fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2865 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2865 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Once Upon a Time]

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[Transformers: Prime]

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[Star Trek: The Next Generation]

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[Malcolm Tucker, The Thick of It]

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[Once Upon a Time]

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[Flight Rising]

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[Transformers: Prime]

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[Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 013 secrets from Secret Submission Post #409.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - random image ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A friend and I wrote each other gift stories in our tiny fandom a coupla years back. She's a really good friend – we met through the pairing – and I loved the story and said so. Now she wants to rewrite it into an original novel – in fact she took it down without notice earlier this year for that purpose, until I said “hang on, it's a gift fic for me.” She wants to reopen the discussion and it's sent me into a tailspin of “I'm less important than money.” I've got no idea how to react – should I just say “Oh, WHATEVER,” or bugger off, or tell her how it makes me feel?
I've posted this elsewhere too; I really am that confused.

Honestly, while it was a gift to you, it's still her work and I think it's her right to do what she wants with it.

Is it a dick move? Yes, very much so, especially as she didn't give you a heads-up, but it's still something she has worked on and it is within her right to develop it into an original story (even though I'm personally not that fond of that, but that's beside the point)

I would tell her how you feel though. If not it's most likely bound to just be there in the background and one day just explode. (And from an outsider's POV, it's most likely not that you're less important than money, but more that this is an idea that she believes in and a story she wants to tell to more people)

I hate this attitude. If I make something for someone and give it to them as a gift, and then years later decide I want it back, the fact that I made it doesn't make it right for me to go to them and take it back. It was a gift. Once you give it to the person you made it for, it becomes theirs.

Tough call, anon. It was a gift fic, but ultimately it's still her work. If you didn't keep a copy for yourself, then I think it's fair to ask if she can send you the original (just for your own use, not for reposting anywhere), but if your friend wants to develop it into an original story, then that's up to her. Is it very important to you that your gift fic is available to the public?

I don't really have an answer. I just wanted to make the point that, to me, trying to rewrite something into an original novel doesn't mean that it's just for money - it could be something she feels is really useful as a creative project. And also, for me at least, I don't think it would really stop being special - it's still something that originated as a gift fic for you, you know?

But that's really only my way of looking at it.

It's her writing, she can do what she wants with it, no matter the reason she originally posted it.

You could ask her whether you could keep a copy of the fic offline. That seems reasonable.

Think about it from another point of view: do you really want to stop her getting her original writing published just so you can have an online record that someone once wrote a gift fic for you?

I think you should tell her how you feel. Also keep in mind it probably doesn't mean she likes you less than money; maybe she really just wants to expand on that story. See if you can get a copy of the original fic just for yourself.

Obviously she has the right to do what she wants with her writing, but I think that what she's doing is a faux pas even if it's within her rights to do it.

I'd probably just ask for a backup copy of the original fic, and try not to dwell on the weirdness. It's her etiquette mistake, not yours.

In a way, won't the novel be a bigger and better version of you gift? I know it won't be specifically for you, but you will still sort of have a stake in it -- was the original gift story based on your prompt(s)?

Honestly, I would be honest with her about how you feel.

I understand where the other anons are coming from, but what I really want to do is just shout "NO TAKESIES BACKSIES!". *ahem* Maybe she just didn't realize how taking down a fic she wrote as a gift could come across. It's like she gave you, say, a scarf, then later down the road when she's visiting, she swipes it on the way out and says "I'm selling/returning this". Leaving you gaping in her wake.

I know she wrote the fic in the first place, but why couldn't she just take the basic premise and turn that into her non-fandom work?

At the very least, it would be decent of her to provide you with a copy of the fic. If she refuses to do that, well.. that's just cruel, in my opinion.

Subthread OP: Thank-you, everyone! I took the advice to tell her how I feel. In fact, I yelled at her. We've got it all sorted out now.

/much happier

[ SECRET POST #2865 ]

Fandom etiquette

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