Post Mortem

[foolish_m0rtal]

Right, so I've been wondering about this for a while, and mklutz brought this up on The Slash Report, so I thought I would see what you guys think.

As you know, there are some authors who disapprove of fanfiction and forbid any fic of their works. From some sources and from what I've heard went down, this zero tolerance policy from many popular writers such as Andre Norton, Anne Rice, and Anne McCaffrey (who now allows fic following her set of rules, which are a headache. I'm not going to REGISTER my fic. That is some police state shit right there) stems in part from a key incident.

Marion Zimmer Bradley and a fan had a conflict over who had ownership over a particular piece of writing. She saw something a fan had done that meshed really well with a piece of Darkover story she was writing, so she offered to pay him for the rights. (Bad move or not?) The fan felt slighted because of other issues, things happened, blah blah, copyright stuff. It was a bad scene.

To avoid getting into legal troubles or being accused of "stealing" work from fans (dick move, fans), the authors just banned fic. Some authors, like McCaffrey, have a list of rules for fans, while others are okay with fic but don't want to flirt the dubious legal line of reading it. (This is Naomi Novik's stance. Oh, Ms. Novik. You know the entire Temeraire fandom is just really polite and proper Lawrence/Granby slashfic where they play chess and fill out each others dance cards. No, that is not a euphemism.)

Some authors just say, "Fandom? Not on my watch." But after these authors are dead, and the reasons they had for banning fic no longer apply, should we respect their last wishes or start writing copious amounts of Dragonriders of Porn fic? (You don't know how long I've been waiting to make that pun.)

I ran into this dilemma a few months ago after I'd reread Andre Norton's Scent of Magic and realised I had to write Nicholas/Vazul fic IMMEDIATELY. (Oh my heart, Nicholas/Vazul. They push all of my HurtComfort + Mysterious Assassins buttons.) I was torn, because I wanted to respect Norton's word, but she was dead, so there couldn't be any messy legal conflicts like she'd feared.

I'm the kind of person who can switch from Lawful Neutral to Chaotic Good wicked fast if the reasons are good enough. I will be the Spanish Inquisition with rules and regulations, but if I think the basis behind rules suck, I will be the most obnoxious delinquent you have ever seen. Our chief weapon is, after all, surprise. So I thought the reason behind the rules is moot, I'll go on. And I did.

Writing the fic was really more a cathartic experience than anything else, because Norton's efforts have ensured that her work HAS no fandom. If a fic is written, and no one is around to read it, does it make a sound? The answer is no, and I'm fine with that. Sure, I would like to see other people post fic, but I know that's probably not going to happen. I received some anonymous feedback and around 50 hits, which was actually surprising as hell. I wasn't exactly expecting a sudden outpouring of Modern Setting Black Ops AU fic (though that would be mindgasmically amazing), nor was I expecting someone to teach me the sekrit handshake to get into the underground Norton fanfic scene. ("Raid!") All I wanted to know was that I wasn't alone, and I confirmed that.

But what I was really looking for during my dilemma was precedence. Has anyone done this before? Has this issue come up in fandom circles? And maybe Google was just letting me down, but I found absolutely nothing. And this is something that needs to be talked about in fandom, especially since it touches on risky and legally troublesome topics as well as the wishes of deceased authors. I think this shouldn't be one of those "Author's word is law" things and NEEDS to be debated and be an open dialogue, because there are holes in these kind of arrangements that have to either be stopped up or picked apart.

Comments

[broken-moons.livejournal.com]

she offered to pay him for the rights. (Bad move or not?)

I'd say not. Not that I write much fanfiction, but if one of my favourite authors spotted my fanfiction and wanted to make it canon, I'd be honoured! I might even refuse payment, knowing that my idea made it into canon.

But feel slighted? Not knowing the background here, all I can think of is, your favourite authors liked what you did so much that she wanted to incorporate it and she respects your rights enough that she recognizes the fanfiction in question is copyrighted to you even though it's set in her world - why would you feel slighted?

But it's a tricky debate. With an extensive 'verse or set of verses it might be risky to read fanfiction because it could be difficult to keep track of which bits are your own and which bits were fanmade. The closest I've ever come to a situation like this is when snufffie created a character in my Windserpent Saga 'verse, and I liked the idea enough that I wrote some drabbles on her as though she's part of the canon. I'm playing with making her part of the canon in a rewrite (if ever). And I'd always credit her creation to snufffie. But that's just one character, that's easy.

If I knew there was tons of fanfiction, perhaps I wouldn't read it either. But forbid it? I don't think I'd ever go that far. And I agree with you that if the reason for the ban is gone (as in the author's dead) the ban itself is moot.

[foolish-m0rtal.livejournal.com]

With the fan being slighted, I think it had something to do with the tone with which things were handled. Not sure who's in the right here either, which is difficult.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

I would think it flattering that an author wanted to make a fanfic cannon, as long as proper credit was given.

I'm not sure authors have the right to ban fanfic, though I can understand them not reading it themselves.

JR Ward is another one. I joined her forum before I got annoyed with how she protrays females (what's basically reverse emancipation and supposed to be grateful for it) Not sure how much is her and how much is the moderators but you can't even say 'I could picture x and y ....' without explosions. It feels extreme.

Also - McCaffrey died in November.

[foolish-m0rtal.livejournal.com]

I believe there was some negative feedback on the author side when the fan tried to politely renegotiate. Still not sure which side was right, but it definitely opened up the dialogue about fanfic.

Yes, McCaffrey dying in November is what prompted MK to talk about authors and fanfiction on The Slash Report.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

Tricky situation, hard to comment without knowing the specifics.

It can be a grey area. I don't read much fanfic, there's some really good fics out there, but often only the names are borrowed anyway.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

Just bought 'Darcy's Diaries' in amazon sale. I love Austen's Pride and Predjudice so took a risk.

It's published and based on a very well known novel. It's also IMO a fanfic and holds blatant plagerism; only read a little so far but there's been lots of quotes from the original book.