Previous Post Let’s not get upset about this. The internet is notoriously bad as a means of communicating tone and intent and it’s easy for people to get the wrong idea. Scott’s hoping to use his Justin Tyme character in professional writing. He therefore has to protect his copyright and he has to protect himself against claims he plagiarised the work of others. He can’t have me coming to him when he’s rich and famous saying “You ripped that character development/plotline from a Justin Tyme story I wrote – you owe me half your earnings from the movie deal.” It’s the same way that Marvel don’t want Spider-Man fanfics and pro comics writers can’t read them or accept story ideas. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t know of Scott’s intentions when I wrote this particular story. Because it didn’t involve any major changes in the character’s status quo (unlike the recent resolution of the Koo Koo Ka Choo subplot which I did contact Scott about in advance) I didn’t check for permissions to use the character any more than I checked with any other posters whose characters appeared in this storyline. That’s been our custom and usage here for a long time, and it even appears in the FAQ. Scott expressed his unhappiness at the character’s appearance then asked that the character be renamed in the story I’d written. I’ve made adjustments to stories and to future plotlines before based on poster’s concerns so this isn’t that different. However, as the author of this particular work I reserve the right to decide how I adjust it within the parameters requested by another poster. It doesn’t sit well with me just to rename the character and leave it at that. Everybody has their odd quirks and this is one of mine. I have a mental block about just doing a global name edit. It feels shoddy and deceptive to me. If it’s not going to be Tyme in the story then it shouldn’t be somebody who’s Tyme in all but name either. Hence my withdrawal of the story to give me the opportunity to consider how I want to reframe it and rewrite it. I note the suggestions about how to fix the story. Nats’ suggestion about folding it in as an origin of Wang was particularly ingenious and tempting, but if I’d been doing that I’d have written the central character and his motivations quite differently. And the potential sexual attraction between Wang – who becomes the Void Scholar – and Liu Xi, whom he claims is his grand-daughter, would have been more than a little creepy. I’m not sulking, not punishing, and not taking my toys home. I am saddened and a bit sore. I don’t want people to be mad at Scott – or me. However I would appreciate a break from this storyline, which has turned out to be a fairly major pain. My apologies to those of you vested in it, especially since it’s been left at a point which is difficult to tie into. Those of you who were chatting with me last week will know I intended to call a break after the next couple of chapters anyway; this is just an early interval. And who knows, once the must-write-it pressure is off perhaps I’ll actually want to write it? IW

You've earned a certain amount of trust with the regular posters to break the status quo because you've proven you can give them exactly what they want to read. I have no such advantage (I probably didn't earn it either, since any of the changes I've tried to make were summarily rejected). You worked within your expectations, and couldn't possibly predict that Scott wanted to distance himself and all his characters from the PV for professional reasons.

That said, my memory tells me that Justin Tyme was a somewhat minor character in the larger story. If it were me in this case, I don't like simply renaming characters and leaving people confused by mirrors of some other character people remember. Instead, the shortcut I would probably take is to eliminate him from this story, and then figure out how to repair his former place in the next one.

The only time I'd remove a story and scrap it is if a character who's a major part of the story becomes a problem. Like if I have Hatman in a story and I'm told "No, he wouldn't react that way at all, he'd do this instead. Change his reaction and then go and re-write the rest of it to match." When I pull a story because of that, I don't do so because I'm angry - it's because I panicked and drew a blank. It's because simply changing the reaction would cause the story to make no sense, and I have no idea where it would go from there.

In this case though I don't think there's reason to panic. If Justin Time has to be removed? I honestly barely remember him even being there, so it must have been the equivelent of a guest appearance. I don't think it will impact the story all that much.