"When the author's dead, there's no way they could see how their creations are (mis)used by others."
Actually, that's precisely why I find it hypocritical. So it's okay to take their stories and do what you will with it if they're dead, but not okay if they're not? One day (general) you'll be dead and it'll be the same thing, if those authors are using ethics to curb people getting ideas from them, then I hope that those authors say that their works are fair game for derivative works after they die, just like every other dead author. Since those authors did precisely the same thing with old works anyway. I find it hard to make a moral ground of that. The morality, in my view is shaky here, on the other hand, it's not shaky if you take it on economic grounds and it isn't shaky as a matter of opinion. If authors were harmed economically or if they felt their wishes not to see fanfic floating around were not being respected, then I can stand behind authorial anger. I might, however, question why they get so giddy about fanart, though.
I'm sympathetic to how you feel about your characters, quite frankly, if I ever publish my story or get it online, I really will not be reading the fanfic starring my characters. There are very few people I can safely say right now who I would trust with my characters. And...I just can't do it, reading fanfic I mean. But if you or I as an author are not going to respect all works the same way, what sort of moral ground do we have to expect it of anyone else? Again, I see this as a matter of opinion and basic courtesy to another human being. And frankly, while I know that I would not want to see my characters being misused, I'm not going to pretend I have higher moral ground in insisting that fan-fic writers are somehow doing something wrong, when they're doing what humanity has done for thousands of years.
"I find the way you phrased this objectionable, because it sounds like you are trying to dictate how people should deal with their reading material, as if you think someone who does not want to write fanfiction is doing it wrong."
I wasn't clear, I'm sorry. My point in writing it like that is that the way Gabaldon phrased her disdain for fan-fic writers was pretty childish. It really sounds like that's what she's saying by telling people who engage in a text by fan-fic that they're doing it wrong. That there's only one way to engage with her text (or even any text) and that's the way she dictates they do it. Well, no. People are going to engage however they want, whether it's by writing critical essays, discussing, fanfiction, or whatever else. It's one thing to say, "please don't write fan-fic of my work, or if you're going to do it don't post it publicly, I don't really appreciate it because I find it squicky" but it's quite another to imply they're all criminal and stealing, when what they're actually doing is engaging with the text. In their own way.
I do not write fanfiction, the closest I've even done to fanfiction is childhood daydreaming about AU stories in my head, just in case you might think I'm a fan-fic writer. Writing fanfic ain't my cuppa, and since I've been a student of literature, I'm more like you in how I prefer to engage with a text. I'm not trying to say that there's one way of reading, in fact my views on books and reader engagement are far from that and are extremely broad. If they weren't so broad I wouldn't be defending something in which I don't even participate.
Re: I really like categorising things, I think.
Actually, that's precisely why I find it hypocritical. So it's okay to take their stories and do what you will with it if they're dead, but not okay if they're not? One day (general) you'll be dead and it'll be the same thing, if those authors are using ethics to curb people getting ideas from them, then I hope that those authors say that their works are fair game for derivative works after they die, just like every other dead author. Since those authors did precisely the same thing with old works anyway. I find it hard to make a moral ground of that. The morality, in my view is shaky here, on the other hand, it's not shaky if you take it on economic grounds and it isn't shaky as a matter of opinion. If authors were harmed economically or if they felt their wishes not to see fanfic floating around were not being respected, then I can stand behind authorial anger. I might, however, question why they get so giddy about fanart, though.
I'm sympathetic to how you feel about your characters, quite frankly, if I ever publish my story or get it online, I really will not be reading the fanfic starring my characters. There are very few people I can safely say right now who I would trust with my characters. And...I just can't do it, reading fanfic I mean. But if you or I as an author are not going to respect all works the same way, what sort of moral ground do we have to expect it of anyone else? Again, I see this as a matter of opinion and basic courtesy to another human being. And frankly, while I know that I would not want to see my characters being misused, I'm not going to pretend I have higher moral ground in insisting that fan-fic writers are somehow doing something wrong, when they're doing what humanity has done for thousands of years.
"I find the way you phrased this objectionable, because it sounds like you are trying to dictate how people should deal with their reading material, as if you think someone who does not want to write fanfiction is doing it wrong."
I wasn't clear, I'm sorry. My point in writing it like that is that the way Gabaldon phrased her disdain for fan-fic writers was pretty childish. It really sounds like that's what she's saying by telling people who engage in a text by fan-fic that they're doing it wrong. That there's only one way to engage with her text (or even any text) and that's the way she dictates they do it. Well, no. People are going to engage however they want, whether it's by writing critical essays, discussing, fanfiction, or whatever else. It's one thing to say, "please don't write fan-fic of my work, or if you're going to do it don't post it publicly, I don't really appreciate it because I find it squicky" but it's quite another to imply they're all criminal and stealing, when what they're actually doing is engaging with the text. In their own way.
I do not write fanfiction, the closest I've even done to fanfiction is childhood daydreaming about AU stories in my head, just in case you might think I'm a fan-fic writer. Writing fanfic ain't my cuppa, and since I've been a student of literature, I'm more like you in how I prefer to engage with a text. I'm not trying to say that there's one way of reading, in fact my views on books and reader engagement are far from that and are extremely broad. If they weren't so broad I wouldn't be defending something in which I don't even participate.