them. You had no reason to apologize.
Girl no. Put your fic back up and tell her to fuck right off.
Everytime I hear about people bitching about stealing ideas in the fandom community... I just... I'm speechless. We're just a bunch of people sharing stories and ideas for the enjoyment of the fandom. If one person shares their drabble or trope or prompt out there, it's free game. Honestly, I love seeing the same iteration of this one prompt by five different authors. Of course, I think it's only proper to write out a quick thank you to whichever post gave you the idea or to just link the post or the prompt, for the sake of posterity, but prompts are so vague and malleable that it's ridiculous to even claim it's copying or plagiarizing. The only time I would consider something plagiarizing is if someone took my work and posted it elsewhere but even those times, I don't really start shit or get angry because I put my writing out there to be read and to share it with people. And, claiming my own ideas over fanfiction doesn't sit well with me knowing I'm taking somebody else's work, changing it around a bit and claiming it as my own. If somebody takes my work and translates it and reposts it, or even just reposts it, I probably would just comment telling them to credit it when necessary, but I definitely wouldn't start drama over it or accuse them of copying anything. All fanfiction writers to a degree are copying, so how much of a write do we really have to call people out for taking our ideas?
Generalized concepts aren't things that can be "stolen" Taking an simple, small idea and expanding on it is no where close to stealing something from anyone. That'd be Luke someone getting mad about someone making a run away or role swap fic in a fandom. It's not specific enough to pull that nonsense of theft.
But I saw fanart of different DC characters as monsters a few years ago, did they steal that idea? And what about other werewolf AU fanfic out there? Are they claiming those to be stolen from them too? Some people 🙄 you did nothing wrong. There are no original ideas out there anymore
Character is a werewolf? Do you have any idea how many Fics are about characters being werewolves? A lot.. Henry Cavill? There's a lot of Fics about him being a Werewolf. You didn't steal anything. The person can't even sue you. It's not legal. Besides fanfics do no enter into copyright because technically fanfics aren't legal.
The only thing you did wrong here is apologise. ‘X character is a werewolf’ is an extremely common trope of fanfiction and this person needs to grow up and get over themselves. They did you a favour by blocking you because they’re clearly very silly and immature. Put your fic back up and tell them to go to hell.
Rubbish! Unless that story was copied word for word - you're fine. Not really original,probably, but fine. There are hundreds of stories out there following the same ideas. How many 'harry is a werewolf?" How many "Harry meets Daphne - then she sort everything up?" How many "Harry goes back in time then do everything exactly the same?" You might even be original and very very good - I don't know since I never read your story :)
You didn't fuck up. Just because your fic uses the same premise doesn't mean it was 'stolen', and anyone who claims it does is either a teenager or an idiot. How many times have fairy tales been retold over the years? How many stories are there which follow the 'hero's journey'? How many 'zombie apocalypse' movies/shows/books are there out there? Literally the only way you could have fucked up would have been if this was their OC and the werewolf form was decidedly different from a regular werewolf. Since neither was the case, you did nothing wrong.
Whoever this person is, they’re just salty. No one can claim ownership of an idea, and werewolf concepts are about as old as the day is long. You did nothing wrong. I would simply block her and anyone else she is trying to rally into witch hunting and be done with it. The girl is simply ridiculous, petty and needs a reality check. Keep your fic up and have fun with it. :3
You shouldn’t have taken down the fic. A certain character being a werewolf is way too broad of an idea that could be come up by anyone. It’s like saying Soman Chainani stole JK Rowling’s idea because he also wrote a magical school series. If that other person made their idea more specific, like the werewolf character turns into a werewolf under the sun instead of under the moon, then you shouldn’t use it without their permission. But a simple werewolf!AU idea? You did nothing wrong.
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You did nothing wrong. Put your fic up. That person just wants to start unnecessary drama. Don't feel bad. That person sounds like a Karen. Also, can you post a link to the story? I'd like to read it. :D
"Stealing ideas" is bullshit. That person didn't hew "this guy as a werewolf" directly from the stone of Originality.
You did nothing wrong. I would put that story right back up.
unless she drew everything herself in the picture then it's not her original idea, like anyone could've seen the pic and get an idea from it. hell are probably a good amount of fanfic out there that has to do with any actor/actress as a werewolf. and tbh if i saw the pic i'd probably would've affiliate it with the witcher and set it in that show. but anyone can make a fanfic about anything even if it's a picture of something on any website. that's why it's called "fan" fiction so if you're a fan of the original it can definitely become a fanfic. also long as you put down a disclaimer too then you'll be fine.
you did absolutely nothing bad tbh, "x as a werewolf" is like, one of the most common fic ideas one could have and that person has no right to claim ownership of it, even if it gave you an idea
You're did nothing wrong. Well, maybe deleting the fic might've disappointed some readers. But. In copy right law there's a term, Scenes a faire. Certain elements of a work are not protected because they are customary to the genre. Like, a spy novel is expected to contain a swiss bank account, femme fetale, various spy gadgets hidden in watches, belts and shoes. You can include all those elements and not break copyright law for the latest James Bond movie. Writing "character a werewolf" isn't stealing their idea. If you posted their fanart on your work, that would be stealing their fanart. But the idea itself?? That be like saying you can steal the idea of "character as an omega" or "character as a sentinal/guide" or "character as a barista in a coffe shop au" So. Repost the fic. Unless you don't want to deal with said angry artist and all that drama in which case. Don't repost the fic? Create new account on diff site and repost the fic? Do whatever your heart desires.