Gemotions

The news had spread through the online writing community like wildfire. David’s favorite author, Evelyn Hayes, had been outed. The screenshots of the copied paragraphs and plagiarized plot points were devastating. David felt a wave of nausea, followed by a strange, hollow feeling.

He scrolled through the comments, seeing the anger and the outrage. But he felt something else. He remembered the feeling of failure, the crushing weight of rejection. The way creativity could sometimes feel like a precious, fragile thing, liable to break at any moment.

He imagined Evelyn Hayes now, facing the scorn of the world. He shut his laptop. He understood the desire to be praised, to be celebrated, to be seen, and even if it was wrong, he realized how easily someone could fall.