Dear Hope (Dear Alysha #1)

(If you're interested in reading the Dear Alysha that sparked this post, you can find it here.)

The timing of this topic is rather interesting, my dear Hope. As we've discussed off these blogs, recently there was the whole ‘clean reader’ saga which the author world blew up at someone daring to change the words that they wrote. I’m not going to comment for or against as that’s not why we’re here, though you've got to admit that RPers can walk a similar line.

As we both know, and others mightn't, I first flexed my writerly muscles as an RPer. It’s something I haven’t really spoken about in a long time, but I’m a little biased on the subject as this is where I got my start.

Let me give you some context for my work in the RP world. I wrote a few characters in my time in the RP world, both male and female. The group of fellow writers I was with all stuck to a code, we didn’t use the author’s words, but we certainly used the world they had created. We were exploring life beyond the HEA that the author had given the characters. We went to great lengths to ensure our writing stayed true to the author’s original vision of the character. Now we did this knowing full well that the author of the original story did not back us, but they did have ‘people’ who kept an eye on us to ensure we didn’t plagiarise which didn’t bother us. We didn’t want to steal their words. We wanted to expand on the stories which we loved.

This being said, I can completely understand an author being unhappy with RPers writing on their story. I can sympathise with the shock of such a thing happening. Flattery, horror, it’s a mixed bag of emotions. Nor can I confirm that all RPers stick to the code that we set for ourselves; each group of writers is different.

As someone who came from the RP world to write my own original content I can see why authors would not feel comfortable with RPers. I feel that I own my characters and their world. It’s my creation and while I may accept creative input from my close circle of writing friends, I wouldn’t want outside sources taking my stories in directions I didn’t want them to go. Regardless of what copywrite laws say I do and don’t own.

That being said, as someone who started expressing myself in written form in the land of RP it would be hypocritical of me to take offence to such things. I’m honestly all for creative expression and if someone playing around in my fictional world helps them discover a passion for writing then I’m not going to shun them. As long as plagiary isn’t occurring, then I would just leave them be.

Mad <3

Alysha