Hey Friends,

first of all I wanna say sorry for not updating this story in forever.

The reason is simply because my German book is my main focus, like I already said here.

And lately it's been hard to find time for anything else. 

It doesn't mean I'll give up on this version, tho, so I appreciate everybody who's still waiting for an update here. I read your comments and I see and appreciate you. 💕

I'll eventually get back to it, because I do want to at least finish this one in English so it's a complete book for you to enjoy. 

So with that being said, I have something to get off my chest and I want to bring attention to it since it involves my story and my own ideas.

And if you have been reading and enjoying 'Roadtrip', this should concern or interest you, too.

Not too long ago I found a story which pretty much copied my plot line of 'Roadtrip', except for a few details that have been switched around to not make it obvious. 

And that after my story has been out and public for quite some time now. 

And besides that it happed in the middle of an already ongoing story by an author who seems to have several of their 'own' works displayed on their profile with a few devoted readers.

WHY? I don't get it...

Like this isn't gonna get noticed.

And like that sort of stuff would be just okay to do. 

There's really people out there who don't even bother supporting my story with their Wattpad profile, yet think it's okay to plagiarize my work. 

In a real classy way without giving credit, I may add, so it's getting hard for readers to identify where the idea's coming from and what the original Story is. 

Geez, you really have no idea how harmful your actions are to the original authors!

As an author you come up with something and you're thrilled to put your ideas into words, and then all of a sudden a few people come along who feel like taking the easy way out by adopting the idea and Boom, you're involuntarily swimming in a mishmash pool of the same stories with them, when all you wanted to be was original. 

Frustrating, if you ask me. 

Please just leave it alone before imitating others so much. 

What's the point of writing a story, when it's not originated in your own fantasy but that of another person? 

I'm still proud of my plot line and beyond thankful for all readers, votes and comments and I also know that most people will notice that 'Roadtrip' was the original. 

But these types of actions are still not cool. 

At the beginning I smiled it away and didn't address it, but in the future I'll just comment on said stories, in case this actually continues to happen. 

Imma call you out. respectfully. 

(And to be clear here: I'm strictly referring to the elevator boys fandom and the concept in detail of going on a spontaneous road trip with the boys as the only girl, while having a romantic interest in one of them. I will not be arrogant and raise copyright claims on every vacation story here 😄)

I'm actually the most chill person when it comes to stuff like that. 

I could've been real petty towards other authors a few times before, but instead I laughed it away. 

But in a way that makes me give out signals like I'm okay with it. 

And I'm not. 

This is not okay. 

I don't wanna take this anymore. 

So for the future: 

Wether you copy complete paragraphs of my disclaimers in my exact wording, or you take my storyline and switch up two to three details so it's "less obvious". 

Wether you're only a small account who doesn't know better or one with quite a few loyal readers who appreciate you. 

No matter in which way, just don't do it. 

Don't do it to yourselves and don't do it to me, please.

And also don't do it to other authors.

From one author to another;

When you get caught plagiarizing once, people will automatically doubt if the rest of your work is original or also just a copy. 

You'll ruin your own credibility. 

(When you feel addressed by this, it's probably because you are.)

And I can also just encourage you as a reader; 

when you notice stuff like that happening, and you're sure you know what the original story is, then please let the original author know. And maybe also respectfully leave a comment on the parts that feel plagiarized, pointing it out. 

This can help prevent stuff like that from happening. 

I wanna emphasize on 'respectful' tho, because some people may just not be aware of the harm they're causing and I don't want to provoke any unnecessary negativity. 

After all, we all want to read diverse and creative stories and not loads of same but different things, making our reading experience confusing and boring. 

I still don't have any hard feelings towards anyone personally on this platform, I just have a problem with such actions. 

And since a few people seem to care what I write on here, and seem to be inspired as well, this topic is very important to me. 

Feel free to leave your thoughts on this, if you want to chat in the comments 💕

And other than that, thank you for reading :) 

I hope to see you again when I get to translate the next part for this English version 💕