By WritesTooWell - 05/09/2013 23:27 - United States - Miami

Today, I got a message from my teacher about my homework. We were supposed to write an original myth explaining a natural event. My teacher bumped my grade for it down to a C for copying a myth that already exists. My myth was based on an original story I've been writing for two years. FML
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Top comments

samdab 11

well on the bright side you must be an amazing writer if you're teacher thinks you copied, and good luck with your book!

167 4

Comments

Squizanaught 8

I think the point is not the homework grade being reduced but the fact that the op's 'original' story is not as original as he thought. Especially after labouring on it for two years.

98 2
okaydisarray 17

OP isn't clear on that, 14. If you take the name used on this FML (WritesTooWell) into account, it's entirely possible that he or she feels that a better grade was deserved and that the instructor believed the myth was not original due to the quality of writing. That's how I read it, but I could be completely wrong.

45 3
suboy 10

This reminds of the time my teacher gave me a C on my paper because it sounded to smart for it to be my own so i clearly must have copied it. I had never felt so hurt before.

36 1
MermaidAnnariea 10

#40, i had something similar happen, and i named it "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia", which is an album by Dimmu Borgir. he looked it up. and the next day, the first thing my teacher said in class was "How the hell did you end up listening to Norwegian black metal??" it was rather amusing to explain my tastes in music.

25 0
AKGirlinSD 20

Most likely OP did. If OP has it on his/her laptop, then OP would be able to show proof of his/her start date. OP needs to right click on the file and show the Properties, in which it will state the date that the file was created.

15 1
samdab 11

well on the bright side you must be an amazing writer if you're teacher thinks you copied, and good luck with your book!

167 4
AKGirlinSD 20

Something kind of similar happened to me when I was 5. My elementary school had a creative writing competition for the school's newsletter. I won, beating out every kid that tried, and my story was published. But it took my mom a week to prove that I did, in fact, write the story all by myself. It sucks when you put in a ton of effort just to be shot down and questioned.

26 3
noir_heart 8

Ugh, I'm a writer as well and I hate coming up with what seems like a genius idea at the time and finding out that someone else beat me to publishing it. But it's even worse for someone to think you copied something that didn't even exist before you came up with it because you have barely any proof that it's actually original.

8 0
nature_girl_08 14

51: Being a writer myself, I think that's the dilemma of all new authors: coming up with something that is at least original enough to be called your own without being accused of plagiarism. It's like the whole "Simpsons did it" thing. There's not a whole lot out there that HASN'T been done in some way before.

5 0
littlerawr 13

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway
11 30
cmac86 23

you may need to show the original work. interesting assignment, though; I wish my teachers had assigned that back when I was in school.

36 3
Dobhrionn 10

Approach him and ask why he thinks its plagiarism.

30 3
TheDrifter 23

Perhaps because it's a myth he's heard before, but with a name changed. Sorta like telling the tale of Rumplestiltskin, but calling him Dale.

19 0
SanpakuEyes 18

It is possible to independently come up with the same idea as another person. I would ask the teacher which myth they were referring to, to see if that indeed happened.

51 1
AnOriginalName 19

Too true. OP could have also unconsciously picked up a lot of influence for their own story from another established story.

24 1
GoodLookingGeese 10

It happened to me, expect in my case they failed me because they could not believe I didn't stole it. I confronted the teacher and principal of the school and the owner of all the schools from this company. They couldn't prove it, they even tested me very specifically from every word and they had to agree with me. I fought my way to straight A++ and from now on I had easier life on almost every class during my time at school.

29 7
clrichmond2009 24

I can see why they didn't believe you. Your grammar is atrocious.

35 7
kingdomgirl94 29

Christ, yeah I can see why they thought you plagiarized it...

19 2
RedPillSucks 31

You guys do realize that this is not an english-only site and he very well may have written the story in a non-english native language.

37 6
shellzy 20

That doesn't necessarily mean your original story isn't, well, original. The catch 22 with mythology is that it's both formulaic and everything has pretty much already been done.

29 2
simplysarcastics 26

I had this happened to me in my senior year. I did my senior report on my medical condition, I wrote from my own experience and who knows it better than me, since I live it. The dushe bag put a zero on my paper for plagiarizing... I took my paper to my principal and complained, turns out the teacher just wanted to give me a hard time. Op talk to someone about your grade, and prove its your work

17 2
simplysarcastics 26

Lol I meant happen, was typing fast.

4 1