oh come ON.
So.
Robin Hobb's rant about fic.
.... What the fuck?
I will say if I ever get something original published it would be stupid of me to howl if there's fic about it. I will also say that I'd probably have to let the word go out that Nobody Tells Me About It, I Don't Ask About It.
I guess I have a different view of fanwork than she does. Seriously, people, if I had a dollar for every series I'd read because of fic, I would have ... probably ten or fifteen dollars, which is a lot considering that I follow j-media and we are talking about multi-volume series -- DNAngel comes to mind, so does CCS, so does TRC, so does Saiyuki, so does goddamn TeniPuri -- which, all around, have cost me several hundred dollars at a conservative estimate. (For instance, DNAngel at $6.50 or thereabouts for each Japanese volume is $65.00, CCS is closer to seventy, I'd guess I have easily $150 or more of Tanemura Arina material, and I buy Tsubasa in both English and Japanese, so that's easily $150 or more. Especially since Dell charges $11 a volume for English tanks. I'd say XXXholic has cost me $55 at least so far. Do I need to go on?) I bought FF8 and 7 because of fic. There's a lot of stuff I wouldn't have picked up, let alone bought, if it weren't for fic and fandom. (Thomas Convenant the Unbeliever springs to mind, and I have never regretted seven dollars more. But I wouldn't have bought it if not for fic.)
(Not to mention I have bought or have been bought Brady Game Guides for games so I could have background detail. I would totally buy the FFX one if not for the fact that they didn't label any of the weapons and so it's sort of useless for me to try to use it as a reference. I'm a fan, Ms Hobb. Treat me right and I will buy out the goddamn store.)
If I had a dollar for every person who's said to me that they've followed a series because I wrote fic for it, I'd have at least another ten dollars, and that doesn't count the people who've never told me why they started following my stuff, or else started reading my stuff for another series and then went and read something else in a different series, which they eventually ended up following. That is a lot of income for people, and it isn't going toward me.
Money is the compliment I can pay to a media creator. Seriously, I write fic because I like the series. But I can't speak to the vast majority of fiction writers I read, I certainly can't be in contact with Tanemura or CLAMP or Matsumoto. I can and I do buy their work and I encourage other people to buy their work, and I write about their work because it's made an impact on me. Money is the best compliment I can pay to a media creator, and because of my wanker derivative fanworks, other people have ended up paying that compliment to them.
ARGH.
(Mostly, though, as someone who has gone through the original work .... community? before being a ficcer, if I hear a writer doesn't want fanfic written, I won't do it. I would love to write JD Robb fic, but I've heard she doesn't like it so I'm not going to do it. I'm not tempted to write Robin McKinley fic because she generally leaves everything in a state where I don't want fic anyway, but again, she's requested that people don't write it, so I won't. In case you're wondering, I have read most of the Fool Trilogy, thought it very interesting, and don't plan to buy it or read it again. Mostly because Fitz needs thumped.)
Robin Hobb's rant about fic.
.... What the fuck?
I will say if I ever get something original published it would be stupid of me to howl if there's fic about it. I will also say that I'd probably have to let the word go out that Nobody Tells Me About It, I Don't Ask About It.
I guess I have a different view of fanwork than she does. Seriously, people, if I had a dollar for every series I'd read because of fic, I would have ... probably ten or fifteen dollars, which is a lot considering that I follow j-media and we are talking about multi-volume series -- DNAngel comes to mind, so does CCS, so does TRC, so does Saiyuki, so does goddamn TeniPuri -- which, all around, have cost me several hundred dollars at a conservative estimate. (For instance, DNAngel at $6.50 or thereabouts for each Japanese volume is $65.00, CCS is closer to seventy, I'd guess I have easily $150 or more of Tanemura Arina material, and I buy Tsubasa in both English and Japanese, so that's easily $150 or more. Especially since Dell charges $11 a volume for English tanks. I'd say XXXholic has cost me $55 at least so far. Do I need to go on?) I bought FF8 and 7 because of fic. There's a lot of stuff I wouldn't have picked up, let alone bought, if it weren't for fic and fandom. (Thomas Convenant the Unbeliever springs to mind, and I have never regretted seven dollars more. But I wouldn't have bought it if not for fic.)
(Not to mention I have bought or have been bought Brady Game Guides for games so I could have background detail. I would totally buy the FFX one if not for the fact that they didn't label any of the weapons and so it's sort of useless for me to try to use it as a reference. I'm a fan, Ms Hobb. Treat me right and I will buy out the goddamn store.)
If I had a dollar for every person who's said to me that they've followed a series because I wrote fic for it, I'd have at least another ten dollars, and that doesn't count the people who've never told me why they started following my stuff, or else started reading my stuff for another series and then went and read something else in a different series, which they eventually ended up following. That is a lot of income for people, and it isn't going toward me.
Money is the compliment I can pay to a media creator. Seriously, I write fic because I like the series. But I can't speak to the vast majority of fiction writers I read, I certainly can't be in contact with Tanemura or CLAMP or Matsumoto. I can and I do buy their work and I encourage other people to buy their work, and I write about their work because it's made an impact on me. Money is the best compliment I can pay to a media creator, and because of my wanker derivative fanworks, other people have ended up paying that compliment to them.
ARGH.
(Mostly, though, as someone who has gone through the original work .... community? before being a ficcer, if I hear a writer doesn't want fanfic written, I won't do it. I would love to write JD Robb fic, but I've heard she doesn't like it so I'm not going to do it. I'm not tempted to write Robin McKinley fic because she generally leaves everything in a state where I don't want fic anyway, but again, she's requested that people don't write it, so I won't. In case you're wondering, I have read most of the Fool Trilogy, thought it very interesting, and don't plan to buy it or read it again. Mostly because Fitz needs thumped.)