Why exactly do you think we writers who post online for you to enjoy our fan fictions, one shorts, short stories etc. do what we do? Post to you on this forum? Why do you think we do it? And what makes us update those stories? Maybe you think its because we are needy. Absolutely correct. We need to share our ideas, our thoughts, we absolutely need you. We need you, the audience, who are our sisters and friends and strangers and well wishers, haters too, we need you all. We are creative types, all addicted to the same show you watch. Difference is, we have to mess with what we see, meddle a little, flesh out characters, imagine new situations for them. We show our love for them by killing them, having them go on adventures, taking them to bed, making them hook up with the "wrong" brother, giving them backgrounds of royalty and pushing them into bullets and danger.
Us fiction writers ko mann bhara nahi, screen ki scenes se, toh word document khula aur khud hi koi aur scene, koi aur intensity create kar diya. But you read it, when it comes up, and for 3 minutes, or 30, we take you to that place in our heads with us, and we say, dekh lo, yeh bhi ho sakhta hai! And you laugh, or yawn, or politely agree, or thoroughly hate it and go back to other posts. But those fictions-- It's a form of art though right? And if we have done our job right, you, when you click on our post, and read it, you sigh after you read our creation, and say "..Wah! That feels right, that is a good one, now that is a scene worth imagining" ...or you say "Eekkk! How bad, Napstermonster, yeh tune kya kiya, joh hai sceen pei, who hi accha hai, aisi ghatiya likhawat na kar, yaah..." but my point is-- you react.
Again, I say, those of us who write, in our small way, in our own way, are also trying to create a kind of art--- and good or bad, art is whatever that makes you have a reaction. Gets you to feel something even for a second, whether that is excitement, whether that is disgust, or even a lump in you throat, and tears in your eyes. If it is particularly good, or particularly disturbing it may even get you to comment, to share with the writer, and your other audience members--- that you felt something, too.
So that's why we write. We would probably do it if we have one person reading (ourselves) or if we are famous fan fiction creaters who's every work brings over a 1000 responses in an hour (smitar comes to mind). But we write for us, and as we share it, the truth is, we write for you. Its like chocolate--- the more you share, the faster the sweetness spreads.. and the smiles, and the friendships. That's why we write.
So you are thinking a "Accha, good. Go napstermonster. Go write, since you like it so much." Mujhe write karni hi hai, yaar. Wait karo, update ke liye. Likh dunga. But before I go, please do me a favor. If you are not a writer, if you are just a reader, or a casual Ishqbaazian reading this post, I have a small task for you.
Go to Microsoft Word, open a page, and type in a word. Any word. Then think how much time it will take you, to develop that one word, into 6-8 pages of that document. Times new roman, 12 font, please. Your audience will not accept 500 words from you just because its in 24 font pink comic sans serif (IPKKND forum ki inside joke). I mean, you will have to post at least 2000 words, to get a decent story done. You will have to make sense. It cannot be outlandish stuff.
No gods and monsters here. You are writing for many people. It will have to make sense to the tired executive wasting office time on India Forums, the student checking posts between classes, the housewife who just wants a break and her coffee with a bit of light hearted fun. It will have to reach them all--- so it has to be human emotions, delivered through fictional characters we all love. Shivaay, Anika, Om, Rudra. Tej, or Janvi. Ishana too.
You will have to be funny, or romantic, or emotional, or sexy. Or all of them, if you can manage it. Oh, yeah, you have to have a point, yeah? A story, or a message, a "raaz" to reveal, or a concept to establish. That element of connection must be there, running like a thread, throughout each paragraph, each new character, each new situation you are writing.
Still with me? That word doc still open? Good, now come up with a plot. Make sure it makes sense, okay? Small tip, to help you deal with inevitable frustration--- you will have at least 13 excellent ideas that actually lead to nothing and finally you will have a moderately decent plotline ready, and your story can begin.
Okay, done? Now for characters, then scenes, then description. How many ways can you say the word "Eye" without saying the word "eye," for example? Don't make the language too hard though, or too easy, or too too anything. Remember, you are writing for characters who people love, who others besides just you invite into their living room and their laptops every day. Now write, and dont forget, a fan fiction or a story means you have an unspoken, but no less binding contract with your reader, so this 6-8 pages will be done, again and again, until you or the serial, gives up. So write.
Done? Now post it. Just that one chapter or one shot you wrote was at least 6-8 hours of your life, of your blood, sweat and tears. Of frustration, endless cups of coffee, in between your life, your actual work, your family your kids, in-laws, friends, dates, love making, college, dealing with your angry mother and helping to cook dinner. Now its done, and its you, on that page. Now post it. Publish it. Love it. You have given birth to it, and good or bad, it is your own mehnat, your own ideas. That perfect phrase that came to you when you were driving, and you jotted down before it vanished. It has that description your honey calls you, late at night, as he stares into your eyes, and you use for your heroine. It has your humor, your jokes, your ideas, things you wish your guy said or did, or things you wish you were, or could be. It contains you, dripping through the pages, even though the names are those of your characters, it is you. And your life, your people, and your creative mind.
BOOM.
I see it, I like it, I cut and paste it. Maybe I change about 10% of what took you so much effort to create, maybe I don't bother. I read it when you put it out, right? So its mine now. Everything you did, everything you created, your effort, your entire creative work. Its MINE, okay? I go ahead. I post it under my name, for my audience. And I say to them as they read it, never knowing you, never knowing what I stole from you, I say "Yeah! There was this book, and I really liked it, and it fits this serial we all watch, so here it is!"
Or I don't even say that much. I just say-- "THANK YOU! I will absolutely update soon! Thank you! I have the next chapter almost done! Love you for your love!"
Lets do that --- those of you who think the plagiarism issue is being blown out of proportion. Who think the person or the people who plagiarize is just a silly kid, who didn't know any better. It DOESNT MATTER. Let's do this thing, where I take your work, and lets see if you think Plagiarism is just a small offence, not a big deal, when the thief (and that is the legal, moral, and absolutely valid word here-- Thief) gets caught. Lets see, once that ONE page has been stolen from you (as I have had fully completed work stolen from me) lets see then how you mirror me, lets see how you writhe with the pain of how it feels. How much of a betrayal it is, a rage, a helpless sense of being assaulted and ripped from your original work, when readers, all without knowing it, compliment a thief over your labor.
Once you are a writer, you wont want the compliments actually--in fact, even after I was plagiarized, I didn't want those tainted compliments being posted unknowingly by my thief's readers, by the way. No person who has been plagiarized is jealous of the compliments the thief is getting under his or her work's wings. Not one of us are feeling jealous.
But I remember those hours in front of the Microsoft word document, and that first joy of writing. And so will you, once it happens to you--and it will happen to you, if more people are not aware of how much of a betrayal it is, how much of a real and painful assault it is.
How important AS A READER it is to say NO. I WILL NOT tolerate it. I WILL NOT excuse it. I WILL end it. How important, as the audience, it is to put aside personal relationships and protest, and report, and say NO.
So yeah. As long as it happens freely, and people I like, the readers, then try to explain or excuse or even deny the damage it has done to the writers who were literally stolen from. When that happens, I remember those hours in front of the Microsoft word document, and the joy of writing I once felt .
And I cry.
Naagin 7
Mahadev And Sons
Fan Fictions
