McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Fanfiction - Good or Evil?
trboturtle:
My fanfiction stories are mostly in 'dead' series -- Some anime, and a couple of other series. These days, my writing is based in the Battletech Universe, where I don't need to use a single established character for any of my stories. Gaming Universes are the best of boith worlds -- all the BG is there, as is the tone, all you need is some characters and a situation that fit into that universe.
Craig
firegazer:
--- Quote ---A story is worth a great deal, especially if it is your income. Anyone who has actually written and struggled through a true manuscript would NEVER say that a story is worth less than nothing, published or not.
--- End quote ---
I think the problem is that you misread that quote - I was talking about a fanfiction story, not the original story - naturally, that's worth exactly what was paid for it. The reason a fanfiction story is worth less than nothing is that you make no money off it, and also invest quite a bit of time and effort into it. If you understood me correctly, and stand by your statement, then I must feel very taken aback by your last comment - it implies a very ad hominem attack, which is to say that you're inferring I'm not an honest writer. I've been writing since I was able to put two words together, and I've put most of my life into it. Even if I am not a perfect writer by your standards, I've still put in the work, and I put more work into it every day. Perhaps I'm taking your statement the wrong way, but it didn't come off very nicely. Again, perhaps I'm in the wrong there.
--- Quote ---As I said if you are using it in private to learn, great. If you are putting it out on the internet, which I consider to be the same as publishing you are "taking" the property of others. Perhaps someone with more law experience could address the internet issue as I'm certainly not an expert on it. I'm pretty sure that an e-book is copywrited the same as a paper manuscript?
--- End quote ---
An e-book would be something that you sell through a publisher, and therefore make money off of. No one sells e-books of their fanfiction. I'm not certain where people keep getting the idea that fanfic writers think they're able to sell their stuff, or that they think they're somehow better than the original author, but neither is true (except in extreme cases - and you can't judge an entire group by the fringes, for obvious reasons). Fanfic writers do not "publish" an e-book of their work. They usually put it on an archival site meant specifically for fanfiction, which means that someone out there is actually losing money on fanfiction by paying for the hosting costs. No one makes money off of fanfiction. Period.
As for the law issues, I've seen this debated many times. Fanfiction falls into a gray area in the law, not very well defined, if I'm correct. Most copyright lawyers and laws only bother with things that either make money off of someone else's ideas or somehow hurt what that person has already made, and fanfiction does neither. It is generally up to the author to say whether or not they like fanfiction because of this, and their wishes are supposed to be followed if they claim 'nay'. Authors who don't come out and state either way are generally assumed to not care about it. Perhaps that's wrong, but if they don't care enough to make a simple statement - anywhere, even on a blog or in a short email to ff.net - then people are going to assume it's all right.
--- Quote ---I really appreciate the quote from BolshevikMuppet, with which I thoroughly agree. "The bad thing, however, is growing lazy and too accustomed to the simplicity that fanfiction writing provides us. I, for one, have trouble coming up with my own in-depth characters, as for so long I've just borrowed other people's." The challenge is to create those characters and do them well. Applause to BolshevikMuppet!
--- End quote ---
BolshevikMuppet was making a very balanced statement, which I also applaud, but you're taking this quote slightly out of context. "The challenge is to create those characters and do them well" - as in, this is the only challenge worth talking about? Learning to write well, creating a mood, learning to use diction correctly - these are not entirely worthless. I would like to add my own personal experiences, which are obviously only one person's case - I have no problems making original characters, and I mostly learned by writing fanfiction. And, as I already mentioned, not everyone writes fanfiction in preparation to be an author. Some people really just enjoy writing fanfiction as a hobby, and that should be all right - you can't demand that everyone in the world take writing as seriously as a published author. We do need people who are good at other things too. (Who do I get to fix my dishwasher? I don't do it. I wouldn't expect the repairman to edit my manuscripts for me either, but who knows whether he writes fanfiction in his free time or not?)
You've been ignoring many of my other comments, possibly just because you didn't have anything to say either way on them. I think one of the problems of this debate is that we haven't outlined what exactly we're debating. Fanfiction in general? Fanfiction when the writer has asked you not to write it? Most everyone here agrees that you shouldn't write fanfiction when the authors says not to. If they say you can, then, do you still feel I'm stealing their furniture?
Qualapec:
--- Quote from: Yeratel on May 27, 2007, 09:18:35 PM ---If you think it's not a copyright violation just because you're not getting paid for it, you're wrong. Write for your own amusement, fine, share it with a friend, fine, but publish it to the world at large, including via a free web site, not fine.
If you want to show the world at large what a nifty writer you are, instead of stealing some other writer's ideas and characters, write something original.
--- End quote ---
Oh. So it's stealing now? That's a more than extreme way to look at it. I'm not getting paid for it, so it isn't like I'm taking any money that would have gone to the original author. Hence; not stealing. At the beginning of every story/chapter I write I put a disclaimer. Openly declaring that the work to follow does not, in fact, belong to me. Further taking from the 'not stealing' argument and adding to the 'borrowing' argument.
Maybe I don't want to write some epic freaking novel? Maybe I just want to sit down at my computer and have some fun? Perhaps it's not about showing the world what a nifty writer I am but simply playing around with characters I already adore, and in the process honing my own writing skills if I ever do decide to take the so-called 'original' route?
~She-Wolf
Yeratel:
--- Quote ---If you think it's not a copyright violation just because you're not getting paid for it, you're wrong. Write for your own amusement, fine, share it with a friend, fine, but publish it to the world at large, including via a free web site, not fine.
If you want to show the world at large what a nifty writer you are, instead of stealing some other writer's ideas and characters, write something original.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: Qualapec on May 28, 2007, 06:31:10 AM ---Oh. So it's stealing now? That's a more than extreme way to look at it. I'm not getting paid for it, so it isn't like I'm taking any money that would have gone to the original author. Hence; not stealing. At the beginning of every story/chapter I write I put a disclaimer. Openly declaring that the work to follow does not, in fact, belong to me. Further taking from the 'not stealing' argument and adding to the 'borrowing' argument.
Maybe I don't want to write some epic freaking novel? Maybe I just want to sit down at my computer and have some fun? Perhaps it's not about showing the world what a nifty writer I am but simply playing around with characters I already adore, and in the process honing my own writing skills if I ever do decide to take the so-called 'original' route?
--- End quote ---
Don't blame the messenger, but under copyright law it is indeed stealing. Most commercial publishers, including Jim Butcher's, have clauses in their contracts requiring the author to defend the infringement of copyright of their works, or the author can get sued by the publisher. That's why you'll never see Mr. Butcher hanging around any fic sites, or allowing anyone to upload possible plot ideas here. If he actually takes notice of any fanfic in the Dresdenverse, he would be legally required to fire up the lawyers and start sending out "cease and desist" letters, which can get kind of expensive. More trouble and expense than it's worth to start going after some penniless teenager, but still that's the fact. I seen to recall Iago had a thread about this around here somewhere.
Meanwhile, as I said, it's perfectly fine to write fanfic for your own amusement, for practice, or to share with friends for critique of your writing skills. It's also cool to write parody, and that's something you actually can publish (one of my favorites is Bored Of The Rings, by the staff of The Harvard Lampoon).
meg_evonne:
To Firegazer, I apologize if my comments seemed judgmental, I did not intend them to be. After reading all of your comments and other postings, I am coming to realize that I am not understanding the communities created around these fanfic sites. I am 'hearing' you say that it is a place where you may share your ideas, that you do not make money from the sites and that it is a place where you can improve your craft.
It is my age that has a different spin on this. To me, anything posted on the internet is exposed and public, whereas I think you are seeing it as a smaller intimate community of friends.
From a strict legal sense, I think that Yeratel seems to be familiar with the legalities involved and I agree with those thoughts. I will stand wholeheartedly on his/her postings. Obiously no Nazi soldiers are battering down the doors to shut these sites down and I would hate to have that type of mentality ruling or controling the internet. If you wish to 'share' some of your work, e-mail me where I can locate them. I am always open to new ideas and to new understandings!
Best wishes again and as long as one is writing that is probably the best overall outcome anyway! Blaze certainly proved an interesting line of discussion with this topic. I suspect it will continue to be debated for years, even centuries to come. After all a lot of Shakespeare came from previous stories, history and myths!
Meg in IA
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version