[ SECRET POST #1950 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1950 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 06 pages, 122 secrets from Secret Submission Post #279.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ], [ 2 - spambots ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

There are quite a few authors who hate fan fiction. I do get how they feel, but on the other hand they can hardly control it. It makes sense to me that they just don't want other people writing about their characters, using their plots etc. Not to mention having them paired with each other in a way that you don't want them to be etc.

Still the fans aren't making money from it, well unless they are being really dodgy and I don't think many get away with selling fan fiction these days.

[drunken-clowns.livejournal.com]

But even if people don't write fanfic, they're still going to be thinking these things. They'll be wishing different people got together, they'll be thinking certain characters are hot, etc. I get not liking it, but it's still a dick move to tell fans what they can and can't do on their own time.

[dragon-soda.livejournal.com]

I can on some level understand their reasoning - but on the other hand: once something is published, it is a part of culture and not a private property anymore. And it is just ignorant to believe, they can forbid people to have their thoughts and feelings and to express them. That was how it always worked with popular fiction...
What about Shakespeare? How many Romeo&Juliet "AU Fanfiction" are out there? (+ Romeo&Juliet ITSELF is basically an AU fanfiction...) And "Bridget Jones" is more or less a modern rendering of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (and it isn't even subtle about that). Oh, and the references to "Bram Stoker's Dracula" in vampire fiction and to "Lord of the Rings" in fantasy stuff?
So many authors use popular themes and intertextual references to the Bible or Mythology or Homer or Shakespeare or classics of their genre - but then whine about fan's borrowing from their works? (with the difference, that fans usually don't earn a single cent for this)

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT yes I agree with you, my point was just that I do understand how authors feel. I just think they should ignore it, and not start ranting about it. To be honest fans don't help themselves, because they will ask writers, actors etc at conventions or even on twitter about fanfic. I think the two things should never mix, let the fans get on with it, but don't go bringing it to the attention of the professionals involved. Of course they will know about it's existence, but may not want to discuss it either.

With the examples you cite, the authors are so long dead, I really don't know how Jane Austen would feel if she was alive, but I'm sure some legal action might be in order, it's really fine with the classics, because they are classics, and modern retellings are par for the course.

I remember seeing David Tennant and some other Dr Who person on a chat show a few years ago, when he was still in it. The presenters had found some fan fiction online, which was porn, and were reading it out to them. Everyone was laughing a lot and commenting on how sad it was that people write this stuff, and isn't it hilariously bad etc etc, but Tennant and the other actor (such a bad memory, I think it was a companion but can't remember which, maybe Catherine Tate..) were mortified. He said "that's wrong on every level". I think that's the thing, a well written romp may well be one thing, but it's often the porn, especially RPF, which some actors have asked fans not to write, that's difficult, and I do get why it might feel difficult if someone is writing porn with your characters.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with you mostly, I write original fiction and I would definitely allow fanfiction. I would take it as a compliment that someone was so inspired by my work that they wanted to write about it. :) However... I'm sorry, but I have a really hard time with the "as soon as it's published, it's public property" notion. Like, yes, if you're sharing your work with others, they are entitled to their opinions and interpretations. But getting something published does not in any way mean that it's somehow not the author's property anymore. The work belongs to the author, not to the readers, whether or not it's published, and if an author decides they don't want to allow fanfiction, that is their RIGHT as the author and people should frankly just respect their wishes.

[dragon-soda.livejournal.com]

English is not my first language, so I might have used "property" wrong in context, what I mean is: The actual work of course belongs to the author, no question - but by publishing it, it becomes a part of popular culture, and if it is good and preserves it becomes cultural property (like the classics). It stops being solely the property of the author, but becomes something bigger than that, because people consume it, think about it, interpret it, discuss it. And by this, it kind of becomes the "property" of the whole (sub-)culture. Not in a legal way, but in an emotional way. (There are fictional characters I love more than half of my family ...)

And that is a progress, that - at least for me - can't just be stopped. There is nothing an author can do or say, to stop me THINKING and FEELING about his work after reading it. That just happens. If it is a good work, if I get drawn in, I can't just stop the "What if"s and the "But I would have liked that better"-thoughts. And it is only a tiny step to write my thoughts down in fanfiction.

And frankly speaking, I usually don't care about who the author is and what opinion this author has about anything, since it is the work, that matters to me, and not the author. And he has no rights over my thoughts and feelings and the way I express them (Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Thought are human rights after all). If he says, he doesn't want fanfics to be published on the net, that is one thing, but he can't keep me from imagining and writing.