Comments | melindadansky: The Case Against Fan Fiction

melindadansky

The Case Against Fan Fiction

May 14, 2010 18:55

There are days when I say to myself "Melinda, don't poke the people who annoy you. It will only end in tears."

( On other days, I say 'Smurf it!' )

rants, things i should not say

Comments 11

(The comment has been removed)

Re: Not quite the same thing, but... melindadansky May 15 2010, 01:23:42 UTC

"You have to let me steal your ideas because I really, really want to play with them."

Pretty much.

Re: Not quite the same thing, but... rdansky May 15 2010, 13:14:58 UTC

*blink*

That may be the only thing he's ever said that I agree with.

Re: Not quite the same thing, but... andelku May 17 2010, 02:42:13 UTC

I'm not blanket anti-fan fiction, but the more I hear the defenses of it, the more squicked I am.

Thread 6

(The comment has been removed)

melindadansky May 15 2010, 13:44:51 UTC

Like I said, I'm really just interested in clarity of argument than eliminating all fanfic from the internet.

(The comment has been removed)

melindadansky May 15 2010, 22:25:01 UTC

Does someone want to use her sociological know-how to kick in a few teeth? :-)

Because I have to admit that your humble statistician is out of her depth. I don't like most fan fiction. I agree with you about a certain entitled attitude among some fan fiction writers, but I'm not really able to comment beyond "You're not defining your terms, which makes reasonable discussion impossible."

Thread 6

houseboatonstyx May 15 2010, 18:49:24 UTC

Imo ff is a great phenomenon, and most canon authors don't seem to mind. But when a canon author is upset by it, imo her feelings should be respected.

Writing is an emotional business and many published authors don't net much money; they're doing it for love too. If they see their characters 'trashed', it may discourage them from writing more canon, or from writing it as well.

melindadansky May 15 2010, 19:37:43 UTC

Hi! Thanks for commenting!

andelku May 17 2010, 02:39:19 UTC

I wonder if it is true that most canon authors don't mind, or if they've decided that it isn't worth the hassle of fighting it. Especially since they might alienate their potential fan base if they make too much noise about it. Plenty of ff authors are very self-righteous about profic authors who actually come out against it, and will go so far as to boycott them.

There are authors who are very pro ff and say so enthusiastically, but if an author simply says nothing much, or does so in a very muted way, I don't think that indicates they like the practice.