[Writing] Thinking Big of Myself for a Moment, or My $0.02 on Fanfic

[jon_chaisson]

George R.R. Martin has an interesting post up talking about Diana Gabaldon's recent post about fanfic.

Long story short, DG doesn't like fanfics of her universe, and many people on her blog lambasted her for it. GRRM also doesn't really like it, pretty much for the same reasons. They both had good points--I'm being very vague here, but most of it boils down to ownership and protecting it.


Personally?

If somehow my Eden Cycle stories made it big (peanut gallery: chee-yeah, right), I'd probably be tickled pink to hear fanfic being written in that universe. To be honest, it's a pretty big universe, and I'd even post a timeline/guidelines for people to work with, and guide them along the way. Apparently Marion Zimmer Bradley did the same with her Darkover universe at one point (until, as GRRM mentions, someone was a dick about it and ruined it for everyone). And George Lucas seems not to mind with the Star Wars universe, as long as it follows his guidelines.

Sure, I totally understand someone potentially ripping me off by making money off of something I didn't sanction. That's gonna happen at one point or another...you see it online with off-the-truck copies of movies, and you see it with compilation tapes made by music lovers. You do what you can to combat that.

The fact that someone would be tweaking my created universe, weirdly enough, is something I'd find fascinating. I'd be interested in seeing what they do, see if they possibly come up with something I should have thought of but didn't. That's why they call it a "world" or a "universe"...it's rarely a four-walled, boxed-in setting. It's a created reality that always has the potential of being expanded, transformed and twisted in one way or another.

As Major Kusanagi would say: "And where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite."


That's why I find good series with amazing universes some of my most favorite stories ever. JK Rowling's Harry Potter series, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, Kate Elliott's Jaran books, Richard Paul Russo's Carlucci books, CJ Cherryh's Chanur books...hell, even Dave Sim's Cerebus series. The idea of creating such a huge world out of a single first idea just amazes and captivates me every time.

Sure, I may never get to the status of those series with my Eden Cycle universe, but since it's out there, I'd love to have fun with it, and if in turn someone else has fun with it, I'm glad to have brought a universe to someone else's imagination in the process. I'll deal with the problems that might come with that if and when they arrive.

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I've been considering writing a fanfic post. Maybe I will. Both as a writer of original fiction and of fanfic. And ::snicker:: some of my original characters have actually been fanfic'd even though I'm not published.

My big complaint with a lot of fanfic writers these days are the comments that once a writer puts their work "out there" it belongs to the readers to do with what they want.

My second big complaint is that they say they can write the author's world better than the author. Now, they may write better than the author, but not their world better than them, in my opinion.

As far as George Lucas and Star Wars, when the phenomenon first took off, he decided he was going to keep an eye on it. He had a Director of Fan relations and Lucasfilms Ltd actually PURCHASED copies of all Star Wars fanzines they knew about. Four copies. (Ask how I know, LOL.) That was pretty cool.

I've never fanfic'd a novel or short story, only media and video games. I can't imagine intruding on someone else's world without an invite.

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

I've never written fanfic myself, as to me it just felt constricting. I'll be honest, I like writing something completely made up, and doing detailed outlines weirds me out. ;)

That said, I have tried my hand at copying some writers' styles. My one short story was a failed attempt at writing a sort of William Gibson/manga mix, if that's even possible. And I'll be honest that reading all the Dresden books have really made me think about how to fix Love Like Blood.


Yeah, I have to agree with those complaints. Like I've said before, there's always a few who'll ruin it for the rest of them.

[mekkasimian.livejournal.com]

MEK LOOK FORWARD TO RAPE JONC-CHARACTERS SOON!

=M=

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

[EDIT: Okay, I'm cutting out the original comment, in retrospect it was kind of tasteless. I apologize to those who may have read it ]


Meh, I don't see it as creative rape. Only if you plan on stealing my stuff and getting it published well before I do. Then you're just being an ass. ;)

[mekkasimian.livejournal.com]

(WAS FUNNY COMMENT, ACTUALLY...)

CHARACTERS WHOLE DIFFERENT THING THAN JUST BORROW UNIVERSE, AND THAT WHAT MOST EGREGIOUSLY ABUSED IN FANFIC SCENE.

"SHARED WORLD" LESS OF PROBLEM, BECAUSE IS PLENTY ROOM TO WRITE WITHOUT IMPACT OTHER STORIES. BUT MAIN CHARACTERS FROM ORIGINAL WORK? THAT WOULD ALWAYS BE OFF-LIMIT IN MEK MIND.

THING IS, IF AUTHOR EXPLICITLY OR IMPLICITLY ALLOW FANFIC, IS OPEN DOOR TO ABUSE CHARACTERS, NOT JUST WORLD. TO HAVE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS DO THINGS AUTHOR NOT INTEND? YES, MEK SEE THAT AS "IMMORAL" IN SOME WAY, KIND OF RAPE, EXERTING CONTROL AND INSTILL POWERLESSNESS WHERE NONE WAS OFFERED.

AND YES, SOME FANFIC AUTHORS CAN STICK TO CANON: IS BAD AUTHORS/HACKS THAT RUIN FOR REST.

SO BY JONC SAY "SELF FINE WITH THAT", JONC OPEN DOOR TO ALL SORTS OF BADNESS. MEK AGREE WITH ORIGINAL AUTHORS, IN THAT IS *NOT* ALL ABOUT OWNERSHIP AND PROTECTION.

=M=

[ying-ko-4.livejournal.com]

My problem with Fan-Fic is that it strikes me as being close to creatively bankrupt. Work on your own ideas, instead of playing in somebody else's sandbox.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

A lot of fanfic I have read has been kind of sketchy, but there's been a few I've seen online that were actually quite creative. I read a very interesting Gall Force fanfic that took place after the third anime (but well before Rhea GF) that actually pulled together all sorts of story bits and did it well. I guess for me, my idea of fanfic is just writing for the joy of it, rather than trying to be uniquely creative with someone else's work.