Aphrael (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverthunder) wrote2010-05-08 11:25 am
silverthunder) wrote2010-05-08 11:25 am
Entry tags:
On the topic of fanfiction
So, there seems to be some kind of movement with published authors on the 'net - not an actual organized anything, but Diana Gabaldon posted something on the subject and now it seems that George R.R. Martin has done the same.
The topic in question is fanfiction, and I believe the main point of the argument is that it is immoral to be writing fanfiction. There's some question of the legality - fanfic has always been on the borderline of legality - but I think this is really a question of morality.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
herongale did an excellent post on the subject here, which I think anyone interested in the topic should read. She also posted it as a response to GRRM and was blithely ignored, it seems. I was skimming some of the comments and it kind of struck me how little the original posters were willing to really listen to what those who disagreed with them had to say.
I'm not against the idea of authors deciding that they're uncomfortable with the idea of fanfiction for their work and requesting that any and all of it be taken down. That's entirely their right. I'm 100% likely to lose any and all interest in ever reading their original works as a result, but that's entirely my right, and given that neither of these authors lack for adoring fans, I'm sure they won't miss me.
The idea that gets me is this notion that writing the fanfic in the first place is immoral. If I write something based on your work - essentially an expression of my love for the source material - I can be equated to thieves and rapists? Just by picking up a pen and writing on a piece of paper, 'Harry Potter decided to go get a job in a tea shop'?
I'm not going to talk about how blurred the line is between fantasizing about something and writing it down and showing it to a few friends, because Herongale already did that way better than I ever could. But I want to stab at this notion of fanfic = immoral. Why? Why is it immoral for me to write a story about something I love?
Diana Gabaldon made the analogy of 'breaking into someone's house'. To this I call bullshit, because by publishing the book and making it publically available, she is inviting people into this 'house'. And now, when people are writing up about what they saw in the house, she's saying 'please don't do that'. Which is all well and good, but does that mean that the people who had already written up blog entries about their visit to the house and posted them online are immoral?
Let me rephrase: if I went to an open house that is available for everyone and anyone to go see at their leisure, and then later posted a blog entry about my experience at the house without asking the owner's permission first, is it immoral?
Maybe you think it is. That's cool. I don't.
To get back to fanfic, I personally think becomes immoral in a couple of different scenarios:
1) I try to sell the fanfic. This is a no-brainer. If I'm planning to commercially use the author's intellectual property, then I need to give the author a cut - and, duh, ask permission to sell something based off of their works. Otherwise I'm taking money that should be going to them.
2) I claim that the author's ideas are my own. Basically, this would be if I posted a story using the author's ideas, world, and entire setup and claim the whole thing was my idea. I think we all know what this is called...
3) The author has requested that fanfiction not be posted or shared publically for their work, and I still post it. Not that I can't write out my fantasies, but I can't post them online for the whole world to see. I'm not sure where 'sharing with friends' falls on this vague spectrum, but posting it on a site like FanFiction.Net is definitely not cool.
Even though I personally think the author is not only arrogant but also kind of dense for making that request.
Fanfiction can be like free publicity. Let me use an example. When I was into Gundam Wing, there was a particular fanfic author I liked who had a website with all of her work on it. Aside from Gundam Wing, she wrote for a couple of other fandoms. One of them was Weiss Kreuz. Because I enjoyed her stories, I decided to take a peek at this series just to see if it was interesting and if it would be worth watching in order to read and understand her fanfic. Long story short, I became a Weiss fan and - yes - ended up purchasing the DVD set. So, the creator of Weiss made money off of this fanfic author.
I'm sure this isn't an isolated case.
Personally, I think fanfiction is, at the very least, not harmful to the author. At best, it can even help to promote an author's works. Most authors seem to get this - at least, the ones I've written fanfic for do (granted, most of them are in Japan, where they've got this whole semi-legalized doujinshi production going on, but still). That's why it kind of makes me sad whenever I see an author getting all in a tither over this outrageous idea that someone might be trying to interpret their precious creation in a different way than they intended. Because, really, that's what the majority of this argument seems to come down to.
Seriously, guys... If you didn't want people to do that, why make it public at all?
EDIT: Thanks togossymer, I found another great rant on the subject. Go read it. It's excellent.
EDIT THE SECOND: Two more links: here and here.
The topic in question is fanfiction, and I believe the main point of the argument is that it is immoral to be writing fanfiction. There's some question of the legality - fanfic has always been on the borderline of legality - but I think this is really a question of morality.
herongale did an excellent post on the subject here, which I think anyone interested in the topic should read. She also posted it as a response to GRRM and was blithely ignored, it seems. I was skimming some of the comments and it kind of struck me how little the original posters were willing to really listen to what those who disagreed with them had to say.I'm not against the idea of authors deciding that they're uncomfortable with the idea of fanfiction for their work and requesting that any and all of it be taken down. That's entirely their right. I'm 100% likely to lose any and all interest in ever reading their original works as a result, but that's entirely my right, and given that neither of these authors lack for adoring fans, I'm sure they won't miss me.
The idea that gets me is this notion that writing the fanfic in the first place is immoral. If I write something based on your work - essentially an expression of my love for the source material - I can be equated to thieves and rapists? Just by picking up a pen and writing on a piece of paper, 'Harry Potter decided to go get a job in a tea shop'?
I'm not going to talk about how blurred the line is between fantasizing about something and writing it down and showing it to a few friends, because Herongale already did that way better than I ever could. But I want to stab at this notion of fanfic = immoral. Why? Why is it immoral for me to write a story about something I love?
Diana Gabaldon made the analogy of 'breaking into someone's house'. To this I call bullshit, because by publishing the book and making it publically available, she is inviting people into this 'house'. And now, when people are writing up about what they saw in the house, she's saying 'please don't do that'. Which is all well and good, but does that mean that the people who had already written up blog entries about their visit to the house and posted them online are immoral?
Let me rephrase: if I went to an open house that is available for everyone and anyone to go see at their leisure, and then later posted a blog entry about my experience at the house without asking the owner's permission first, is it immoral?
Maybe you think it is. That's cool. I don't.
To get back to fanfic, I personally think becomes immoral in a couple of different scenarios:
1) I try to sell the fanfic. This is a no-brainer. If I'm planning to commercially use the author's intellectual property, then I need to give the author a cut - and, duh, ask permission to sell something based off of their works. Otherwise I'm taking money that should be going to them.
2) I claim that the author's ideas are my own. Basically, this would be if I posted a story using the author's ideas, world, and entire setup and claim the whole thing was my idea. I think we all know what this is called...
3) The author has requested that fanfiction not be posted or shared publically for their work, and I still post it. Not that I can't write out my fantasies, but I can't post them online for the whole world to see. I'm not sure where 'sharing with friends' falls on this vague spectrum, but posting it on a site like FanFiction.Net is definitely not cool.
Even though I personally think the author is not only arrogant but also kind of dense for making that request.
Fanfiction can be like free publicity. Let me use an example. When I was into Gundam Wing, there was a particular fanfic author I liked who had a website with all of her work on it. Aside from Gundam Wing, she wrote for a couple of other fandoms. One of them was Weiss Kreuz. Because I enjoyed her stories, I decided to take a peek at this series just to see if it was interesting and if it would be worth watching in order to read and understand her fanfic. Long story short, I became a Weiss fan and - yes - ended up purchasing the DVD set. So, the creator of Weiss made money off of this fanfic author.
I'm sure this isn't an isolated case.
Personally, I think fanfiction is, at the very least, not harmful to the author. At best, it can even help to promote an author's works. Most authors seem to get this - at least, the ones I've written fanfic for do (granted, most of them are in Japan, where they've got this whole semi-legalized doujinshi production going on, but still). That's why it kind of makes me sad whenever I see an author getting all in a tither over this outrageous idea that someone might be trying to interpret their precious creation in a different way than they intended. Because, really, that's what the majority of this argument seems to come down to.
Seriously, guys... If you didn't want people to do that, why make it public at all?
EDIT: Thanks to
gossymer, I found another great rant on the subject. Go read it. It's excellent.EDIT THE SECOND: Two more links: here and here.
no subject
I mean fanfiction writing which started merely to improve my written english eventually grew into a desire into wanting to write a novel (I already have an idea for a two book story!)And in my (deluded) mind I somehow ever got good and popular enough to have a fandom I'd be giddy with excitement over the idea of fanfiction. After I'd finished with it and the world, I'd want to see what others would do. (I;d probably keep away from fanfic until I'd finished it if I was doing a series, but AFTER it? Oh yeah.)
Fanfiction would be the greatest form of flattery, sure you get a lot of bad fic out there too but the fact that people take the time and get enjoyment over exploring your own creation in another way. What could be more flattering then that?
no subject
You're likely to either fall into the shipping war trap by taking sides (hello, Mike and Brian of Avatar) or opening yourself up to 'he/she stole my idea from a fanfic I did based on his/her work' (*cough* J.K. Rowling).
Probably the best public stance to take is "I don't mind fanfiction, but I'm not going to read it for my own work. Please do not send yours to me."
... And then, y'know, read and possibly write it in secret.
I used to joke with a friend that one day I'd love to write a book series that had no specified pairings in it and then write pairing fanfic under a fake name and see how many flames I get stating that 'the author would never do this with her characters!'
Petty and childish, I know, but still fun.
no subject
And I get what you mean about the shipping. Three of my main characters are two girls and a guy. There's no romance but I could see a ship war if I ever got popular (-snort-, as if, but a girl can dream can't she?)
Then I'd write the obvious feemeslash pairing in fanfic. Because that would be hilarious. Oh and a crack pairing of another two characters too. Yeah.
(Geez MG, you have to write the whole thing first).(And then get published). (And somehow trick people into thinking it's actually good on a mass scale.) (Yeah.).