McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Jim's stand on fic?
Matrix Refugee (formerly Morraeon):
And then there's Japanese copyright laws which have no qualms about fan-comics (called dojinshi or doujinshi, depending on who's transliterating the word) based off pre-existing anime or manga series, thus you get a wide range of stuff ranging from the interesting-additions-to-the-storyline to wacky parodies to freaky-pr0ny-stuff (don't ask: there are parts of my brain that are irreparably damaged from the awful Neon Genesis Evangelion dojinshi I ran across @.@ ). Not sure about fan-comics inspired by a prose series, but I've seen some eyebrow-raising frames from a Japanese Harry Potter dojinshi. In fact, a number of established manga artists got their head start by producing dojinshi.
Infamous as Elle!:
Lucas also has a habit of hiring people who make really good fan films. I think it may be a case of "If you can't beat them, have them join you."
Clearly there is enough love there from the fans who take the time to try and do something right. Sometimes there is real craftsmanship and love behind fan based creations.
I know the guy who did the Batman vs. Predator short film ended up with a job on Predator vs. Aliens.
Infamous as Elle!:
Sometimes I kind of wish they would ease up a bit on fan fiction writers. You have some really good ones out there that counter balance the really bad ones.
People are going to do it anyway and the lawyers end up sucking more money out of the authors just trying to pursue a cease and desist.
I could understand if fans were selling the stories but if they're just doing it as an exercise of love and creativity.....bah.
Not like it's going to change anyway.
Infamous as Elle!:
There are also authors out there who have stood up and said, "Ya know, I know it's out there and I don't mind it."
Guardian 452:
I've said this before in this forum, and probably will again...
The sad truth about fanfic writers is, like so many other things, it only takes one to ruin it. Anne McCaffrey initially allowed Pern fanfics, until (as I recall the story) something that was written in one of her novels had been portrayed in a fanfic. Rather than accepting that she'd simply had the same idea, the fanfic author claimed McCaffrey had copied her and looked into legal action. In the end, McCaffrey had no choice but to officially demand that no fanfics be done based on her work.
Here's one of the dangers. If you can write even a halfway decent story and decide to do one based on someone else's work, there's going to be some overlap. Often times an author foreshadows things well enough that it's easy enough to come up with at least some of what they're going to do! If people thought "cool, I figured out what they were going to write" then no harm, no foul. The problem is people who decide they've been robbed and start harassing the author.
I remember a case of a Harry Potter fanfic writer who rewrote the first book from Hermione's POV. Same story, same characters, different POV. At the top of the story, that was posted on her website, she listed that she held the copywrite on all characters and the story! Warner Brothers, who'd just paid a fortune for some of those rights, was somewhat perturbed.
The bottom line is this. Writing fanfics isn't bad per se. The problems occur based on what you do with the fanfics, especially in the Internet age. Sadly, enough fanfic authors have caused the original authors problems (and cost them money) that they have to respond.
Even George Lucas, who has no problem with Star Wars fanfics, has had to stand up at least once. About a year ago we had a discussion here about "Star Wars: Another Hope".
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