Making a post because I have detected TWO plagiarizers of my work 😀 TWO. Which is crazy because when did I ever allow you to use my story, Muzzle? Man, no one ever asked me for permission to post my shit onto CHARACTER AI, when I’m so obviously against AI. Sadly I can’t message one of these people, so if you see this, then please take my character Kieran down from your bots. I don’t care if you credited me, I don’t like my characters and works being fed into AI and being used by AI. And to the other person that I found and messaged (thanks to a lovely person on my Discord server who informed me of you), please delete your mafia bot that you copied and paste from my writing. And if anyone else knows about plagiarizers on character ai, any other ai platform, or on a writing website- tell me now. Thank you.
Hello Jennifer! Can you please clarify industry views on retellings vs plagiarism vs inspiration for traditional publishing novels? I’d love your expertise on how inspiration and retellings are different from flat out plagiarism. Thanks in advance!
As far as I know there's not some big holy tome somewhere inscribed with "Industry Views", so other people might have somewhat different opinions! But here's what I think / how I would use these words:
-- INSPIRATION: You saw something and it reminded you of something else / made you think about such-and-such in a new way, whatever -- and you made a brand-new story of your own based on or launching off of that spark of an idea. It's not a retelling at all -- but there might be "threads" of the original inspiration/s running through the story as themes, or something like that.
Everything you think of , every story you tell, every dream you have, ALL OF IT is inspired by SOMETHING, or an amalgam of somethings, whether you know exactly what it is or not!
So, I am picking a book completely at random and making up potential inspiration: Maybe Ann Patchett studied OUR TOWN in school, or performed in it. Years later she had a vacation to the cherry farms of Michigan and met someone there who reminded her of the lead in OUR TOWN. Then the pandemic happened, and she thought about people being isolated and wanting to connect with one another and mothers to tell the stories of their lives to their daughters-- and all of those things swirled together and were inspirations for TOM LAKE. (It's a masterpiece btw, and the audio is read by Meryl Streep -- well worth a listen!).
-- ADAPTATION or RE-IMAGINING: Taking the beats / themes of a classic story and reinventing it for a new audience; bringing a new perspective to it, putting it in a different setting, etc. Obviously if you are adapting / reimagining a story, it's also INSPIRED BY the original story -- but I would say the difference is that a story that is just "inspired by" such and such could be completely, wildly different than the original. If it's an adaptation, you are very specifically TRYING to hit the similar or same beats as the original.
Your story could be considered "in conversation" with the original book/story - - maybe it would be interesting to, for example, read both of them next to one another in a literature class. Maybe it shows things about the situation that readers of the original story didn't even think about. ETC.
It may be X-STORY from a different point of view that sheds new light on the story. For example: LONGBOURN is Pride and Prejudice from the servant's point of view. JAMES is Huckleberry Finn from the enslaved "Jim"/James' point of view. GRENDEL is Beowulf from the monster's pov. WIDE SARGASSO SEA is Jane Eyre, from the pov of Mr Rochester's "Crazy" wife. (All of these books are modern classics in their own right, and based on classic-classics!)
It may be X-STORY, but set in the modern era or in a different culture. For example: CINDER is Cinderella, but set among futuristic cyborgs. CLUELESS is a modern reimagining of EMMA set in 1990's Beverly Hills. BRIDE AND PREJUDICE is P&P but set in India as a Bollywood musical. BRIDGET JONES' DIARY is P&P but set in an eclectic modern London. (And it's very different in many ways - Bridget is an only child, the focus of the story is really only on her - but it's also VERY CLEARLY meant to be P&P. Even Darcy's name is Darcy!) THE FLIES by Jean-Paul Sartre is an existential reimagining of the Electra myth.
It's fun for audiences to see tropes of stories they know well but done in a different way. (After all -- there are only so many stories in the world!)
-- RETELLING: You are doing your own version of a well-known story. This IS "inspired by" the original story, obviously. And it IS an adaptation / reimagining. It might be different -- have a different end, or a twist, or something like that. OR it might be a fairly faithful retelling of the story. Stephen King recently put out his version of HANSEL AND GRETEL with illustrations by Maurice Sendak -- now, I haven't taken a close look at that text and how different or the same it is from the "original" fairy tale, but I'm guessing it's very similar, just told in SK's own way. These stories are in the public domain, they are well-known to millions of people, this is just a New Version of the original story.
Obviously there's a lot of crossover and some shades of grey here. All retellings are inspired by/an adaptation of/a reimagining of source material. All adaptations/reimaginings are inspired by source material. But NOT all things that are "inspired by" are actually retellings or adaptations of the source material. And NOT all adaptations are straightforward "retellings." And hopefully NONE OF THEM are plagiarism!
-- PLAGIARISM: You are literally stealing somebody else's words. There's no credit given, you aren't "inspired by" a story, you are taking parts (or all of) a story and pretending it is by you, when it isn't.
Now, there might be, in a retelling or an adaptation, similar lines, or even direct quotes from an original text. But the difference is, you're obviously doing it ON PURPOSE, everyone is AWARE that this is an adaptation of XYZ, it's clearly a call-out to the original and so the Original Author is given "credit" directly or indirectly. Plus, it's transformative use / fair use and protected. (Plus, most stories that are being adapted in this way, like Shakespeare or Jane Austen or Dickens or Grimm Fairy Tales are in the public domain anyway, so there's no problem there.) That's not plagiarism.
when fics are plagiarized, the most effective thing we can do as people who are witnessing the plagiarism is to be as fucking. annoying. as possible.
be LOUD. review bomb. drag the plagiarizing author's name in multiple online spaces where it matters. be a fucking MENACE until the author is wiped from the face of the internet -
so that uncreative, lazy assholes will think twice before trolling ao3 for their next novel to copy and paste.
You ever read a fanfic, and it just SMELLS like AI? Only bullshit lines that a machine vomited out. You wouldn’t replace your favorite fanfic author with a vending machine, would you? So don’t do it with a fanfic.
WORD COUNT: 2K!
"You’re something else, you know that?" GROUNDBREAKING. Truly. Shakespeare could never.
"The air was heavy with the scent of danger." Bitch... What does danger even smell like? WD-40, fear, and disappointment?
"His piercing blue eyes locked onto yours, a storm brewing in their depths." Oh, so now the character's a fucking weather forecast. Cool. Storm’s coming! Better take cover from that lazy-ass prose!
"He growled low in his throat, a primal sound that sent shivers down your spine." Growled low in his throat—like, WHERE ELSE should he be growling from? Y’all think you’re writing smut, but you’re just describing bad air conditioning.
"The tension between you crackled like a live wire." Oh, we’re crackling now like popcorn inside a microwave? Great, because my relationship with the character is sounding like a radio station.
"You could feel the weight of his gaze, heavy as..." Jesus Christ!
"He wasn’t good with words, but his actions spoke volumes." Oh, for fuck’s sake. Just say the character is emotionally constipated like the rest of us do and move on.
"He leaned in, his lips brushing against yours..." BRUSHING LIPS. Is the character kissing me, or is a draft blowing by?
Listen, I get it. Writing fanfic is hard. But if your Character x Reader fic reads like it was pulled of ChatGPT’s basic-ass memory bank, just don’t. We know, we can smell it, and that smell? It’s not "danger"—it’s mediocrity.
ON WE GO TO THE HOLY EXAMPLES OF SMUT!
The Foreplay Starter Pack:
"His hands roamed your body, exploring every inch like he was mapping uncharted territory." Stop exploring and focus on the destination.
"Your peaks stiffened/pebbled under his touch." Are her tits made of decorative gravel or... how about they might be diamonds?
"His breath was hot against your neck, sending a shiver down your spine." AI and neck breath—name a more iconic duo.
The Main Event:
"Milking him for all he was worth." Milking his cock? Is he a dairy cow? Moo, motherfucker.
"The sound of skin slapping against skin filled the room, mingling with your breathy moans." Skin slapping—sexy and clinical at the same time!
"The coil in your stomach tightened until it finally snapped, sending waves of pleasure through your body." Oh, the coil and waves of pleasure! Because orgasms can’t just happen, they have to involve mechanics.
The Big Finish:
"He shuddered as he found his release, spilling into you with a guttural groan." Because he's a guttural broken faucet.
"His hot seed filled you, marking you as his." That's called National Geographics.
"His climax ripped through him, leaving him thoroughly spent." Sounds like he just tore his dick in half and the "writer" was unable to write out the word for ORGASM.
"Your bodies collapsed together in a sweaty tangle, breaths mingling as you came down from your shared high." Oh, sure, nothing like sweaty mingling for a totally original Shakespeare sex scene.
Miscellaneous AI Erotica Bullshit:
"Your slick heat welcomed him eagerly." Ew. EWW. Slick heat. Just stop.
"He groaned as your tightness gripped him like a vice." A vice? Am I squeezing him to death? RIP: his dick. Glad the writer can't write the word pussy, vagina, or cunt, right?
"His balls were churning, and he felt them tighten before he found his release." A churning release. Like milk into butter. Sexy.
"Your moans filled the room as he hit that spot over and over again." That spot while moans fill a whole damn room. Never named, never explained. Just trust the AI—the spot's there. Somewhere.
"Your walls fluttered around him." Walls fluttering. Like curtains while the window is open. AI loves it.
"He kneaded your soft flesh." Kneaded? Like bread dough? Because nothing makes smut more sexy than baking imagery. I can’t. Just say tits or breasts.
"He spilled himself inside you, groaning as he filled you to the brim." To the brim? Am I a measuring cup?
BONUS: No one thinks about condoms or any other help to prevent potential pregnancy. They either know what they’re doing, are in an apocalypse (which would make it explainable,) in an established relationship, or raw-dog it because "nothing else matters but this moment." Fuck STDs and pregnancy, apparently.
More Overused Descriptive Combos (SO MANY):
"Piercing eyes." OH? DID HIS PIERCING EYES LOCK EYES WITH YOURS? Lemme guess they’re also "a stark contrast" to something else, like his rugged appearance, his messy hair, or whatever. AI's go-to move for intensity. His eyes aren’t piercing anything unless he’s shooting lasers.
"Calloused hands." Everyone’s hands are calloused and rough, and they’re ALWAYS trailing along your skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake which sends shivers up or down your spine.
"He moved with a predatory grace, like a wolf stalking its prey." Please. The character is not prowling around like some male hunter in a Wattpad mafia fic.
"Their fingers danced across your skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake." Yup. That's what I said before. And the fingers danced. AI loves romanticizing every little touch.
"You felt his warm breath ghost against your cheek/ear." LOOK, MORE GHOSTING BREATH. Ghost Hunters should investigate such a fic ASAP. Also, the character loves nibbling your ear.
"The rain pattered softly against the window." Oh great, we’re starting with Rain, The Sad Bitch’s Metaphor™. Nothing screams ChatGPT Energy louder than trying to force the weather to feel human feelings.
"The room was cloaked in a heavy silence." Of course, silence is cloaked now. Did ChatGPT throw a fucking blanket over the scene?
"A soft breeze rustled/carried..." A SOFT BREEZE? Like, was the breeze carrying a soft generic plot development? The character's sweaty ass? AI intros just love sounding deep while saying absolutely nothing.
"Pain shot through them like lightning, sharp and unforgiving." Always with the lightning. Does pain have any other personality traits, or is it just electricity 24/7?
"A chill ran down their spine." Yeah, again. And a chill ran down my spine too... when I realized this fic was AI-generated.
"Through the fabric of their clothes." AI loves this detached, dramatic bullshit, instead of just saying shirt or pants, or whatever clothing.
Emotions for Days:
"There was something in their gaze—a mixture of pain, longing, and something else they couldn’t quite name." What the fuck is something else? Is it allergies? Do they need to fart? Is it a milkshake because of the mix? AI loves throwing vague emotions around because it doesn’t know how to actually write them.
"Their chest ached with a heaviness they couldn’t put into words." Their chest is heavy and aches? They need a doctor, not a quick fuck. Next!
Scene-Setting the Intro for the Basic Bitches:
"The sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and red." Of course, AI’s obsessed with painting the sky and dipped sunsets because they’re deep.
"The city buzzed with life, but they felt utterly alone amidst the chaos." Congratulations, AI. You just wrote a Lana Del Rey song, not a fucking fanfic.
And the action scenes? Holy shit. ADRENALINE COURSING through every sentence. And if the words "flickering," "casting eerie shadows," "a stark contrast," "stoic/rough/usual (insert a cringey male behavior cliché) demeanor," or "shifting" don’t pop up at least once every three paragraphs, did it even really happen? And there's still so much more dead giveaways for AI content that I did not write down...
And Finally: The Overachieving AI Writer™
If someone’s dropping 5+ fics a week, you KNOW they’re cutting corners. Writing takes time! Editing takes time! Life gets in the way!
AI Fics Use Formulas – They just put in different names and settings. The structure, emotions, and descriptions? Copies every time.
No Depth – There’s rarely any meaningful plot or character development. The stories are written to sound pretty, not to feel real.
Lack of Personality – Good writers have a style, a unique voice that comes through their work. AI writing? Bland and generic, with no heart and no personal experiences.
Real fanfic writers take weeks (even months) to post because:
They have jobs, school, families, or mental health shit to handle.
They overthink EVERY sentence because they CARE.
Writing takes TIME. Even short one-shots involve brainstorming, rewriting, and editing.
If someone’s putting out a perfectly polished Character x Reader fic every 48 hours, either:
They’re lying about how fast they work, OR
They’re outsourcing an AI that doesn’t need sleep, coffee breaks, or motivation.
NO ONE WITH A NORMAL LIFE CAN POST THAT MANY FANFICS DAILY UNLESS THEY HAVE HELP. Between work, school, eating, sleeping, and, you know, EXISTING, it’s physically impossible. Writing takes time! Editing takes even longer! Like I said, if someone’s putting out perfect fics daily, it’s not skill—it’s AI. Period.
Because I doubt they're secretly a fanfic god on meth. No one has that kind of output and originality unless they’re cheating or they've sold their soul to OpenAI. Stop romanticizing it, and stop outsourcing your creativity to AI.
If you’re still reading and feeling personally attacked, congrats, that says more about you than me, and your written fic might be AI-generated. You’re welcome.
TL;DR:
And here’s why that sucks. (Why AI-Fics Can Go Fuck Themselves)
Real fanfic writers are constantly comparing themselves to this impossible standard. They’re thinking, "Why can’t I write that fast? Am I not good enough? Do people even care about my work if I only post once every few months?"
REAL fanfiction is about connection. It’s about sharing your passion, your creativity, your perspective on a character or story that you love. It’s about building relationships with readers who get it, who see you, and who appreciate the time and effort you put in.
AI fanfics? They’re soulless. No voice. No connection. Just the same tropes and clichés, copy-pasted into a different setting. The fandoms deserve better.
If you're using AI to brainstorm ideas for a writer’s block and to get suggestions, that’s one thing. If it becomes about mass-producing stories for the sake of content and kudos, then it destroys what writing is about. There’s a real difference between using it as a tool and passing off the generated work as your own. Especially when there’s no acknowledgment that it was AI-written.
And the more AI-generated garbage gets uploaded, the harder it is for real fics to get noticed. They flood the tags, the archives, the searches. I’ve seen accounts that magically started posting perfect fics every week in 2023. Search through their archive, and you’ll notice every story sounds the same. And guess what? People eat it up.
@ellipsus-writes said it best: FuckGPT!
AI doesn’t belong in fanfiction! It doesn’t understand the heart of a fandom and it sure as hell doesn't understand the fictional characters like you do!
So yeah, if you’re a real fanfic writer reading this: TAKE YOUR TIME. Post when you’re ready. Because your work—YOUR work—is what makes fandoms magical. Not some AI bullshit. You’re the reason people stay up until 3 AM crying over fictional characters. You’re the one inspiring others to write, draw art, and create. You’re the one giving your fandom community life!
Support real fanfic writers. They’re the soul of the fandom and they deserve better than to be left behind because of AI.
And to the readers: STOP giving kudos to AI-made fics. Read real stories. Because your fandom deserves better.
AI-written fics are all the same, and if you’re pretending to write them yourself while spamming the fandoms with mediocre, over-polished bullshit: We see you. And we judge, report, and even expose you on Reddit.
YOU’RE SOMETHING ELSE, YOU KNOW THAT? Yeah, you're something fake as fuck.
FINAL THOUGHT: "The soft glow of the screen illuminated her face as she realized... this fic was AI as hell."
Some people really need to get offline and touch grass.
Mrsfizzle is back. Again.
You cannot tell me this thief is sooooo popular that every single month someone is looking for her work. I've seen her stats before everything was deleted and they aren't even top 100 stats in her fandoms.
Plus the accounts asking for her work are either traceable to AO3 and her ardent supporters or they are accounts with one post about her.
I did speak to one Smallville person who responded to a request for her work and made them aware of her plagiarism. This person is not a mrsfizzle supporter in that way- I've seen them around reddit a lot and know of their hard work recovering lost yahoo groups.
Everyone else:
This is from four days ago and legit sounds just like her if you read the reblogs with her comments.
BUT!
She's got her own automod to flag requests for her!!!
💀
I am deceased!!!
How many requests must she be flooding them with to get her very own automod?!? Like I can't find another author with an automod!
💀
Everywhere sis goes she's is now known as a plagiarist as the search engines have her flagged now too.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!
Mad props to the mods at r/deletedfanfiction. Seriously they do tremendous work while supporting and protecting the writer (they also honor requests from authors who do not want their work reposted).
You know, Mrsfizzle could have avoided all of this if she'd just deleted and gone quiet. Man, her ego must enormous for her to try every month since she deleted to get her name back out there.
Well, tough luck, sis. The internet is forever and this will follow you!
BUT....
I am open to hearing from people who are helping her do this. I will provide a platform for you to explain why you support her.
Tell me why you are doing this, why you are hiding behind alts, and why you are excusing the way she treated another human being in the quest to become top dog of Shawn Hunter, Jonathan Turner stories.
I am seriously interested in hearing your defense of her. I will be fair.
BUT
I will not tolerate abuse or alts harassing me. You will be reported and I will pursue cases against you. I will make public everything sent to me just like I did when Mrsfizzle's bestie tried to take me on.
If Mrsfizzle really is such a popular, sought-after author then let me hear it from the readers themselves.
And by readers, I mean actual ones, not Mrsfizzle/Kaylie Night, her alts, or her besties or their alts.
Also send me someone new to look into. This chic is so basic and obvious I'm getting bored.
