Give Me A Break
So I was innocently searching through google when I came across this OVER DRAMATIZED reason as to why this author hated fanfiction.. Like seriously?? Before I go ranting an raving about this piece of crap post (then again, that is only my opinion and anyone is welcome to disagree with me, it's all good.. heh..) why don't we see what this oh so wonderful writer has to say about fanfiction.. or wait.. what did they call it? The art of stealing?
My ass.. *mumble mumble*
Fan-Fiction…or the art of stealing fiction
Question:What is wrong with writing fan-fiction? I thought writer’s liked it when us fans loved their work and wrote fan-fiction? I write fan fiction all the time…What harm can it do? Answer:FanFic or Fan Fiction. Nope, that is not here either. If you are looking for a place to post your fan fic, than you are in the wrong place, and talking to the wrong person.As the creator and copyright owner of my own universe, I have my characters designed and act the way I want them to look, talk, and act. My porcupine quills stand on end and shot fire at the mere thought that a fan would maul and mutilate one on my characters to fit their own definition of them. I hate it when fans, create themselves as a character and become the lover of one of my characters. What gives you the right to think that he (she) would see anything to like about you? I know what my characters like and do not like. If I want them in a torrid erotica affair with someone, than I will give them a lover and write about the affair myself.
While it may be good practice for new writers, to write out their fantasies with copyrighted characters… if you are not capable of creating your own characters, than you really have no business pretending to be a writer at all.
Why? Well, for one thing to be a writer, you must create your own universe. Yeah, that’s right…Writers create.
And what do writer’s create?
Writers create characters. If you can’t create your own characters, you will not get very far as a professional writer.
Fan-Fic for your personal fantasy and writing practice is one thing but to publish it and make a mockery of the original writer’s intended character traits is not only an outrage, but a copyright infringement that could get you a $25,000 fine and/or 10 or more years in prison. Some authors may not care, but what about the one’s who do care? What do they do?
In a word…they sue your ass off, and take you for everything you have…you could lose your home, your car, your job, and if you are lucky you won’t go to prison…. that’s IF, and the law swings to the rights of the creator of the characters, so your chances of landing on the little tiny if are not good.
Think about it this way:
Pretend for a few moments that you are not some fan-fic groupie…but that you are an actual writer…the REAL THING…a 100% honest writer who has created a universe filled with wonderful characters. Characters who you get paid to write about. Characters, who, if you stopped writing about, your family would starve, because you are a real writer and you get paid to write….
Now that you are a real writer…think about this…
You have created a character that you love deeply. You have poured your heart and soul into designing him. You gave him a home. A career. A family. A lifestyle. A goal. A purpose, etc. He is perfect. Now you write a story about him. You want the world to know how much you love the character you have created.
Eureka, the story is published! Better, yet, the world loves him. He becomes an over night hit. You are so proud that the world loves him as much as you do.
Than one day you come across a fan-fic site, and shudder, shock, horror! You find that your beloved character has murdered his wife and is in bed with the author of the FanFic story! Or your villain has given up a life of crime and now preaches the Bible as a traveling evangelist.
You stare at the screen in disbelief. You are shocked. You are hurt. With tears in your eyes, you ask yourself: “How could they? How could they take my beautiful perfect character, and turn him into such a monster?”
Your heart is broken. You give up writing. You cannot understand how your fans could be so sadistic and cruel as to destroy your beloved work of art. Why? Why? Why? You thought they loved him as much as you do…and now you find that they don’t love him, they only love to hurt him. WHY? You ask again. You worked so long. You worked so hard. And for what? For this? To sit back and watch as the fans destroy the character you created and turn him into something you never intended him to be?
Than you realize…they are destroying your character, and fans are reading it! Fans are reading it! That means they are not buying your stories anymore. You are not getting paid for these works of fan-fiction. Your family must go hungry because your fans instead of paying for your work are reading fan-fiction. The writers of the fan-fiction have not only destroyed your character, but they have stolen the food right out of your children’s mouths. They have stolen your income, your career is ruined.
You see the problem with fan-fiction?
Do you see now why I hate it so much?
How do you think you’d feel if someone did this to you and a character you created?.
* * *
Ok.. REALLY NOW? If they're going to be that over freakin dramatic about a piece of fanfiction then yes.. By all means, quit being an author and take your sensative self to an employment agency and find a job that won't make you cry.
First of all, if someone is even bothering to WRITE a fanfiction about your book, clearly that means that the person read it. Clearly that means that these people took valuable time out of their hectic day in order to read your book. And those reading the fanfiction CLEARLY read the book as well! Are you that dense not to even realize this? Through fanfiction (primarily of books) if anything it's just an advertisement to keep reading the books that the author writes, especially if it's a series.
I mean really now.. And how DARE this person say that those who write fanfics are pretending to be writers. We aren't pretending to be anything. And we do create! The most popular fanfiction circulating on the internet is primarily AU meaning Alternate Universe, meaning NO they aren't taking what you created, only placing your characters (which could be horrible to begin with depending on who this author is *shrug*) into different situations. It's not stealing, because we aren't making a profit and not persuading others to do a disservice to the author and discontinue reading their books. That's NOT the objective of fanfiction.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and dammit who would bother writing a fanfic about a book they absolutely hated. UGH!!!
My opinion? Fanfiction is a wonderful thing to share with others. It's a chance to tap into your own talen or simply keep with a hobby that makes you smile. Not everyone is an award winning author on the verge of another romantic thriller or whatever the hell it is this person writes. Not everyone's manuscript will make it to the publishing house, not everyone can afford to have a literary agent, not everyone wants to be a stuck up and snooty writer who hates on the people who love with all their heart what that author is putting out.
On a more personal note.. As a writer of fanfiction.. If I were to discover that this was the kind of person putting out my favorite books, would I really want to waste me time and energy reading their work? or give them my money buy purchasing something with their name slapped across it? Are these really the people that have created timeless characters that the world will forever remember? I would have to seriously doubt what this person was putting out. I believe that.. no matter what you write.. A little bit of yourself goes into each and every scenario the characters get themselves into.
It's heart, honesty and a natural talent that make up a writer. Not some big publishing company and a blog spouting how you want to damn all fanfiction writers to hell. If being a genuine scrooge is what being a 'real author' is all about, then hell, I'm never gonna be a 'real author' and never hope to be.
My ass.. *mumble mumble*
Fan-Fiction…or the art of stealing fiction
Question:What is wrong with writing fan-fiction? I thought writer’s liked it when us fans loved their work and wrote fan-fiction? I write fan fiction all the time…What harm can it do? Answer:FanFic or Fan Fiction. Nope, that is not here either. If you are looking for a place to post your fan fic, than you are in the wrong place, and talking to the wrong person.As the creator and copyright owner of my own universe, I have my characters designed and act the way I want them to look, talk, and act. My porcupine quills stand on end and shot fire at the mere thought that a fan would maul and mutilate one on my characters to fit their own definition of them. I hate it when fans, create themselves as a character and become the lover of one of my characters. What gives you the right to think that he (she) would see anything to like about you? I know what my characters like and do not like. If I want them in a torrid erotica affair with someone, than I will give them a lover and write about the affair myself.
While it may be good practice for new writers, to write out their fantasies with copyrighted characters… if you are not capable of creating your own characters, than you really have no business pretending to be a writer at all.
Why? Well, for one thing to be a writer, you must create your own universe. Yeah, that’s right…Writers create.
And what do writer’s create?
Writers create characters. If you can’t create your own characters, you will not get very far as a professional writer.
Fan-Fic for your personal fantasy and writing practice is one thing but to publish it and make a mockery of the original writer’s intended character traits is not only an outrage, but a copyright infringement that could get you a $25,000 fine and/or 10 or more years in prison. Some authors may not care, but what about the one’s who do care? What do they do?
In a word…they sue your ass off, and take you for everything you have…you could lose your home, your car, your job, and if you are lucky you won’t go to prison…. that’s IF, and the law swings to the rights of the creator of the characters, so your chances of landing on the little tiny if are not good.
Think about it this way:
Pretend for a few moments that you are not some fan-fic groupie…but that you are an actual writer…the REAL THING…a 100% honest writer who has created a universe filled with wonderful characters. Characters who you get paid to write about. Characters, who, if you stopped writing about, your family would starve, because you are a real writer and you get paid to write….
Now that you are a real writer…think about this…
You have created a character that you love deeply. You have poured your heart and soul into designing him. You gave him a home. A career. A family. A lifestyle. A goal. A purpose, etc. He is perfect. Now you write a story about him. You want the world to know how much you love the character you have created.
Eureka, the story is published! Better, yet, the world loves him. He becomes an over night hit. You are so proud that the world loves him as much as you do.
Than one day you come across a fan-fic site, and shudder, shock, horror! You find that your beloved character has murdered his wife and is in bed with the author of the FanFic story! Or your villain has given up a life of crime and now preaches the Bible as a traveling evangelist.
You stare at the screen in disbelief. You are shocked. You are hurt. With tears in your eyes, you ask yourself: “How could they? How could they take my beautiful perfect character, and turn him into such a monster?”
Your heart is broken. You give up writing. You cannot understand how your fans could be so sadistic and cruel as to destroy your beloved work of art. Why? Why? Why? You thought they loved him as much as you do…and now you find that they don’t love him, they only love to hurt him. WHY? You ask again. You worked so long. You worked so hard. And for what? For this? To sit back and watch as the fans destroy the character you created and turn him into something you never intended him to be?
Than you realize…they are destroying your character, and fans are reading it! Fans are reading it! That means they are not buying your stories anymore. You are not getting paid for these works of fan-fiction. Your family must go hungry because your fans instead of paying for your work are reading fan-fiction. The writers of the fan-fiction have not only destroyed your character, but they have stolen the food right out of your children’s mouths. They have stolen your income, your career is ruined.
You see the problem with fan-fiction?
Do you see now why I hate it so much?
How do you think you’d feel if someone did this to you and a character you created?.
* * *
Ok.. REALLY NOW? If they're going to be that over freakin dramatic about a piece of fanfiction then yes.. By all means, quit being an author and take your sensative self to an employment agency and find a job that won't make you cry.
First of all, if someone is even bothering to WRITE a fanfiction about your book, clearly that means that the person read it. Clearly that means that these people took valuable time out of their hectic day in order to read your book. And those reading the fanfiction CLEARLY read the book as well! Are you that dense not to even realize this? Through fanfiction (primarily of books) if anything it's just an advertisement to keep reading the books that the author writes, especially if it's a series.
I mean really now.. And how DARE this person say that those who write fanfics are pretending to be writers. We aren't pretending to be anything. And we do create! The most popular fanfiction circulating on the internet is primarily AU meaning Alternate Universe, meaning NO they aren't taking what you created, only placing your characters (which could be horrible to begin with depending on who this author is *shrug*) into different situations. It's not stealing, because we aren't making a profit and not persuading others to do a disservice to the author and discontinue reading their books. That's NOT the objective of fanfiction.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and dammit who would bother writing a fanfic about a book they absolutely hated. UGH!!!
My opinion? Fanfiction is a wonderful thing to share with others. It's a chance to tap into your own talen or simply keep with a hobby that makes you smile. Not everyone is an award winning author on the verge of another romantic thriller or whatever the hell it is this person writes. Not everyone's manuscript will make it to the publishing house, not everyone can afford to have a literary agent, not everyone wants to be a stuck up and snooty writer who hates on the people who love with all their heart what that author is putting out.
On a more personal note.. As a writer of fanfiction.. If I were to discover that this was the kind of person putting out my favorite books, would I really want to waste me time and energy reading their work? or give them my money buy purchasing something with their name slapped across it? Are these really the people that have created timeless characters that the world will forever remember? I would have to seriously doubt what this person was putting out. I believe that.. no matter what you write.. A little bit of yourself goes into each and every scenario the characters get themselves into.
It's heart, honesty and a natural talent that make up a writer. Not some big publishing company and a blog spouting how you want to damn all fanfiction writers to hell. If being a genuine scrooge is what being a 'real author' is all about, then hell, I'm never gonna be a 'real author' and never hope to be.