Kaylee: Is that him? Mal: That's the buffet table. Kaylee: Well how can we be sure, unless we question it?

'Shindig'


Fan Fiction II: Great story! Where's the sequel?

This thread is for fanfic recs, links, and discussion, but not for actual posting of fanfic.


Consuela - Jul 12, 2011 6:43:27 am PDT #7077 of 10434
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

GRRM's actually the first person when I think of embargo on fanfic. Then Anne Rice, then Ursula K Le Guin.

I think of Anne Rice, Robin Hobb, and Diana Gabaldon. UKL makes me a bit sad, but I try not to think about it, because she's otherwise so awesome, and she's still writing great stuff into her 80s.

I have more respect for authors like Jo Walton, who admit their reaction is entirely emotional, than people like GRRM, who blather about copyright incorrectly. Or for people like Gabaldon, who claim fanfiction is just like pedophilia and voyeurism.

Anyway, I wish someone could explain to these people that regardless of what their editors tell them, you cannot lose your copyright because someone writes a genderswap MPREG using your characters' names. IP law does not work like that!


§ ita § - Jul 12, 2011 7:12:46 am PDT #7078 of 10434
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Jo Walton scares me, frankly, because her reaction is so emotional and strong. Gabaldon, too, comes to mind. Robin Hobb, not so much. But GRRM kvetching incorrectly is definitely #1.


Consuela - Jul 12, 2011 7:22:05 am PDT #7079 of 10434
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

Jo Walton scares me, frankly, because her reaction is so emotional and strong

Yeah, it's a bit OTT. OTOH, the likelihood of much fic being written for her stuff is minimal, unless there's a secret Tooth and Claw fandom out there I'm not aware of. (Yuletide notwithstanding)


Dana - Jul 12, 2011 7:30:17 am PDT #7080 of 10434
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

It just helps me compile a list of who to avoid. My life is too short.


Amy - Jul 12, 2011 8:16:12 am PDT #7081 of 10434
Because books.

There are a couple of YA writers out there who seem to love the fanart that they see. Haven't seen anything about their reactions to possible fic, though.

It's a weird thing -- I think despite how much fanfic is out there, and how much more available it is now on the internet, the bulk of any writer's fans (up to now) is probably never going to have any contact with it. And no matter what writers would like to believe about their ownership of their work, once you make it public, readers will have reactions, and discussions, and some of them will take it many steps further to fanworks. It's just the way people are.

I can see being horrified, let's say, if you're Rowling, and you stumble across a story where Snape is seducing an underaged Harry or something, but in terms of actually affecting the scope or reputation of your novels? It doesn't.


Typo Boy - Jul 12, 2011 8:18:13 am PDT #7082 of 10434
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

And Rowling has actually said she is fine with fanfiction as long as it is not done for money, and as long as any works with sex check for reader age. And as long as nobody sends her links cause she does not want to see it.


Consuela - Jul 12, 2011 9:02:52 am PDT #7083 of 10434
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

It's a weird thing -- I think despite how much fanfic is out there, and how much more available it is now on the internet, the bulk of any writer's fans (up to now) is probably never going to have any contact with it.

And really, relatively few writers are going to have their work subject to fanfiction anyway. Of the writers who had a big influence on me as a child and teenager, the only ones I know of that get much fanfiction are Tolkein & Anne McCaffrey: but nobody ever writes fic for Andre Norton or Katherine Kurtz or any of the dozens of other SF/fantasy/historical fiction writers I was reading then.

Erm, Yuletide excepted. Yuletide is an exception to everything, but it actually proves the rule: if someone writes fic for your stuff for Yuletide, it's because there is almost nothing out there.


Calli - Jul 12, 2011 11:33:41 am PDT #7084 of 10434
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

Rowling has actually said she is fine with fanfiction as long as it is not done for money, and as long as any works with sex check for reader age. And as long as nobody sends her links cause she does not want to see it.

That's Lois McMaster Bujold's attitude, too. Which is nice.


Amy - Jul 12, 2011 11:43:36 am PDT #7085 of 10434
Because books.

I think it's the most sensible thing, really. People are going to do it anyway, so.


§ ita § - Jul 12, 2011 12:31:39 pm PDT #7086 of 10434
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

ohn Rogers thinks it's the sign of a healthy franchise and will often specify crossover opportunities (Justified) or plotlines that will only be explored that way.