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silverflight8) wrote2010-05-04 09:43 pm
silverflight8) wrote2010-05-04 09:43 pm
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Dear Dr. Gabaldon:
In regards to this article** , I have a few things to say. I get that it's not fun to see your characters mangled, dragged through God-knows-what, and being generally transformed into things that they shouldn't be.
However.
1. I agree that a lot of fanfiction is really, really bad. Especially for readers weaned on publisher-fed, editor-checked, career-furthering works. But, um, that doesn't really give you the right to compare them to burglars, break-and-enterers, and husband-stealers. (This was a mind boggling concept, to tell you the truth. How are they the same? What?!)
2. I think you missed most of the fanfiction.net fics--you know, the ones that state in BOLD that "I don't own anything, this is all x,y,z's work". And though I think a lot of this is because the writer doesn't want to get "sued", they publicly acknowledge that they aren't taking anything. They are not saying that this is their work (when they say that, then it crosses into the plagiarism land.) I'm going to say this really loudly.
FANFICTION DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY EQUAL
PLAGIARISM.
Thank you.
3. People do not dream, write fics of, or make artwork of something that they do not like. (Unless it's mockery, which fanfic usually isn't--too much time spent just to vent anger.) Just take it as a compliment, please? Someone was so drawn in with your characters that they became alive for the reader--alive enough to walk into new situations, alive enough to be used by another author.
4. You cannot stop fanfiction, no matter what you do. *cough* Unless you mindwipe everyone or never stated writing or something *cough, hack, wheeze*
5. How does dreaming of characters and story scenarios in your head differ from writing them down? Just because it's not on paper doesn't mean it exists. If fanfic is fine in a reader's mind, why not on paper/the internet? It's still fanfiction.
6. There are many acronyms flitting about this lovely interweb of ours, but there's one called YKINMKAYKIOK. Which is: "Your Kink Is Not My Kink And Your Kink Is OK", which is applicable to this situation. I personally do not read horror of any sort. That doesn't mean the genre deserves to die, or that it's the worst thing ever, or anything of that sort. It's not my cup of tea. Period. I read other stuff. Other people pick up horror. I don't need to bash it, I don't need to warn people away from it--all I do is steer clear. Route your fanfic-link-containing emails to the trash.
7. I can't deal with legality issues, being terribly unschooled in US law and author copyrights, but I think (could be wrong, of course) there is such a thing as fair use.
8. People send you fan-made things. Artwork, crafts, all manner of stuff. I know this, because you've posted and written about this, and I love your books. And as far as I can tell, these are fine. But...how are these different from fanfic? They are things made by fans concerning your characters because they love the work.
9. There is a very lovely vein of irony in regards to the sex-scene/porn issue.
10. You are alienating your fanbase that writes fanfiction. Just saying.
11. It's not you, but the initial comments were disgusting. Writing in someone else's world is not lazy. It can actually be more work, because hey, you're in someone else's living room. You can't go around destroying furniture. And cynicism is only cool in high school; some of those callous remarks are out of line. Actually, the comments require a whole 'nother post for rebuttal. Good Lord.
12. I laugh at the idea that people write fanfics for the flattery. Reviews are frequently few and far between.
13. Gasp! Some fanficwriters also write original fiction! And they like doing both!
Sincerely,
silverflight
P.S. I think that the more I think about this, the more points I have, and so I'll just stop right here. But I just wanted to say--I really do love your books, Diana (may I call you that?) but that post you made was disillusioning.
*edited after realizing what a ginormous post this was; it's been cut
**edit number two: I think she's just removed both posts: the rant one and the follow-up one. If you really want, here's the cached link: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BBBatogaEfkJ:voyagesoftheartemis.blogspot.com/+voyages+of+the+artemis+cache&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca To all out there: the internet is forever.
In regards to this article** , I have a few things to say. I get that it's not fun to see your characters mangled, dragged through God-knows-what, and being generally transformed into things that they shouldn't be.
However.
1. I agree that a lot of fanfiction is really, really bad. Especially for readers weaned on publisher-fed, editor-checked, career-furthering works. But, um, that doesn't really give you the right to compare them to burglars, break-and-enterers, and husband-stealers. (This was a mind boggling concept, to tell you the truth. How are they the same? What?!)
2. I think you missed most of the fanfiction.net fics--you know, the ones that state in BOLD that "I don't own anything, this is all x,y,z's work". And though I think a lot of this is because the writer doesn't want to get "sued", they publicly acknowledge that they aren't taking anything. They are not saying that this is their work (when they say that, then it crosses into the plagiarism land.) I'm going to say this really loudly.
FANFICTION DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY EQUAL
PLAGIARISM.
Thank you.
3. People do not dream, write fics of, or make artwork of something that they do not like. (Unless it's mockery, which fanfic usually isn't--too much time spent just to vent anger.) Just take it as a compliment, please? Someone was so drawn in with your characters that they became alive for the reader--alive enough to walk into new situations, alive enough to be used by another author.
4. You cannot stop fanfiction, no matter what you do. *cough* Unless you mindwipe everyone or never stated writing or something *cough, hack, wheeze*
5. How does dreaming of characters and story scenarios in your head differ from writing them down? Just because it's not on paper doesn't mean it exists. If fanfic is fine in a reader's mind, why not on paper/the internet? It's still fanfiction.
6. There are many acronyms flitting about this lovely interweb of ours, but there's one called YKINMKAYKIOK. Which is: "Your Kink Is Not My Kink And Your Kink Is OK", which is applicable to this situation. I personally do not read horror of any sort. That doesn't mean the genre deserves to die, or that it's the worst thing ever, or anything of that sort. It's not my cup of tea. Period. I read other stuff. Other people pick up horror. I don't need to bash it, I don't need to warn people away from it--all I do is steer clear. Route your fanfic-link-containing emails to the trash.
7. I can't deal with legality issues, being terribly unschooled in US law and author copyrights, but I think (could be wrong, of course) there is such a thing as fair use.
8. People send you fan-made things. Artwork, crafts, all manner of stuff. I know this, because you've posted and written about this, and I love your books. And as far as I can tell, these are fine. But...how are these different from fanfic? They are things made by fans concerning your characters because they love the work.
9. There is a very lovely vein of irony in regards to the sex-scene/porn issue.
10. You are alienating your fanbase that writes fanfiction. Just saying.
11. It's not you, but the initial comments were disgusting. Writing in someone else's world is not lazy. It can actually be more work, because hey, you're in someone else's living room. You can't go around destroying furniture. And cynicism is only cool in high school; some of those callous remarks are out of line. Actually, the comments require a whole 'nother post for rebuttal. Good Lord.
12. I laugh at the idea that people write fanfics for the flattery. Reviews are frequently few and far between.
13. Gasp! Some fanficwriters also write original fiction! And they like doing both!
Sincerely,
silverflight
P.S. I think that the more I think about this, the more points I have, and so I'll just stop right here. But I just wanted to say--I really do love your books, Diana (may I call you that?) but that post you made was disillusioning.
*edited after realizing what a ginormous post this was; it's been cut
**edit number two: I think she's just removed both posts: the rant one and the follow-up one. If you really want, here's the cached link: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BBBatogaEfkJ:voyagesoftheartemis.blogspot.com/+voyages+of+the+artemis+cache&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca To all out there: the internet is forever.