I have been plagiarized. By none other than the "co-author" of this very story.
I'm collecting evidence against her so that Amazon and Audible removes the book.
Timeline for The Runaways from first conversation with Maggie Lowe to the day I found out she published it as a book.
2013, June 5th 21:36 - 1st message sent on Facebook talking about the story we've just agreed on writing together.
2013, June 6th 13:54 – I (MarieCarro) created the first doc in the Google docs folder. The outline. Still have it today.
2013, June 7th 21:24 – I started writing on the 1st chapter of The Runaways. The properties of the doc tells me this.
2013, June 7th 23:01 – I uploaded the first half (Bpov) of chapter 1 on Google Docs. I have the time stamp from our conversations.
2013, June 7th 20:21 – Maggie states she's been writing on the second half of the first chapter
2013, June 8th 18:34 – I tells Maggie I've read the second half of the chapter and from this point on, I always made suggestions and edited the parts she wrote as her descriptions were lacking in grammar, punctuation, and had no depth or feeling in it whatsoever. I have this conversation screencapped as well.
2013, June 14th 20:51 – I started writing on the 2nd chapter of The Runaways.
2013, July 12th 22:33 – I started writing on the 3rd chapter of The Runaways.
2013, December 23rd 14:29 – I started writing on the 4th chapter of The Runaways.
2013, December 23rd – The finished banner we adopted is uploaded in the Adoptable Banners group by Amy Fates-loveQueen
2014, April 1st 12:47 – I started writing on the 5th chapter of The Runaways.
2014, June 21st 21:40 – I started writing on the 6th chapter of The Runaways.
2014, July 8th 21:19 – I started writing on the 7th chapter of The Runaways.
2014, July 17th 13:23 – I started writing on the 8th chapter of The Runaways.
2015, January 31st 14:28 – I started writing on the 9th chapter of The Runaways.
2015, July 9th 00:15 – I started writing on the 10th chapter of The Runaways.
2016, March 29th 19:22 – I saved the 11th chapter of The Runaways on my hard drive
2016, March 29th 19:22 – I saved the 12th chapter of The Runaways on my hard drive.
2017, January 10th – MarloeFanfiction account created on Fanfiction
2017, July 26th – 1st chapter of The Runaways was posted on Fanfiction.
2017, July 28th 12:09 – I started writing on the 13th chapter of The Runaways.
2017, August 3rd 01:18 - 2nd chapter was posted
2017, August 9th 22:13 - 3rd chapter was posted
2017, August 16th 23:53 - 4th chapter was posted
2017, September 6th - 7th chapter was posted
2017, September 21st - 9th chapter was posted
2017, September 21st 17:42 – I started writing on the 14th chapter of The Runaways.
2017, November 14th 15:51 – I started writing on the 15th chapter of The Runaways.
2018, March 18th 16:51 – Maggie's 1st suggestion that we publish The Runaways as original work. I'm hesitant, but says I might be open to a discussion about it.
2018, March 21st 21:30 – I started writing on the 16th chapter of The Runaways.
2018, June 14th 21:25 – I started writing on the 17th chapter of The Runaways on.
2018, August 31st 14:14 – I suggest to Maggie that I take over the writing of the story completely and she consents.
2018, September 5th 12:24 – I started writing on the 18th chapter of The Runaways.
2018, September 8th 11:08 – I started writing on the 19th chapter of The Runaways.
2018, October 17th 17:03 – I started writing on the 20th chapter of The Runaways.
2018, October 24th 12:22 – I started writing on the 21st chapter of The Runaways.
2018, November 11th 16:24 – Maggie says I should become a published author. I tell her I'll think about it.
2018, November 22nd 19:05 – Maggie says she wants us to publish. I say I might be open to it, but I need a break from the story once it's finished. We leave it at a point where we agree to have an open discussion about it. This never happened. I never heard about it again.
2019, January 30st 13:53 – I started writing on the 22nd chapter of The Runaways.
2019, January 31st 18:51 – I started writing on the 23rd chapter (Epilogue) of The Runaways.
2019, February 1st – The Runaways was completed on Fanfiction. Same day, the entire story was posted in it's complete form on Starslibrary. This was also the last day I ever heard from Maggie.
2019, September 28th – Maggie deleted everything from the folder on Google Docs and then removed herself and our beta Belynda from it. What she missed was that I was the owner of the folder and it allows me to see all the activity made within it. (I was unaware of this at the time)
2019, September 29th – Maggie deletes the story from the MarloeFanfiction account, changes the password and the email, so I can no longer access the account. (Still unaware at this point)
2019, October 9th – I planned on logging into the account to see if we'd received any messages from readers. I can't log into the account, and when I try the "forgot password", it says the email isn't registered. I immediately hurry over to the email account, and luckily, I found that nothing has happened to that one. I change that password because at that point, I thought we'd perhaps been hacked.
I sent Maggie a message on Facebook, asking if she removed the story, or if we'd possibly been hacked. No answer.
Since I wanted the story to remain up (I had put almost 6 years into it after all) I reposted it right here on my account.
2020, June 28th – Since all the original reviews were deleted with the story, I go into the email to read them as we saved them there. I needed to make myself feel better because June 2020 has been the worst month of my life.
I started to wonder what happened to Maggie as I still hadn't heard from her. I thought she was only on a social media break, so I didn't think much of it. But I couldn't find her on facebook so I googled her and found an author page.
On the page, I find a book cover that reminds me very much of The Runaways. A little too much. So I click the amazon link and find a published paperback. The Runaways is now titled Break Away. Bella is now Ariane Rose Jefferson. Edward is now Daemon Rayne. And Maggie has taken all the credit.
Did she get my permission to publish this? No.
Did we briefly discuss it a couple of times? Yes. Did anything come of it? No.
Did she go behind my back and delete everything in secrecy? Yes.
This day, June 28th 2020 was the day the shit hit the fan on facebook. I went public with everything and for the last 24 hours, I've collected all the evidence I can. Every single point above, I can prove. I have everything.
Maggie has yet to reach out or take accountability. All she's done is delete comments about the story being stolen. She's deleted her author page, so she knows that I know. She knows she's done wrong.
There's a big chance I'll take legal action against her. I don't want her to get away with this, and it's not about money. I never wanted to make money off this story. It's about the words. They're not hers, and she has no right to them.
If you wish to stay updated, I suggest you hop over to Facebook. That's where everything happens.
This incident has only made it even more difficult for me to get back into writing. I was already struggling, and then this happened.
Yesterday, I was angry, and hurt, and emotions were running very high. Today, I'm just numb. Still angry, but also very focused.
Maggie, if you're reading this, I want you to know from the deepest place in my heart, you're screwed, and you know it. You messed with the wrong person, and I have the entire fandom in my corner.
- MarieCarro