Amadan
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I'm not a fan of this style of writing (the parody is great!), but I also think it's no worse than many other books on the bestseller list
Name one.
I'm not a fan of this style of writing (the parody is great!), but I also think it's no worse than many other books on the bestseller list
But would we have known it started out as Twilight fanfic without being told it was?
And if she wouldn't have the ability to write something like this without using Meyer's work as a crutch, then what right does she have to make money from it?
If I were Stephenie Meyer, I'd be firing up my team of attorneys and going after their asses like they were made of bacon.
Name one.
The original Twilight series for starters (IMHO - I know many people loved this but I found it unbearable, probably because I'm not 16 years old).
The Celestine Prophecy is one that particularly stands out for me. It spent 165 weeks on the NY Times besteller list.
No.
I read Twilight. I hated it. But the prose in Twilight is not remotely as bad as the prose in Fifty Shades of Grey. Not remotely.
Haven't read it. Even if I take your word for it that its writing is as appallingly bad as Fifty Shades of Gray (which I doubt), that's one, not "many."
If I were Stephenie Meyer, I'd be firing up my team of attorneys and going after their asses like they were made of bacon.
Do you really think Meyer's attorneys and Little, Brown's attorneys and Random House's attorneys would have allowed FSoG to go to publication without determining there were no grounds for legal action?
Now THAT would be the shocker.
The Celestine Prophecy is one that particularly stands out for me. It spent 165 weeks on the NY Times besteller list.
Since when are the posters on this site required to provide hard evidence to support their opinions? It is after all a forum for OPINIONS, not an academic essay.
Can I ask what exactly is the point you are trying to make here? If you believe this book is particularly badly written and represents a new low in publishing, why not just come out and say this instead of trying to bait me?
Do you really think Meyer's attorneys and Little, Brown's attorneys and Random House's attorneys would have allowed FSoG to go to publication without determining there were no grounds for legal action?
Or, they decided "Yeah, we could sue, but why bother?" Maybe Stephanie Meyer shares the opinion of many here (including myself) that if someone else wants to use fan fiction as a springboard for their own work, what's the harm?
Opinions can be wrong.
The reason I rolled my eyes at your comment is that it's similar to the tripe trotted out by the death-to-publishing crowd: "Who cares if this book is a badly-edited catastrophe of awful writing - look at how many best-sellers are just as bad!" And the fact is, no, with vanishingly few exceptions, they're not.
That said, I don't think there's anything wrong, per se, with Fifty Shades of Grey being published. If it makes money, it achieves its purpose from the publisher's POV.
But I am all for lit criticism of both the highbrow and lowbrow variety, which includes being unsparing in pointing out when horrible crap writing that is a new low in publishing is horrible crap writing that is a new low in publishing.
Or, they decided "Yeah, we could sue, but why bother?" Maybe Stephanie Meyer shares the opinion of many here (including myself) that if someone else wants to use fan fiction as a springboard for their own work, what's the harm?
I mean, now her writing looks good in comparison.
What right does any talentless person have to make money? Since when is entertainment a meritocracy?
Just because she hasn't yet spoken up about it doesn't mean she is not offended by it. And "it's not like she needs the money" is a b.s. argument. What if she was planning to write an adult-audience-geared Twilight story? Now this other writer beat her to the punch with characters everybody knows started as Edward and Bella. As she creator of those characters, doesn't she have the right to continue to profit from them, no matter how much money she already has? I think her books suck, and I have no idea WHY she has as much money as she does, but I can say one thing for sure: She earned her money honestly.Why? If it doesn't offend her, it's not like she needs the money or is going to be harmed by this.
Nice strawman.
Just because she hasn't yet spoken up about it doesn't mean she is not offended by it. And "it's not like she needs the money" is a b.s. argument. What if she was planning to write an adult-audience-geared Twilight story? Now this other writer beat her to the punch with characters everybody knows started as Edward and Bella.
Exactly. It will have had lawyers all over it. I would not be in the least surprised if this is going ahead with Meyer's explicit blessing; she'd probably not publicise that fact, but still.
No.
I read Twilight. I hated it. But the prose in Twilight is not remotely as bad as the prose in Fifty Shades of Grey. Not remotely.
I think Meyer would just end up looking foolish if she took this to court. You have to pick your battles.
Her work, and the short-lived Lifetime series it spawned actually had/has a dedicated fan community, complete with fan created pieces, but no one makes a big deal out of them. If one of those pieces went mainstream, it would not only require her to undertake a potentially costly legal stance (if she does, her publisher can sue her), but it would destroy the fan community by necessitating a lock-down on all fan creations posted in public. And THAT's what bugs me about the 50 Shades of Grey thing.Tanya Huff said:As the fanfic discussion is making the rounds again let me just reiterate where I, personally, stand. 1. Don't tell me about it. Knowledge implies consent and implied consent can potentially result in some legal nastiness. We'll both be happier if I don't know, trust me. 2. Have fun. I, personally, am thrilled you like what I've created enough that you want to see how it looks dressed in green and wearing thigh high boots. 3. I have no actual evidence, but I doubt fanfic has ever lost me readers and I strongly suspect it may be responsible for my gaining a couple. 4. But, seriously, don't tell me about it.
Regarding what the fuss is about this: many people believe it never would have survived slush. If it hadn't had Edward and Bella as the character names and hadn't been posted to a fanfic website for Twilight it never would have gotten out of obscurity as a viable work of BDSM erotica. It is the exploitation of that fandom that led to her success - bad writing and all. That simple.
Random House capitalized on it; as did the author. They are a business and they saw $$. It says something about quality taking the back seat to the business side of publishing.
It depends on her contract. With this being acknowledged fanfic, she may not have a choice; there are plenty of author contracts which contain clauses requiring authors to "defend their copyright" if fanfiction becomes public knowledge.