#draw this in your style writer version imo lol

[kedreeva]

Ked, as an experienced writer in fandoms, what would you do if you'd see a fic that's eerily similar to another one by anon author? I really have the feeling second fic basically stole the first fic's premise and most of the events with some twists, it's very specific so hardly the same idea occuring to two people, and the style is too different and the second one is published under a username. And it doesn't refer to the other fic existing at all.

Honestly, if you're asking what I, personally, would do, if I, specifically, saw this?

Unless there's big chunks of straight up plagiarized words, or they are trying to profit from it in a way that would do harm, I'd personally mind my own business. I have told folks before that if they don't like something in a fic (including my own), they can go write their own fic, and that includes their own version of the story. Yes, even if it takes the same turns mine did, yes even if they have the same kinds of conversations, yes even if it's basically the same story written in their style. I have seen fics that are straight up MY fics, rewritten, and I cannot stress enough how much I do not personally care as long as they're not trying to pass my actual written word off as their own, or profiting in a way harmful to me.

If you're asking what YOU should do, I can't answer that. There are people who do not feel the way I feel. There are people who get very angry when someone transforms a transformative work. I understand that it can be a very sensitive thing to some people, I'm just not one of them. You should do what you feel is appropriate to the situation. Maybe start by asking the actual author (if it's "anon" vs "orphaned" then the fic is still attached to the "anonymous" author's acct, you just can't see that... but they can, they will get comments, unlike with orphaned fics) what they would want in such a situation, and/or at best let them know about the other story and let the author decide what to do.

[mrbexwrites]

This is a really interesting question that I’ve never really considered. I am the type of person, who, once I’ve finished a WIP’s first draft, I never really go back to it. It’s like...I’ve got it out of my system and I just move onto my next project. I have an external hard drive of old WIPs that I keep, but just don’t do anything with! I think part of it is a) not having the technical skills to do editing confidently, and b) not being confident enough in my work to share it with others to get feedback.

I was basically just a little goblin, hunched over a laptop, typing away furiously, to get the stories out of my head. I wasn’t actually going to do anything them!

It was only after my partner querying what I did with all my hunched-over goblin time, that I considered  doing something more with my work, other than just writing the first draft. (Quick confession; I did actually submit one of my first drafts to a publisher, when I was in my very early twenties, and got rejected, which just crushed me, which probably explains, partly, why I haven't shared a lot of my work with people! That said, I’m made of stronger stuff now, and have more life experience under my belt! I think I could take it on the chin now!)

During lockdown, I actually took some online classes (anxiety riddled me would never attend in-person classes- I’d rather die! lol) on editing, and it made me go back and look at those old first drafts that I started when I was a teen and in my early twenties. After recovering from the severe bout of cringe they bought about, I actually could see my progress. I could see how my style has evolved; I was very heavy on the ‘telling’, because I wanted the reader to see exactly what I was seeing, which just bogged down the story as I went into so much detail. It just disrupted the flow so much. Also, my characters felt so flat as they had no development, or wants/needs. There was so little character growth, they were basically just caricatures of the ideals that I wanted them to represent.

That said, going back to the old WIPs made me realise that, despite the flaws, the plot was solid, as was the dialogue (for the most part!) and I actually started to re-write  some of them.

I guess I hadn’t considered that writing is a skill that you hone, just like any other craft. The more you do it, the more it develops. Just like drawing, painting, music, knitting etc. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t have any training except from sitting English lessons in school, or that I never shared my work before, that I’m having this epiphany so late in my life! So, to answer your question; my old WIPs have pretty much remained static, because I’ve done nothing with them. They’re like a time-capsule so I can track how far I’ve come. With my one WIP that I’ve started to re-write; I’ve kept my original draft, and started from scratch with the re-write. The plot and characters are the same, but I like to compare the two side by side so that I can see my own development as a writer. I’ve certainly grown more confident in my own ‘voice’ and have certainly picked up more techniques/understanding of the narrative. 

It’ll be interesting to see just how different the two are, and I would recommend comparing your original draft (if you still have it) with your final version; it’s satisfying to see how far you’ve come, and you get a sense of accomplishment being able to track your progress, imo.

Thanks for asking this, as it actually caused me to pause and do some self-reflection, which is always nice :) 

Question for other writers who've been working on* the same WIP for a decade plus: how similar is your story now to its original plot/rendition?

Curious about this, because personally, I have one 14-year-old WIP that's mostly unrecognizable from its original version (libaw) and one (almost) 10-year-old WIP that's like 90% unchanged from its original outline/story plan (TDL).

Feel free to elaborate on the changes and/or how old you were when you started the project. 👀

*"Working on" means whatever you want it to, and can include shelved periods.

[yokaimatsus-blog]

all o f them then

omg thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im glad bc i just wanna talk about oso san all the time so~~~1. Who is your favorite sextuplet?: I actually don’t know if I’ve ever said on here? Huh, i wonder if its obvious? Well, its Karamatsu :^)

2. Who is your favorite non-sextuplet character?: either totoko or chibita, its kinda too hard to pick between those two

3. Who is your least favorite character?: kara’s god damn flower fairy thing, she was barely even in it but her attitude just pissed me off 

4. Who is your least favorite sextuplet?: I honestly don’t have one, it used to be todomatsu but he really, really grew on me throughout the series and now i just love them all way too much

5. When did you start watching the series?: november 2015, the day jyushimatsu falls in love aired!! 6. Do you own any merch?: yeah i literally cant stop pre/ordering stuff i hate myself and so does my bank account and im running out of space in my bedroom lmao ;;

7. Do you play any of the apps?: hesowars and tabimatsu! though I only started hesowars like a month or two ago, for some reason

8. Have you seen osomatsu-kun?: a couple of episodes yeah! i wanna watch more but i cant ever find them ahaha

9. Which character do you relate to the most?: out of the sextuplets id say all of them are pretty relatable for me, oso and todo mostly though

10. When first watching the series, how long did it take for you to be able to tell the sextuplets apart?: I think by at least ep 5 i had them down but I can’t really remember ahahaha, but right away it was easy to know choro bc no ahoge, and ichi bc of his eyes :’)

11. List the sextuplets from favorite to least favorite: my order changes a lot but i guess its something like karamatsu ichimatsu, jyushimatsuosomatsu, todomatsu, choromatsubc i literally wouldnt be able to put any 6 of them actually last LOL

12. Why did you start watching the series?: because it seemed genuinely funny, i really liked the voice actors and the art style attracted me. i dont usually go for comedy anime so tbh becoming so invested was a shocker

13. Have you read any of the manga?: ive read all the ones that are translated as far as I’m aware? And I read a few raws too, I plan to buy them soon but I’m lowkey hoping for official translations someday14. What was your opinion of the season one ending?: I honestly really loved it, to me it was extremely obvious they werent going to end a parody anime on a sad note so I was expecting something really dumb, also i think it was one of the funniest eps to me

15. Which opening theme do you like more?: omg i dont know theyre both such bops

16. Which ending theme is your favorite?: the first one, but the version used for the last episode! bc its cute aaaaa

17. What is your favorite episode or segment?: omg i love so many i could never pick one, off the top of my head I really, really, REALLY enjoy choromatsu cant sleep, fappymatsu, todomatsu and the 5 demons, keresone, and ichimatsu incident... ichimatsus inner monologue of him just screaming is such perfection ahahhaha more ichimatsu internally yelling in s2 pls

18. What is your opinion of episode one?: a true cinematic experience

19. Do you like F6?: ehhh idk. theyre okay? i forget they exist until somebody mentions them most of the time lmfao. there was that one scene with f6 kara drinking milk that was particularly great imo

.20. Have you ever made any osomatsu-san fanart?: yeah!! lots!! but its been a while since i posted anything, plus these days i use twitter more, tbh its what made me want to draw more after I fell out of my last fandom, so i guess thats a good thing, but honestly I’m more a writer considering that was my first major hahaha21. Which episode or segment was your least favorite?: i dont know, I guess I just dont care about dekapan bc he creeps me out a little so I think probably the one with him and dayon driving? somewhere? I cant even remember 

22. What episode or segment did you laugh the hardest at?: omg idk so many literally had my crying bc i find them so stupidly hilarious, i guess the ones that take me by surprise at the ones that make me laugh the most, also when I rewatch I find I appreciate them even more every time so afjdsgs

23. Did you cry at any time while watching the series?: ive only ever cried laughing, which happened a lot, but of course ep24 and jyushi falls in love are pretty emotional lmao 24. If you could make your own osomatsu-san episode, what would it be about?: AAAAHHH i have so many ideas. but tbh i would just love a musical episode. somebody doesnt understand why everybody is singing and dancing. there are pom poms. we’re all in this together bitches. ALSO i would die if they animated some of the manga chapters, e.g. the fashion battle todo and kara have, and mc ichi and mc todo... and when oso and kara get lost in a mountain and when oso asks if kara has anything to burn for a fire hes like “no these are too important” and its just a fucking handful of candids sslkhdjisfhaifadand isnt there one about a knock off version of pokemon with choro as the trainer? please. pls. PLEASE.

25. How do you feel about multiple seasons of osomatsu-san?: i wish it could go on forever and ever and ever. but seriously I feel they could juice some good content for a fair few seasons, I obviously wouldnt ever want it to lose its charm but I genuinely don’t see why it couldn’t be long running... but for now I’m satisfied with what we get, and season 2 finally getting announced is incredible though and im super happy :))))