My 2 Cents on AO3 Hosting Original Works
I've been fascinated by the recent discussions of whether AO3 should allow original fic to be archived. And I'm very impressed by the tone of the discussion, which seems in the main serious, intelligent, and non-dogmatic.
I'm in favor of allowing original fic for multiple reasons, many of which others have discussed eloquently. But my personal motive for wanting to post original fic is one I haven't seen much discussed: wanting to write fic that is broadly allusive. Today's copyright law is, in my opinion, insane in its rigidity. I'll give you a case in point from a story I actually really published in the old-fashioned, "professionally" acceptable and legal way. It's called "God of Lemons" and features a girl and some historical figures getting trapped in the afterlife. This story was written right around the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death, so I wanted it to include a Lennon tribute. The way this fit was to end the story on the symbolic resonance of noting that "all you need is love." Except "All you need is love" is a line from a Beatles song, and therefore, I am not allowed to quote it without obtaining copyright permission and paying royalties. In practice, this means that, if you include this kind of quote, no publisher will look at you if you're not already famous because they don't want to do this/pay this on your behalf. I don't blame them. So I sent in my story with some half-assed line about how love is very important or something. It really undercut the power of the ending. To what purpose? The purpose of not having as strong a tribute to Lennon and the Beatles as I would have if I had violated their copyright.
So... I have spent almost all of my original writing career studiously avoiding references (and certainly quotes) from any copyrighted material, knowing that if I don't I sacrifice any realistic chance of getting conventionally published and, even if I self-published, could conceivably be hounded for copyright violation. Any story that exists within modern culture is damaged by this limitation. Imagine teenage science fiction fans who never reference Star Wars. And wouldn't Hitchhiker's Guide be lessened without the "How many roads must a man walk down? 42"? (Yes, they did have to obtain copyright permission to use that one line from Dylan.)
I am sick of it. And so I am currently working on an original story in which I am being broadly, unabashedly allusive. Quotes are flying everywhere: I have Babylon 5, Dune, an old Star Trek novel.... And you know, they improve the story. I accept that I will never be able to profit from this story. That's okay; it's a story for which I sacrifice the possibility of making money to the joy of creating free art ("free" in the sense of "liberty" not "$0"). But I'm still in dubious copyright territory, and the most reasonable defense I can think of for allowing me to circulate this story to the public is that it is a fan work and should be protected under the same protections AO3 claims for fan works in general. That makes AO3 the perfect venue for archiving it, and I think archiving such works absolutely fits their mission.
I'm in favor of allowing original fic for multiple reasons, many of which others have discussed eloquently. But my personal motive for wanting to post original fic is one I haven't seen much discussed: wanting to write fic that is broadly allusive. Today's copyright law is, in my opinion, insane in its rigidity. I'll give you a case in point from a story I actually really published in the old-fashioned, "professionally" acceptable and legal way. It's called "God of Lemons" and features a girl and some historical figures getting trapped in the afterlife. This story was written right around the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death, so I wanted it to include a Lennon tribute. The way this fit was to end the story on the symbolic resonance of noting that "all you need is love." Except "All you need is love" is a line from a Beatles song, and therefore, I am not allowed to quote it without obtaining copyright permission and paying royalties. In practice, this means that, if you include this kind of quote, no publisher will look at you if you're not already famous because they don't want to do this/pay this on your behalf. I don't blame them. So I sent in my story with some half-assed line about how love is very important or something. It really undercut the power of the ending. To what purpose? The purpose of not having as strong a tribute to Lennon and the Beatles as I would have if I had violated their copyright.
So... I have spent almost all of my original writing career studiously avoiding references (and certainly quotes) from any copyrighted material, knowing that if I don't I sacrifice any realistic chance of getting conventionally published and, even if I self-published, could conceivably be hounded for copyright violation. Any story that exists within modern culture is damaged by this limitation. Imagine teenage science fiction fans who never reference Star Wars. And wouldn't Hitchhiker's Guide be lessened without the "How many roads must a man walk down? 42"? (Yes, they did have to obtain copyright permission to use that one line from Dylan.)
I am sick of it. And so I am currently working on an original story in which I am being broadly, unabashedly allusive. Quotes are flying everywhere: I have Babylon 5, Dune, an old Star Trek novel.... And you know, they improve the story. I accept that I will never be able to profit from this story. That's okay; it's a story for which I sacrifice the possibility of making money to the joy of creating free art ("free" in the sense of "liberty" not "$0"). But I'm still in dubious copyright territory, and the most reasonable defense I can think of for allowing me to circulate this story to the public is that it is a fan work and should be protected under the same protections AO3 claims for fan works in general. That makes AO3 the perfect venue for archiving it, and I think archiving such works absolutely fits their mission.