#insp: the vampire diaries

[incorrectcharmingfamilyquotes]

Regina: I saved your life! Twice! Snow: Because you put it in danger! Twice!

[anewkindofme]

Elijah: Don't act out of anger. Klaus: That is exactly my plan. Klaus: And I encourage you to get on board.

[gigglecoffin]

whats in my bag?

insp @sikoi <3

lucy: portable cd player, LOOP, Tragic Kingdom, Tommy airline, phone, blush, lip gloss, diary, pen, neon genesis evangelion vol thirteen, paper stars, loose false eyelashes

mitsy: Unlock My World, 2x elf bars, digital camera, phone, heart earrings, siren earrings, rosary, lip gloss, sonny angel, AirPod max's, earphones, Jordan photocard, makeup brush, jelly balm

ronan: I Disagree, darker than darkness style 93, cigarettes, cigarette buds, phone, lighter, headphones, keys, pencil case, lost earring, interview with the vampire

[anyataylorjoys]

Characters Of All Time meme: ↳ Katerina “Katherine Pierce” Petrova (The Vampire Diaries, 2009-2016) (insp)

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hey! I was wondering. Does it still counts as plagiarism if one of your ideas gets tweaked, but the premise and even the character's motivation and personality remains the same in the story, although is with another name? (Not even the name if honest.)

How could I protect my work from this? More important, is there any way or it is possible to protect ideas? Or the protection only applies for the work itself?

Thanks in advance!

Tweaked Ideas and Plagiarism

Premises and ideas can't be protected. It's how the premise and ideas are executed that matters. One of my favorite examples of this is The Vampire Diaries vs Twilight. Premise-wise, they're almost identical...

🗸 17-year old "non-magical" girl protagonist 🗸 (she's actually secretly magical... sort of...) 🗸 Protagonist has parental issues 🗸 Mystical small town setting 🗸 Protagonist unaware of town's supernatural undercurrent 🗸 Protagonist meets hot "born-in-a-prior-century" vampire at school 🗸 His senses allow him to identify her among all other students 🗸 They fall in love 🗸 She gets sucked into supernatural shenanigans 🗸 She finds out she has friends who are secretly supernatural 🗸 Dangerous ancient council creates more shenanigans 🗸 Eventually she becomes a vampire

It looks bad on paper, but it's the myriad differences that make these stories completely unique. First, Bella is the polar opposite of Elena in terms of personality and situation. Bella's parents are alive but immature, Elena's parents died in a tragic accident. Bella moved to Forks to live with her father, Elena grew up in Mystic Falls. Edward was born in 1901, Stefan was born in 1846 (TV, 1490 books.) Edward has a big adoptive family. Stefan has his brother. Edward can't read Bella's mind, Stefan can read Elena's mind. Bella's supernatural friends are wolf shifters who are part of the local Indigenous tribe; Elena's supernatural friends include a werewolf, witch, and a vampire hunter. Bella can shield her mind from mind readers, Elena is a doppelgänger. Bella and friends fight an ancient council of vampires who micromanage the vampire world, Elena and friends fight a town council made up of anti-vampire humans.

The point is, the actual stories are very, very different despite the similarities in premise.

Now, I will say that if the premise is genuinely the same, and the character has the same appearance, personality, and even a similar name, that's a bit concerning. If you take a brutally honest look at the two works and find more similarities than differences, it's possible this person did over borrow. The problem is there may not be much you can do about it, but it depends on the situation. If you're both published but you published first, it's something you can take up with your agent or publisher, or if you don't have one, you can contact a copyright lawyer to explore your options. It's costly, however. If you can't afford this option, you can contact them and ask them to take it down, but they're not obligated to. Outside of that, there isn't much you can do.

There honestly isn't much you can do to protect yourself from plagiarism. It's part of the risk we take in putting our work out there. Again, if you're agented, have a publisher, or can hire a copyright attorney, you may find you have some legal recourse, especially if the plagiarism is glaring and they're making money off what they stole. Otherwise, you just have to grin and bear it. But the truth is, given the wealth of stories being published every day, plagiarism isn't that common of an occurrence. (Although, it's increasing now somewhat with the advent of AI...)

And I'll tell you, the harsh reality is you may feel like a work is so similar to yours it must be an intentional rip-off, but our brains have a way of making mountains out of molehills when it comes to spotting similarities. Nine out of ten times it's just not as similar as you think it is.

Other relevant posts:

Similarities vs Plagiarism Plagiarism vs Reference vs Inspiration Beta Reader Sees Similarity with Existing Character Does My Book/Story Already Exist Taking Inspiration from Another Story’s Premise Afraid of Ideas Being Stolen or Copied Once Shared Afraid of Plagiarism Accusation

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[mikelogan]

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES - Vampire Mythology

@lgbtqcreators creator bingo - mythology

[insp]

[scarletwandas]

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES S02E07 - Masquerade THE VAMPIRE DIARIES S05E15 - Gone Girl

( insp. ) + bonus:

[i-will-sing-no-requiem]

Every All Too Well Lyric as a Ship

Damon & Elena (The Vampire Diaries)

(17/53)

[insp]

[3mixs]

some potential twice aus/hcs i’ve come up with but have yet to start writing ! my requests are open if anyone wants to request one of these to help me get started.

— vampire!misana x vampire hunter!jihyo (vampire diaries insp.) — 3mix band au (daisy jones & the six insp.) — muse!sana x artist!chaeyoung — coffee shop jeonghyo (actress!jeongyeon x grad student!jihyo) — 3mix soulmate au (visible soulmate marks) — assassin![member] x politicians daughter!sana — freelance bodyguard!momo x celebrity!twice  — ghostface!minayeon  ― camgirl!sana ― rival actresses sahyo ― girlfriends 2yeon and hybrids!mohyo (kitten!jihyo + puppy!momo) ― ceo!mina (from here)

(i used to have a blog where i wrote some of these but got embarrassed and deleted it 😭)

[orion-lake]

Happy New Year! I wanted to shout out “some” posts of 2022 that I really loved. I want to say thank you to all fellow gif makers to put in the time and effort to share their creations. 

Please do not feel bad if you’re not on the list. I have a running queue on my blog, so my post number per month is fairly huge. So I may just have missed your post. 

Feel free to share, and please, if you like a post, please reblog and share the love.

January 2022

Morgana Pendragon ▶ Season 3, Episode 02: “The Tears of Uther Pendragon: Part Two” - @katieskeep

YENNEFER APPRECIATION WEEK | favorite outfit - @yenvengerberg

— New Year’s Day by Taylor Swift - @antoniosvivaldi

WOLF MOON | S1E1 - @teenwolfgifs

February 2022

‘cause we never go out of style… - @jumpthensfall

HAPPY 32ND BIRTHDAY TAYLOR ALISON SWIFT - @newrcmantlcs

March 2022

the wheel of time gifset - @scinnlaece​

allison argent gifset - @bericas​

bau ladies + tarot cards - @cabotism (deactivated)

HARRY POTTER film series based on the novels by the same name (2001-2011) - @yourstarfuckerworld  (deactivated)

stiles stilinski & lydia martin TEEN WOLF (2011-2017) - @crazysjane (deactivated)

MISTY & NATALIE in Yellowjackets | Season One [insp] - @queencalanthes

April 2022

Charmed | Patty & Prue & Piper | Head Above Water - @littletonpace

NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES: The Marauders - @some-people-call-it-tragic

Man the boundaries. Protect us. Do your duty to our school. - @hermoiine

THE DORA MILAJE aka “THE ADORED ONES” - @rachelschu (deactivated)

May 2022

ALL MY GIRLS LIKE TO FIGHT. - @bericas

↳ ingrid, the snow queen - @thewildmother

hogwarts houses common rooms aes - @ostara-goddess

harry potter meme: [1/3] colours. teal - @19-17

laura’s 10k celebration (top 30 ships as voted by my followers) ✵ 21 ➳ buffy summers & spike - @katherineebishop

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (2009) dir. David Yates - @mike-mills

June 2022

i got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined - @learned-civility

the big seven + planets symbolism (insp.) - @hermiione

July 2022

doctor who appreciation week day three ☆ favorite season/era  - @benoitblanc

Taylor Swift in 2021 - @wishfulthinkinglove

AU SPUFFY - they can be a romcom if they want - - @l0veisntbrains

taylor swift gifset - @treachreous

August 2022

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - @drsattlers

↳ SCOOBY-DOO (2002) dir. Raja Gosnell - @wakandasforever

— Taylor Swift on 💜 Last Kiss 💜 - @antoniosvivaldi

September 2022

#MetalMonday | ✟ Rest in Peace ✟ (Dorothy) - @x--daughters-of-darkness--x

October 2022

TEEN WOLF APPRECIATION WEEK ☽ day one: female character(s) - @unspokenstydia

MERLINWEEK2022 | DAY 02 Favourite scene or season : season 04 (insp) - @thebookluvrr1816

#the journey - @payidaresque

MERLIN WEEK 2022 day 1: favourite character ➛ arthur pendragon + dnd character sheet (in/sp.) - @arthurpendragonns

DAILYMARVELSTUDIOS 5K CELEBRATION: FAVORITE MARVEL DYNAMIC - @dailymarvelstudios

November 2022

Bridgerton Siblings + Love Interest - @marlenadia

laura’s 11k celebration (top 40 characters as voted by my followers) ✵ 40 ➳ emma swan - @katherineebishop

Grace & Frankie + final scenes - @jakeperalta

Vampire Appreciation Week [2022] October 27th ~ Favourite Vampire/Vampire Dynamic - @sulietsexual

Bridgerton Couples + Tropes - @marlenadia

VAMPIRE APPRECIATION WEEK 2022 - day one: favorite vampire CAROLINE FORBES - The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017) - @naiey

December 2022

EDWINA & KATE SHARMA — The Sun & The Moon - @gifshistorical

WEDNESDAY CHARACTERS as TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUMS - @reputayswift

favorite non-romantic dynamic MISS EDWINA AND QUEEN CHARLOTTE - @edwinadaily

WEDNESDAY (2022) + RAINBOW - @usergif

marvel characters - @annelisters

WELL! THE PLAN HAS SOME FLAWS, ADMITTEDLY. - @phoebehalliwell

Favorite Romantic Pairing — Colin and Penelope Bridgerton - @wandarogers

WEDNESDAY: SEASON 1 (2022) - @vanessacarlysle

[anewkindofme]

Damon to Stefan: Here's an idea. Don't write your feelings down. Damon: Shove them down into your body and forget about them like I do. There's no downside.

[incorrectcharmingfamilyquotes]

Snow: David did a little bit of math...

Regina: David?

Snow: Relax, he had a calculator.

[katerinapetrova]

insp.

[iwantyoudamon]

“I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. I loved her, and sometimes I think she loved me too.”  

∟insp

[tlexx]

no because the lost boys is absolutely one of my favorite movies ever and you writing a fic about gvf based on it could make a gal like myself shed a tear

It is VERY loosely based off of the movie. It’s just my comfort movie and I’ve always wanted to live in Santa Carla so wham bam thank you ma’am GVF Lost Boys

[murfeelee]

IWTV 2022 INSP - EPs 3 & 4

Claudia: “Diary, you’d think a girl whose mama died in childbirth, whose daddy gave her away to a mean old auntie who beat her ‘cause no one said she couldn’t, who died in a fire but came back by the blood magic of two demons, well, you’d think that girl wouldn’t know what funny was. But you’d be wrong, diary. And if I told you, dumb diary, that that same girl was being raised to kill like her demon parents did, to take two souls a day so she could stay in the same flat-chested, hairless-crotched 14-year-old baby doll body as her mind and spirit turn 19, 20, 25, 63, 358, you dumb, dumb diary, I bet you’d say to anyone who’d listen, ‘Fun? Fun? How does she even get up in the morning?’"

-- Interview with the Vampire (AMC 2022, S01E04)

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

MY THOUGHTS

If I were Claudia--book, movie or tv show version--I’d be BEYOND pissed. Eternity as a kid? Hard pass. Either turn me in my physical & mental peak or not at all. Then again, I got my first period when I was midway through 14, so heck, never having to go through cramps is a pretty good trade! XD

Anyways, other than his masquerade ensemble, Louis in his shades are my absolute favorite looks on him--eff his homophobic mama; Louis had style.

WERK, bish.

___________________________________________________

CC CREDITS

- Shades in beta by me

- Claudia hair, sailor uniform, eyes (same as Lestat’s BTW)