YIS: Our Virtual Family (Both Korean/Japanese Versions)

I’m going to give a little history on how I joined and why I joined AFF before I get to what I really want to say (as always, I want to let you guys know why I’m going to do something you guys might not like).

BTW, this is SANA_11 (now mstyper) writing, not “Yuna.”

I’m the youngest of nine with a huge with all of my siblings.  By the time I was born, many of them were in their teens so they didn’t want to deal with a little kid or even babysit me.  My two oldest bro’s were married and had kids of their own, and my elder sisters were too busy indulging in makeup and fashion.  All in all, I did not live a sad and lonely life because what I had and had kept my attention were books.  In kindergarten, I was reading first grade books and in first grade, I was reading the entire third grade open court reading books (do you remember those green, blue, and red books?).  And when I was moving away in third grade, my third grade teacher gave me a copy of all the books she had simply because I was always borrowing her books after school.

Anyway, my point is, reading had always been there for me.  At the time, it was my friend.  It was an activity no one was able to pull me away from.

Until high school.

For some odd reason, although I’m pretty sure my father didn’t mean anything by it, but he saw me reading a book and he said to me, “You should stop reading.”

To me, it was like him saying, “You should stop living.”

Ever since then, my sisters started to gradually say comments that imply that I should be more girly and more outgoing instead of being a couch potato.

I thought I had that out of my mind until it was too late, and I realized it was always at the back of my head and it had somehow subconsciously made me stay away from books.

I got back in touch with reading when I was a junior in high school when we had to read a certain book for the English Academia standards thing (forgot what it was really called).  I loved creating my own characters when a new name popped up.  I loved to imagine the vivid descriptions of a landscape.  I loved to smile or frown upon an emotional scene.

I just loved—and I missed—reading.

At the same time, I was introduced to K-pop and soon, creative writing.  The friend who introduced me to both, and more specifically this website, said that it’s a perfect fit for me because I love writing and reading and moreover, I can read and write about my K-pop biases.  So I took up the offer; however, I hesitated.

Presumably like many authors on here, I had to persuade myself to gather enough courage to write and share my creation and fantasy to a community with similar interests.  Why did I have to do that?  Well, anything on the net is usually grayed, if you haven’t noticed (there is no right or wrong is what I meant to portray, lol).  We all hide behind the veil—the screen—and this allows us to mask our identities and real selves or maybe, it can even empower us to show our inner, real selves (whichever it may be).  Heads up, I'm unmasking a very personal part of my life to you at the moment.

I have never experienced or had my fair share of experiencing anything bad online.  I don’t start fan wars, I don’t troll, I don’t bash, spam, report, etc.  I just go to a site, use it for whatever, and leave.  If it’s a forum site, I do read comments and even if I don’t agree, I don’t comment back; in fact, I don’t even make an account on the forums I consistently go on. 

Same for AFF.  I go on my page, write a chapter, paste it, and if I have to, I publicize the chapter.  Then, I’ll respond to any comments I need to respond before logging out.

However, that’s to change today.  Unfortunately.

As an author, it is my belief to share my passion with a reader, no matter what kind of reader you may be in response to my creation (a hater, a basher, a lover, etc.).  But that sole reason wasn’t enough to persuade me to write down my fantasies and share it online because all authors dread one simple thing: plagiarism.

One moment please.  How in the world, or why in the world, would someone want to plagiarize something that’s already been created?  Especially if both shared the same hobby?

It really agonizes me to know that there are some people out there who would do such a thing because in this context, where we write down our fantasies and share them to the community with similar interests, it pains me to know that some people will take credit for another person’s art, or idea, or passion.

To me, that’s stealing an identity.

Why?  Because as I told you, writing and reading are the only sole hobbies and passions I have and if someone takes an idea or a creation from me, it’s like stealing the very soul of what embodies me and what makes me, me.  They are the very things that differentiate me from my siblings, my friends, and my real-world community.  Let’s admit it.  How many of us (do tell me if I’m wrong) have more than they can count real life friends who are madly in love with K/J idols to the extent of writing creatively about them? 

In my personal life?

None.

I have a niece who is interested in the K-pop world and we can be on the same page, but whenever I bring up my stories to her or even introduces her to it, she turns away or frowns upon it.  And I’m going to get even more personal and shame myself on this, and do feel free to shame me on this too, if you feel offended in some way: I have a sister who is also into K-pop, but I don’t dare and will never, even if my life is on the line, tell her that I write stories (even though I don’t write or yuri).  It’s a supposedly dark secret I will bring and carry to my grave.

But why do I not tell her?

Same reason many of us (or a few of us might have): we’re too embarrassed.  Or the biggest one: they’ll never understand our love for K/J pop.

Just like how my family never quite understood my relationship with reading and writing.

And indirectly because of those two reasons, I have persuaded myself to join AFF because I would rather be loved, understood, and accepted by a community that shared my similar interests.

And so I joined AFF knowing that there are some repercussions in regards to writing and sharing ideas creatively online (such as criticisms, bashing, hate, spamming, reporting, etc, and plagiarism).

But I didn’t care about it as much as many authors/writers because of the below (in response to plagiarism, since I don’t usually get involved in the other stuff):

  1.  I’m not a professional author/writer.  (so who’d want to plagiarize my work?)
  2. It’s fan-fiction.  (Why would someone plagiarize it?)
  3. Come on.  If someone were to read one of my stories, who’d want to copy my lame work?  (I’m not a good writer, I know.)
  4. There are bound to be better and more professional writers/authors with better plot/storyline and extremely better grammar and writing.
  5. There are too many of us on AFF for me to even get noticed (not that I do want attention because karma isn’t an incentive as I’ve written on my profile page), so I will escape getting plagiarized.

I.

Was.

Ignorant.

Apparently, plagiarism is not that someone would copy how or what someone writes (as like for a class assignment), someone would copy the sole idea/creation of it.  That specific part didn’t make its way to my understanding so as my journey begins on AFF, all I had to worry about was my writing and making it better so that it’d come out the way I want it to come out to you guys as you guys read.

That’s why I occasionally apologize in advance and/or write about my worries of not getting a certain context or idea across because I didn’t quite care about plagiarism.

And it’s because of it that I have to make this sad decision. 

Unfortunately, I came across a very, very, very similar story with the same main character (Ryosuke(Japanese version)/Luhan (Korean version)) paired with an OC and having to deal with a baby.  Now, now, before any of you guys begin to think that I’m jumping into conclusion, let me put this out on the table.

I don’t jump into conclusions, either.  I did my research, and I read about thirteen chapters through and its plot and chapters, and especially the way how things flowed, were quite similar to how mine flowed (the main character—Ryosuke—introduced the baby to his teenage friends and denied being the father, has a close adult friend afford the necessities for them to live together, the adult friend goes on a journey to find the real parents, etc (that’s where I’m currently at).  I was even able to compare a certain character from the story to mine.  One specific example was that the person in that story used Hikaru as the character in my story, Kota; however, Hikaru wasn’t the brother of Ryosuke in that story like how Kota is the brother of Ryosuke in my story.  And oddly enough, Hikaru was helping Ryosuke take care of the baby and even requested one of Ryosuke’s friend—who happens to be a girl good with kids—to help Ryosuke take care of the kids.  Yes, the difference is that Mirai voluntarily got involved and wasn’t asked by Kota.

(In the Korean version, Ryosuke is Luhan, Kota is Kris, Mirai is Hana, and Haruka is Luna)

When I made all of these comparisons, I finally experienced what many authors/writers who had been plagiarized have felt.

I was heartbroken.  Curious.  Confused.  Sad.  Disappointed.

And then a bit angry.  (like a week later)

And it’s not for the reasons you guys think.  Well, that comes way later.

What triggered my small anger is the fact that out of all the creations on AFF, why was mine so similarly close to it?  I mean, if I had wanted my stories to get really noticed, I would’ve always enforce my readers to upvote or subscribe to me or to the story so that I can get my story featured or whatnot.  But no.  I don’t do that.  I leave that as a choice for you guys because I respect that.

There was even a character who is blunt and mean like Haruka/Luna (my story), but the character was a male (the other story, and I forgot whom it was).  Please do pinpoint to me that I am probably putting myself on a high pedestal and am being conceited for thinking that my work has been slightly copied because I do know that there are some, if not many, stories where the main character is a father.  Right now, I rather be told that I am being conceited than have my story be plagiarized.

If you happen to know which story I’m talking about or if you happen to have a hunch about which story it is, please don’t ask because I won’t write down the title of the story nor give out who the writer/author is because that is also something that I, personally, believe that should not be passed/crossed, especially when I still consider to be a small incident. Yes, I am still hurt, but I don't want to dramatize this incident.

So if the fact that if it was intended to be plagiarized and I’m not even mad about that, why am I telling you guys and possibly making a big deal out of it?

Well, it’s because of the behalf of “Yuna,” and the intention of this series.

In the case that you do not know or have seemed to have missed or forgot, this series, Yuna Inspired Story (YIS, pronounced like “yes”) was created to dedicate to my friend who goes by Yuna.  That means this entirety is solely based and inspired from personal snippets of Yuna’s life.

Examples: each sister introduced here are based on Yuna’s real sisters, and so are their marriages and love life (although it was briefly written about, or hardly written about).  Natsu’s Kawasaki disease.  Mirai’s parents’ involvement in her babysitting duties (yes, Yuna had batches of kids and she was really always babysitting Mariko’s four daughters and now-two-year old son). 

The fact that this story is dedicated to my friend and has been fictionalized by me and then having seen it written similarly somewhere else really tugs my heart in disappointment and discontent.

Second.  Writing is really my only thing that makes me human.  It makes and completes me.  I honestly don’t know how I’d survive my darkest days if I wasn’t able to write creatively (not saying that I’m that good).  Writing is what defines me, and my world is defined by writing.  And to have my creation taken away by someone of similar interests more so disgusts me than angers me because as authors/writers, we share the same problems and worries, yet they did it to me, and again, it is just mind blowing.

Yes, call me dramatic but I’m sure we all have some things or one thing that defines us and if it’s taken away, we’re nothing more than just an average joe.

With writing, I can be my own individual and I can embrace myself no matter how much I at writing or portraying certain things or getting my context across.  With creative writing, it allows me to be in this community of wonderful, understanding, accepting, and kind people like you.

*sighs*

Anyway, enough of sharing my personal thoughts.

Because of what I found out and after a week of serious thinking, I’ve decided that I’m going to make this story accessable to inviters only until I see that the other story is taking a different turn and isn’t going to end up being written similarly like mine.

And because of that, I don’t know when I’m going to lift this label change, for lack of better words.

All in all, I’m terribly sorry that I have to tear this news to you guys.  Again, I never expected for such a thing to even happen to me.

This being my first, I’m slowly recovering from the shock, so…yeah.

But thanks for always understanding.


No, you do NOT need to subscribe to read.  Just comment on my page or notify me in some way that you want to be invited to read whichever version of the YIS: Our Virtual Family (the Japanese or the Korean, or both, if you want) and I’ll add you as soon as possible.

If you notify me of your invitation before I put the whole "invite only" status for both of these stories, I'll write down your username and when the time comes, I'll automatically input your names onto the invitation tag so that you won't miss a chapter/can't access a chapter when it's in effect.

I’ve never done this before, so I can’t say this for everyone, but from my knowledge, if you’re a subscriber, you already have access, so you don’t need to be invited; however, if you’re not a subscriber, you just need to be invited, and again, just comment on my page and I’ll try to add you as soon as possible.  UPDATE [July 2, 2015]:  It seems that I am wrong.  Many of my subscribers have asked for an invitation to read the stories, so I am going to safely say that even if you ARE a subscriber, you still need to be invited to read.  But do not worry.  Don't hesitate to comment on my wall or send me a message for an invite.  I'm just very apologetic that you have to do the extra mile for this fanfiction (when it's not worth it).

Thank you in advance for your understanding and support.  Also, I'm terribly sorry for indirectly including you into this mess.  Honestly, with four, incoming five, years into AFF, I was so sure that I would be be lucky enough to possibly never come across to getting plagiarzied.  I do hope, although I can't promise or guarantee, that something similar like this will not happen again in the future.

Until next time, "read" you soon!

Comments

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YamieX
#1
Hey Sana-san,
Can I say that I totally feel what you felt then even though it was a year late... When I started writing Fanfic in mandarin for the Taiwan and Chinese readers. I was really excited and happy that I got pretty good feedback on my story... But one day, someone dropped me a pm and said, please check out this story on this BBS. And I did. Guess what? It was the EXACT SAME WORD FOR WORD fictional story which somebody tried to publish on a online-novel BBS... The only original creation the person who posted the story did was, to change the name of all my characters... which then was S.H.E... that was in 2005. I was really sad and angry in a way because I knew some of my works were copied out to other places because I have seen them, and all I ever asked was to at least state where you got it from or the name of the original author... And that little request was respected mostly. But when that happened and my readers showed me conversations of them asking that poster about finding the story similar, the poster claimed to be an original creation... It was until I managed to produce drafts of my work to prove that I wrote before her, the moderator was willing to remove that story from the BBS and the poser just went MIA... So after that incident, I stopped writing... losing all my confidence and faith in my works...

So yeah... I totally feel you on the invite only part... But like wise I like to write for all who are keen to read... But now I prefer to keep them to only subscribers.. Another thing is I made it difficult to copy words from the fics, while it don't stop plagiarizing, it made it harder...

Please continue to keep writing and believe in yourself! It's not a shame to write and not many people can write beautifully...
But I think you are one of those who can write great stories... So please continue to keep writing and follow your heart!
beyond_limits13
#2
Sana-san~ I hope you won't get discouraged this incident. Please continue to write and give us, your readers, the inspiration and happiness that we get from reading your stories. Know that we'll always be here to support you as far as we could! :) Oh and please invite me to the YIS YamaShi vers.~ I'm dying to read it again and I'm dying to know what happens next! :D Anyway, keep writing awesome stuff and continue to inspire us ne! Ganbatte ne! :)
yanuarayu
#3
So this is the problem :o as yamashi shipper and your story's lover, i feel so sad :( why there is such a person, who could steal the ideas of others :(( please keep writing neechan, I'll wait for your another story, or maybe another chapter :p
Ah and yes you're right!! I want to read yamashi version, if you allow and invite me to read it of course :)) so, could you invite me, Neechan? Please~
greyrani
#4
Hey, Sana-san, sorry for only commenting by now. I understand your feeling, and please don't be discouraged. As a fellow writer, to know there are people out there do not respect our effort is sure a pain, but don't let them rule you. So, please keep writing :)
Oh, and please invite me to read your story, the Yamashi version. I'm going to follow the story till it ends, if you allow me of course.
mamimiya12 #5
I understand and support your decision to protect your works and identity.
Please invite me to read the YIS: our virtual family, yamashi version.
I am a fan of this story, as well as Mirai story, and i love how the stories gradually progress. More power!
minheymin #6
I love the way you write and how you incorporate your characters personalities~~
Please dont be down as i appreciate and love your work. Its sad that theres people who steals ur work cause its smtg you have put time and effort to write.
I hope that person realised it and stop

Oh yeah please invite me into YIS: Our Virtual Family (korean vers)

I shall read your other work~~^^
chin up writer-nim
viaqueue #7
Hi. I don't know how to phrase this out but let me start by saying how much of a fan I had become of YIS, Korean ver., as I was/am a massive fan of Kpop and Luhan especially. Although, I was more of a silent reader and opted not to comment on the piece. But let me take this as an opportunity to tell you how well you write, because your writing style allows people to actually feel what your characters feel.

I'm also a writer, well an aspiring one at least. And I could empathize with how much reading and writing meant to you because somehow, these things save me everyday of my life for quite a long time now. And I understand how painful it must have been to see your world recreated by someone else. I'm not going into detail about my life, so let me just say this... as an author I fear being plagiarized just as much as I fear having to plagiarize others' works. Because what could be more disappointing than to have your creation be takwn away from you?

Anyway, like I said, I adore your work and I really hope to read more of it, to see how YIS (Korean vers.) would turn out. But as much as I adore and would like to read it, I admire the love and care you put into the story considering how personal the plot is to you. Again, I hope to read you soon.



Much love,
a reader and a fellow lover of words xx
shiLOVEchi
#8
i'm totally shock to hear about this... enjoying my time by reading the fan-fiction is always my favourite past-time...
i never know such people exist...
i understand what u felt currently... no worries, i'll give u my all to support u...
i'ts ur right... & such violation shouldn't happened...
i hope u are strong... i hope u will never stop writing...
it's really hard to find a very great writer for my favourite group, JUMP... & you are one of it, so, i really hope that this won't stop u from sharing your imagination with us...
u have the right to be disappointed towards that kind of people...
take whatever decision that u think the best for u... i'll support u...
ichigoainosuke
#9
how dare that person do that?!!
I understand your anger and disappointment..
for writers, their stories are their life, their world!
writers write not because they want to, but they NEED to write!!
It's something that somebody can't take it from you!
I appreciate your idea to protect your 'world', the world where you make, rule, and live..
please keep your 'world' alive and keep it from the bad guys who harm it.
I'm as a reader, one of person who enter your 'world' and also live in there, would like to 'stay'. therefore, please invite me to your 'YIS : Our Virtual Family (YamaShi ver.' reader.. yoroshiku onegaishimasu m(_ _)m
sayumi_yuma
#10
So sad to hear it.
Moreover, writing is the way to run from reality, to express what we can not express in the real world. It's so hurt, someone plagiarism our idea. You are to kind for not reporting the person who plagiarize your story/idea. You did the right thing by limiting your reader, to protect your works. Author also needs protected. Many scattered plagiarism.

Ah, If allowed, can you invite me too in your story 'Yuna Inspired: Our Virtual Family (YamaShi Version)'. Thank you. Don't despair and don't stop to writing. Such a person don't deserve hinders your creations.

Ps: Sorry for my bad english.
Bleak_night #11
That's really sad to hear... Well seems like writing is like a life partner for you as it was always there when there was no one... You know this isn't dramatic, its a real feeling human need to understand... You were kind enough to not tell the name of the person who plagiarism your story, beyond kind for not reporting... Well i think you should have a word with the person who plagiaris, i mean what if you guys had the same thoughts... Well i know the things you said are so true and its even hard to believe that, that person didnot plagiaris, but you should confirm it. If she denies then do what you're going to do, its too smart and kind move from you :)
oh and i would like if you invite me in your story 'Yuna Inspired: Our Virtual Family [ Korean Version' i wanted to read it...