Continuing abandoned stories? Whats the procedure?

[jhealy55]

@jhealy55

"If the lean-to or graffiti wouldn't get any attention if it wasn't on the side of the Empire State Building there's your answer."

The only relevant graffiti reference here is a long wall designated by the municipality, where I pick up where you left off with your graffiti.

Ironic that you help make my point. The municipality you imagine still wouldn't grant you the permit or variance that you believe you can argue them into issuing.

You can blame it on the old boys club or "the man" but its simply a shortcut to thinking it through.

Because the municipality only cares about the tax base. Everything else is a secondary concern.

It only wrote the rule because they got tired of picking up the bodies of dead taggers every morning or saw that it was starting to lose contributors to a different community. The makeup of the population is a reflection of the organizing principles of the community.

If there isn't any existing constituency for bending the rule and a reasonable expectation that doing so would put a dent in how effective it would be to retaining and attracting new contributors, there's no incentive to change it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Something like Neil Gaiman's The Problem with Susan is going into that grey area of fan fiction, or is quasi-academic - he's critiquing C.S.Lewis as a writer and how he portrays characters, which is indeed "fair use".

My go-to example for professionally published fanfiction is Kim Newman, Gaiman's one-time collaborator and also one of the few real people to get a cameo in Gaiman's "Sandman" comic. KN's day job is as a film critic/historian, so he has a professional interest in other people's stories and a lot of his own works lean on other people's fiction, but never just in a "here's how I think the story should've continued" kind of way.

For example, his short story "Übermensch" starts from the premise that Superman's capsule landed in 1920s Bavaria instead of America and uses that to say some things about the role that superhuman "heroes" play in fascist propaganda, a topic that he's also explored in a couple of other stories. Now I look, there was a short film adaptation a few years back; it's fairly faithful to the story with some abridgements.

His best-known work is the "Anno-Dracula" series, which is an alternate history in a world where Dracula defeated Van Helsing and ended up marrying Queen Victoria. Dracula itself is well and truly public domain by now, but the series also features a LOT of cameos from characters whose books are still in copyright, including James Bond, Tom Ripley, the Addams Family, Biggles, and even very briefly Snoopy.

I don't think Newman licenses those appearances; there are so many of them that he'd have no time left for writing. But most of them are extremely minor, often not explicitly named, and not load-bearing characters. Where they are significant, as with the Clark Kent figure in Übermensch, I think he'd have a strong argument for "fair use" as commentary/parody in that quasi-academic vein. AFAIK he hasn't been sued yet, so I guess DC felt the same way?

 

[ElectricBlue]

My go-to example for professionally published fanfiction is Kim Newman, Gaiman's one-time collaborator and also one of the few real people to get a cameo in Gaiman's "Sandman" comic. KN's day job is as a film critic/historian, so he has a professional interest in other people's stories and a lot of his own works lean on other people's fiction, but never just in a "here's how I think the story should've continued" kind of way.

Sounds I interesting. I'll go check him out.

 

[jhealy55]

Once, a reader approached me (not on this account) with an idea for a sequel to one of my stories. His idea was original and brilliant. I really liked it, but I was occupied with other projects, so I encouraged him to write it himself. He admitted that despite having a mind full of ideas, he had never written due to dyslexia. I insisted that the sequel idea was entirely his and offered to assist as a beta reader.

Where is the other account where you have work posted? The account you are posting with here is only a few weeks old and you show nothing has been published yet.

Fact is, there are plenty of places on here where writers can find prompts, story ideas offered up and open invitations to co-author. No one is being excluded or discouraged from collaborating with others here.

The OP came here asking what the procedure was for continuing another author's work without their explicit permission. You are free to give permission to anyone in regard to your own work. That's not an issue. If you think it helps your exposure and expands your audience, have at it. Nothing is stopping you.

Just as the OP is still free to write whatever they like. What they are asking for is permission to direct readers to their own work using another author's story, characters and audience. Again, without explicit permission.

What if the answer was, "Sure, post whatever you want, but you can't use the other author's name or the original story name anywhere in your post, you cannot promote it in their comment sections and you must change all character and place names in your version." Is that a fair standard?

Point being, if I have a story to tell, nothing is going to keep me from writing it, audience or not. If the concept and execution are strong enough, it will connect with readers right out of the new stories queue.

The OP isn't asking for permission to write, or even to post. They are asking for permission to publish on this site and direct the audience for a published author to their work to promote it. Those are not the same things.

I have no problem with others giving permission to use their own work in this way. I am a hard "no" on allowing others to use my own, or any other authors, work without permission.

I'm also completely comfortable with the idea that no answer is always a "no" from an author about their work. I respect everyone's right to be left alone if they aren't hurting anyone, if that's what they choose.

So just because someone never answers their door, email or their phone doesn't give someone the right to go on their property and take something for their own use. Nor do they owe anyone an explanation, or even a response. After 1-2 unanswered requests, the polite thing to do is accept that the answer is 'no' and move on.