By Rachel Krueger
Diana Gabaldon either needs to stop writing such effortlessly good historical fiction, or she needs to keep her ignorant viewpoints on fan fiction to herself, because I am having trouble reconciling my shameless adoration of her Outlander series with my urge to kill her blog with fire.
Ditto goes for George Double-R Martin, whose Song of Ice and Fire series I love with unfettered (now somewhat fettered) glee, and whose screed against fan fiction is less inflammatory than Gabaldon’s but who still uses dubious bogeymen to assert that fanfic = author-poison. Gabaldon has since called off her anger monkeys and removed her post (and subsequent posts [and predictable onslaught of furious comments]), opting instead for a a Pleez Don’ Fan My Fic policy on her official site. Martin has let his stand.
Leaving aside as unworthy of comment Gabaldon’s sweeping blanket descriptions of fanfic as porny (it’s as porny as the internet, which is to say, a lot but not entirely and with much else to recommend it), DGal’s, GRRRRRRM’s, and any other author’s repeated cries that It Mustn’t Be Done are like so much shouting into a hurricane. The internet is an inexorable sandbox, and everyone has a play space. Insisting people shouldn’t write fanfic is like insisting 16-year olds shouldn’t stage renditions of If You Wanna Be My Lover in their cousin’s backyard (say). Ees gonna happen.
But just because it’s doomed to happen doesn’t mean we need to quietly accept it, you say? Isn’t there valor in fighting a righteous but losing battle? Mayhaps. But it is only so much wasted energy when your enemy hurts exactly no one, especially not the authors whose work they are advertising for free. Fanfiction does not dent sales the way a cheap ereader might make me think twice about a Kindle (I’m a-lookin’ at you, Kobo); there’s no way reading Jamie and Claire go to Mars is going to make me pass up on Outlander: Original Sauce.
Because sometimes, yes, fanfic gets published and people make teh moneys. Blogger Aja Romano has compiled a list of literary and filmic works that rip off other works, to greater or lesser (but mostly acclaimed) success, among them Geraldine Brooks’ March which fanfics off of Little Women, and the no-end-in-sight collection of ‘Jane Austen meets gimmicky monster’ novels. But who’s going to read March who hasn’t already read Little Women? Contrariwise, how many people now have increased sense and sensibility, due to the application of a few sea monsters?
There are obviously more legal snakes on this plane than addressable here, but one of the more harped-on frights is that if an author cops to being aware of fan pieces, said author ostensibly loses the ability to later fight those pieces. Author Catherynne M. Valente, who sees fanfic as the sincerest form of flattery, offers an absurdly basic solution to this problem: don’t read them. Ignorance is bliss, both rhetorically and legally.
It may be worth noting at this point that both Gabaldon and Martin take a heinous long time between books and may be suffering from Absent Boyfriend Syndrome (in this metaphor, Fanfic becomes the gentleman of dubious but available quality who moves in on the forlorn and abandoned fan). In which case, relax, my darlings. Fanfiction and I were just making out a little, while I waited for you to stop embarrassing me like this.
There are quite a few great comments here and opinions, too. I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I don’t mind that my opinions and feelings on the topic do not seem to be well liked or appreciated. My opinions are just that, my opinions, and no has to like them or agree with them.
I understand where everyone is coming from, really, I do. I just don’t agree. I wish everyone well in whatever endeavor they choose to undertake whether it be like myself and you are writing novels, published or unpublished, or those who choose to write fanfic. I had as much fun writing my little piece as I did reading everyone’s comments.
I would like to comment in opposition to fan fiction, because the majority of comments appear to be in favour and I am a contrarian by nature. However, to answer the question posed in the title of the fine article, I can’t see how it can seem anything other than flattering for a creator’s work to become so embedded in the psyche of others such that they wish to give his or her characters life through the breath of their own imaginations.
The exception, of course, would be satire. I recall years ago National Lampoon spoofing the Andy Griffith Show, having a black man come to their nice, all white Mayberry and it ending in a lynching, followed by some of Aunt Bee’s homemade apple pie. But that could hardly be called ‘fan’ fiction, and satire is generally protected as ‘fair use’.
I am also puzzled by what seems to be a greater effort on the part of copyright holders with regard images. Woe betide you if you create comics featuring Micky Mouse, especially engaged in activities Disney would regard as unbecoming their virtuous rodent. The homoerotic representations of Batman and Robin by Mark Chamberlain also come to mind.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4167032.stm
http://images.google.com/images?q=Mark+Chamberlain+batman
Perhaps that has something to do with these corporately owned and controlled characters not only being copyrighted, but trademarked as well.
I love you people and your opinions.
I clearly should have come across this quote a week ago instead of yesterday, so that it could have made its way into this piece, but better late then later, amirite?
‘Creation always involves building upon something else. There is no art that doesn’t reuse. And there will be less art if every reuse is taxed by the appropriator.’
– Lawrence Lessig
So Patricia (not Patrick – for a moment I thought you were the same person; clearly I should learn to read better), here’s my take on your (imaginary? if not, congrats!) novel which someone wants to fanfic:
They’re not entirely your characters. Or Diana Gabaldon’s, or GRRRRRRM’s, or Gene Roddenberry’s. They are amalgamations of everything you’ve seen in your life, which is from everything all those people who made the things you’ve seen, and it gets exponential very quickly. Yes, you imagined their looks and their exact words (usually) and may have named them, but Diana Gabaldon didn’t invent Jaime Fraser in a vacuum. He’s a classic example of the class Hero, family Dramatic (nontragic), genus Tallandstrapping, species Scotch. Sure, she imagined that specific character, but I dare her to lay odds with me about her knowledge of the Robin Hood legend.
Authors who think that they own the rights to every iteration of their characters should re-think their connection to literature, and the connection THEY would like to have with future literature. If Dickens had been rabid about not sharing chapters of Old Curiosity Shop with the neighbors because he wanted everyone to buy their own damn copy, he would probably not hold the place as Beloved 19th c. Author that he does today. Authors don’t get to choose their immortality, and angering the people who have some bit of a hand in that through dissemination of character and title recognition isn’t the way to go about ensuring their legacies.
Patricia, I have good news and bad news for you.
99.999% of fanfiction is part of the fannish gift economy, like filk songs. Posted rather than published. Occasionally someone will change names and publish it, but that’s extremely rare.
However, almost no one will ask an author — much less beg — for permission to write fic set in any fictional universe. And a lot of what we write is erotica, much of it slash. And we often post it where *anyone* can read it.
For more information, take a look at http://www.fanlore.org/wiki/Fanfiction
and as an example of the range of the art:
http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/
Ms. Gabaldon freely admits that her own character was based on another’s Dr. Who creation. What is worse? Fan fiction or hypocrisy?
I don’t quite understand why such sucessful writers get so upset about fanfiction. Are they insecure about their own talent? Or the kind of ego-manics that can’t bare for their ‘oeuvre’ to be even marginally connected with a lesser work?
An idea cannot be copywrited and as many books had proved a great idea can be ruined by poor writing while the most jaded plotlines can be given new life with great writing.
Fanfiction is governed by the same rules and the greatness of the original has little effect on the quality of the fanfiction. The quality of the writing is key.
Fanfiction is not piracy or selling cheap copies of the back of a lorry, it is true fans investing their own spare time to show their appreciation for a beloved story.
Authors should step out of their ivory towers, search for a little humility and apppreciate that fanfiction writers are honest about the origins of their inspiration.
They should also admit that fanfic often draws people into a series or least keeps interest high during the interminable waits between books in a series.
I can’t stand authors who hate fanfiction of their work. a) it’s as old as storytelling b) it’s free advertising and c) it builds a strong base of rabidly devoted fans. Look at any work that has a huge fanfic base and you’ll find the opportunity to make a lot of revenue.
From an intellectual property perspective, copyright is traditionally both narrowly circumscribed to protect only the specific words on the page and limited in time to the author’s life plus a certain number of years (50 in Canada, 70 in the U.S.). Both limitations are designed to protect artistic expression, while encouraging the use of one creative genius to springboard another. As such, fanfiction is neither new nor strictly prohibited by law. And I, for one, am thankful. What a boring world it would be if all detective novels ceased with the death of Edgar Allan Poe.
Fanfiction is just the 21st century’s fancy new word for “homage,” probably because homage is French and I’m not totally certain that we (your neighbors to the south [and west]) aren’t still supposed to hate the French for some reason or other. Don’t ask me, I studied Spanish in school.
Shakespeare used characters from mythology and also his friend-authors. Homer didn’t come up with The Odyssey all on his own, it was his own version of the countless versions told from his day to ours. Writers are artists, and artists have a time-honored tradition of using the works of masters to learn upon before branching out and becoming capital-A Artists themselves. In my opinion as a studier of artists, the bigger the cesspool of beginners is, the more truly good authors will come out of it with fresh, interesting ideas.
It’s really up to each individual author as to whether they are agreeable to having their work used in fanfic. Personally, I would be divided. As a writer myself, I would not be at all happy with someone else making money off of my work. If they want to write, they can come up with their own characters, story and the whole kit and kaboodle. To do otherwise, in my opinion, is stealing.
Now, if someone were to ask nicely, pretty please with cherries on top and all that, I might consider…might, mind you, not an out and out yes, might consider allowing someone to use my characters in a fanfic if it were for their own personal use and enjoyment while sharing with friends so long as no money exchanges hands in any way, shape or form.
NOW, having said that, if someone wanted to pay me for the privilege to use my characters in a fanfic they did want to make a little coin from, it would largely depend upon what amount I would consider reasonable enough to allow such a thing and of course, I would want said fanfic author to clearly state that their work was merely fanfic and many thanks to *insert name here* who created said characters and for allowing the use of them and so on.