Buffyverse Plagiarism of WillJ aka Lemonychocolate
I am hesitant to bring this up because am unsure if the community should still deal with the issue. On the 30th of April, I noticed a passage in a story that was copied from WillJ's story The Warriors. I immediately contacted WillJ and waited for a response. The first chapter of the tymbur story, not the plagiarized chapter, was removed from the internet. After 3 days, I contacted tymbur and made my concerns known. tymbur claimed it was not plagiarism, she had not read WillJ's works in a long time, nothing had been copied, and "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Since, the next chapter of the story in which the plagiarism occurs has been pulled from the web, but no acknowledgement of the plagiarism has occured. Other chapters of the story are still available. Several passages of the story are familiar, but I don't know if they were plagiarized from a story I haven't read or if it's simply that tymbur is rehashing several of WillJ's themes and that is familiar (and not plagiarism). I've decided to present this to the mods because tymbur did not act to acknowledge the plagiarism, but has, instead, continued to blame the familiarity some of the commenters feel on canon.
First, I compared the scene from the second chapter of tymbur's story Choices of the Heart, posted to her livejournal on April 29, 2010, to WillJ's story, The Warriors, posted September 20, 2003, and last updated October 15, 2003. The scenes are nearly identical, with just enough minor changes to fit WillJ's words into tymbur's narrative. One example:
WillJ's text:
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she became the Slayer. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead. And since witches were borderline human...well she would cross that bridge when she needed to cross it.
tymbur's text:
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she figured out how to destroy a ghost. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead, leaving her in charge.
WillJ's original scene can be found here: http://www.slashaholics-island.com/library/viewstory.php?sid=540&i=1 Using the find function on the browser to get to the beginning of the scene in question, type: Dawn raised a brow.
Here are screencaps for tymbur's removed scene:
and
URLs, if it's easier to view directly:
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz86/muffiewrites/tymb14plag.jpg
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz86/muffiewrites/tymb15plag.jpg
tymbur's lj is here: http://tymbur.livejournal.com/
Once I compared the scenes, I contacted WillJ via the email available at apanderfiles on April 30, at nearly midnight CST. I let her know of the suspected plagiarism and asked her if she had authorized it or if she was tymbur. I haven't received a reply as of this posting. By May 3, tymbur had removed the first chapter of the story from the internet. Commenters on tymbur's journal noticed that the story "felt" very familiar. tymbur said the familiarity was because she borrowed the themes heavily from canon. I have no screencaps of comments for this chapter, but they occur in other chapters posted to her LJ. I waited until May 5, early morning, to send a private message to tymbur through LJ:
I like your writing. You have a nice way of putting sentences together and you develop characters and plot pretty well. I've enjoyed your re-hashing of WillJ (Lemonychocolates)'s story lines. That said, the actual plagiarism? Not on.
Ideas are not copyrightable. Even though reading this particular story is like reading The Warriors, Shadows Across the Heart, and the Seer rolled into one, it doesn't make it plagiarism. You developed your own plot, anyway. What is a problem are the spots that are lifted directly from the text of The Warriors and then altered just enough to fit into your narrative.
I can understand why don't want to post this in the xangel comm. Some xangel readers will recognize Willj's ideas and might cry foul. Whatever for them. If you rewrite the spots that are actual plagiarism into your own words, however, then the story is entirely yours, no matter what the inspiration for the idea is. Write your own scene, not paraphrase and quote. That would be the way copyright works.
An acknowledgement of where you got your inspiration wouldn't be amiss. That's just good manners.
Muffie
tymbur's reply on May 6:
I certainly appreciate your comment. I'm not sure where I 'lifted text' I haven't read any of WillJ's stuff in a while. At least two years. I am not sure why my plot sounds like those stories. I have been told the first part is similar situation to the Seer. And it certainly is possible that the idea came from there. Plot bunnies grab a hold of an idea and take off.
The actually idea for the story came from my daughter who hates Buffy and refuses to read fanfiction (She's not into slash either)
For me I thought it was a natural progression of events. Buffy S7 was horrible and Buffy was a *B*. Kennedy reminded me of a snake. Dawn & Xander weren't given many lines and treated as glorified extras while the Buffy/Spike storyline dominated the season. Andrew was only shown cooking in every ep. I often wondered where Buffy got the money to pay for all those slayers living there when in the last seasons she was working to pay off huge debts and only had a part time job.
I didn't post to Xangel for two reasons. This was a B-day gift for a friend who begged me to write it and I just posted Hell & Back there.
That said. I do appreciate your comment and certainly meant no offense to WillJ as I did enjoy reading their work when they were in the fandom. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I am a serious writer and have written many books that I'm working with an agent to get published so I do understand your point of view. Thank you for pointing it out. Many of the stories in the fandom take an event or season and retell it as we only have so much to work with. Things gets twisted and ideas form.
Thank you again, tym
I responed on May 6:
There are only a few plots according to some, just new ways to present them. If you haven't read Willj's works in 2 years, you have an excellent memory. Here are snippets of her text.
From Chapter 3 of The Warriors (http://www.slashaholics-island.com/library/viewstory.php?sid=540&i=1):
"Well, us Potentials need to get first crack at the shower and the hot water so you'll have to leave now," Kennedy said arrogantly, a smirk on her face.
Dawn raised a brow, "That's all right, I was already done anyhow," she said equitably almost laughing at the frustrated rage on Kennedy's face. How she loathe the girl, half the time she hoped one of the damn Bringers would clock the bitch.
"Good!" Kennedy snapped, gritting her teeth. "Then why don't you get out of here so a real hero can wash up,"
Your text (http://tymbur.livejournal.com/3145.html):
Well, us Slayers need to train to save the world and we don’t have much time to waste doing common household chores.” Kennedy said arrogantly, a condescending smirk on her face.
Dawn raised a brow. “That's right, you’re all so much more important than the rest of us pesky little mortals.” She shot back. She didn’t understand what Willow saw in her. Kennedy was arrogant and rude. She was nothing like Tara.
“Glad you see it my way.” Kennedy snapped. “So, why don't you get down there and grab me a clean towel so a real hero can wash up.”
From Chapter 3 of The Warriors (http://www.slashaholics-island.com/library/viewstory.php?sid=540&i=1):
Kennedy smirked nastily, finally she had something to go on as she started forward and stop abruptly as she saw the vampire leaning against the wall, watching her with sharp attention in his cold blue eyes. She gritted her teeth knowing she couldn't do a thing to Dawn, especially not with him watching her.
The first thing she was going to do when she became the Slayer was fucking dust his dead ass!
"Sumptin' wrong Niblet," Spike said coolly, watching the fuming Potential with cold dislike. Of all the bloomin' girls litterin’ the house, she was the one that he hated the most, a wicked look came in his eyes. Ain't it too bad the Slayer had his chip removed?
"Naw, it ain't nothing I can't handle, thanks Spike," Dawn gave him a brief smile before shutting her door, leaving Spike and Kennedy alone in the hallway.
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she became the Slayer. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead. And since witches were borderline human...well she would cross that bridge when she needed to cross it.
With one last cold glare at Spike, she whirled and stormed away. A nasty idea had just presented itself to her on how to get back at Dawn.
Spike regarded the direction Kennedy had took off in with a thoughtful look on his face.
Your text (http://tymbur.livejournal.com/3145.html):
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she figured out how to destroy a ghost. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead, leaving her in charge.
With one last cold glare at Spike, she whirled and stormed away.
Spike regarded the direction Kennedy had taken off in with a thoughtful look on his face.
There are a few other passages in your story that I can't place in WillJ's work at the moment, but they resonante to strongly to be fully original.
Literary credentials are pointless. We would have to reveal who we are offline and list names, dates, and places of publication, as well as places of employment and any specialized training in the field of literature and creative writing. I can claim anything as "Muffie" just as much as "tymbur" can, but how much am I willing to back that up? Not that much. I can trot out my curriculum vitae, my degrees, and my employment record, but why? It's ultimately immaterial. Readers have equitable skill at recognizing plagiarism. It doesn't require special training or writerly insight to read two sets of works and see how the texts are similar or how the texts are the same. It simply requires the ability to read and observe.
I stand by my statement. You plagiarized WillJ. Whether you did so intentionally or unintentionally is not my place to judge. The fact is that it occured and I have proof of the occurance. The texts are not coincidentally similar. They are the same. There is enough editing to smooth out a few of WillJ's edges to fit her text into your narrative.
If you disagree with my analysis of the situation, you may find the precedent here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Opal_Mehta_Got_Kissed,_Got_Wild,_and_Got_a_Life
Ms. Viswanathan did lose her lucrative publishing contract and did have to repay the money once herplagiarism (around 10% of her total word count) was discovered by readers. She says the plagiarism was uninintentional and a product of memory. In any event, her method of plagiarism, using the text from other works and altering it just enough to fit her narrative, is your method.
Best of luck in your publishing endeavors.
Muffie
I have not received a response. Chapter 2 of Choices of the Heart, the chapter containing plagiarism was removed from tymbur's journal on May 5th and additional chapters of the story were posted. I did not find any further scenes I specifically recognized as plagiarism, though some of them do feel very familiar. I attribute this to themes extensively borrowed from WillJ and other xangel/buffy bashing writers. Themes are not copyrightable and use of them is not plagiarism. If her other story posted on LJ contains plagiarism, I have not found it. I waited a few days to see if the tone of tymbur's response to comments on the story would change, or to see if she would respond. She did not. So I brought the case here so she could be investigated and listed, if that is the mod's ruling on the case.
First, I compared the scene from the second chapter of tymbur's story Choices of the Heart, posted to her livejournal on April 29, 2010, to WillJ's story, The Warriors, posted September 20, 2003, and last updated October 15, 2003. The scenes are nearly identical, with just enough minor changes to fit WillJ's words into tymbur's narrative. One example:
WillJ's text:
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she became the Slayer. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead. And since witches were borderline human...well she would cross that bridge when she needed to cross it.
tymbur's text:
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she figured out how to destroy a ghost. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead, leaving her in charge.
WillJ's original scene can be found here: http://www.slashaholics-island.com/library/viewstory.php?sid=540&i=1 Using the find function on the browser to get to the beginning of the scene in question, type: Dawn raised a brow.
Here are screencaps for tymbur's removed scene:
and
URLs, if it's easier to view directly:
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz86/muffiewrites/tymb14plag.jpg
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz86/muffiewrites/tymb15plag.jpg
tymbur's lj is here: http://tymbur.livejournal.com/
Once I compared the scenes, I contacted WillJ via the email available at apanderfiles on April 30, at nearly midnight CST. I let her know of the suspected plagiarism and asked her if she had authorized it or if she was tymbur. I haven't received a reply as of this posting. By May 3, tymbur had removed the first chapter of the story from the internet. Commenters on tymbur's journal noticed that the story "felt" very familiar. tymbur said the familiarity was because she borrowed the themes heavily from canon. I have no screencaps of comments for this chapter, but they occur in other chapters posted to her LJ. I waited until May 5, early morning, to send a private message to tymbur through LJ:
I like your writing. You have a nice way of putting sentences together and you develop characters and plot pretty well. I've enjoyed your re-hashing of WillJ (Lemonychocolates)'s story lines. That said, the actual plagiarism? Not on.
Ideas are not copyrightable. Even though reading this particular story is like reading The Warriors, Shadows Across the Heart, and the Seer rolled into one, it doesn't make it plagiarism. You developed your own plot, anyway. What is a problem are the spots that are lifted directly from the text of The Warriors and then altered just enough to fit into your narrative.
I can understand why don't want to post this in the xangel comm. Some xangel readers will recognize Willj's ideas and might cry foul. Whatever for them. If you rewrite the spots that are actual plagiarism into your own words, however, then the story is entirely yours, no matter what the inspiration for the idea is. Write your own scene, not paraphrase and quote. That would be the way copyright works.
An acknowledgement of where you got your inspiration wouldn't be amiss. That's just good manners.
Muffie
tymbur's reply on May 6:
I certainly appreciate your comment. I'm not sure where I 'lifted text' I haven't read any of WillJ's stuff in a while. At least two years. I am not sure why my plot sounds like those stories. I have been told the first part is similar situation to the Seer. And it certainly is possible that the idea came from there. Plot bunnies grab a hold of an idea and take off.
The actually idea for the story came from my daughter who hates Buffy and refuses to read fanfiction (She's not into slash either)
For me I thought it was a natural progression of events. Buffy S7 was horrible and Buffy was a *B*. Kennedy reminded me of a snake. Dawn & Xander weren't given many lines and treated as glorified extras while the Buffy/Spike storyline dominated the season. Andrew was only shown cooking in every ep. I often wondered where Buffy got the money to pay for all those slayers living there when in the last seasons she was working to pay off huge debts and only had a part time job.
I didn't post to Xangel for two reasons. This was a B-day gift for a friend who begged me to write it and I just posted Hell & Back there.
That said. I do appreciate your comment and certainly meant no offense to WillJ as I did enjoy reading their work when they were in the fandom. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I am a serious writer and have written many books that I'm working with an agent to get published so I do understand your point of view. Thank you for pointing it out. Many of the stories in the fandom take an event or season and retell it as we only have so much to work with. Things gets twisted and ideas form.
Thank you again, tym
I responed on May 6:
There are only a few plots according to some, just new ways to present them. If you haven't read Willj's works in 2 years, you have an excellent memory. Here are snippets of her text.
From Chapter 3 of The Warriors (http://www.slashaholics-island.com/library/viewstory.php?sid=540&i=1):
"Well, us Potentials need to get first crack at the shower and the hot water so you'll have to leave now," Kennedy said arrogantly, a smirk on her face.
Dawn raised a brow, "That's all right, I was already done anyhow," she said equitably almost laughing at the frustrated rage on Kennedy's face. How she loathe the girl, half the time she hoped one of the damn Bringers would clock the bitch.
"Good!" Kennedy snapped, gritting her teeth. "Then why don't you get out of here so a real hero can wash up,"
Your text (http://tymbur.livejournal.com/3145.html):
Well, us Slayers need to train to save the world and we don’t have much time to waste doing common household chores.” Kennedy said arrogantly, a condescending smirk on her face.
Dawn raised a brow. “That's right, you’re all so much more important than the rest of us pesky little mortals.” She shot back. She didn’t understand what Willow saw in her. Kennedy was arrogant and rude. She was nothing like Tara.
“Glad you see it my way.” Kennedy snapped. “So, why don't you get down there and grab me a clean towel so a real hero can wash up.”
From Chapter 3 of The Warriors (http://www.slashaholics-island.com/library/viewstory.php?sid=540&i=1):
Kennedy smirked nastily, finally she had something to go on as she started forward and stop abruptly as she saw the vampire leaning against the wall, watching her with sharp attention in his cold blue eyes. She gritted her teeth knowing she couldn't do a thing to Dawn, especially not with him watching her.
The first thing she was going to do when she became the Slayer was fucking dust his dead ass!
"Sumptin' wrong Niblet," Spike said coolly, watching the fuming Potential with cold dislike. Of all the bloomin' girls litterin’ the house, she was the one that he hated the most, a wicked look came in his eyes. Ain't it too bad the Slayer had his chip removed?
"Naw, it ain't nothing I can't handle, thanks Spike," Dawn gave him a brief smile before shutting her door, leaving Spike and Kennedy alone in the hallway.
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she became the Slayer. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead. And since witches were borderline human...well she would cross that bridge when she needed to cross it.
With one last cold glare at Spike, she whirled and stormed away. A nasty idea had just presented itself to her on how to get back at Dawn.
Spike regarded the direction Kennedy had took off in with a thoughtful look on his face.
Your text (http://tymbur.livejournal.com/3145.html):
Kennedy glared at the coldly composed vampire, oh he was definitely on her list of things to kill once she figured out how to destroy a ghost. Now that she had Willow on her side, there was no doubt in her mind that eventually she would be able to convince the girl to do the spell that would activate only her once Buffy was dead, leaving her in charge.
With one last cold glare at Spike, she whirled and stormed away.
Spike regarded the direction Kennedy had taken off in with a thoughtful look on his face.
There are a few other passages in your story that I can't place in WillJ's work at the moment, but they resonante to strongly to be fully original.
Literary credentials are pointless. We would have to reveal who we are offline and list names, dates, and places of publication, as well as places of employment and any specialized training in the field of literature and creative writing. I can claim anything as "Muffie" just as much as "tymbur" can, but how much am I willing to back that up? Not that much. I can trot out my curriculum vitae, my degrees, and my employment record, but why? It's ultimately immaterial. Readers have equitable skill at recognizing plagiarism. It doesn't require special training or writerly insight to read two sets of works and see how the texts are similar or how the texts are the same. It simply requires the ability to read and observe.
I stand by my statement. You plagiarized WillJ. Whether you did so intentionally or unintentionally is not my place to judge. The fact is that it occured and I have proof of the occurance. The texts are not coincidentally similar. They are the same. There is enough editing to smooth out a few of WillJ's edges to fit her text into your narrative.
If you disagree with my analysis of the situation, you may find the precedent here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Opal_Mehta_Got_Kissed,_Got_Wild,_and_Got_a_Life
Ms. Viswanathan did lose her lucrative publishing contract and did have to repay the money once herplagiarism (around 10% of her total word count) was discovered by readers. She says the plagiarism was uninintentional and a product of memory. In any event, her method of plagiarism, using the text from other works and altering it just enough to fit her narrative, is your method.
Best of luck in your publishing endeavors.
Muffie
I have not received a response. Chapter 2 of Choices of the Heart, the chapter containing plagiarism was removed from tymbur's journal on May 5th and additional chapters of the story were posted. I did not find any further scenes I specifically recognized as plagiarism, though some of them do feel very familiar. I attribute this to themes extensively borrowed from WillJ and other xangel/buffy bashing writers. Themes are not copyrightable and use of them is not plagiarism. If her other story posted on LJ contains plagiarism, I have not found it. I waited a few days to see if the tone of tymbur's response to comments on the story would change, or to see if she would respond. She did not. So I brought the case here so she could be investigated and listed, if that is the mod's ruling on the case.