The satirical site Watley Review has posted a brilliant, pitch-perfect spoof of the fanficcer attitude towards popular fiction:
A disgruntled Harry Potter fan has released a "corrected" version
of J.K Rowling’s latest installment in the series, The Half-Blood Prince,
prompting a storm of curiosity and support from many fans who disliked the
direction of the story in the book. It has also, not surprisingly, prompted a
storm of legal activity from Rowling’s publishers."Whenever an author puts a work out into the universe, it is no longer
their exclusive property anymore," said Mary Sue Pembroke, who is credited
as the author of the modified book. "Harry Potter belongs to all of us, not
just Rowling. She took some liberties with the story in this latest book that
really weren’t faithful to the logic of the narrative. My version is, I think
it fair to say, much more faithful to the true Harry Potter mythos."…This is not the first time a fan has created a story based on an author’s
setting; so-called fanfiction is a popular pursuit across the internet. This
is, however, the first time a fan story has captured a sizeable portion of the
author’s audience: over 800,000 fans have downloaded the book, many openly
hostile to J.K. Rowling’s narrative decisions in the most recent book.Scholastic Publishing has obtained an injunction against Pembroke and has
threatened a lawsuit, but has been unable to take the site offline due to a
number of overseas mirror sites…"The only way for an author to keep a piece of writing completely their
own is to never have it published," insisted Pembroke. "J.K. Rowling,
you asked for this."
Whoever wrote this piece has a great ear for the fanficcer voice. It sounds just like Naomi Novik and her ilk doesn’t it? It’s uncanny. For example, here’s one of Novik’s comments:
I do understand individual authors who feel strongly that they don’t
want fanfic on their own work out there. If an author feels an intense
negative reaction to fanfic on her work, that is a completely valid
feeling. I don’t think that it obliges people to respect that feeling,
but it’s not ridiculous, it’s how she feels, and I personally do
respect that reaction out of courtesy.
"Mary Sue Pembroke" is a bulls-eye.
I actually met someone who said that exact line “The only way for an author to keep a piece of writing completely their own is to never have it published” or something very close to it. It made my head spin. It is like the logical conclusion to Van Gogh were those paint by numbers sets. UGH. I am not even a writer and those people give me a rash!
This is sooo making the rounds. Had five emails in a row about it. I just put it up at my blog and I pop over here and you have it.
Ah, yes, dear Naomi, where would we be without dear Naomi and her fine feathered friends.
That’s not satire. It’s reenactment.
Thats not satire, thats plagiarism!
Its more of a copy-paste 😉
a brilliant, pitch-perfect spoof of the fanficcer attitude towards popular fiction…
Whoever wrote this piece has a great ear for the fanficcer voice.
With this, though I’m certain you do not care, I get up and walk away. Despite everything I’ve already said about PLEASE not stereotyping fanwriters, you have once again commented nastily. I’ve been polite. I’ve been rational. I’ve listened to everything the people here had to say and tried to see it from everyone else’s point of view, and I have seen very little reciprocation.
The minority of fans think like this. I don’t. Not a single one of my friends, on or off the internet, do. In fact, I haven’t seen or heard anything of the like anywhere. Perhaps I travel in the wrong circles. But then, that still means that there are a great number of people outside of this stereotype of yours.
I feel it is a pity that I can’t be taken seriously here no matter what intelligence, accomplishments, or (most important of all) arguments I claim. Many people here seem like interesting, intelligent people that I would love to have a good talk with over coffee. But without the ability to impartially take in what others say and incorporate it into your worldview, I can’t do anything of the sort. So yes, I am giving up. And, unlike the others, I am truly leaving and I will likely only think of this a handful more of times in my life to wish that things had been resolved somehow.
Again, I’m certain you don’t care. I just thought it was horribly sad. In my own way, I stuck around here because I wanted to prove to myself that people can actually listen to each other and resolve their problems without malice. The only fleeting evidence I found for this was Claire’s willingness to talk without insulting me. For that, I thank her sincerely.
And for everyone else, there is no need to be horrible, even indirectly, to people who are trying to have a conversation with you. I can only hope that you stop throwing about insults like confetti one of these days. You’ll find that your enjoyment dramatically expands when you are able to have truly impartial discourse with a mutually respectful opponent.
I’m sorry for taking up space. Obviously, it will not happen again.
This sounds like The Phantom Edit, the version of Episode 1 where a fan removed most of the Jar Jar scenes.
It did result in a better version of the film, in my opinion. And I’m glad that version exists, even if Lucas didn’t make a cent off of it and didn’t approve of it.
I can’t say I’d be thrilled if someone took characters that I invented and put them in stories that weren’t mine, or changed my work to suit their notions of it. But I wouldn’t go running for the phone to contact my lawyers either.
Once something is created it becomes open to ridicule, criticism, parody, and plagiarism. It might not be legal, or fair, but it happens. Whining about it seems petty. You’re so successful that people want to copy you? That’s not a bad place to be.
Fanfic doesn’t seem to me to be as big a sin as stripping unsold books and throwing them away (or selling them sans covers.) And fanfic writers don’t strike me as evil, or even wrong. A little sad, perhaps, but no more than the guys who dress like Kingons and go to Sci-fi conventions, or the young girls claw their way backstage so their favorite lead singer can grope them.
Art and entertainment are a large part of our culture, and we’re conditioned to admire, and emulate, those who attain success.
I’d rather have hordes of rabid fans who copy me than no fans at all…
That’s a reasonable choice.
You should be the one to make it.
I’m with Courtney, though I’m not going to disappear so conveniently.
To take you momentarily seriously, the logical result of the argument you appear to be making (though your point is far from clear) is that readers and viewers should consume the output bestowed upon them without attempting to engage with it in any way. So, not only no fanfic, but no other critical work. Is that really what you want?
Wow Lee, I haven’t been reading your blog for long (I know, where the heck was I?) but i can see the fanfic people don’t like you much *g*
I’m sure you’re terribly devastated about that, NOT.
I’ve never understood fanfic myself – I’d rather read something with original characters and worlds.
You know, I think it was more of a mockery towards the rabid Harry Potter fans that have gone completly insane after the HPB “fiasco” less the the fanfiction writers. (Starnge, I thought you would have been all over that matter Lee)
And anyway, you don’t hang in a lot of “fanfiction based communities” (for lack of better words) Everytime something like this happens, we get a good laugh and then some people start getting a bit angry.
Yes, there are people who try to publish their crap, hell conversation topics have started about matter recently, and guess what, we don’t approve. (Of course, some people do, but a lot don’t) You should understand that a lot of fanfic writers don’t like this for one reason: we are already in a gray area in terms of legality (yes, believe it or not, some of us know that) the last thing we need is for a bunch of delusionnal fans to manage to screw up our hobby because they think they can make a few bucks. Guess what, we talk about them too, and they get what they deserve… (Well, of course, this is limited to what internet can do sadly, but some authors have alreasy been warned (by fanfic writers) that some fan is selling fanfic of her stuff, up to this date, nothing has come out of it, but at least some of the culprits have shut up)
Lee, after MPreg, RPS, and now this, I know you’re trying to gather an army of anti-fanfiction crusaders… But could you try to take topics that aren’t already controversial in the fanfiction world?
I’m bored.
kete
That’s not satire. It’s reenactment.
Brilliant. Consider that stolen.
You’re so successful that people want to copy you? That’s not a bad place to be….
I’d rather have hordes of rabid fans who copy me than no fans at all…
I’m with Joe on this one. I’ve never really gotten a satisfactory explanation of why anyone would want to kick such rabid fans of their characters in the teeth. I’m willing to bet that anyone who’s fanficced your work has bought it, probably a lot of it, and loves it.
You know, I think it was more of a mockery towards the rabid Harry Potter fans that have gone completly insane after the HPB “fiasco” less the the fanfiction writers.
What, did somebody die or something?
What you didn’t hear? Long story short, some HP fans got pissed off because JKR “sunk their ship” accusing her of raping her characters, turning Hermione into a slut, Ron into a wife beater, and basically, not writing the book as it was meant to be.
In other words: their got pissed that it wasn’t H/Hr.
And that’s just the beginning. It was fun to mock at first, but now it turned into a big STFU fest. Google it, you’ll find plenty of “outraged” fans who are ticked at JKR.
Darn I just realised I wrote HPB instead of HBP (along with a whole bunch of other errors… sorry ’bout that)
“You know, I think it was more of a mockery towards the rabid Harry Potter fans that have gone completly insane after the HPB ‘fiasco’ less the the fanfiction writers.”
Well, it’s actually a little of both. The writers are spoofing fanfic, but they way they’re doing it makes me think that they are themselves fans of fanfic. Mary Sue Pembroke, anybody? A Mary Sue who makes an author avatar? And her animagus? That’s definitely poking fun at the fanfic world, but the way they’re going about it makes me think that they read fanfic, probably in fairly large quantities.
Great stuff, the responses as much as the original post. What I don’t understand is why people who enjoy FanFic keep coming here to read Lee making fun of them. Are they masochists? At least Courtney finally wised up and left.
The legitimacy of fanfic comes down to this question: How would advocates like Naomi Novik and Robin Reid feel if they were the subjects of erotic “fiction” posted on the Net? Under their own names, of course, not Ishtar or whatever Reid calls herself online.
The legitimacy of fanfic comes down to this question: How would advocates like Naomi Novik and Robin Reid feel if they were the subjects of erotic “fiction” posted on the Net? Under their own names, of course, not Ishtar or whatever Reid calls herself online.
“Whenever an author puts a work out into the universe, it is no longer their exclusive property anymore,” said Mary Sue Pembroke, who is credited as the author of the modified book. “Harry Potter belongs to all of us, not just Rowling.
Umm, JDC, that was a parody. It’s not serious.
Ha, yeah, I’ve just been so steamed about this argument I lost it on the parody part. My argument would be the same if you remove the ref to this particular article.
JDC
But John the enigma is this: they have no lives and are incapable of creating their own. The skeleton must be borrowed.
Actually, someone wrote Steven Brust and he gave permission for people to write fanfiction. (Although you should not post it to the ML he frequents, by his request). So, JDC, if that’s the way you feel, write away.
“Actually, someone wrote Steven Brust and he gave permission for people to write fanfiction. (Although you should not post it to the ML he frequents, by his request). So, JDC, if that’s the way you feel, write away.”
That’s fine, but I still have no interest in it. The Vlad I would write would not be the Vlad Brust writes. The series changed and I respect Brust as a writer for whatever reasons he decided the changed wer called for. That was the whole point concerning my argument.
Mark: Your remarks represent how I feel about fanfictioners on a more economic and less diplomatic level.
JDC
That’s great. If you have no interest in it, then don’t write it. But don’t condemn people who do have permission to write fanfiction and do so.
J.K. Rowling allows people to write fanfiction, just as Steven Brust does. So why call fanficcers names? You think fanfic is a useless activity, so don’t do it. Others don’t. If they have permission, there is no problem.
Once again, using the worst example to represent the whole.
Those people aren’t fans–they’re just freakin’ crazy.
The rest of us are disgusted with them.
‘But John the enigma is this: they have no lives and are incapable of creating their own. The skeleton must be borrowed.’
No life: Check.
Incapable of creating: Not check.
30,000 words of continuous, original work. Far more than that if you count the aborted versions, which differ quite dramatically.
Probably at least half that much in fanfic, if not more.
I’d swear this point has been made time and again, but: It’s a hobby. Like how you wouldn’t write a computer game from scratch – you’d just go and buy one. Or how you’d play poker, or solitare, rather than constantly inventing your own card games that no one else would understand.
Just trying to make sure a few people understand that point.