Very much enjoyed reading the debate this entry sparked.
Personally, I feel qualified only to speak from my perspective... that being a writer with a sizeable piece of work which has enjoyed a small but loyal patronage in the internets. I do not make (much) money out of my title and never intended to nor plan to. I write and publish for the fun of it. And part of the fun of it for me is looking at how other people perceive my characters and world setting through fanfic and fanart. I'm not constrained by legal issues involved with making a living from my work... my stuff is in no way big enough to attract any sort of marketing. Also I am not so protective of my characters that I can't allow other people to write about them how they veiw them. I find it interesting to see how others envision my people. If i don't like it I stop reading.
Having said that, I can sympathize with authors who make their living off their work having a negative veiw of fan works. the biggest problem I can see, besides fans selling their fanfics for profit and thus cutting a share of a market they don't legally own, is the risk that a fan will accuse the original author of misappropriating ideas from fanfics and incorporating them into the core stories. It has happened in the past. This is why authors publically state that they will not read fanfics. But this, unfortunately, may not be sufficient to stave off legal proceedings should an accussation arise. A dead author cannot be accused thus. One would argue that why have the seventy year clause then if not to protect the income of the copyright holders. There is a lot of room for debate here on respecting the decendants desire to preserve the original authors work in the minds of the readers without it being mixed with the ideas of fan writers. Personally i would argue that each individual reader creates their own internal fanfics reguardles... For example: have you never looked forward to a revelation or confrontation in a story only to find that when you get there the canon version feels unsatisfactory? Who hasn't rewritten the scene in their head to appease that sense of dissapointmen? We are all fanfic writers internally. And we are all smart enough to differentiate between what is canon and what someone else has fanticised based on original characters and world settings.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-05-13 12:46 am (UTC)Personally, I feel qualified only to speak from my perspective... that being a writer with a sizeable piece of work which has enjoyed a small but loyal patronage in the internets. I do not make (much) money out of my title and never intended to nor plan to. I write and publish for the fun of it. And part of the fun of it for me is looking at how other people perceive my characters and world setting through fanfic and fanart. I'm not constrained by legal issues involved with making a living from my work... my stuff is in no way big enough to attract any sort of marketing. Also I am not so protective of my characters that I can't allow other people to write about them how they veiw them. I find it interesting to see how others envision my people. If i don't like it I stop reading.
Having said that, I can sympathize with authors who make their living off their work having a negative veiw of fan works. the biggest problem I can see, besides fans selling their fanfics for profit and thus cutting a share of a market they don't legally own, is the risk that a fan will accuse the original author of misappropriating ideas from fanfics and incorporating them into the core stories. It has happened in the past. This is why authors publically state that they will not read fanfics. But this, unfortunately, may not be sufficient to stave off legal proceedings should an accussation arise. A dead author cannot be accused thus. One would argue that why have the seventy year clause then if not to protect the income of the copyright holders. There is a lot of room for debate here on respecting the decendants desire to preserve the original authors work in the minds of the readers without it being mixed with the ideas of fan writers. Personally i would argue that each individual reader creates their own internal fanfics reguardles... For example: have you never looked forward to a revelation or confrontation in a story only to find that when you get there the canon version feels unsatisfactory? Who hasn't rewritten the scene in their head to appease that sense of dissapointmen? We are all fanfic writers internally. And we are all smart enough to differentiate between what is canon and what someone else has fanticised based on original characters and world settings.