Libraries, Cons, McCaffrey, Rowlings, Derivative Works, Trademarks, fan fiction (was Re: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: GWTW Fanfic Provokes Lawsuit

[Rosmerta]

I'm utterly reluctant to get into this because my knowledge is so 
inconsequential compared to the obviously vast knowledge of the 
fanfic fans conversing below (michela and jim et al) but let me play 
the naif and respond.....

> Jim Ferer wrote:
I''m guessing that some of the authors you name have the
> > zero-tolerance policy because of 1) Worry for legal entanglments 
such
> > as those I mentioned or you mention below, 2) Fear their 
reputation
> > will be diluted by fanfiction of varying quality, or 3) Irritation
> > like that Niven felt.
> 
Might they also be offended that fanfic is, as we used to say in 
Junior High, "ripping off" their creations? I can understand in fans 
the interest, the obsession (using the term in a nonderogatory way), 
the wondering (hmm, what *if* Draco wore leather? What *if* 
Harry/Hermione? What *if* Sirius slashed Remus?), even the desire to 
get the wonderings down on paper (or digitally). 

But at that moment when you, as the would-be fanfic author, sit down 
at the PC and begin to type, what are you feeling? If you aren't 
stealing the creation of the very author that you profess to admire 
the most, then what is it (or borrowing, or appropriating, or 
whatever term you want to use)? 

When your author is conveniently dead or no longer writing, it's easy 
to ignore those questions. But what if the author is not only still 
writing, but still writing *the thing you're deriving from*, a la 
JKR? At best, it seems like this might be interpreted as a kind of 
literary drumming-your-fingers-on-the-table-while-you-wait, which is 
not the best manners, but it could just as easily be seen as 
finishing the sentences before they're out of her mouth. What is it 
that makes some people want to finish off those ps and qs, with 
various levels of success, while other people simply discuss rabidly 
or chat intermittently or patiently read other things in the interim? 

And with all the efforts of various emotional and physical kinds that 
go into writing anything, fanfic very much included, how does it feel 
when it's all over to have written something that is derivitive in 
the literal sense, derived from someone *else's* brainchild? With a 
little more effort (okay, a LOT more, since the initial genius spark 
is the biggest thing) couldn't you be writing your own "stuff?" And 
if you did write your own stuff, would you truly truly in your heart 
of hearts be nothing but overjoyed that people felt comfortable 
making your creation jump to their own tunes? That's asking a lot of 
anyone, never mind an artist. 


Michela mentions "Brenda Atrim is "famous" in about five fandoms and
> most everyone I know who knows of her has a deep respect for her." 

If she's so wonderful (and again, please remember I am playing the 
devil's advocate here.....) why isn't she writing her own original 
material? I'm just wondering what fanfic authors *feel* when they 
pour what is obviously some heartfelt effort into something that is 
ultimately not purely their own work? 

Is this some sort of collective self-esteem issue (said somewhat 
joking, but with a tinge of seriousness)? Or I'm wondering maybe if 
it has to do with some sort of sliding scale on the inhererent rights 
of authors and other creators (and I'm not talking legal rights here 
but moral and/or inspirational). I write--hell, I'm a professional 
writer if you mean that I do it full time and get paid for it--but I 
would never, ever cross that line into using anyone else's material, 
nonfiction or fiction, ever. In addition to feeling that it's a slam 
on the author, I would feel like it's a slam on me, i.e., either do 
what she's doing better than she can or get out of the way and let 
her do her thing. 

In talking about authors' general tolerance/intolerance to fanfic, 
there was some discussion about less commercial authors that "needed" 
to keep a fan base happy by either endorsing or at least not legally 
discouring fanfic, games, etc., culminating in James' question 
of "Why bother to read the Harry Potter
> books when you can read fan fiction that is really really good on-
line?" 

Just have to shed a little light of reality on that statement....I 
think the reason people keep paying for Harry Potter books rather 
than reading fanfic free online is simply that the real books are 
better than the derivitives. 

Which leads to Michela's observation...."For > my paper on book fan 
fiction, I asked people in a chat room I hang out > in WHY they don't 
read the Harry Potter books.  The ones who didn't read
> it, by and large, cited the Harry Potter fan fiction they'd run 
across > on fanfiction.net ...[as] reflecting so poorly on the works 
and the fans that the books must suck." 

Okay: people can choose to read what they do for whatever reason they 
choose, but to avoid a book simply because the fanfic derivitives 
suck is completely upside-down-and-backwards logic and one big, deep 
and long argument for "pro authors" (as Michela calls them) avoiding 
fanfic like the plague. 

Which leads to my very last question: why is fanfic limited by and 
large to genre? I'm not seeing the JM Coetzees of the world being 
rewritten or The English Patient being fanfictionalized. Why is that? 
Is that because the Pulitzer/Booker/Nobel caliber stuff isn't 
derivable (is that a word? You know what I mean, I hope) in the sense 
that those works are utterly complete and unrevisably themselves, 
whether you liked them or not?  Someone posted something a long time 
ago on the main list that suggested fanfic was around to fill in the 
holes in the primary work......is HP fanfic around mostly because 
it's still a work in progress? 

~Rosemerta, who now really has asked all the questions she has on 
this topic