Fandom Wank reports today that a fanficcer named "cousinjean" appealed to her readers to subsidize her fanfiction writing:
I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails over the past year asking if and when I’m going to
finish both Dancing Lessons and my sequel to The Butterfly Effect. Believe me
when I say that nobody is more depressed about the unfinished state of my fan
fiction than I am. But the cold, hard reality is that I have bills and student
loans to pay, an actual paying writing career to try my damnedest to launch, and
an eventual marriage to save and plan for. The simple fact is that there is no
more room in my life for fan fiction. I’ve tried to make room. I have. But it’s
just not happening.I realize that a lot of people will probably
judge me pretty harshly for the following, but I’m just desperate enough not to
care. I’m offering to sing for my supper, so to speak, and I don’t see the shame
in that. So here’s my proposal: if every reader who has read and enjoyed my fan
fiction over the years will donate the amount that they would expect to pay for
a hardback novel (and I’ve written the equivalent of several novels in the
course of my fanfic career), then I will be able to take a year off to write
full time. This means that not only would I be able to finish the original
novels that are languishing on my hard drive; I would also be able to finish my
fan fiction.Basically, what I’m asking for is monetary support from my reader base in
helping me get my career as a professional storyteller off the ground. In
return, if at least half of my goal is met, I promise to continue the work that
has gained me a following in the first place. I’m asking you to buy me time to
write.If you’re willing to do this, in addition to finished WIPs
you will also have my eternal gratitude and a mention in the acknowledgements of
my first published novel. If you’re not, that’s understandable, and all I ask is
that you never again ask me how my WIPs are coming.
This is the funniest thing I’ve read in ages. To be fair to the fanfiction community, they slapped "cousinjean" down pretty hard and within hours of her appeal, she bid fandom farewell.
(On the jump, here’s a tiny sampling of some of the 425 comments — and counting — that she got…)
"You. Lose. At. Life. I fart in your general direction. You are a sad,
sad person. You are a mockery to the hard-working and a smear of pus to
the world of fandom. Get out of our fandom, you idiot…""You cannot, however, expect the fandom world to just sit around
quietly while you single-handedly attempt to railroad us into oblivion
by asking for monetary compensation for a goddamned fucking hobby.""If one fanfic writer gives the appearance of asking for money for fic and one copyright holder notices then all fanfic writers suffer when the full weight of the law comes down on the hobby making this everyones business"
"If I could afford to pay all of the fanfic authors who’ve given me so
much pleasure over the years for the time and effort they’ve put into
their work, I would. I see no reason beyond my meager bank account not
to do so. Since you’re one of the few whose works I’ve really
enjoyed that I’ve seen asking, once I get paid again I’ll throw a
little your way.""Just wait until Mr. Goldberg gets ahold of this. Thank you for
embarrassing the rest of us who do this for free and fit it in amongst
the rest of our obligations.""Seeking money as payment for your fanfiction changes the terms of the
fannish economy, and I think you’re liable to get yourself sued for it
— which could have terrifically unpleasant ramifications for the rest
of us.""You know, I think you need a big fat reality check. There are
people without decent housing, without nourishing food, working menial
jobs, struggling like heroes to make it from week to week and better
things for themselves and their families – and you want to be supported
while you sit on your ass and work on your fanfic. You make me want to vomit, your sense of entitlement selfishness is that disgusting."
FWIW, I am NOT that Jean.
She bid farewell?
I hope I get my $25 back…
Great laugh, I’m glad you posted it. The FanFic communicty can be scary sometimes (slash!), but it’s good to see that a good bit of them know where to draw the line.
If this writer really wanted to get paid for her FanFic she could submit it to be published. I mean, R.A. Salvatore didn’t invent Star Wars, but he does get paid to write in Lucas’ sandbox. For me, that’s what makes good fanfic and the rest of it. Good fanfic would be published by the editor in charge of the franchise. They would be proud to put their name on it and it follows the cannon and continuity of the original. So, if you want to get paid to write fanfic, why not write a novel for one of the companies that actually publish books from other writers. I know I wouldn’t mind writing a Star Wars novel, though I prefer my original work more.
Thanks for the laugh!
If even other fanfic writers think you’re a loser, how far down the totem pole are you?
In fairness, 425 “flames” is excessive. Point made, we get it.
And yes, the rattling of the tip jar was dumb. I’m just thinking that the punishment might be far exceeding the crime.
Speaking of crime, I read “Shadows of the Empire” recently (yay me!) and I had to keep flipping to the front or back cover to confirm that it wasn’t fanfic. Quite possibly some of the worst commissioned writing, ever. Question: When was the Star Wars universe all about the bling? I mean, when the expository narrative was all about how Darth Vader had “money like train smoke” (made-up quote) and gave the yield on his galactic t-bills at 9.25%, with bond pressures in the tie fighter market, I wondered how this leap was made from “you owe Jabba money.”
So to Chrispian’s point, yes, there is a market for “legit” fanfic. At least with the publishers…I’m off SW paperbacks forever.
I particularly liked the outrage that she would solicit donations to continue a story that once involved collaborating with other fanfic writers. Uhhhh…what about the ORIGINAL creator of the characters you’re writing about? You know, the non-fanfic guy?
It did give me an idea, though…I’ll write some fanfic *inspired* by Michael Connelly, exploring the darker homoerotic reaches of Haironymous Bosch. I mean Heronymous… er… shit. I’ll just call him Harry. Harry Potter.
I also thought the whole thing was ludicrous. I’m glad that other fanfic writers flamed her to death.
Do you know that she’s a young woman who works part time and lives with her parents?
How can such a person possibly say, “I don’t have enough time to write”?
Unbelievable.
BTW — Lee, you’re very (in)famous among fanfic writers.
I Really Thought I’d Seen It All…
…until I saw this:
WHOLE YEAR OFF WORK
Screw it. Y’all win!
It’s from this fanfic writer named Jean (her LJ name is cousinjean). She wants people who’ve read and enjoyed her fanfic to pay the amount they’re expected t…
So… this would be a fanfic writer who aspires to self-publication.
This girl made all fanfic writers look like complete and utter lunatics/morons. While I can honestly say that the majority of them do at times need reality checks there are good ones out there who are simply out to better themselves in their art and/or have some fun.
I didn’t even bother to finish readin it. She does know it’s against the law, doesn’t she? No matter how desperate she is for money.
Yo-Yos run this world. (I have no idea what that’s meant to mean. I just felt like saying it.)
((Kiara))
Priceless. fandom_wank is like a perpetual trainwreck, once can’t help but watch everything crash and burn under the pressure of ‘how dumb ARE you to be doing this?” type comments, of varying levels of literacy.
Sometimes I think fandom_wank is like the literary version of big brother/reality TV shows.
Sometimes I think fandom_wank is like the literary version of big brother/reality TV shows.
It is. But when I pointed that out, boy were they peeved.
Having said that, they were right in pointing out that “cousinjean” is just plain bonkers. I mean, really. The rest of fandom has to work, hold down a job and still write, so why can’t you?
Some of them are sane, otherwise fandom_wank wouldn’t have such a big following (who is going to honestly look for the wank except for fandom members?)
The rest of fandom has to work, hold down a job and still write, so why can’t you?
Yeah, a reaction to that sorta begging is generally “Well, boo hoo. Get over it already.” You write, THEN get paid when you’re unpublished. Very few ways to circumvent that.
On a slightly different note, a soon-to-be-mom is auctioning off the name to her unborn babe on E-bay.
How about, “Sucker”?
I post comments here sometimes.
I’ve gotten many great responses to my comments.
My life is getting really hectic and I really could use some money for books by Lee Goldberg, DVDs, comic books, action figures, and women, and well crafted brews.
I can only continue to post future comments, and I hate to do this, if everyone here could send me the sum amount of what a HBO TV series DVD box set costs (S.R.P of course).
Thank you all.
Look for a flood of comments from me in the not too distant future.
I love you all.
:o)
Sometimes I think fandom_wank is like the literary version of big brother/reality TV shows.
Funny, but I’ve always thought we were the literary version of Jerry Springer…
I have a hard time wondering why people got so cross over this. I don’t yell at the busker in the mall because he’s playing ‘stairway to heaven’ instead of his own work. I think cousinjean has the right ask for money. She seems to indicate she wants it in order to complete original work and the fanfic stuff would be a bonus. Good for her. Flaming her seems to me to be the equivalent of screaming at a person begging for change. I’m a bit miffed that I’ve spent the last 20mins trying to find a copy of her story ‘butterfly effect’. I’m sad to see her gone. If everyone wrote like her I could see the fuss, but she was in a class of her own.
In response to the previous comment:
A busker doesn’t ask you to give him money so he might be able to play for you in a year’s time. A busker doesn’t expect you to pay the price of a CD (or hardback novel in this case).
The story she was selling, or promising to finish, was a collaborative story written by a group of authors. She didn’t have their permission, and was not offering to share any of the money with them.
She wasn’t begging for change, she was asking people to pay for her to take a year off from work – even though she only works part-time, and lives with her parents. Her illness is ADHD, she’s not dying of cancer or something.
I don’t see why people are so surprised that this type of event would happen. I don’t see this as something new. I do not get why this is unexpected. I’ve seen this before. I remember seeing this before. There was a case of several someones a few years ago charging for beta reading services. LiveJournal charges. FanFiction.Net has offered paid accounts. AdultFanFiction.Net, RockFic.Com and SugarQuill have done the pleading for money. Zines have historically charged for their material to the point where some zine publishers live off the money they make. Fan art can go for a lot of money. I’ve heard the horror stories of people going into deep debt to do their fannish thing. There are all the charity things. A number of fan fiction sites and fan art sites have advertisements. Various sites beg for donations to help their operating costs. People have given certain fan fiction authors iPods and laptops. There has been a lot of convention wank for profit. Anyone recall Blake’s 7? Surprised that this happened? No. The money thing in fandom is a big thing. It is a huge thing. It is the 10 ton gorilla in the dark room of fandom. We all know he is in there but we generally pretend that he isn’t. It keeps us sane. What Cousinjean (sp) did was just remind people, in a public way that made people uncomfortable, that the gorilla was there. Fanac costs. It costs. It costs. There are tools and time issues that fanac costs us. But for fanac… a lot of people see it as worth it. But we just ignore the monetary costs, that 10 ton gorilla. Nope, I’m not surprised that this happened. The precedent has long been established.
I’m sorry, GeekGirl, but I’ve got to disagree with you here. Not only are some of your examples misleading, but any time that fanfic costs people something to read or access, then that is money the copyright holders are losing and that is illegal any way you slice it. People can debate about non-profit fanfic and see it as fair use and not harmful and I can agree with that, especially if the author or creator of a particular fandom has not ostensibly done or said anything against fanfic. But if you are making money off of someone else’s things without their express permission, that’s wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts.
There was a case of several someones a few years ago charging for beta reading services.
As a fanfic author, I’d get another beta. There are thousands of people who beta for free, so what makes this person so special?
LiveJournal charges. FanFiction.Net has offered paid accounts. AdultFanFiction.Net, RockFic.Com and SugarQuill have done the pleading for money.
LiveJournal also offers free accounts, which is the type I have. I don’t pay them anything and they don’t pay me anything. I also don’t post fanfic on my journal, but that’s neither here nor there.
Fanfiction.net does not charge you to post stories or to read them. They do not limit non-paying users to posting or reading a certain amount of material per day. They do not limit non-paying users to posting or reading a certain quality of fic. The money goes to putting extra bells and whistles on the account, but not to the ability to access the fic itself. I have never paid fanfiction.net a thing, and I’ve got stories posted there.
As to the others, again, you aren’t paying for the fanfic. You’re paying for the website to stay up. People can still read and post their fanfic without paying.
Zines have historically charged for their material to the point where some zine publishers live off the money they make.
And if those ‘zine publishers don’t have permission from the copyright holders, they are thieves.
A number of fan fiction sites and fan art sites have advertisements. Various sites beg for donations to help their operating costs.
As long as the advertisements don’t stop you from getting to the fics or posting them, then the fact that they exist doesn’t really touch on this debate. Some sites can’t get rid of them because the ads come with the server they have.
People have given certain fan fiction authors iPods and laptops.
As long as the author didn’t demand them in return for the fic, there’s no stopping people giving other people what they want to give them. I’m not sure that I could agree that it’s okay, but the case could be made for it, so I’ll leave it there.
The money thing in fandom is a big thing. It is a huge thing. It is the 10 ton gorilla in the dark room of fandom. We all know he is in there but we generally pretend that he isn’t. It keeps us sane.
No it isn’t. You are the only person I’ve ever seen make a case for it being okay to make money from fanfic. And I am not a newbie in the fanfic world.
What Cousinjean (sp) did was just remind people, in a public way that made people uncomfortable, that the gorilla was there.
What “Cousinjean” did was risk getting all of fandom overturned because she couldn’t suck it up and deal with her life outside of fandom on her own, just like everyone else has to. She doesn’t own the copyrights to the characters she plays with any more than I do. So I know for a fact that she can’t justify making any money off of them. I don’t care what problems or roadbumps she ran into. Therey’s just no way to make it right.
Fanac costs. It costs. It costs. There are tools and time issues that fanac costs us. But for fanac… a lot of people see it as worth it. But we just ignore the monetary costs, that 10 ton gorilla. Nope, I’m not surprised that this happened. The precedent has long been established.
Fanfic has never cost me a thing but my time and the energy that goes into my writing, and as I said, I’m not new. There is no excuse and no justification for making money off of copyrights you don’t own. I’m heartily in favor of reading and writing fanfic. I don’t think that you are stealing anything from people, because you can not steal money that isn’t there. But any time money is made and the copyright owner doesn’t see a dime or hasn’t given permission, I am heartily against it. When you’re making money off something not owned by you, that’s wrong and that’s stealing. Always.
She’s a good writer. I wish her all the luck. By the way, you can still find her best stuff on various archives. Buffyguide is a good place to start.
Have all of you people no life or what?
Did someone threaten you with a gun and force to read her fanfic or LJ?
It may be not right what she did, but overreacting in this manner shows YOUR level “down the totem pole”. Or do you lash out at every person YOU don’t agree with?
I bet the beggars on the street deserve a good beating, too, don’t they?
YOU people are relly weird.
Reading her fanfiction and/or her livejournal has nothing to do with the current issue. The issue is by doing this could have had our privilidges as fanfic writers overturned by her actions.
Beggars on the street are in entirely different situations. They don’t live in a home like cousinjean, and I’ve yet to see a beggar try to sell fanfic for money. They are people to feel sorry for.
However, I find it very difficult to feel sorry for someone, because I know many people who go to school full time as well as work full time and manage to spare time for fanfic. No matter how good a writer cousinjean she still was selfish and demanding by asking for money from other people.
yeah, and “beeing selfish and demanding” is really a good reason to crucify someone……not
I don’t feel sorry for her, but I think some of the people who “flamed her to death” and are “glad about it” should really get either a grip on the hate or professional help
we all live in glashouses… don’t throw rocks so readily
yeah, and “beeing selfish and demanding” is really a good reason to crucify someone……not
Given that cousinjean threw common sense to the wind on this one, she needed some harsh words to snap her out of it.
I don’t feel sorry for her, but I think some of the people who “flamed her to death” and are “glad about it” should really get either a grip on the hate or professional help
No. No, she definitely had it coming. Besides, nowhere is it written that the fanfic community has to be nice to anybody when they are behaving like an idiot.
we all live in glashouses… don’t throw rocks so readily
I don’t know how to put this so that it’s any simpler: most of the fanfic community makes no money and expects none from their fanfics. So on this issue, the vast majority of fanficcers really do have the moral high ground.
I read the text that was originally posted to her LiveJournal and the subsequent apology. So, if it weren’t for the fact that I know cousinjean has better spelling and grammar than you do, I would accuse you of being her sockpuppet, pea158. Why does this bother you? She was being dumb and people told her so. People told her so harshly. Maybe next time she’s tempted to try something moronic she will remember this and think twice.
“No. No, she definitely had it coming. Besides, nowhere is it written that the fanfic community has to be nice to anybody when they are behaving like an idiot.”
thank you for clarifying what “being not nice” means
in my country this term has “slightly” different meaning
“I don’t know how to put this so that it’s any simpler: most of the fanfic community makes no money and expects none from their fanfics. So on this issue, the vast majority of fanficcers really do have the moral high ground.”
they lost “the moral high ground” (if they had it in the first place) the moment they behaved like a pack of hungry wolves
“So, if it weren’t for the fact that I know cousinjean has better spelling and grammar than you do”
thank you, seeing that english is not my native, but third language, I comprehend this as a compliment
“I would accuse you of being her sockpuppet, pea158.”
and again, after I had to check “sockpuppet” on some slang dictionary (sorry, no go in Webster), I can only hope you meant this as false identity (why don’t write so?) and not the second meaning, which would make you a sad person
“Why does this bother you? She was being dumb and people told her so. People told her so harshly.”
Apparently, you cannot grasp the concept of “other people make their own mind up and they have the right to do so”. People who can’t have a civilised discussion, only post hate messages bother me – so what? I do have the right to think so and I was raised to think hate is something that never ends well. If you don’t like something, you can express it without “flame” someone.
I don’t know how to put this so that it’s any simpler: most of the fanfic community makes no money and expects none from their fanfics. So on this issue, the vast majority of fanficcers really do have the moral high ground.
That’s laughable! How can you talk about plagiarists having the “high moral ground?” You’re joking, right? You have got to be.
If fanficccers had any sense of morals or ethics, they wouldn’t steal work that doesn’t belong to them! It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference whethe they make money off their plagiarism or not…they are still characters that don’t belong to them.
Plagiarism?
I thought that was using / copying the works of others without acknowledging the source?
Most fanficcers despite breaking copyright acknowledge that their works derive from an ‘original’ source. So how can they be plagiarists?
“Most fanficcers, despite breaking copyright…”
And they claim “The moral high ground?” Get real. Acknowledging your theft doesn’t make it right. How many fanficcers have the decency to ask the authors for permission to use their work? Less than 1 percent, if that much. “Moral high ground?” Jesus.
It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference whether they make money off their plagiarism or not…they are still characters that don’t belong to them.
Yes it does. I still have yet to see anyone convince me that actual harm is being done where money or food or water or electricity or some other tangible substance is not lost because of fanfiction. Stealing can not occur when money does not exist to steal.
Which brings me back to cousinjean.
thank you for clarifying what “being not nice” means
in my country this term has “slightly” different meaning
Well, considering that flaming someone over the internet can not make them lose a job or make them sick or physically hurt them, then I couldn’t qualify this as something beyond “not nice.” If someone started trying to actually hurt cousinjean, that would be another matter.
they lost “the moral high ground” (if they had it in the first place) the moment they behaved like a pack of hungry wolves
The people flaming her haven’t made money off their fics. She was trying to. Because they told her so harshly does not mean they sunk to her level.
I can only hope you meant this as false identity (why don’t write so?) and not the second meaning, which would make you a sad person
That’s what I meant. An internet “sockpuppet” is someone (usually someone in a debate of some kind) who comes along and goes “I agree with Person A,” when it really is the same person wearing a different hat.
Apparently, you cannot grasp the concept of “other people make their own mind up and they have the right to do so”. People who can’t have a civilised discussion, only post hate messages bother me – so what? I do have the right to think so and I was raised to think hate is something that never ends well. If you don’t like something, you can express it without “flame” someone.
True, I was just curious why this stood out to you in particular. Do you know cousinjean in real life?
And yes, I debate all the time without flaming, but there are places where you have to draw the line. Making money off of things that don’t belong to you is definitely one of those places, and there’s no reason to be nice to someone who is trying to steal from other people. Cousinjean was two steps away from being a common thief. That’s not something that needs to be watered down or pandered to. It is wrong and should be called for what it is.
Yes it does. I still have yet to see anyone convince me that actual harm is being done where money or food or water or electricity or some other tangible substance is not lost because of fanfiction. Stealing can not occur when money does not exist to steal.
I assume you meant “substance is lost” instead of “not lost.”
There have definitely been instances where fanfic interfered with an author’s ability to make money from their own work. MZB’s Darkover series is the most infamous example.
“And they claim “The moral high ground?” Get real. Acknowledging your theft doesn’t make it right. How many fanficcers have the decency to ask the authors for permission to use their work? Less than 1 percent, if that much. “Moral high ground?” Jesus.”
I never said anything about ‘moral high ground’ in fact I distrust *anyone* who claims that for anything. I was asking for clarification of your use of the term plagiarism.
I assume you meant “substance is lost” instead of “not lost.”
Yeah. Ooops. Thought I checked that over. Thanks for the catch.
I have only ever heard of the Darkover series in passing, so I can’t speak to that example at all, I’m afraid. I do feel very strongly that fanfiction should never, ever be used to get money or iPods or anything else of any kind of value (if I hear someone say that fanficcers get pats on the back for their stories, I think I’ll scream). I also know that fanfiction often causes me, at least, to want to spend money towards a franchise. If I’m writing a story, I want the details to be right, and that means knowing canon. If the fanfic is about a TV universe, I either wait for the relevant episodes to be rerun, or I buy the DVDs so that I can watch them whenever. DVDs are more convienient, thus the spending money.
But, this Darkover thing has me curious now. What happened there?
Alice, threats of a lawsuit killed a novel when a substantially-completed work was similar to previously-published fanfic. The author couldn’t afford a court fight, even one she knew she’d win. She had to chuck the book and lost months of work, as I recall.
It’s important to note that it doesn’t matter if the fanfic writer thinks they’re doing something harmless or even beneficial to the creator’s property. It still belongs to the creator. They’re the ones who decide who gets to play with their work.
@Alice:
“True, I was just curious why this stood out to you in particular. Do you know cousinjean in real life?”
no, I don’t know her; I think we are not even on the same continent
she isn’t even my one-above-other favourite writer, althought I enjoyed her work immensely
and that’s the point:
fanfic is for FUN
I agree with you, not for money
BUT, NOT for HATE, either
It doesn’t help anybody, when a person spit venom and think of it as an argument – it isn’t. it’s only a sign that this person has to grow up yet
it bothers me, that in a virtual world I enjoyed so far suddenly appears to be a war ground (this discussion here is only one example) – I really don’t want to have to quit reading fanfic only because there are more personal stuff than fics
nobody is perfect, everyone can express their feelings; I just wish it would happen in a way that shows our species really left the trees
I think sometimes people should be more generous
that’s it – I leave this discussion now; said what I felt I have to and I’m done with it
have fun
Marion Zimmer Bradley? How can you be involved in fan fiction and arguing the moral high ground of that position with out knowing about it? Sheesh! Jesus Christ on a stick. Why do you think that professional authors do not like fan fiction? It endangers their livilhood. Marion Zimmer Bradley opened herself up to the fan fiction community, read it, contributed to it. Because she read it and the stuff based on her work, a fan submitted a story to her zine that speculated the details as to what happened. She demanded half royalties and name on the book. She threatened to sue. Daw shelved her book because of it. MZB’s livilihood was threatened. Authors who openly acknowledge reading the material are moronic because copyright law doesn’t say that you have to prove that a person directly accessed the materials but that they HAD access to it. JKR’s “Fan fiction is like Christmas in July!” is leaving her open to threats of legal action for copyright violation.
So it does cause harm. Toss in that a lot of fan fiction is based on trademarked properties. Trademark law is such that if you don’t protect it, you loose it. Fan fiction could also be argued as diminishing the value of those trademarks. This could have a lot of potential for causing people loss of their livilihood.
It just takes one ass hat fan to ruin it for everyone. Given the amount of vitrol running rampant in fan fiction circles, I’m not convinced it isn’t going to happen. The cousionjean slap down, the support of other people in fandom like the Blake’s7 I’ll threaten to sue you and make your life shit and yeah, the actor told me to stop profitting from his image and CC I get laptops and plagiarize and people call me better than JKR and wish I would take over writing the books are just cans of worms that make fan fiction writers look bad but hey, fan fiction peeps reward that behaviour, condone that behaviour and weave it into their culture. B7, let’s forget the shit and be all peaches and cream. HP, we’ll just get ourselves published and threaten to sue anyone who disrupts the popular myth. Doctor Who, we’ll ignore that homophobic crap that went on. Profitting from beta reading stuff, again, sweep sweep sweep and it never happened. People making living off selling fanzines will just be covered up and never discussed.
Revisionist history or blatant ignorance. Take your pick. CousinJean isn’t new and shouldn’t be slammed for being new and revolutionary in asking for what she did. Lots of for profit in fan fiction. Saying no one gets hurt and few people do it is just a game of moral relativism. Fans cry fowl when others archive their fic but Google does the same thing, no decrying and no whining but hark! Greatness! Double standards. Moral relativism. It’s my hobby so its okay. Saying we know we’re copyright violators and we know that derivative rights belong to the creator both ethically and morally and legally but no harm no foul is moral relativism and bull shit.
That sort of BS is what allows and fosters the type of stuff CousinJean did because it gives context to situations where it is okay to stuff because sweep, sweep and foster ignorance to further the agenda of our selfishness.
Lee Goldwater has a point and it gets stronger with every defense of “But it doesn’t hurt the creators!”
Who is “Lee Goldwater?”
The writers of the “original” novel have full rights to prevent fanfiction from being written. Even on fanfiction.net there were some writers who specifically requested that no fanfiction based on their novel be written. If, while reading fanfiction, the author adopts a little bit of a fan fic’s plot accidentally then that should be fine as long as he doesn’t give a carbon copy of the fanfiction. Especially with the more popular series (Harry Potter) it is almost impossible, because of the sheer volume of fanfics NOT to adopt some of somebody’s plot. If you think your fanfiction is really good you should ask the author for permission to publish it. Even FMA fanfiction has been published.
Same person as post above.
Also I detest what this fanfic author has done, but flaming her, even after she has posted an apology, is pretty much pointless….I just flamed her….crap…I broke my own rule..sorry, Jean.
Yo, this is my opinion on the matter.
It takes writing ability to write something regardless of who created the world that is being written in.
I have read both good and bad fanfic writing, and to tell the truth I wouldn’t give either type a dime because I am not a publisher. However, that being said, if there is a series of published novels that I actually enjoy reading, I buy the books thus supporting the author.
Also, do you have any idea of what goes into getting your novels published? How expensive it can be? From what I’ve heard so far, you most likely don’t. I know that it is far from easy even though my knowledge of the subject is minimal at best.
So one of the fanfic writers decided to put a price-tag on her writing. Who cares. I mean really. Who? Someone who writes fanfic solely as a hobby?
I am not posting this to pass judgement on cousinjean for that is not my job, nor is it yours for everyone who has flamed her has no right to judge her either.
She apparently appologized and said farewell.
She did something that was probably unneccesary, but if I read what the original post was saying she was getting emails from you, the Constant Reader, when the next story would be finished like you had some sort of right to expect her to keep writing even though she didn’t necessarily have the time to do so.
I understand fully where she was coming from as I attend college full time AND I work full time, and I hardly have the time for my hobbies which does include writing, skinning forums, coding programs, among other activities.
So she only works part-time. Do you actually have any clue as to what her life really is like? What responsibilities she has? I know I don’t, and I doubt you do either.
disclaimer:
This message has been brought to you from the digitalBeyond by me,
digitalWarp
On a different note: I do realize that you will most likely flame this, but guess what: that’s what I’d expect from the bottom feeding trolls around here.