Geekdom

[secondlina]

Yes, yes, i'm a total geek. I saw a dark-skinned asian with a complicated hairdo and immediately though of "Avatar the last airbender". 

Speaking of fandom/geekdom, apparently the latest trend for writers with large egos is to bash fanfiction. This chick is a recent example, but the angry writer hum is growing, with an opposing writer hum going "It's just fandom, get over it". It is true that technically fanfiction is an offence to the copyright law. While parody and criticism are recognized as fair uses of a copyrighted work, fan fiction is generally not recognized by U.S. courts as falling in either category. I'm not a writer of fanfiction, and if I do have a popular series one day, I will not read the fanfiction, to avoid situations such as the one J.K. Rowling was in (i.e. fan suing for thinking similar parts between a fanfic and a story are the same). But I certainly won't oppose it.

Most creators feel the same. Fanfiction is okay, and if anything, brings in more fans. As long as the fanfiction doesn't mess with the actual work, the writer of said actual work or the money they should get from it, places like fanfiction.net and devient art are harmless, fan-creating fun. I say let the fans do it. If you're a writer, just avoid reading it. And you'll be happy.

Then again, if you check the list of people who went thru great lenghts to get stuff banned from fanfiction.net and deviant art, you kinda get the idea of what type of person opposes this idea (note : there's a lot of ego and bad writing on the list). Splitting copyrights hairs here people.

- Isa

Comments

[darksyx.livejournal.com]

Anne Rice... She obviously worried about fanfiction being better than most of her books -no offence but I hardly can stand her writing for more than 10 pages without have a snooze, or frown, sometimes both at the same time. I don't know what the big deal is, fanfiction doesn't take money, enlarges the fan base, proves that people enjoy the authors verses... I would be flattered if I was an author with people writing fiction - even if I wouldn't read it for obvious reasons - or doing fanart about my work. Meh.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Urgh. I can't stand Ann Rice anymore myself. She was good at first. I wonder what happened?

I can see why authors would be offended at some fanfiction (say, if all the characters in the story are below 14 and it's a giant smut fic, yeah, you don't want to see that happening to your characters!)

My point is - keep the fandom and your work separated. Don't look at it. Don't allow people to make money off it. Then who cares if it exists since it's not taking anything away from you.

[darksyx.livejournal.com]

Oops, very valid point. The smut could be gross in some cases but I can't picture an author reading fanfictions about his/her work - well, maybe Joss Whedon.

I agree 100% with separate things, if you don't read it there's no harm really. But being against fanfiction is really absurd, a lot of modern works are in a way fanfiction: Tim Burton's Alicia, musicals like Wicked, Lost Girls from Allan Moore...

[cxco.livejournal.com]

I remember reading an article a while back about this. They mentioned some authors/creators encouraging the fans to write some fiction. This was the case for Buffy apparently, when once the creator of the show encouraged the fans into the fandom. That's pretty crazy, and in my opinion one of the reasons why Buffy is still so huge nowadays.

Sometimes just for the lulz I try to think of the fanfics and pairings that someone would write about me and my friends. It's funny and a little disturbing. Like if I was a celebrity and someone slashed me with my best friend. Eh. But I guess that's how some authors must feel. Or some celebrities. Cause real life fandoms exist too.

But you're right. If it's your own stuff, don't go dwelling into it. But I for one think fanfiction is a good thing. It attracts people and gives longer life to a series. IDK, say what you want about smut or some immoral things about fandoms, it can only benefit a series in my opinion.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Actually with Nora Robers/J.D. Robb, she DOES allow fanfic of her work despite what FF.net says. The policy is on her official site and is linked off my bunnyofferings community. Apparently, her stuff got lumped into a list submitted to the sites by a lawyer from what I heard.

[putri-nih.livejournal.com]

re: Water Tribe

I would've thought the same XD

[plainlyvague.livejournal.com]

Blargh. I hate it when authors get so anal that they don't allow fanfic. It's not like they're being forced to read it. ( real-people fanfic weirds me out a bit, ergo, I don't read it.)
Now the urge to read any of the Outlander novels is completely gone. What a giant wank.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should get defensive here, considering I've written a great deal of fanfiction, and even garnered some writing awards for it. However, while all the reasons that writer gives for writing fanfic are accurate, so are most of the reasons he gives for being against it.

Here's my take on it, as a writer: If someone ever writes fanfic based on my original work, I'll be proud as punch. Imagine, someone liking my universe so much that they're willing to take the time and effort to pen their own stories! It's the ultimate compliment. I'll most likely read them myself, and I'll be hard pressed not to comment on them -- I'd be one of those writers who would hold a fanfic writing contest.

[lunaoh.livejournal.com]

This might be slightly off-topic, but that's a really cool hairstyle. =D;

"It's just fandom, get over it." Sounds like a great motto.

[catgirlthecrazy.livejournal.com]

What really pisses me off is the ignorance in some of the comments on that log-post. "I've never heard of fanfiction but stealing is stealing." Urgh.

My dad, who's a lawyer (but not a copyright lawyer) says he's not entirely sure fanfiction is technically illegal- particularly since it's not for profit. Now I'm determined to research it and find out for myself.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

That drawing was great. I have fangirl moments like that ALL the time. So you're not alone. ^_^


Re: the fanfic issue...I can understand how some writers and artists would be bothered and/or disgusted by fanfiction. After all, the majority of fics out there suck and a lot of them can be sexually explicit (which is especially disturbing when the characters are children).
And everyone always says that a creator should be flattered if people love his or her series enough to create whole fanfic/fanart communities around it. But I have to admit that if I created a series popular enough to inspire fic, I'm sure I'd be a little skeeved out if a large section of the fandom latched onto some creepy incest pairing or something like that. >_<

That said, using the term "immoral" to describe fanfiction makes Diana Gabaldon sound ridiculous. Most fic writers do what they do out of love for the series/characters; so she does herself no favors by alienating her fans and putting them on the same level as a robber. In this day and age, internet fanfiction will happen to nearly every series that achieves some popularity. And creators just have to accept it (unless, of course, a fic writer is somehow profiting and/or hurting the creator's reputation).

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I'm very surprised that the Craig McCracken (creator of The Powerpuff Girls) isn't on that Legal Issues against fanfiction list. When I was a teenager, I was way into the Powerpuff Girls and belonged to a messageboard where members of the PpG staff would post stuff once in a while. After a few months, the board suddenly got overrun with freaks who would post pornographic fanart of the Powerpuff girls (some of them even had those images as their sigs and avatars!). And whenever someone complained about the images, the offenders would just cry "FIRST AMENDMENT FREE SPEECH!!11DON'T CENSOR ME U NAZIS CUZ THE PUFFS ARENT REAL KIDS!1! If u dont like it don't look!!". Sadly, I'm not exaggerating. It really happened like that! O_o

When I ran the hell away from that board, I just remember hoping that none of the PpG staff members saw their creations being turned into 2D kiddie porn. I also hoped that they wouldn't think all fan artists and fic writers were as sick as those people. So I can't help wondering if Diana Gabaldon had some similar experience of stumbling into a fanfic comm full of nothing but sick stuff written by depraved idiots. It wouldn't justify her extreme position; but it would explain it a bit.

[lunaoh.livejournal.com]

Seriously? That's...really disturbing. O_O;

[brendala.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Before the shit hit the fan, it was a really great community. One of the popular fan-artists even got noticed and then hired to draw the official Powerpuff comic books! I still can't believe it went downhill so fast. :(

[lunaoh.livejournal.com]

Awh, what a shame. Stuppid trolls. >_

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

See, that would be an exemple of bad fans. I agree about writers against the bad fans, but most of the fandom is harmless fun.

[engelen.livejournal.com]

fucking assholes.
It's their fans who are giving THEM the money. I think it's disgusting when authors crimminalize their fans.

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

LOL! That's too awesome ;) Woot to geeks everywhere! :P

Fanfic and fanart being bashed is just so damn silly. Since when is a story or artwork where a fan is not making money off of it harmful to a creator, and as you said, it can help sell their work by letting fans hype each other up *shakes head* Such silliness. Fans suing over like ideas are ridiculous as well since it wasn't their creation to begin with, how can they prove the creator wasn't going somewhere similar. People can be such asses :/