I Feel Like Starting An Argument: Writing a fanfiction based on ANY story you've ever read is perfectly fine***

[AwkwardlySet]

To sell the rights, sure, but how often does an author get any creative control over what happens to the work?

Look, I'm not trying to encourage people to write fan fiction. I'm certainly not planning to write fan fiction based on fellow authors' works here on Lit without permission.

I *am* saying that fan fiction can be a good thing even if authors dislike losing control over their creations. And if I hold that ethical position, I must necessarily accept that fan fiction could be written about my creations - not that I think it will be, but with all those readers demanding sequels then maybe one will eventually get around to writing it themselves...

As long as the author is alive, they should have control. They earned that right (once again, not talking about legality here)
Readers and fans will always demand for more content, that's true, but that doesn't mean that that is always a good thing.
Let's go back to Star Wars for a moment. The demand for more Star Wars stuff led to the story of Revan about twenty years ago. In my opinion, the story and the characters are excellent, almost rivaling the original story about Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Leia, Han, etc. But the demand for more content also led to the steaming pile of crap that Episodes 7-9 are, plus all the retarded recent TV-Shows that we were cursed with. I believe that even the money grabber Lucas (whom I respect immensely in the creative sense, but disrespect as a person for selling himself like that) is embarrassed and pissed off privately over what they did with his creation. He sold everything, so he can go fuck himself, but that's a huge loss for the franchise that is slowly becoming a joke.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

A lot of attention has been put on legality here, so let's switch gears.

Imagine for a moment, an incredibly popular franchise accidentally had it's legal copyright fail. Suddenly the story has no copyright protection whatsoever.

Right of the top of my head, I know that this happened to the book "In His Steps" (the story that WWJD came from), and the films "Night of the Living Dead" and "It's a Wonderful Life".

Imagine that you know someone who tried to copyright their work, but there was an error, and the story is now immediately public domain. You read it and immediately think it needs a sequel.

"Please don't write a sequel," the author says.

Legally, you have every right to write whatever you want with that story. It's in the public domain. But is it moral? Ethical?

Obviously NOT. The right thing to do would be to respect the author's wishes, regardless of the law. What does that tell us? It means the law is a distraction in this discussion.

I agree. I never discussed the legal part of it all in this thread. That part is already set in stone.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

It's only a distraction if people all behave morally and ethically all the time.

No. It's a distraction period.

It has no bearing on the ethics of the subject. If I can find a loophole in the law which allows me to write a fanfiction legally, but it would upset the original creator, that doesn't make it okay

 

[MediocreAuthor]

@MediocreAuthor I must say that you created one big mess here. I also thought this was all just a joke at first but somewhere along the way, I realized that maybe it wasn't. You picked a very inflammatory topic for most authors and even though I respect your courage to express such opinion, I must say I am not sure what your exact position in all of this is. I was taking it as a joke and to be honest I am not sure where the joke ends and where the serious opinion begins.

This is my honest opinion, with no humor.

As an author, you should welcome fanfiction of your work, because it cannot hurt you. However, if it does upset you, you should make those feelings known, so there is no confusion with your fans.

AND

As a potential fanfic author, you should do everything you can to respect the wishes of an original creator, regardless of the law. Writing a fanfiction against a living creators will is wrong, even if the law says otherwise.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Obviously NOT. The right thing to do would be to respect the author's wishes, regardless of the law. What does that tell us? It means the law is a distraction in this discussion.

Exactly. Finally, it comes back around to writers' ethics (which in my view, is what it always comes back to).

But you've got yourself into a bit of pickle, haven't you? You seem to be saying now that you'll respect those who say, "Not with my content you don't" - but you want us to put up a sign - but those who say nothing seem to be fair game?

EDIT: you just clarified, in the (near simultaneous) post above. All good .

 

[AlinaX]

Hmm, what if the right to exclusive ownership of a written story came with a legal responsibility to continue that story, eliminate plot holes, and provide representation for minority groups?

 

[Bamagan]

No. It's a distraction period.

It has no bearing on the ethics of the subject. If I can find a loophole in the law which allows me to write a fanfiction legally, but it would upset the original creator, that doesn't make it okay

Except that you said earlier in this thread that you would assume the works of a dead person are fair game in your opinion because the dead can't tell you no. I can't tell what, if any, ethical position you're actually taking at this point, so I'm going to conclude my participation. Adieu in the traditional French sense.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

Except that you said earlier in this thread that you would assume the works of a dead person are fair game in your opinion because the dead can't tell you no. I can't tell what, if any, ethical position you're actually taking at this point, so I'm going to conclude my participation. Adieu in the traditional French sense.

You quoted the important line which answers your question:

"...but it would upset the original creator..."

How do you upset a dead person?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Hmm, what if the right to exclusive ownership of a written story came with a legal responsibility to continue that story, eliminate plot holes, and provide representation for minority groups?

I hope that was a joke. I'll swap the legal with ethical here as it makes a tiny bit more sense. There is no ethical basis for an author to do any of those things. That's just silly.

 

[mildlyaroused]

As I see it:

• Creating unique stories, explicitly using someone else's characters and world;

is better than

• Ostensibly creating your own characters, world, and story, but stealing the guts of it all from another author.

The former (as long as it isn't monetised) is an appreciation of the original work. The latter is an intrusion on artistic integrity, in my opinion. I don't think you need to ask permission before creating fan fiction, but it shouldn't be monetised without permission and it should be removed upon request.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

As I see it:

• Creating unique stories, explicitly using someone else's characters and world;

is better than

• Ostensibly creating your own characters, world, and story, but stealing the guts of it all from another author.

The former (as long as it isn't monetised) is an appreciation of the original work. The latter is an intrusion on artistic integrity, in my opinion. I don't think you need to ask permission before creating fan fiction, but it shouldn't be monetised without permission and it should be removed upon request.

I also think your should seek permission first, if at all possible to obtain.

 

[AlinaX]

I hope that was a joke. I'll swap the legal with ethical here as it makes a tiny bit more sense. There is no ethical basis for an author to do any of those things. That's just silly.

And you object to others doing it for you.

 

[Plathfan]

In any event, legislators act on behalf of the community. That's why we elect them, to act on our behalf.

So now you shift the emphasis from the law to the community, yet still affirming that you struggle to distinguish right from wrong without an external anchor for guidance.

As I see it:

• Creating unique stories, explicitly using someone else's characters and world;

is better than

• Ostensibly creating your own characters, world, and story, but stealing the guts of it all from another author.

The former (as long as it isn't monetised) is an appreciation of the original work. The latter is an intrusion on artistic integrity, in my opinion. I don't think you need to ask permission before creating fan fiction, but it shouldn't be monetised without permission and it should be removed upon request.

This is exactly what I keep shouting about. The law allows you to peel off the thin crust and leech off all the contents (as long as you use your own words), and people shamelessly take advantage of this loophole and justify their actions simply because it's legal.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I also think your should seek permission first, if at all possible to obtain.

I agree. But in the vast majority of fan fiction cases, large corporations own the rights to everything, and they're never going to respond to some random enthusiast on the internet (unless they smell the cold tang of cash in the air). For small productions like those here on Lit, though, I absolutely agree with you!

 

[ElectricBlue]

So now you shift the emphasis from the law to the community, yet still affirming that you struggle to distinguish right from wrong without an external anchor for guidance.

I've never struggled. My position has been constant right from my very first post - to use another writer's content without their permission is wrong. That's been my position every time this issue comes up - which is often enough over the last ten years, but you might not know that if you only joined Lit this year.