Fan fiction or a tribute?

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seun

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A few years back, I subbed to a particular small publisher and ended up on their mailing list. I've just received an email inviting submissions for an anthology of horror stories all linked to a particular film which is in the public domain. All the stories have to take place in the world of the film so they can be from the POV of the major characters as the film takes place or the story of what happened to so and so before he meets the others.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is basically just fan fiction, right? The publisher might see it as a tribute to the film but it's still people using someone else's world and characters to tell a story. Am I being a party pooper in not being able to get excited about a collection of fan fiction?
 

Maryn

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Party pooper! It seems you've never read really good fanfic, which can be amazing when in talented hands. Yes, you're building on canon you didn't create, but the limitations thus imposed can challenge your creativity, and the few who rise to meet or exceed the challenge produce some pretty awesome stuff.

If I had the interest in the specific film, I'd certainly think about it.

Maryn, who's written fanfic
 

seun

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Oh, I'm not denying there's good fanfic by any means. It's just...this doesn't sit comfortably with me.
 

shadowwalker

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Most fanfiction is a tribute to the original - people care enough about the original to write about it. Since this film is in the public domain, no reason why a tribute anthology shouldn't be done. But if you don't feel comfortable about it, don't contribute.
 

RichardGarfinkle

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The distinction between fanfic and tribute is at best difficult to state.

I would say it lies in the respect the author gives to the source material even if the author is jumping a mile long shark.

For a piece of genius tribute to two different sources, I recommend Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald, which he has available as a free PDF.
http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Short_Stories
 

Terie

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I'm not sure why fan-fic of something in the public domain would make you uncomfortable. After all, that's essentially what the monster-mashups of Jane Austen and so on are.
 

seun

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I'm not sure why fan-fic of something in the public domain would make you uncomfortable. After all, that's essentially what the monster-mashups of Jane Austen and so on are.

I see those books as more affectionate piss takes of the clashing genres than basic fan fiction. Going by the email I got, this plan is basically - you've already got the story and characters so most of the work is already done.
 

amrose

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A bit of a party pooper, but if you don't like books like public domain mashups like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and all the other revamped classics put out in the last couple of years it's no big deal. Not your thing.

If everything is in the public domain there doesn't seem to be a legal issue right (I don't know, someone correct me if I'm wrong)? So, is it your personal author ethics being tweaked?

ETA: Dang it! Beaten like a naughty child!
 
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veinglory

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There is plenty of fan fiction that is good literature going back to Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood or arguably Jesus. I think it should be judged on it's merits.
 

Terie

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So, is it your personal author ethics being tweaked?

More than likely now that I think about it.

Copyright expires for a reason. Some (myself included) argue that it lasts longer than it should. (Personally, I think 50 years after the creator's death is more than adequate.)

Once something is out of copyright, it's fair game. That's just how it works, and is how it should work. Otherwise, many more works would die forever than already do.

Just think, if copyright never expired, and if whoever held the copyright to Pride and Prejudice wouldn't let anyone use it, we wouldn't have the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth BBC production. And that's just for starters.
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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Meh, if it makes you squicky--just don't do it. I've seen this done before for anthologies. Not specifically for a movie, I don't think, but there are "tribute" type collections based on the Cthulu mythos, or the Hellraiser mythos, or Sherlock Holmes all the time. But bottom line--if you don't want to be part of that, it's no big deal, right? Just don't submit anything.
 

Phaeal

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To me, a tribute would be Peter Jackson (The Return of the King) shooting the approach of the giant elephants in a manner that recalls the approach of the Imperial walkers (The Empire Strikes Back.)

Fan-fic would have been Peter Jackson putting the Imperial walkers into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

(Aragorn's ghost army would still have kicked their asses. ;))

What you're talking about, I'd define as fan-ficcish (doesn't meet my technical definition of fan-fic, because it's up for grabs.) If I liked the source movie, I'd participate, because I don't mind good fan-fic or post-copyright borrowings.
 

seun

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Is this "Night of the Living Dead"?

Ah, zombies... they never go out of style.

Yep, that's the one.

As for participating, my interest was taken as soon as I read zombie in the email, but then when I realised the score...well, I guess this isn't one for me.
 

fredXgeorge

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Copyright expires for a reason. Some (myself included) argue that it lasts longer than it should. (Personally, I think 50 years after the creator's death is more than adequate.)

Once something is out of copyright, it's fair game. That's just how it works, and is how it should work. Otherwise, many more works would die forever than already do.

Just think, if copyright never expired, and if whoever held the copyright to Pride and Prejudice wouldn't let anyone use it, we wouldn't have the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth BBC production. And that's just for starters.
And then we wouldn't have Colin/Darcy in a wet shirt and that would be a tragedy for the world.
 

DancingMaenid

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If you're just not interested in using existing characters or an existing canon, that's fine. If you're not interested, you're not interested.

I don't see this as any different than any other situation where the genre or theme isn't to your liking. If I saw a submission call that looked promising, but then I saw that it was romance, I'd lose interest, too. Not because there's anything wrong with romance, but because it's just not a genre I write.

I don't think it needs to be any more complicated than that.
 

crunchyblanket

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It's fanfiction in a very loose sense - using the world, but not necessarily the characters or established canon. That kind of fanfiction requires more "original thought" since you still have to build your own characters and story. Granted, most of the background work is done for you, so it's not on par with "original" work.

As for discomfort - fanfic ain't for everyone. For me, fanfic's my chocolate cake. Original work might be my (vegetarian) meat and potatoes, but every now and again I need a little sugary treat, even if it ain't high in nutrition - fanfic is that treat.
 

blacbird

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I'm curious about a film being in public domain. In the U.S., for written work, nearly everything published post-1922 is still protected by copyright, unless it somehow lapsed into public domain under provisions of earlier copyright statutes, or the copyright holder explicitly released the material into public domain. That date got frozen for 20 years back in 1998 by the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, successfully lobbied for by Disney in order to protect early Mickey Mouse material from losing copyright protection.

For a time earlier in the 20th century, the statutes protected a property for 28 years, with an option to renew for another 28 years, so a few things occasionally slipped into public domain through failure of renewal. But not many. Not many movies made before 1922 seem fodder for such fan-fic stuff. What film are we talking about, and what assurance was given that the "public domain" claim isn't just a baseless assertion?

caw
 

shadowwalker

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Yeah, a couple of articles mentioned something about the notice being missing, along with a lot of legalese...
 
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