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I create a world of finite somethings

"Art isn't your pet -- it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you."

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by
Arashi_Leonhart
, April 21st, 2012 at 06:46 AM (4493 Views)
"All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet -- it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you."
-Joss Whedon

So, the story kind of went up like wildfire on livejournal about published authors and fanfiction. A few of them I laugh at heartily: the idea that fanfiction is going to "take away from the livelihood" of an author, since 99.999% of it requires a person already familiar with the material to be able to read and understand a piece, is pretty off. Not that I expect most of these old-timers to understand what fanfiction actually entails, since I'm pretty sure most of them get knowledge second-hand. They hear "someone is using your works" and warning bells go off. But yeah, I just find most of them funny. Rowling's comment has validity, though, and I respect that opinion, at least. I also find Meyer's comment hilarious since, well, you know, her stuff reads like SI fanfiction. And I'd also agree with fanfiction being "the easy way out" since, well, yeah, a lot of the work is done for you...which is pretty much why I like writing fanfiction. I can goof off with it or be experimental with it in the way I can't with stuff I make with the aim of publication. But yeah, that Joss Whedon quote kind of summed anything I could say up quite nicely.

Of course, Nasu also says that he thinks people ought to do their own stuff instead of dink around with his works too, though the way he came across in that interview seemed more like "lol, why bother? Use your talent on something worthwhile, not on my boring stuff." Of course, he has people like Urobuchi that are also humbly supportive to the original in the way that a lot of fic writers aren't. Tim Zahn, a Star Wars novel writer, put that sort of stance in words pretty well too: "Lucas lets us play in his driveway. We have no room to complain if he backs out of his garage over something we left out there."

I'm still convinced that if somehow, something I write makes it to the level that people start writing fanfiction about it, I will troll any community that comes up by writing yaoi porn for it, or something. Personally, if I'm at the level where people are playing in my driveway, I'll take that as the sign that I've made it, thankyoumuch.
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  1. Elf's Avatar
    I love that Whedon quote. But then again, I am an unabashedly unashamed Whedon fangirl who can find valid points with "Alien Resurrection". Yes, I said "Alien Resurrection" and can even point to it being a proto-Firefly of sorts.
  2. Five_X's Avatar
    I want people to write porn of my stories.

    I want people to find all the little facets they can work themselves into and extrapolate from there, doing things with the characters that, frankly, I couldn't do in a published work. As an author, I technically have limited creativity: by nature, I'm going to see characters and setting one way, whilst fans will view them in a way that's completely alien to me but natural to them. And that interests me.

    Plenty of authors have raised issues about and indeed suffered consequences of plagiarism and attribution - there was one bit a while back, forget the exact situation or the faces involved but an author lost in court against a fanfiction writer, and it all ended up with the fanficcer getting a cut of the author's profits. Something about a book in the author's series very closely resembling a fanfiction by the other person.

    Of course, at the same time, that's a one-off event and likely a dick move on the part of the fanfiction writer. So long as you're competent, really, you're not going to fall into that trap. Plagiarism is absurdly easy to avoid, especially if you as an author do the smart thing and plan ahead and make outlines/notes.

    It'd be sort of nice to have things like doujin works over here in the west, to make fanfiction not only lucrative, but popularizing for different works. It's not like that would hurt the bottom line of authors; people simply aren't going to usurp the popularity of an original work with a fanfiction. Fakes can't beat the original, and all.

    Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to email Nasu and see if I can get The Manhattan Project II published. :P
  3. Irothtin's Avatar
    "Saying 'How can you write in someone else's universe and still be creative?' is like saying 'How can you write a sonnet, Shakespeare, when you're required to follow these guidelines and still have it be creative?' "
    - Brandon Sanderson
  4. SeiKeo's Avatar
    I want people to write porn of my stories.
    Oh?
  5. Five_X's Avatar
    That's right, Leo. Get cracking on some James/Caesarko.
  6. Elf's Avatar
    I want people to write porn of my stories as well.
  7. Dark Pulse's Avatar
    As I've said to myself, you'll know when you've arrived when the following things happen:
    • Someone writes porn of your work, and
    • Someone draws hentai of your work.

    I'll be looking forward to both.
  8. Ivan The Mouse's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Elf
    I want people to write porn of my stories as well.
    Me too. I want to see how they will deal with the type of characters I write.