Fanfic

Lee returns from vacation today, so let me say thank you for allowing me to come into your homes in his absence. I hope I haven’t turned you off of his site permanently. I swear, he’ll be back with his normal take on all things TV and books. However…before I go…before Lee finds this himself and I am therefore angered at my own lack of ability to find odd and perverse things on my own, please note that Ulli’s Roy Orbison In Clingfilm Website is up and running and shames, I say, shames!, the Steve Perry one below for sheer erotic fan fic oddity. My favorite begins thusly:

In this fantasy Roy Orbison and I are the pilots of a magnificent rocket ship powering through space.

‘Adjust thrusters, Mr. Haarbürste,’ says Roy tersely, his calm capable hands adjusting the controls, the stars reflected in his trademark dark glasses.

‘At once, mein Kapitan!’ The precision-engineered BMW engines send us zooming through the stratosphere and push us back into our upholstered flight-seats.

‘Make your report, Lieutenant Jetta.’

The screen wired to the pod where Jetta nestles snugly flickers into life. ‘WE ARE LEAVING EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE AND ON COURSE FOR SPACE’ says the read-out.

And concludes with:

Everything goes strange. It feels as though my internal organs are sucked out through my ears.

And then…

‘I scoffed at the time but now I perceive you were wise. You will wrap me in cling-film at once.’

Roy unbuckles from his seat and floats out into the middle of the cabin. ‘Commence,’ he says.

We have gone back in time and I will have to wrap Roy all over again!

In space, no-one can hear you squeak with pleasure.

Welcome home, Lee. Enjoy the hate mail.

—Tod

Unlike my brother, who has been involved in a long standing war of attrition with writers of fan fic, fans of Battlestar Galactica and a legion of Ken Bruen fans who want to beat his lily white ass, I try to stay away from calling people clueless morons or shut ins or hermits or other names because of their fandom. I mean, I don’t always understand it, and am a little frightened by some aspects of it, but I am generally more  disturbed  by authors who dress like their characters in their author photos.

However, when I saw a link on Gawker to Steve Perry fan fiction, I couldn’t help but think that on a sunny island in Hawaii, Lee would want me to mention it here…and, if possible, engage in a lengthy discussion with the writers of the fan fic, those who support it, lots of people from England (check out Lee’s previous threads on this…a surprising number of Brits call Lee all sorts of interesting names!). But the fact of the matter is…I love Journey! Yeah, I really do. Along with Rick Springfield and Nutella, Journey is one of my main guilty pleasures.  In college, when "Faithfully" came on during a fraternity party,  if you were in my arms on the dancefloor, it meant loving time. That and "I Need Love" by LL Cool J were my jams, man. (To answer your next question, I was in college from 1989-1994, we just had really bad DJs.)

So: if you’re going to write fan fiction about Steve Perry, lead singer of Journey, originator of the red leather pants and shirt tied at the waist look for men, maybe think about inserting a little Tod Goldberg action in there as well.

— Tod

A reader pointed me to this amusing cartoon on “Fanfic.”

And here’s another interesting fanfiction debate, waged on Gaia Online.

I’ve found this passionate discussion about fanfic fascinating and informative. And I have to say that some of your well-considered, heartfelt arguments have made me seriously reconsider some of my long-held views on the subject.

In particular, a comment yesterday from “Morgul” really got me thinking…

“Would you be so offended if, in one of your episodes one of the characters died of cancer, a fanwriter chose, instead of writing the Slash and MPreg you are so fond of mentioning, to write about that person when they realised that they were going to die? Or perhaps go AU and make that person live a year longer, exploring what that character would chose to do with that time?

Because, if you had an episode in which a character died of cancer, you’d get truly Godawful stories that would tell how true love will conquer all and be boring, but you would also get some amazing stories about how the character’s family coped with that loss, or even how the nurses and doctors that looked after the character reacted. You may have to sift through dirt, but there are gems out there.

That’s what we’re trying to get across to you here. The people who are taking the time to tell you what they think are the people that truly care about their fandoms and would never desecrate them like the people who use fanfiction as a form of masturbation.”

I think he’s right. I think my exposure to the fanfiction community – first with Seaquest and later with DM fanfic – didn’t show the field, or its writers, in the best light, establishing and strengthening my negative views.

I went back today and found that GUNSMOKE fanfiction I stumbled on some time ago… and yes, it’s very good and, as a GUNSMOKE fan, I enjoyed reading it very much.

In retrospect, I believe I have made some unfair generalizations about fanfic and the people who write it. But that’s not to say I don’t still have some strong objections to fanfic.

Defending fanfic on the basis that it’s not copyright infringement is silly. It is infringement, and it violates the intellectual property rights of the author/creator. You know it. I know it. Any reasonable person knows it. While the issue of copyright infringement/violation of intellectual property has strong ethical and artistic importance to me, it’s obviously a meaningless issue to those who write fanfic, so I won’t try to argue that any longer. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that score.

We can debate, however, the other arguments/defenses for fanfic, for which there is no clear-cut right-or-wrong —

a)it’s a way to learn how to write, a stepping stone to writing your own, original work.

The arguments here have persuaded me can be… but I still believe it’s a mistake for an aspiring writer to spend too much time and effort on fanfic… that they are better off, and will learn more, and will develop their own voice, by putting that effort into original work. It might be a useful exercise for a 12-year-old, but I think anybody, particularly an adult, serious about becoming a professional writer should concentrate their efforts on original work. That is the only way you will truly develop the skills you need to succeed (and, I believe, any aspiring or professional writer should respect the intellectual property rights of their fellow authors).

b) it’s the only way to get real feedback of your writing from a wide audience of people.

I’m unpersuaded. Personally, I don’t think this is a valid argument at all. There are many, many ways to get feedback on your writing without having to do fanfic.

c) it’s a way to explore aspects of the shows/novels/movies that the film-makers/authors don’t.

This was something I didn’t fully appreciate until Morgul’s post. My view has been far too influenced by all the slash/mpreg/hurt-comfort/etc. sludge out there and by strident fans who think their fanfic is the canon the TV writer/producers should be following. But his post opened my eyes.

d) it’s a way to celebrate and enjoy shows/novels/movies that you love with other fans.

I can see the point. .. though I think you can enjoy & celebrate a show/book/movie without writing and disseminating stories based on them.

e) it’s an expression of appreciation to the film-makers/authors

I suppose it is when you’re doing the things “Morgul” was talking about. But not when you pervert the authors intentions with garbage like mpreg, slash, hurt-comfort, etc. That isn’t flattery or appreciation. It’s aggressively offensive.

f)it’s self-policing…when fanficers violate the canon and write out-of-character stuff (mpreg, slash, etc), they get slammed for it.

I’m not persuaded… there’s far too much of the swill out there to believe “self-policing” is at all effective.

g)it’s harmless fun, give us a break.

On this, I have to say… you’re right. I’m a schmuck.

h)It’s a challenge to the ‘business model’ and thereby a political act.

This is a popular rationalization among all kinds of copyright infringers and product pirates and I simply don’t buy it.

David Montgomery has posted an interesting essay on his blog about what he’s learned about fanfic from the debate that has raged here the last few days:

1) Most FanFic is a violation of the copyrights of the original creators. (The main exception to this is works in the public domain, which are free for all.)

2) This violation doesn’t really amount to much and is probably not actionable in most cases.

2a) Most writers of FanFic are unaware (or don’t care) that they are violating copyrights.

2b) They aren’t making any money off it anyway.

3) There is no essential difference between writing FanFic involving Huckleberry Finn or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, other than the copyright concerns.

4) Writing FanFic is a diverting hobby for some people.

5) Writing FanFic might be of some use to its creator as a learning tool, but the writer would be a lot better off creating his/her own works, if they can.

6) Presumably FanFic is fun for some peple to read, although hardly anyone seems to be making this point. (I get the impression that FanFic has many writers, but few readers.)

7) Most FanFic is crap (Sturgeon’s Law in action), but some of it’s pretty good.

8) The sexually-oriented FanFic (slash, mpreg, etc.) is downright creepy — and there’s quite a bit of it out there.

9) One will never convince FanFic writers that they’d be better off pursuing works of their own — and they’ll get mad if you try.

And, perhaps, most importantly…

10) FanFic is not a serious thing, nor an important one, so there’s no point in treating it as such. It’s fun for those who practice it, largely harmless, probably pointless, and the discussion of it has occupied too much of my time the past couple days.

I think I’ve learned a few of the same things. I may follow his lead and post my own list in the next day or two…

The Romantic Times magazine featured an article this month on fanfic, covering both sides of the debate, though largely favorable towards the practice. But they note:

Writing fan fiction is a violation of copyright law. But many fanfic writers are either unaware of or unconcerned with this fact. Often they’ll slap a short disclaimer at the top of the story, disavowing ownership of the characters used and consider the matter handled…

Attorney-turned-Romance author Julie Kenner says… “for our purposes as writers, copyright serves to protect our words. But when someone is using, say, Stephanie Plum in fan fictio, they probably aren’t quoting any of Janet Evanovich’s language and they think they are they’re clear of infringement. But the 9th Circuit and the 2nd Circuit — both leading courts with regard to intellectual property law — have found protection for the characters themselves under certain judicially defined parameters.”

And those little disclaimers? Ain’t gonna hold water in front of a judge, Kenner says.

Published authors reactions to fan fiction vary….Laurell Hamilton, Anne Rice and Diana Gabaldon firmly believe this practice is both legally and morally repugnant and have, in some cases, hired attorneys to fight fan fiction sites with cease-and-desist actions.

Author Meg Cabot who, by the way, doesn’t mind fanfic, recounts an interesting anecdote:

“Another reason I don’t read fan fictions is because I know an author who, justifiably, freaked out when she read a fic where the writer had one of her characters get graphically and brutally raped. You could see how that would be disturbing and put you off writing anything for a while.”

Even authors who approve of fanfic have hesitations:

Both Rowling and Cabot write for children, who sometimes don’t fully understand the distinction between a published work and fan fiction — especially if they stumble upon a sexually explicit fic or one that talks of Harry whispering sweet nothings in Ron’s ear.

To say nothing of the Harry and Ron “male birthing” stories…

I saw that a fanfic forum had linked to some of my posts here… so I took my argument into their camp… and they aren’t happy about it

But you don’t you understand his PAAAAIIINNNN??? The big, mea, awful, horrible fanfic writers just come in and destroy everything he loves and works for, yea verily like Vikings descending upon a helpless crannog they swwop down and leave his pwecious pwecious creation in RUINS! Oh, will no one save the poor creators? May my fingers be broken if I ever start taking myself that seriously.

Another poster, with a unique take on copyright law, argues that by not profitting financially from their “fanfic,” it’s not copyright infringement (I’ll be sure to tell that to all those file-swappers facing prosecution and huge fines for sharing their music collections over the net…)

As long as you don’t SELL them, you’re free to use copyrighted characters since… gasp, they ARE public domain. Anything that it published is free game, so long as there is no profit gained on the part of the person using them. Ethical issues? Bullshit, slappy. Do you mind if I call you slappy? Too bad. Anyhow, what’s unethical about seeing something, decide that you like it enough to write something involving said something, and deciding that you like what you’ve written enough to show it to others? Is any money exchanged? Is anybody profiting from using your materials (hence breaking Copyright laws)? Is anyone blatantly reproducing someone else’s work (word for word) and distributing it?
Nope. Besides, haven’t you ever heard, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Grow up, Slappy

It’s fascinating to me to see all the ways that “Fanfic” writers try to justify/rationalize what they do…

If fanfic is unethical or a breach of copyright whether or not the creator is okay with it, then scriptwriters and the authors of tie-in novels are in no better place just because they’ve got a contract.

What’s even more unbelievable is that they believe they are “self-policing,” that “fanfic” writers are the best ones to decide when their “fanfic” is inappropriate…

If you hate it so much, why are you even here? Take a look around you, all of us are fanfic writers and/or readers, and we have taken it upon ourselves to ‘police’ the net, naming and shaming the fics we feel step beyond common decency. If you want a whinge about fanfic find somewhere that cares. I’m sorry, but you’ve overstepped the line here. If you are anti-fanfic, fair enough, but don’t come here and slag us off.

Of course, I believe that ALL “fanfic” is inappropriate unless the writer has the consent of the author or copyright holder. You won’t see the “fanfic” writers policing those who cross that line, will you?

(UPDATE: The outrage over my comments has spread to another fanfic forum).