Note: I wrote this last month (January), and I was only able to upload it today (Feb. 2, 2016)

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A letter to the one who "copied" me.

January 2016 is almost over, could you believe that? Wow. I didn't notice that time could fly so fast. I also didn't realize that I've already been a member of Asianfanfics for four years.

Speaking of 2016, I've had my own reflections and resolutions for this brand new year. Outside my 'AFF life', I'm just an ordinary girl who experienced a lot of things with a lot of people. I started the year by messaging a few people who inspired me a lot, who shared happy and regretful memories with me. And since it's a new year and I'm trying to be a better person right now compared before, I thought I should also talk to you, the one who copied me.

This message may or may not reach you but I'd still continue anyway. I may not know your exact identity, but you know who you are.

My name is Keren, and I’m the one who wrote the stories you uploaded. I’m the one who spent a lot of effort on writing and typing every word you copied.

Whoever you are, who uploaded my old fan fictions and even registered here on Asianfanfics using my old 'author name' on Winglin, your account may no longer be active, but I believe you're still out there living your own life. Maybe you're reading your favorite fan fictions right now, or writing your own stories under a different username. I'd like to let you know how much anger and disappointment I have felt three to four years ago, and how I ended up forgiving you.

'Bad Girl' and 'Roses for Her' are the first two fan fictions I ever created. I spent days and nights, inside an internet cafe just to upload my stories on Winglin, with the thought that maybe I could become a good writer too. A few months later, I finally had access to a personal computer in the comfort of our own home and happily continued writing. I stopped writing after finishing these two fan fictions and got busy with college.

2012 came, I was very happy that I discovered Asianfanfics, only to find out about you. Yes, you, the one who used my 'author name' on Winglin and uploaded some chapters of 'Bad Girl' and 'Roses for Her'. I wondered my stories will be plagiarized this way when they’re not even that great. Like… hello? They’re poorly written. Haha.

Because I got angry, I decided to delete my two stories on Winglin. Because people can easily copy and paste stories on that site, I had to delete my stories so that you could no longer have any access to them.

I wanted to continue writing stories, that's why I joined Asianfanfics. I had to adjust, to register as 'officialkerriepops', because you already took the username I wanted to use, and the same ‘author name’ that I created out of my head. Oh, and did you know, aside from writing stories, I used to have a Youtube channel 'kerriepops' wherein I upload fan-made music videos. I had to upload a video on that channel just to share that I joined Asianfanfics as 'officialkerriepops’. Again, I had to adjust.

Since I already deleted my stories on Winglin, I could no longer prove here on Asianfanfics that you copied my stories. So, I just reuploaded the stories on my own account and provided a brief note about what happened to avoid readers from getting confused.

A few years later, I decided to rewrite these two stories because I wanted to improve the way they were written. However, I'm still bothered by the fact that my old fan fictions are still uploaded on this site. I finally decided to file plagiarism reports and thoroughly explained the details. Thankfully, both of them have been removed.

Just because it happened in the past, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I know it's been years ago, but I'm still wondering;

Do you realize what you have done?

Have you ever thought what I would feel?

Did you also do the same thing to other authors?

You know it's wrong, but still, why did you do it?

I grew up, moved on and went on with my life. Later on, I realized that I could no longer dwell into these ill feelings. So I decided to forgive you, even if I don't really know you.

You see, I no longer use 'officialkerriepops' as my username because I decided just to be myself, an aspiring writer, a kpop fan, who also expresses her love for kpop through fan fictions. I changed my username, deleted my Youtube channel and continued writing up until now. I want to continue writing with a positive outlook that’s why I’m leaving all my anger and disappointment behind.

Whoever you are, again, I've already forgiven you. I hope you'd never do it again. Since it’s been years since you uploaded those stories, I hope by now you already realized that what you did was wrong.

The fact that you uploaded my stories made me think that you are an aspiring writer too, just like me. If you want to write stories, go ahead, no one will stop you. However, I hope you’d create something out of your own ideas, something you created using your own time and effort, and something you can proudly share to others because you made it yourself. Just be yourself, you don't need to be someone else. Accept your strengths and embrace your weaknesses.

If ever you've seen this message, I hope you're somehow sorry of what you did. It's up to you if you want to keep the truth from yourself or you want to message me about this. Either way, I won't judge you. 

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Keren (renripani)

[formerly kerriepops on Winglin.net | formerly officialkerriepops on Asianfanfics.com]