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

[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).