On Fanwork Bans
Warning: big post. Also, trope.
Been meaning to get around to this for a while now. Although I've attempted to be as sympathetic as possible, I'm sure someone is going to cry "fan entitlement." Which is ironic, considering what actually motivated me to get this out in the open...but that's another story that shall be told another time.
Nowhere does Sturgeon's Law apply more aptly than when it comes to fan fiction: 90% of it is crap. But we'll get back to that later.
Here's the brass tacks: Nearly every argument I've seen by an author against allowing fan fiction seems to come down to one of two motivations. The first is a skewed interpretation of copyright law-the mistaken notion that if fan fiction were allowed, one might lose control over one's material. The second is an over-protective attitude towards one's ideas-either fear that bad fan fiction (although these authors almost invariably assert that "bad fan fiction" is a tautology) based on one's work could damage one's reputation, or actually taking it as an attack on their stories (if not on themselves).
Some authors, I'm sure, would suggest that literary-minded fans just buy more of their books. To which I ask: Do you really hold your fans in such contempt as to see us as no more than passive consumers? Because if that's the case, I no longer even want to read your books, much less buy them.
We read because we enjoy the stories. We get immersed in the world. But sometimes, we've read all that there is to read of a given author's work, and still feel that we've been somewhat left hanging. Create an interesting world and characters, but leave gaps...and people are going to get curious.
From what I've observed, it's human nature to either speculate or rail in such a position. And while I don't like to make generalizations, it seems to me that many of us would rather speculate than rail. But when speculation is discouraged or disallowed, people will start railing sooner or later.
Now, wait, I hear you ask: this is about fan fiction, not speculation, right? Well, here's the thing: Yes, there are Mary Sues and 'shipping and revenge-fics and fix-fics (although some authors are willing to turn a blind eye to-or perhaps pointedly ignore-all of the above). But fan fiction, for the most part, is no more or less than speculation in story form.
It is no more an "insult" to the author than tricking out your car is an "insult" to Ford Motors. It is no more "stealing" from the author than making shopping bags out of T-shirts is "stealing" from Fruit of the Loom.
To quote Teresa Nielsen Hayden: Fanfic means someone cares about what you wrote. (And please take the exact circumstances of that statement into account, as well.)
Yes, 90% is crap. The remaining 10%, however, is well worth fighting for. And so, I believe that noncommercial fan fiction, like parody and critique, should be protected under fair use.
In short: I want to ban the fanwork ban.
Think about it: What would authors actually stand to lose if this happened? Only the ability to seek legal action against their fans for what usually adds up to harmless speculation. I find it hard to believe that even the most poorly written or tasteless fan fiction could be any more detrimental to an author's reputation than a particularly brutal review, or some of what actually manages to pass muster as transformative. (The notion that it could be anywhere near as detrimental as harassing-much less even threatening to sue-one's fans? Patently ludicrous.)
And it's not as if any author would be forced to read fan works. In fact, many publishers advise against it, due to incidents such as the one in '92 involving Marion Zimmer Bradley. (Some authors claim that their publishers actually encourage or even insist on fanwork bans. I find this unlikely to begin with, and more than a little unethical if true.) They wouldn't even be forced to acknowledge the existence of fan works. It's no skin off of their nose at all-if anything, it's less skin than they're deliberately sacrificing by demanding that their fans stop having fun.
Hell, the Organization for Transformative Works would argue that fan fiction already technically falls under fair use. But even if no actual changes to the relevant laws are required, some clarification would be greatly appreciated (and avert many a future misunderstanding).
It should also be noted that certain authors have written fan fiction (to name two of the most blatant, one is a continuing saga based on The Lord of the Rings, the other a trilogy based on Empire of the Petal Throne), sketchily filed the numbers off, published it...and proceeded to asert that any fan fiction thereof would be theft of their alleged "intellectual property." A third author all but suggested that if her fans wrote anything based on her work, they should file the numbers off, present the resulting travesty as "original," and attempt to publish it.
In other words? It would seem that to some of these authors, it's perfectly acceptable to write blatantly derivative literature-fobbed off as "original," no less-for profit. But writing unabashed fan fiction just for the fun of it? That's copyright infringement-logic and consistency be damned.
Been meaning to get around to this for a while now. Although I've attempted to be as sympathetic as possible, I'm sure someone is going to cry "fan entitlement." Which is ironic, considering what actually motivated me to get this out in the open...but that's another story that shall be told another time.
Nowhere does Sturgeon's Law apply more aptly than when it comes to fan fiction: 90% of it is crap. But we'll get back to that later.
Here's the brass tacks: Nearly every argument I've seen by an author against allowing fan fiction seems to come down to one of two motivations. The first is a skewed interpretation of copyright law-the mistaken notion that if fan fiction were allowed, one might lose control over one's material. The second is an over-protective attitude towards one's ideas-either fear that bad fan fiction (although these authors almost invariably assert that "bad fan fiction" is a tautology) based on one's work could damage one's reputation, or actually taking it as an attack on their stories (if not on themselves).
Some authors, I'm sure, would suggest that literary-minded fans just buy more of their books. To which I ask: Do you really hold your fans in such contempt as to see us as no more than passive consumers? Because if that's the case, I no longer even want to read your books, much less buy them.
We read because we enjoy the stories. We get immersed in the world. But sometimes, we've read all that there is to read of a given author's work, and still feel that we've been somewhat left hanging. Create an interesting world and characters, but leave gaps...and people are going to get curious.
From what I've observed, it's human nature to either speculate or rail in such a position. And while I don't like to make generalizations, it seems to me that many of us would rather speculate than rail. But when speculation is discouraged or disallowed, people will start railing sooner or later.
Now, wait, I hear you ask: this is about fan fiction, not speculation, right? Well, here's the thing: Yes, there are Mary Sues and 'shipping and revenge-fics and fix-fics (although some authors are willing to turn a blind eye to-or perhaps pointedly ignore-all of the above). But fan fiction, for the most part, is no more or less than speculation in story form.
It is no more an "insult" to the author than tricking out your car is an "insult" to Ford Motors. It is no more "stealing" from the author than making shopping bags out of T-shirts is "stealing" from Fruit of the Loom.
To quote Teresa Nielsen Hayden: Fanfic means someone cares about what you wrote. (And please take the exact circumstances of that statement into account, as well.)
Yes, 90% is crap. The remaining 10%, however, is well worth fighting for. And so, I believe that noncommercial fan fiction, like parody and critique, should be protected under fair use.
In short: I want to ban the fanwork ban.
Think about it: What would authors actually stand to lose if this happened? Only the ability to seek legal action against their fans for what usually adds up to harmless speculation. I find it hard to believe that even the most poorly written or tasteless fan fiction could be any more detrimental to an author's reputation than a particularly brutal review, or some of what actually manages to pass muster as transformative. (The notion that it could be anywhere near as detrimental as harassing-much less even threatening to sue-one's fans? Patently ludicrous.)
And it's not as if any author would be forced to read fan works. In fact, many publishers advise against it, due to incidents such as the one in '92 involving Marion Zimmer Bradley. (Some authors claim that their publishers actually encourage or even insist on fanwork bans. I find this unlikely to begin with, and more than a little unethical if true.) They wouldn't even be forced to acknowledge the existence of fan works. It's no skin off of their nose at all-if anything, it's less skin than they're deliberately sacrificing by demanding that their fans stop having fun.
Hell, the Organization for Transformative Works would argue that fan fiction already technically falls under fair use. But even if no actual changes to the relevant laws are required, some clarification would be greatly appreciated (and avert many a future misunderstanding).
It should also be noted that certain authors have written fan fiction (to name two of the most blatant, one is a continuing saga based on The Lord of the Rings, the other a trilogy based on Empire of the Petal Throne), sketchily filed the numbers off, published it...and proceeded to asert that any fan fiction thereof would be theft of their alleged "intellectual property." A third author all but suggested that if her fans wrote anything based on her work, they should file the numbers off, present the resulting travesty as "original," and attempt to publish it.
In other words? It would seem that to some of these authors, it's perfectly acceptable to write blatantly derivative literature-fobbed off as "original," no less-for profit. But writing unabashed fan fiction just for the fun of it? That's copyright infringement-logic and consistency be damned.