Is it ok to pick up a dropped story?

[samusonthemoon]

I found myself inmersed reading a story, just 14 chapters, but the last one was published three years ago, the author is nowhere to be found, tried to message but then popups the line: ERROR: This user has disabled the chat feature.
Would it be considered plagiarism if I pick up the story even tagging credits an original author?

 

[SailusGebel]

Are you opposed to the idea of simply rewriting\changing those 14 chapters?

 

[FernGilly]

Legally speaking, you'd not be fine to pick up that work. Despite the omnipresence of fanfiction in internet spaces, copyright is still an issue that you have to consider when making a sequel to an orphaned work. There's always the possibility that the writer returns to their work, or that their estate seeks claim to the work after their death.

With all that said, check to see if the work in question is listed as 'creative commons' or 'public domain'. Any story published with either of those elements ticked on is free to be continued at your own leisure; creative commons requires attribution and for you to share the followup work as creative commons, and public domain requires no attribution (but you should provide attribution anyways).

@SaliusGebel has the right of things. You should rewrite those 14 chapters in your own style with new characters. That will always be legal, and you can tweak the setting to support the future chapters you plan to add.

 

[SailusGebel]

Salius

 

[Anon2024]

You could fanfiction it and label it as fanfiction of how you would see the story end.

Just make sure it’s not official.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Sally Gabriel

 

[SailusGebel]

Sally Gabriel

I like this. I'm going to use it as my alias if I ever decide to catfish.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Are you opposed to the idea of simply rewriting\changing those 14 chapters?

i did that exact thing, except i actually was able to get the ok from the original author. And i only bothered to do a full rewrite because the dude dumped a lot of info for his first 30 chapters i felt was unneeded. Was his first work, so he got better as he wrote and i followed him through his early days so i saw the improvements....but those first 20-30 chapters, man....bit of a slog to read through. Man is lucky i loved his character interactions.

There was another story of his i loved alot more, and i was just gonna pick up where he left off....but i started writing too many stories of my own and if didnt happen. Smh.

The Life of a Certain Fallen Noble coulda been great, dunno why the author just stopped updating. Like, i talked with him once on his ideas for those stories and i liked the second one's direction a lot. Like he was really gonna fuck with that MC psychologically and you know ya boy loves his MCs tragic and broken. And he was even able to write good erotic bits....Fuck, dude. Hate when authors do that, especially when they got potential.

I say, knowing damn well im a major lazy cunt myself. Eh, whatever. Hypocrisy is a hallmark of mankind

 

[SailusGebel]

i did that exact thing, except i actually was able to get the ok from the original author. And i only bothered to do a full rewrite because the dude dumped a lot of info for his first 30 chapters i felt was unneeded. Was his first work, so he got better as he wrote and i followed him through his early days so i saw the improvements....but those first 20-30 chapters, man....bit of a slog to read through. Man is lucky i loved his character interactions.

There was another story of his i loved alot more, and i was just gonna pick up where he left off....but i started writing too many stories of my own and if didnt happen. Smh.

The Life of a Certain Fallen Noble coulda been great, dunno why the author just stopped updating. Like, i talked with him once on his ideas for those stories and i liked the second one's direction a lot. Like he was really gonna fuck with that MC psychologically and you know ya boy loves his MCs tragic and broken. And he was even able to write good erotic bits....Fuck, dude. Hate when authors do that, especially when they got potential.

I say, knowing damn well im a major lazy cunt myself. Eh, whatever. Hypocrisy is a hallmark of mankind

Now that I know this piece of info; if I remember correctly, you've read and liked Lim Dal Young's works. Is there any chance you will be less of a lazy cunt than him and make fanfics of his works with actual fucking endings?

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I like this. I'm going to use it as my alias if I ever decide to catfish\

I knew a Sally once. Long locks of wheat and sunkissed skin, the prettiest almond-colored eyes that flashed with bits of green in the light.....gonna admit, i was down apocalyptic. Of course, I was like 13 and she was 17. Our love never could've worked. Mainly because i think she had a crush on my friend Felix who was like two years older than me, and you don't cuck your friends. Bro code.

Now that I know this piece of info; if I remember correctly, you've read and liked Lim Dal Young's works. Is there any chance you will be less of a lazy cunt than him and make fanfics of his works with actual fucking endings?

hard to say, we emulate our heroes and that doesnt bode well for my own works. Fanfics tho....did he never finish Legend of Maian? I would like to see that finished. He had a lot of interesting stories i cant even remember now. but were amazing at the time.

 

[SailusGebel]

hard to say, we emulate our heroes and that doesnt bode well for my own works. Fanfics tho....did he never finish Legend of Maian? I would like to see that finished. He had a lot of interesting stories i cant even remember now. but were amazing at the time.

I don't know. Once I saw that Freezing was on hiatus, I understood that I should ignore whatever he would do in the future. If he wasn't able to finish that, I doubt he would ever finish anything ever again. Well, apart from the works that he axed.

 

[Mandark]

If it’s a fan fiction, just do it, i’d love to see the original fanfic author try to take that case to court (it would never happen).

If it’s an OC (especially one with few chapters) and you can’t get in touch with the author, just rewrite some things and change key names. Never mention the inspiration and again there’s no way anyone can prove anything.

In most cases I’ve seen though, web novel authors are totally cool with people picking up their abandoned stories.

 

[JayDirex]

I found myself inmersed reading a story, just 14 chapters, but the last one was published three years ago, the author is nowhere to be found, tried to message but then popups the line: ERROR: This user has disabled the chat feature.
Would it be considered plagiarism if I pick up the story even tagging credits an original author?

Go ahead and finish it. Just Label it as fan fiction (on this site) in everyway possible. In the synopsis, tags, even a mention of the author in the first chapter. "This is Fan Fiction"

I doubt the copyright squad will hunt you for a three year old dropped story on SH...

 

[FernGilly]

Oops.

 

[kophzi]

Just Genderbend the MC, done.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I don't know. Once I saw that Freezing was on hiatus, I understood that I should ignore whatever he would do in the future. If he wasn't able to finish that, I doubt he would ever finish anything ever again. Well, apart from the works that he axed.

Yeah. Was surprised he made Freezing actually. It was a popular anime back in the day. Then i learned what went down with the main heroine and that one brother of her's and i was like, "ooohhh. Yeah, that sounds like Lim dal Young"

 

[HelloHound]

if you will go through with it, be sure to say that the work was inspired by the original, then go down whatever path you wish

 

[georgelee5786]

say it is fanfic and call it a day

 

[K5Rakitan]

You can do it in private as a writing exercise.

 

[Ai-chan]

I found myself inmersed reading a story, just 14 chapters, but the last one was published three years ago, the author is nowhere to be found, tried to message but then popups the line: ERROR: This user has disabled the chat feature.
Would it be considered plagiarism if I pick up the story even tagging credits an original author?

Would it be considered plagiarism? Loosely speaking, yes. Technically speaking, it's not plagiarism but copyright infringement because you are not copying something (other than the characters, and copying characters is not plagiarism unless the characters are part of a trademark), you're just extending a work that is owned by someone else. Still legally unlawful if you do not have written consent.

Is it okay? Even if Ai-chan say it's not okay, you're bound by your own moral values, so you probably won't even care. Then again, there may be a chance that the author doesn't care enough in the first place. So you do you.

If the author comes back and continues, please be respectful and get his permission to keep your version available.