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[moeyknight]

I've been reading John Scalzi's blog, Whatever, for a while now. If you had asked me before today, I would have told you that he rubbed me the wrong way although it was never something I could really put my finger on. It wasn't particular opinions he holds or ideas, just his overall attitude. I kept his blog on my RSS feeds and usually just

Comments

[angua9]

I would have told you that he rubbed me the wrong way although it was never something I could really put my finger on

Maybe it was the fact that he called his blog "Whatever"?

Anyway, yes, this thief is a big supporter of honor among thieves, thank you. On the other hand, I don't see why any amongst our number are seeking out published writers to condemn Cassandra Claire, though I suppose one could say that if she doesn't conform to the ethical standards of our "thieves community," there's no reason to think that she'll conform to the ethical standards of his "real world" community of actual published writers, and so some warning was due from our community to his. But if that's not welcome, I see no reason to pester them.

On the other other hand, are we to take Scalzi as saying that he would be perfectly comfortable with someone adapting passages from his works into a fanfiction for a different work, without attribution? I think that's uncommonly generous of him! Perhaps we should point future Cassandra Claires in his direction.

[moeyknight]

I have no idea why people would go to other authors for support because for the most part I think that authors just tend to ignore fanfic and don't want to be involved in any debate regarding it. However, since he puts himself out there as a "figure" in the scifi community, (at least that's the impression I get from his blog) I don't think it's strange for anyone to ask his opinion or want to discuss it with him. It's been spread among various comms and lists, I'm certain, so the chances that he was bound to come across it were probably high.

As for sending the future CC's his way, that might be a good idea since 1) I'm certain if there were fanfic for his books he'd pull an Anne Rice and 2) he's got the over-the-top witty dialogue they all crave.

And I would definitely rather be an honorable theif than a law-abiding person with no soul. ;)

[scalzi]

"As for sending the future CC's his way, that might be a good idea since 1) I'm certain if there were fanfic for his books he'd pull an Anne Rice and 2) he's got the over-the-top witty dialogue they all crave."

Someone's already done a fanfic of my stuff and sent it to me; I didn't have an issue with it. I find fanfic generally non-objectionable and often a positive thing for a media property. I've discussed it at length here:

http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003496.html

[mrs_bombadil]

She wasn't referring to simple fic. ;)

[mrs_bombadil]

Eep, I'm referring to the other commenter before that. Never mind :)

[angua9]

But the question at hand is would you have an issue with it if someone copied chunks of your text into their Firefly or Battlestar Galactica fanfic, either without mentioning you or possibly saying "ideas in this chapter inspired by Old Man's War, by John Scalzi."

I'm not a published author, but I think I'd be much less pleased with that than with a nice flattering fanfic.