Teresa Neilsen Hayden (senior editor at Tor)
pwnz those who equate fanfiction with theft. My favorite bit:
In a purely literary sense, fanfic doesn’t exist. There is only fiction. Fanfic is a legal category created by the modern system of trademarks and copyrights. Putting that label on a work of fiction says nothing about its quality, its creativity, or the intent of the writer who created it.
all I can say is, Worddity word WORD!
edited to add
partly_bouncy points to a pager that details the Marion Zimmer Bradley vs. fanfic author story and Teresa (
tnh)herself steps in to respond with a link to the original comment thread/context for the quote I pulled and the entire kerfuffle.
I had a long, involved post written explaining my complicated POV as an author/creator (of fiction and music) and a ficcer/thief, when I realized that I have no desire to start yet another, peripheral kerfuffle and end up on teh wank. There's a place for dispassionate discourse on fandom and this really isn't it. This is a subjective, fannish, squee-filled journal of r3cs. Click to comments and follow the links if you're interested.
Also,
thelastgoodname is leading a thoughtful discussion on the whole March "Why are they playing in my universe?!" THING
here.