So the other day I was accused on both fan mail and Instagram dms of stealing someone’s story idea. Both of these messages said that they had this idea in their head for a while and it was the exact same thing. So i don’t know either of these people, I’m not a mind reader and I don’t need to steal anyone’s story ideas so I found this really insulting. Has anyone else gotten any insulting or odd fanmails?
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I’m sorry that happened to you. Just ignore the haters 
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Just block or ignore them, it would’ve been different if they actually already wrote the story. Did they expect you to take down your story because “They had this story in their head” just ignore them, with having a good story that a lot of people read and find interesting, means that you’ll also have haters.
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Thanks. I’m trying to.
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What’s your story? I would love to read it!
I haven’t gotten hate mail, but just want to add in that I think your case would have a lot to do with the fact that you’re on the shelf. When someone gets rewarded and recognition, more people are bound to find any reason they can just to take a jab at you.
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Yes. Every single time I’ve been on a shelf I’ve had negative fanmail.
I rarely get it otherwise. 
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It kind of defeats the purpose of being featured on the shelf, doesn’t it?
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So the insulting fanmails is just a result of the shelf? You don’t get any hate mail any other time?
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It’s called 12 nights and its on the beach reads shelf, you dont have to read it tho.
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I wouldn’t say never but very, very rarely.
A few other authors have commented on this as well. As @amberose basically said, when someone gets rewarded others often just want to bring you down.
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That sucks. When I told this person that people can have the exact same story idea. I was told that was far fetched.
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It is frustrating to say the least.
I know I have received my fair share of insulting fan mail or DMs.
It seemed to start when I was on a shelf, and now that I’m a featured poster on the Episode social feed, I seem to get quite a few insulting or wierd fan mail by people not even reading my stories.
There are people that cannot handle other people’s success and try to tear them down and there are also trolls that seem to just sit around and insult people just for the sake of insulting people.
If you know that you didn’t not copy the story… that’s all that matters.
Obviously if Episode thought you copied the story, it wouldn’t be on the shelf!!!
Keep your head up!
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‘That’s far fetched.’ This person hasn’t been in the writing world long. This happens all the time. I literally just found a Russian movie that has near the exact plot to a story I’ve had in my head for a decade. It’s common. It sucks. Bluntly, I’d tell them to get over it.
I’ve received a fair share of bizarre fanmail. And yes it tends to happen when you’re featured.
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Oh I forgot about the Episode social feed.
It’s new yet it’s already turning into an awful place. I’m also a “featured” poster and some of the comments I’ve gotten have been pretty mean. There’s also no block button.
I don’t feel that my negative fanmail has gone up as a result though.
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@J.Miley Thank you. I wasn’t sure if this was like a regular occurrence or something just because of the shelf. This is my first story on the app so I’m new to this.
@HumanBean I thought that same thing too. I see a lot of stories on episode, the movies and in books that have the same plot. I just felt really attacked/insulted.
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Yes, this is a common occurrence when getting featured. Usually it’s just people jealous that your story is getting the spotlight. When my story first got featured, I had a ridiculous amount of copying accusations and insults. But that sadly is a downside to having your story seen (and something for ppl to keep in mind who want to be featured or in the TS).
But don’t let that keep you down. It just means you’ve made it 
I added 12 Nights to my favorites last week! Congrats on making it and I’m looking forward to reading it!
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Yeah, in addition to rude comments on my “Moral Dilemmas”
I received a one comment of “um sorry to break it to you but there is a published story with the same name i stronly recomend doing resercg before picking a name” (copy paste actual comment)
Actually there are TWO published stories by the same title as mine… neither are on Episode.
The other was about my parody asking why I’m writing another stupid pregnancy gang story.
Obviously they don’t know what PARODY means.
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A lot of us have similar ideas ad some people just don’t get that. If you put it out there first, then it’s their problem if they get upset about it. Not yours. Just do you and ignore them. They are gonna have to revise (change) their plot a little. Besides, anybody can have the same story plan, but everyone will interpret it or write it differently. Apparently, they haven’t learned that.
Like I have a Cinderella story idea, but plenty of stories on episode are cinderella stories. Each author wrote it differently.
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Some people are so petty. Don’t let them get to you. 
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