HANDS OFF!!
Given this post by ginny_weasley31 that some on Potter Place are seeking to compile lists of "abandoned" stories to complete--and some members are supporting the idea that if they don't hear back from the author they're going to consider permission implied.
Well, just in case, because I'm not sure anyone is interested in my little ol' WIP.
1) Book of Shadows is not abandoned despite not being updated two years--I've been trying to work on it.
2) No, you do not have permission to try to complete it even if I do abandon it. I'd rather pull the story completely off the internet than let that happen.
3) Just because we play in Rowling's world does not make me a hypocrite in this. Writing a derivative work in a shared universe is a very different thing than completing someone's story. You put something of yourself in that fanfic, you bring specific words to it and a particular take and a distinctive style. Writing your own story in a shared world (think say Mary Russell Holmes pastiches) is a very different thing than taking someone's incomplete story and pasting on.
4) Think of the effect on fandom. We don't get paid. Our only recompense is reviews and recs and awards and art and translations. Various forms of intangible ego boo. Part of the unwritten contract at least in my old fandom Trek was this. Your fic is yours. No one else has the right to control it. Even a beta is just an adviser. You use something distinct from a fic, you credit it. You don't plagiarize. You don't steal another's words and put them under a name you claim. And you never, ever, try to complete another's story without permission. Sometimes in Trek people would write "sequels"--I saw them much more often in Trek than I have here. It's a compliment, but even there the courteous thing to do to ask permission. But this is a different thing entirely. People post because they feel safe about their story not being appropriated by someone else. If they lose that sense of security... Well, had I thought an unauthorized completion of my story was a possible consequence of posting a WIP, I'd never have posted that first chapter. Others might start pulling their WIPs down. And I'd rather have access to KazVL's Falling Further In and Helga Von Nutwhimple's Meeting of the Minds even incomplete for myself and others who follow in the fandom. And no "completion" of those stories by others will feel like the real ending to me.
5) Fanfic isn't protected by copyright. I can't stop you if you try without my permission. Or if you do that to others. But if you do, in the words of an old curse: May you get everything you deserve.
6) If you really think this will get you friends and fans in the fandom... Think again. Anyone who even thinks this is a good idea has my undying enmity. I doubt I'm alone in that.
edit: Although one of the mods of Potter Place is involved in compiling a list, my understanding is the mods do not condone completing such fics w/o permission. Only certain people making comments. But this has come up before. Once on WIKTT early in my time in the fandom, and probably will again. And I think each time needs to be stomped on. Firmly.
Well, just in case, because I'm not sure anyone is interested in my little ol' WIP.
1) Book of Shadows is not abandoned despite not being updated two years--I've been trying to work on it.
2) No, you do not have permission to try to complete it even if I do abandon it. I'd rather pull the story completely off the internet than let that happen.
3) Just because we play in Rowling's world does not make me a hypocrite in this. Writing a derivative work in a shared universe is a very different thing than completing someone's story. You put something of yourself in that fanfic, you bring specific words to it and a particular take and a distinctive style. Writing your own story in a shared world (think say Mary Russell Holmes pastiches) is a very different thing than taking someone's incomplete story and pasting on.
4) Think of the effect on fandom. We don't get paid. Our only recompense is reviews and recs and awards and art and translations. Various forms of intangible ego boo. Part of the unwritten contract at least in my old fandom Trek was this. Your fic is yours. No one else has the right to control it. Even a beta is just an adviser. You use something distinct from a fic, you credit it. You don't plagiarize. You don't steal another's words and put them under a name you claim. And you never, ever, try to complete another's story without permission. Sometimes in Trek people would write "sequels"--I saw them much more often in Trek than I have here. It's a compliment, but even there the courteous thing to do to ask permission. But this is a different thing entirely. People post because they feel safe about their story not being appropriated by someone else. If they lose that sense of security... Well, had I thought an unauthorized completion of my story was a possible consequence of posting a WIP, I'd never have posted that first chapter. Others might start pulling their WIPs down. And I'd rather have access to KazVL's Falling Further In and Helga Von Nutwhimple's Meeting of the Minds even incomplete for myself and others who follow in the fandom. And no "completion" of those stories by others will feel like the real ending to me.
5) Fanfic isn't protected by copyright. I can't stop you if you try without my permission. Or if you do that to others. But if you do, in the words of an old curse: May you get everything you deserve.
6) If you really think this will get you friends and fans in the fandom... Think again. Anyone who even thinks this is a good idea has my undying enmity. I doubt I'm alone in that.
edit: Although one of the mods of Potter Place is involved in compiling a list, my understanding is the mods do not condone completing such fics w/o permission. Only certain people making comments. But this has come up before. Once on WIKTT early in my time in the fandom, and probably will again. And I think each time needs to be stomped on. Firmly.