How would you feel about fanfiction for your writing?

I would find it flattering and would also bask in my newfound riches (if you have people writing fanfiction about your stuff, it means you got rich off of it).

I don't care how bad it'd be, I'd still be flattered while I sat in my mansion getting a massage.

If it was a novel or series I was done with- then I'd probably be extremely flattered that readers were so enarmored with it that they'd spend their spare time writing about my characters.

But, if it was a world/characters I still planned to write about- I would do whatever I could to prevent people from doing fanfiction. I wouldnt want to run into a situation where I sat down, wrote my manuscript, it got published and have someone pipe up, "hey, she must have stolen my idea! That sounds an awful lot like the fan story I wrote on such and such site..."

So I'd basically explain the reason to my fans, thank them for caring about my characters, and hope they understand.

I would Take Mercedes lackey's approach and offer to endorse/approve and even promote the fanfiction if they signed a document saying it was an alternative universe work.

Interesting question. I've never read any fanfic, so I can't comment on quality issues and how those might make me feel.

I would find it flattering that somebody was attached enough to my characters to want to explore them more or write alternative what-if's and could-have-been's. However, I think there would also be a note of annoyance ringing in the back of my head if I were to actually read any of the fanfics, as I would probably be thinking, "Waitaminnit, X wouldn't do that--it goes against everything X believes in. Agh!" I wouldn't want to be annoyed, but I think I would be (if that makes any sense). So if anyone wrote fanfic of my characters, I would just not read it, and hopefully that would avoid all the potential annoyance factors while keeping the positive flattery factors.

No idea if that would work or not. And first I need published characters for someone to become enamored of.




-Michelle

I'd probably be okay with it. Ah... who am I kidding? If someone loved my characters enough to write their own stories, I'd probably be thrilled. **cue Sally Field** "You like me! You really, really like me!"

drachin8 said:

Interesting However, I think there would also be a note of annoyance ringing in the back of my head if I were to actually read any of the fanfics, as I would probably be thinking, "Waitaminnit, X wouldn't do that--it goes against everything X believes in. Agh!" I wouldn't want to be annoyed, but I think I would be (if that makes any sense). So if anyone wrote fanfic of my characters, I would just not read it, and hopefully that would avoid all the potential annoyance factors while keeping the positive flattery factors.

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If fanfic started popping up, a smart agent would tell you, in no uncertain terms, to stay far away from the stories. I don't recall the fandom, but some fanficcer actually tried suing the copyright holder of the original medium because they produced a storyline similar to a fic the ficcer wrote.

Honestly, until the Harry Potter phenomenon, I had no idea Books were popular sources for fanfic. My experience was with TV show fic.

With the internet, fanfic has far outgrown its original roots of photocopied zines, passed around by friends. Websites for fic sometimes rival those for the TV shows they are writing about. Mainstream news journals have written articles about fanfic, even slash fic (definition: fanfiction that shows main characters of the same sex, otherwise established as hetero, engaged in homosexual love affairs). And there is just so much godawful fanfic out there that it makes the really well-written stuff harder to find, and gives fic in general a bad reputation to outsiders.

I would approve of it. Wouldn't read a lick of it, as I wouldn't want it getting into my own writing. But I'd smile and nod and thank people for their liking my story.

And Cory Doctorow explanied it better than I could hope to.

Lackey has a number of 'approved' fanfiction zines.

I'd loooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it if someone wrote a fanfic based on my characters! One thing I love about fanfic is that you can take characters you love and place them in situations they would never realistically be found in with the original universe. (IE Harry Potter in space, or something.) So as an author, I wouldn't want to write something silly like that as 'canon,' but I'd love it if someone else did it. I'm not sure if I explained that right.

I may never get to that point with my career, but wow, the idea of someone writing fanfics for my characters -- how thrilling. That means I have arrived.

As long as they don't put my name on it.

I never want to find out about it. Ever. Don't want to see, don't want to be tempted. I want to be a mushroom.

That way, I A) am protected from possible irate fans who think I stole their work trying to sue me and B) don't risk getting insulted/irate/want to take legal action against the people who are supporting my dream-job.

Fanfic isn't automatic. It happens when fans experience something and feel the entire story's not told, that something else happened behind the scenes, before or after the scope of the work, etc. It's generally done out of love and enthusiasm--however there are some serious nutcases in the fannish community. I'm sorry that things have changed in the last 30 years where the creator of the work can't enjoy the continued sagas, but that's just the way it is today. In this situation, I truly believe ignorance is bliss.

I'd love it. I wouldn't read the fic -- less because of any legal worries and more because I think it's better to leave the fans to it -- but I would definitely be flattered and encouraging.

I'd be thrilled. I haven't written fanfic myself, but I've enjoyed reading some of the good stuff. Sometimes when I'm writing I even think 'hm, there's a space here where fanfic would fit' or 'that was subtexty!'
Not that I'm likely to be put to the test anytime soon.

Regarding the fan-suing-author story, it's rather more complex than that, and is discussed way, way, down on this long but entertaining thread on Making Light. If you want to go straight to that information, search the page for 'bradley'.
-Barbara

I've already had people write fanfic of my work. >_>

The first lot was back when I was doing a fanfiction series myself (one that had a lot of well-established original characters) - I had three people do fanfic of it whom I brought on as fellow "canon" authors, one kept as fanfic, but was still completely awesome, a slash fic that was O_O and a short crack!fic where the (OC) MC broke up with her established boyfriend, slept with a hot co-worker, then moved to Reno (????) with her boss. O_O

Now that I'm a "real" author, I haven't had any fanfic yet, but I do have a friend writing a spin-off/sister series that will occasionally crossover with the main work.

I would love to read any story based on my books. Unfortunately, I also think a lot of them would probably involve a no-plot erotic story with some of my main characters. Not sure how I'd feel about that, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Fan-fic to me means that the writer didn't have the creativity and inspiration to come up with his or her own characters (and/or situations). It's stealing. I'd expect to possibly see it from a child, not from an adult. Puma

I think that it would be awesome. My biggest problem would be a desire to read it, which of course I couldn't do for legal reasons, whatever. Still: very cool. To have something I'd made loved that much would be absolutely amazing.

Of course, I'd want a real, adult, high-quality fandom, not just teeny-boppers on fanfiction.net. One can only hope, I guess.

I'd be pretty flattered that someone cared that much about my characters, but I probably wouldn't read it. Legal reasons ya know.

Puma said:

Fan-fic to me means that the writer didn't have the creativity and inspiration to come up with his or her own characters (and/or situations). It's stealing. I'd expect to possibly see it from a child, not from an adult. Puma

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Well. Hmm. Let's take a look, shall we?

Shakespeare had only a handful of original creations. Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, MacBeth--were all stories & plays he redid.

Sir Walter Scott wrote Arthurian stories. So did Tennyson.

Sherlock Holmes has had several writers keep him alive, as have Conan & the Cthulhu mythos.

Every one of those is fanfic.

Does that make those authors all little kids, stealing from others because they lacked the "creativity and inspiration" to do their own work?

Right now there are books in the marketplace about characters from canon books. There are books on Mycroft Holmes, Capt Ahab's wife, and Rochester's Jamaican wife--the classic madwoman in the attic.

Those are fanfic, pure & simple.

If fanfic encourages people to write, to hone their skills, to read & comment, who are we to stop it? You don't like it, that's fine. It's shockingly easy to avoid. But I'd rather see people write and learn rather than lose them to the TV.

I write Fanfic, and I read it, and I'm published, although not well. And I would be thrilled that someone loved my creation enough to want to write about it.

I lurk on the God Awful Fan Fiction forums, so I've seen some of the worst fanfics out there - incest, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, and a few fics which combined three or more of the above in one action. Don't even get me started on the mpregs. As a result, I wouldn't read any fanfics based on my writing, even before the legalities come into it. I know there are some very well-written, wonderful fanfics out there - but there's a lot of less palatable stuff as well.

Some fanfics can also be a bit... snotty, for lack of a better word... towards authors. I read one fic which featured J. K. Rowling realizing she had made a terrible mistake in marrying Hermione off to Ron. I think she apologized and admitted that Harry and Hermione made the perfect couple. Fortunately this kind of story is in a minority.

If someone did fanfic of my work, I would GO INTO PAROXYSMS OF UTTER JOY!!!

That being said, I would really rather they contact me before posting it anywhere, because to do otherwise is to abuse my copyright, however shoddy my claim may be. Since I'd be perfectly willing to GO INTO PAROXYSMS OF UTTER JOY!!!, it's not too much to ask the fanfic writer to take this courtesy and see if it's all right with me first. Even though I'd likely say yes, go right ahead, for them to assume it would be okay, without asking permission, indicates a horrible disrespect toward me as the creator of the characters/situations they'd like to use. And if they're that disrespectful, I wouldn't be inclined to enjoy their take on my work.

I realize I'm not applying this same standard to published authors, but number one, they have so many fanfic writers there's no way they'd be able to interact with all of them--unless they post a general statement, like Rice did; and number two, I don't write fanfic myself, so...*shrug.* Though I do use a character created as part of a display in a local museum, and have not asked permission. :/ He doesn't feature in any stories except mine (he's just a display in a museum, seriously), but I'm being a tad hypocritical here, I realize. Well...his creators aren't writers...? *feels uneasy*

All that out of the way, did I mention I'd GO INTO PAROXYSMS OF UTTER JOY!!!?

Alas, nobody's interested enough in my work to read through it all, much less write anything based on it.

ETA, seeing mention of Arthurian fiction being considered "fanfic" above: I write stories based on myths. I don't consider that "fanfic," however, as the characters/situations involved are from belief systems or legends, are public domain, and for the most part weren't really intended as "fiction" the way TV shows, movies, and books are today. I always roll my eyes when I see a young writer posting a story based on, say, Egyptian mythology and prefacing this with a disclaimer like "I don't own the Egyptian gods, I don't know who created them but I'm just writing about them!!" Yeegh.

As long I still profit from the markting tie-ins, I'm a happy camper.