crossing the streams

[dianora2]

I've been making occasionally bitchy comments on Twitter, but I'm feeling the need to talk in a bit more depth about this whole Fifty Shades of Gray debacle

Comments

[zandras_court]

the first Rule of Fanfic is Don't Sell Fanfic
THIS! So much THIS! Fandom is a culture. One I've had the privilege of enjoying for over 12 years. And yeah, this is heat we don't want, but mostly, it violates the understanding we've all bought into: We play for free in other people's sandboxes.

One of my comms has been having a wonderful discussion of this here. Because that fandom is all about sexy, slashy police officers, we focused a lot on the legality of this, which is an issue somewhat separate from the fandom culture one.

But I think the curse of fandom is that it makes us think we are better writers than we are sometimes. If you can't be creative enough to get your own premise and your own agent, enjoy your Big-Fish-in-the-Fandom-Pond status and be content with it. IMO.

[hannasus]

I am of two minds. On the one hand, I am sort of saddened and horrified that our society is in a place where shitty Twilight fanfic can end up on the NYT bestseller list. I mean, OMG WTF. Not that fanfic has to be bad--there are a lot of truly amazing fanfic writers out there, but THAT shit is just not great. And the fact that apparently the demand for the shitty stuff is SO high just kind of makes me weep for humanity. (But then again, the original Twilight books are appallingly bad, and look how successful they were, so fuck it, I guess, we're all doomed.) Also, everyone buying these knockoffs is doubly dumb, because you can find that crap for free EVERYWHERE. And it is beyond depressing to think thing legit publishers might start trawling through the Pit of Voles looking for more shitty Twilight knockoffs to bestow publishing contracts upon. Ugh

[zandras_court]

Also, Twilight sucks balls.

Sus, this is why I love you more than my luggage. ::smooch:

[anxietygrrl]

+1

[dianora2]

Oh, agreed to everything you're saying here. I mean, I know licensed publishing inside and out. But that is different. And there are many authors who got their start in fic, including good friends of mine, but again, they didn't just do a find and replace on their fanfic. I think that's what's annoying me most of all. That this basically IS fanfic. It's not something that grew out of an idea or a different fic, etc.

And the Pride & Prejudice stuff etc -- yeah, that's all public domain, so to my mind that is different. It's not something you could potentially get sued for.

I mean, I am OBVIOUSLY a huge lover of and proponent of fanfic. But this feels like it's crossing a line.

(Thank you for your awesomely thoughtful comment btw! Twilight does indeed suck balls, as does the literary taste of most of America.)

[writingpathways]

I don't have an issue with taking something fanfic and reworking it into something original and publishable.... but the key words here are reworking it it into....

I've had in my head to do it a few times myself, I just need to learn to finish...

What bothers me the most is I read some excerpts and it's CRAP. It's badly written crap fanfic and that women are paying for it is awful, it's bad enough Twilight itself managed to get published because what little I know about it, again from bits and pieces read and heard, that too was bad fanfic that got lucky to be published. So so one else went and wrote bad AU porn off of it and now has published and is getting money off it...

It's just... argh.

[dianora2]

Yep: all of this.

[kiss_me_cassie]

I'm with you - Don't cross the Streams. Don't Profit. Fic is fic and keep it that damned way. But you say it better. ;)

[counteragent]

I think if you truly rework it to be your own work it's totally fine.

It's not like the plots or characters of fanfic OR of most novels OR most movies/TV shows are in some way unique butterflies.

Most entertainment is heavily inspired by other entertainment. Most creative works are heavily inspired by other creative works. And by "heavily inspired" I mean "totally ripped off/fused/blended/etc."

I'm just mad it isn't one of my friends getting rich...this time. I hope this is a kick in the pants to some of the better porn fanfic writers out there to get themselves an agent, because we might as well keep the money in the family so to speak.

And I'm pleased that more women are discovering the joys of narrative erotica.

*shrug*

[kopernik]

Most entertainment is heavily inspired by other entertainment. Most creative works are heavily inspired by other creative worksStrongly agree. As I said in my comment, I've seen people absolutely pitch major league fits over works that started out as fanfic but were reworked so thoroughly that they NEVER would have known it was fanfic if they hadn't been taken aside and told that it was so. And whenever it happens, I desperately wish I could put the pitcher of the fit in a room with all the media they have ever loved, and then one by one take away every work that was heavily inspired by other entertainment. Take away everything that has its roots in the Bible and you'd lose a massive amount of literature right off the bat

[careyleah]

Yeah, I'm basically on this page with you. Especially if fic is AU the line is really blurry already for me about original vs. fan fic. Depending on how good you are at characterization you're basically just using names people know to get them to read at that point. Because people want to picture those names or faces they're already familiar with.

HOWEVER, yes, fannish worlds should be kept separate. Not to mention that it sucks having shitty fic be the 'face of fandom.'

But like, I can say to my parents, hey the author of those books also writes fanfic on the internet, and that means nothing to them, so...

[counteragent]

careyleah and kopernik: ITA--I honestly think that AUs are there already--especially something like an RPF AU