I read a series that I think ended prematurely. I continued the series for myself but I’d like to publish. I reached out to the author to get permission to do so without a reply. The series is from early 2024 and it appears the series is not copyrighted. Is there a protocol to continue the series without the author’s permission?
Series continuation
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Rob_Royale
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If it's on Literotica, it's copyrighted. Period. No protocol. Not allowed. Change the names and the particulars and publish without mentioning the source.
Writer61
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Yes. Don't. It's that simple.
BeechLeaf
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This question comes up repeatedly, and the answer is clear. The stories are the copyright of the author, and you cannot use them without the author's permission.
edited to add: If the author died, their work doesn't become free. It's still copyright, but now it's owned by their son / auntie / favourite chicken, whatever, but someone owns the copyright until somewhere in the 2090s.
edited to add: If the author died, their work doesn't become free. It's still copyright, but now it's owned by their son / auntie / favourite chicken, whatever, but someone owns the copyright until somewhere in the 2090s.
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Britva415
"Alabaster," my ass
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Upon what do you base that perception?
They wrote it. There automatically is a copyright and it automatically belongs to them, until they either re-assign it or relinquish it or some statutory deadline passes, decades and decades later. Did you see any of those things happen?
The absence of any copyright statement doesn't negate its existence or its ownership by the creator.
Britva415
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Not-wrong, but it doesn't even depend on that.
BeechLeaf
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Yes, important point. There was a time in some countries' copyright law when asserting of copyright had to be active. But international agreements have done away with that. You don't need the C-in-a-circle symbol, you don't need a copyright statement at the beginning. Anything published is automatically copyright, and this is now pretty much universal across the world.
Five_Inch_Heels
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Just made a very similar comment on another thread about one from 2005.
Would like someone to proof and rewrite, but not possible.
Would like someone to proof and rewrite, but not possible.
Five_Inch_Heels
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Best you can do is a fully new story 'inspired by', but you'll need to change names, settings and other key information to 'make it your own.'
EmilyMiller
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ElectricBlue
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No reply means no reply, it's not some kind of reverse approval, as some people seem to hope for. No always means no, not, "Well, I tried."
Everything is owned by the author, period.
Don't ever think that two years means the author isn't coming back. I've got stories five, six years old that might get a sequel one day. Just last month, an author released another chapter of their story, after twenty years or so.
Yes, the protocol is, you can't. The site is explicit on that, too. No permission means no sequel.
The alternative is to change things up enough that the connection to the original becomes so nebulous that no-one will ever spot it - but if they do, you could run the risk of plagiarism, which is probably worse than trying to get away with it, writers' ethics and all that.
Best thing is to write your own story. If you think you've got the chops to ghost write, surely you can write something of your own?
FromManyOne
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Write your own story dealing with the same themes. I know you already wrote sequels, but it would be illegal in almost any country to publish them.
Kelliezgirl
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Call them fan fiction, we've got a whole category for that.
We've got a whole fan fiction challenge going right now which is doing exactly what all these people are telling you you can't do.
We've got a whole fan fiction challenge going right now which is doing exactly what all these people are telling you you can't do.
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CalBishForNow
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Kelliezgirl
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That's just further pointing out the hypocrisy.
You can Fan Fic LOTR, Star Wars etc etc... but you can't fan fic a story on Lit because "reasons".
To quote the support thread:
This author event is all about fan fic. Homages, continuations and downright theft of established works of fiction.
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CalBishForNow
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- The rule is, you can fanfic properties from outside Lit, which are generally broadly well-known and owned and developed by dead people or corporations. Jack Kirby was dead for decades before anyone saw Chris Evans' Captain America. George Lucas doesn't need any more money, the third Disney lawyer on the left doesn't have much moral claim to ownership of the ideas in Luke-Kylo shipping, and it's immediately obvious to everyone that they aren't you. Conversely, you can't fanfic characters made by anonymous hobbyists like yourself whose work easily could be mistaken for yours and whose only recourse if they don't like it is to get in a pissing match with you or Lit. Maybe it's not hypocritical if the situations are different.
- Even if it is hypocritical, so what? It's the rule. Like it or don't, but don't mislead a newcomer to the AH about it.
Kelliezgirl
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I'm not misleading anyone. I'm pointing out the facts.
You can go through all the mental gymnastics as to why it's OK to use one person's work and not another's, but it doesnt make it any less hypocritical.
"George Lucas got rich, I can take from him" isn't the defense you think it is.
Five_Inch_Heels
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The hippacrazy around here is plum loco.
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?
Or at least the tea leaves?
Five_Inch_Heels
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Does that happen in stories here? I thought everbody could go go go for days?
LetsMisBehave
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I assume that there are universal themes in the original story which you can rework without copying. Just build on those, resist any temptation to copy and paste, reset where it is happening and avoid having any overlap in details of setting, names and NPCs.
I, for one, have been inspired by "TheRachelChronicles" to write female characters who are conflicted by what they enjoy, their own self-respect and the realisation that they don't want to settle down early, while needing to preserve their reputation. Actually, perhaps the last bit is what I have added for myself to the mix.
I would also say that even when continuations have been blessed by an author, the person continuing usually misses why the original story worked for the undecided.
Also, be careful of what you do in tributes. An author who writes more-than-acceptable Roman legion novels tried to pay tribute to a historical crime author in a way she found offensive to both the man and the woman who were alluded to.
I, for one, have been inspired by "TheRachelChronicles" to write female characters who are conflicted by what they enjoy, their own self-respect and the realisation that they don't want to settle down early, while needing to preserve their reputation. Actually, perhaps the last bit is what I have added for myself to the mix.
I would also say that even when continuations have been blessed by an author, the person continuing usually misses why the original story worked for the undecided.
Also, be careful of what you do in tributes. An author who writes more-than-acceptable Roman legion novels tried to pay tribute to a historical crime author in a way she found offensive to both the man and the woman who were alluded to.
Britva415
"Alabaster," my ass
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LetsMisBehave
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Sorry if it wasn't clear, but I was trying to be circumspect because I believe the male author doing the alleged homage honestly didn't understand how the female author portrayed the relationship.
The husband in the Falco series would have left and betrayed the wife without ever hurting her physically, and the wife would never have tolerated being abused.
