An open letter to those who write the same muse(s) I do,
We can share FCs, HCs, aesthetics, musings, and partners. We can have similar or even identical verses. We can share every tiny insignificant detail in our characterizations, from who they love to what color socks they prefer. We can have similar threads and share partners with whom we are writing those threads. Our muses can share a birthday, their hobbies, what side of the bed they want to sleep on. Our muses can be eerily similar, and regardless of which one of us started writing them first, I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with any of this. I will not ever accuse you of stealing. You can reblog things from me, borrow ideas from me, have similar or even matching icons and blog styles and tags. You and I can mirror each other in every superficial and deep way possible, and I promise you I will never, ever believe you are trying to take what I’ve built here from me.
Because here’s the thing. We can share all of these things, but I cannot write your threads for you. No matter if we are writing the same plot with the same partner, it will turn out differently, because you can’t steal the words I write any more than I can steal them from you. A characterization is just the beginning. It is the groundwork. What you do with it is unique and no one can match it. Even if, in the same situation, our muses emotionally react the same way, you and I will not explain it the same way. They won’t share dialogue, they won’t move the same way, they won’t have the same facial expression, they won’t share a volume and tone and manner of speech. And all of that and more begins the deviation that makes each version of every muse unique and beautiful. Our foundations can be identical, but the way you build up from there is something that you can’t steal from anyone. You are not copying and pasting the content of my threads - you are writing them yourself. You answer your own memes, you have different ideas to work off of than I do because you and I are not the same.
No matter how similar they seem from the details we discuss, they are not any more the same person than are identical twins.
And I want you to know that this blog is a safe place for you. I want you to know that I understand this, and this is my promise not to let any pride or jealousy make me forget it.
I will never bully you away. I will never make our partners choose between us. I am not that kind of person. I want to encourage you, to watch you grow, and to see you love your muse as much as I love mine.
With all the gross and divisive behavior I’ve seen, this seems more important than ever to express. You build your own relationships - in character and out - on your blog. You write your own amazing threads. You are not a carbon copy of me. Neither of us is so base and simple that that could ever be possible. We are both too complex. And this is a reminder that I know that.
So please, feel welcome here. Borrow whatever you want from me. Share my headcanons, reblog my aesthetics, share my musings, build similar relationships, write whatever you want with whomever you want. My partners are wonderful and they write their characters brilliantly - you are allowed to see that too. I will not ever mandate that you shouldn’t, or that you shouldn’t build something with them just because I have too. Nothing you share with someone will ever negate what I have with them.
You are not a threat to me. You are not in the way. You are important and you have every right to be here whether you’ve been writing your muse for years or for an hour.
Never forget that. You’re wonderful. I support you and I love you.
That’s all there is to it.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THOSE WHO WRITE THE SAME MUSES AS ME:
First of all, I want to say congratulations on having such good taste. That’s not a dig; if you and I rp the same muse(s), that means that we have similar tastes, and I’m here to tell you that it’s great taste, and I’m so glad that you appreciate this character as much as I do. Especially if that character is someone who is less appreciated in the fandom or the canon itself, because it’s always nice to have someone to talk to who loves my faves. I’d love to have an open chat with you, somewhere where we can talk, either privately or in a group, about this character, and why we both love them so much, and I’d even love to have a squad of all of us who rp these characters, so we can all show our appreciation for them together, because god knows they need and deserve all the love in the world.
We can share headcanons together, but only so long as you respect my boundaries, and I respect yours. There is a difference between both of us looking at a canon character and interpreting how they would react to a situation and coming to the same conclusion vs one of us talking about how we headcanon they would react and the other one of us just straight up taking that. This isn’t to say we can’t ever talk about headcanons!! I’ve had many duplicate partners discuss headcanons and discuss characterization and discuss our joint verses, be they twin or older/younger or dark/light or time travel or any other variety of such, and it’s been such a wonderful time and so much fun. Sometimes our headcanons are the same. Sometimes they’re different. It’s all part of playing a character who is canon, and has canon source material, but also part of being a human being with different interpretations of things. My version of this character might be more angry than yours. Your version might be more sad. Maybe yours likes to dance and mine has no sense of rhythm; maybe they both like to write but only one version is good at it. These are things that are going to happen with a duplicate muse, whether or not we’re friends, though, sincerely, I do hope we’re friends.
What isn’t okay is stealing. Sharing an fc, sharing an occasional headcanon, sharing a general and basic idea as the groundwork for character development down the road, these things are wonderful, they’re so much fun, they’re great! But it is possible to play a canon character and still steal from someone, and let me explain to you why:
The moment a writer, whether they be on tumblr or any other platform, takes a character from canon and begins to write them themselves, that writer is creating a fanwork out of this character. You know how we all have disclaimers on our blogs and our fanfictions about how ‘these characters don’t belong to us, but the headcanons are ours and ours alone’? That’s what I’m talking about. Unless you only rp your character in the context of their canon work and never outside of it ( by which I do not mean your main verse, I mean the actual canon content, so if your muse is from Star Wars episodes 1-3, you only rp them in the scenes they were seen in in the context of episodes 1-3. ) then your character becomes, even partially, your own creation. You’ve taken the groundwork that canon laid for you and you built your own beautiful interpretation of this character, and they might be very similar to canon, or they might be wildly different, and either one is wonderful and a credit to your imagination and creativity. But it’s important to remember to use that base of canon, and not my headcanons. Just like you’d be upset if I took your headcanons without asking or acknowledging and used them as a base for my own characterization, I am asking you to respect my work, my time, my effort, and my own thoughts and feelings.
You can reblog things from me, you can have similar thread ideas to me, and aesthetics can even be similar in some regards, but seeing an image or a poem I use on my theme or in an edit for my character and then abruptly taking it for your own characterization ( or even just saving the aesthetic photo from my theme and editing it slightly to fit your own color scheme ) is not okay. Again: this all goes back to respect. Respect my boundaries. Respect the time and the effort that I have put into making this character my own interpretation. It’s very easy to be duplicates with someone, whether it’s me or it’s someone else, and have a similar basic idea, and completely wildly different outcomes of interpretation. All versions of all characters can and should be unique. Which also means that if I ever write something you disagree with, that’s okay! That’s great! It means that you have your own interpretation of the character that is separate from mine! And I’d love to talk about this with you!! I’d love to debate the differences and the subtle nuances in our characterizations, because that kinda stuff is fantastic and it’s fascinating to see. Writers are some of the most creative people in the world, and the last thing I want is for you to hold yourself back by just copying the things I’ve already written. On top of that: I’m just straight up not cool with it.
On the topic of plagiarism: plagiarism is something that people might disagree on the tumblr definition of, but one thing we can all agree is that it literally means “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.” Work, or ideas. This does not mean that you can copy some or all of my own personal and original ideas and headcanons and then write threads that are similar but not word for word, not expression for expression, not body language for body language, and it still be your own content. It’s not your own content: it’s mine that you have plagiarized. Because what you’ve done here is stolen my ideas, and passed them off as your own. That is the literal definition of creative theft.
So that’s the thing, my friend. Don’t steal from me, because I can promise you I will never steal from you. Be open with me. Be respectful of me. Reach out to me, so we can both talk about how much we love our characters, and how much we wish canon would respect them more, and how great each others’ different and unique portrayals are. You are important and you are valid and you are just as welcome to be here as I am –––– unless you cross that line. Being duplicate friendly does not mean I am going to lie down and let people steal my original work, nor does being averse to duplicates mean that I hate you automatically and assume you’re stealing simply because we play the same muse. It likely means that I’ve been burned before, and I’m not in a big hurry to have my things stolen again.
So don’t steal ideas. Don’t take them without asking. Don’t pass them off as your own. Don’t take headcanons, big or small, or aesthetics, or characterization details, and pass them off as your own if you knowingly took them from someone else.
Playing the same canon character as me does not mean you are allowed to take my creative ideas that I’ve developed independently of canon and act like they’re free game for anyone who wants them.
And that’s all there is to it.
