Unfinished/Abandoned Story Series

[Mistress_Canada]

Hey,
I'm in the middle of working on a long writing project for the rest of my life, but was feeling like writing some shorter works for lit might keep me from burning out on it. I don't really have the energy to start from scratch, if I can help it, and I've noticed that there are some great story series that have been abandoned for years.

Is there a point at which the lit community says it's ethical to complete someone else's story? I mean I wouldn't step in if someone had left a story for 6 months or a year, but one story I'm thinking about hasn't been touched since 2003, so it probably will never be returned to.

Any thoughts? For me, the challenge of trying to match another author's voice sounds really intriguing.

 

[Guest]

Ask first.

It isn't, after all, your story.

 

[LaRocha]

You can email them, but most likely they haven't been around and the email won't get answered because its probably been deleted due to inactivity. Just continue the story, say something like, "This is based on the characters from x's story... read that story first."

A better move is to write your own version of their story, steal the good points, make the less than great points better. You should still preface the story with "Inspired by this or that author's series." Then you can write your own original continuation and the readers won't shy away because the story's in two different places. Shakespeare stole the Ephesian Tale's plot points and re-wrote the garbage silliness, added his own quality material for Romeo and Juliet...

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

All stories submitted here by the authors for use at Literotica are copyrighted. If I'm not mistaken that copyright lasts for 20 years.

I'd see you extending and rewriting someone else's story as plagiarism.

I know that I woudn't be happy, if someone continued with one of my stories. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, it would be akin to wearing someone else's clothes, after they wore them.

"Eww."

Okay, admittedly, unless you're wicked good looking with a body to match, I wouldn't want to see you walking around in my used underwear.

"Nasty."

Pardon me, while I pause for the visual effect of that.

To answer your question, with just my opinion, of course, I think it's wrong for you to use the work of another writer for your own benefit.

What happens if the series takes off? What happens if you make money from it? You could be sued, humiliated, disgraced, and stripped naked.

"Wow."

Pardon me, again, while I pause for the visual effect of that.

"Okay, I'm done."

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

You can email them, but most likely they haven't been around and the email won't get answered because its probably been deleted due to inactivity. Just continue the story, say something like, "This is based on the characters from x's story... read that story first."

A better move is to write your own version of their story, steal the good points, make the less than great points better. You should still preface the story with "Inspired by this or that author's series." Then you can write your own original continuation and the readers won't shy away because the story's in two different places. Shakespeare stole the Ephesian Tale's plot points and re-wrote the garbage silliness, added his own quality material for Romeo and Juliet...

"Steal the best points?"

That's plagiarism. Have you no morals? It's wrong to steal the work of another.

Shakespeare stole stories before there were modern day copyright laws. Besides, no writer worth his salt would ever steal the work of another, that is, unless that writer was holding on to an award winning manuscript, after he or she suffered a fatal heart attack and it was only you and him or her there with no one else as a witness.

What would you do? Would you take the manuscript from out of his or her cold dead hand, knowing full well that you did not write it but that you could make millions? Or would you leave the manuscript there for someone else to take?

Answer me that (lol).

I figured as much (lol).

 

[Mistress_Canada]

What about the "celebrities" section?

Ask first.

It isn't, after all, your story.

Already tried through the contact form with no response.

I understand the copyright concern, but what's the difference between what I'd be doing and fan fiction? There's a whole section of Lit that has continuations/extrapolations/fan fiction from Buffy, CSI, etc. Where do the lines begin and end?

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Already tried through the contact form with no response.

I understand the copyright concern, but what's the difference between what I'd be doing and fan fiction? There's a whole section of Lit that has continuations/extrapolations/fan fiction from Buffy, CSI, etc. Where do the lines begin and end?

So long as you create the story yourself, an original work, you'd be fine writing about celebrities. Larry Flint of Hustler magazine won that court suit in 1988 and I applaud him for that.

Celebrities are public figures. Knock yourself out.

As far as continuations from Buffy and CSI, I'd say that bordered on plagiarism, too. If I was the writer of those series, I wouldn't be happy with you continuing my work. Yet, I doubt if they take any recourse against you, that is, unless you tried selling what you created as original, which you couldn't do, of course.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Oh! Please!

It cant be plagiarizm if its new material. Idiots. MAD MAGAZINE and SNL are famous for stealing concepts and having their way with them.

I understand that BFW is trying to copyright 'a' 'the' 'and' and plenty of other words he uses in his stories, he says such words make his stories what they are, and need to be protected from poachers.

 

[sr71plt]

This isn't a copyright issue, unless you republish actual wording from the original.

Takeoffs are common and don't require permission.

There's a band of gray area in there where ethics come into play, but it's a hard one to define.

If you think of as--and write it up more as--a takeoff and new creative direction of the work, that's done and can be quite interesting (think of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Gilderstern are Dead takeoff on Hamlet). If you think of it as "finishing" someone else's story--and present it that way--you are probably in unethical territory and stepping on the original author's toes.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Okay, when jbj, SR71plt, and i all agree, there's gotta be an apocalypse headed our way...

Even finishing an unfinished story is not plagiarism.

There's also the writer's challenges subforum, and you might find inspiration from some one of the prompts and exercises people have given there.

 

[D_K_Moon]

Already tried through the contact form with no response.

I understand the copyright concern, but what's the difference between what I'd be doing and fan fiction? There's a whole section of Lit that has continuations/extrapolations/fan fiction from Buffy, CSI, etc. Where do the lines begin and end?

Personally, I disagree with FanFic period. Some copyright owners, Star Wars, Disney etc agressively protect their copyrights.

Write your own material and leave other writers' stories alone. I can only speak for myself, but I sure as hell don't want you messing with my ideas.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Personally, I disagree with FanFic period. Some copyright owners, Star Wars, Disney etc agressively protect their copyrights.

Write your own material and leave other writers' stories alone. I can only speak for myself, but I sure as hell don't want you messing with my ideas.

Because the ideas of an amateur writer are the most precious ideas in the known universe.

You cannot copyright an idea. You can copyright your copy.

 

[D_K_Moon]

Because the ideas of an amateur writer are the most precious ideas in the known universe.

You cannot copyright an idea. You can copyright your copy.

So, my ideas are somehow worth less than yours? That was rather a bitchy statement.

No, you can't copyright an idea, but you can copyright characters. Check out the Star Wars copyright.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Oh! Please!

It cant be plagiarizm if its new material. Idiots. MAD MAGAZINE and SNL are famous for stealing concepts and having their way with them.

I understand that BFW is trying to copyright 'a' 'the' 'and' and plenty of other words he uses in his stories, he says such words make his stories what they are, and need to be protected from poachers.

Oops, sorry, but I just copyrighted JBJ. You can't go by that moniker anymore. From now on I just refer to you as...HAH!

(lol)

Actually, if I were to copyright anything, I'd copyright...The End.

Imagine the royalties I'd make on those two words.

 

[Stella_Omega]

So, my ideas are somehow worth less than yours? That was rather a bitchy statement.

No, you can't copyright an idea, but you can copyright characters. Check out the Star Wars copyright.

I'm not a professional either, and I know it, and I'm fine with it.

Although Star Wars might be able to copyright Lea Organa and Luke Skywalker, there is no possible way they can copyright siblings separated and raised on different worlds meet after all that time and save the universe, and kill their father.

Neither you or I can legitimately copyright Gloria Johnson and Kenneth MacDonald and their sexy office meeting with a purple strapon, or mother seduces son, or kidnapped young adult becomes sex slave, or any of the thirty-odd essential sex fantasies that get rebooted over and over and over here.

Don't worry about it, that's what I say. Write what you write, if you suddenly stop writing you can be sure someone else will carry on in your stead, and there will always be something new for you to read that is close enough to your preferences to get you off.

Which is the main thing, right?

 

[Mistress_Canada]

OK. I'm going to accept the consensus, which seems to be "don't finish the story" to heart. Sorta. I'll probably finish the story for my own purposes (it kills me that he's on an airplane going the wrong way and we don't know what happens next), but I won't post it. For everyone else, they'll be forever stuck in time, without us ever knowing how they get together in the end...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Oops, sorry, but I just copyrighted JBJ. You can't go by that moniker anymore. From now on I just refer to you as...HAH!

(lol)

Actually, if I were to copyright anything, I'd copyright...The End.

Imagine the royalties I'd make on those two words.

dAMN!

Someone already got Happy Birthday!

 

[sr71plt]

Personally, I disagree with FanFic period. Some copyright owners, Star Wars, Disney etc agressively protect their copyrights.

No, it's their trademark they are protecting. Not their copyright. These are two different animals.

The cited companies have trademarked their characters and aspects of their stories--which you can do if you are going to use them commercially beyond the original work--but there's little chance any one writing for posting Literotica has trademarked anything in their stories (which is expensive and not particularly easy to do. You have to point to commercial uses beyond the story and stories posted to Lit. don't even have any legal intrinsic value--they were given away for free.)

 

[sr71plt]

Oops, sorry, but I just copyrighted JBJ. You can't go by that moniker anymore. From now on I just refer to you as...HAH!

Sorry. I already own the copyright on HAH.

 

[LaRocha]

There's no reason you can't continue someone's story, using their characters to tell a new story. If they contact you, you can just ask Lit to take it down. J. D. Salinger successfully prosecuted some guy who made a grown up Holden Caulfield a character in his story. But you're likely not standing in the way of some guy's future material gain by doing what you want to do. Anyway, most stories, movies, songs, shows are just retreads of other characters and plot points from the past. Take what you like and make it your own. BFW and Scouries write the exact same stories. They're inspired by each other.

 

[Stella_Omega]

OK. I'm going to accept the consensus, which seems to be "don't finish the story" to heart. Sorta. I'll probably finish the story for my own purposes (it kills me that he's on an airplane going the wrong way and we don't know what happens next), but I won't post it. For everyone else, they'll be forever stuck in time, without us ever knowing how they get together in the end...

That is NOT the consensus. So far, four people (including some of the most contentious folk at Ah) have all agreed that you have the right to continue the story-- and to post it.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

BFW and Scouries write the exact same stories. They're inspired by each other.

Did I write anything to deserve your nasty comment? What's your problem?

Now, you're really showing not only how ignorant you truly are but also your need to cause trouble.

I suspect you never read any of Scouries stories or my stories for that matter.

Before you criticize a another author's writing, I suggest you learn how to write and write some stories of your own. Unless you're writing under a different name, which I assume you are, you haven't written anything since 2003.

Go bother someone else.

Have a nice day.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

BFW and Scouries write the exact same stories. They're inspired by each other.

My apologies. I just took a quick read of your stories (lol). I didn't know you were mentally challenged. I should have known that from your comment above.

lmao

Unbelievable. The man can't write and he's criticizing the work of others. What a moron, sorry, mentally challenged person.

 

[sr71plt]

There's no reason you can't continue someone's story, using their characters to tell a new story. If they contact you, you can't just ask Lit to take it down. J. D. Salinger successfully prosecuted some guy who made a grown up Holden Caulfield a character in his story. But you're likely not standing in the way of some guy's future material gain by doing what you want to do. Anyway, most stories, movies, songs, shows are just retreads of other characters and plot points from the past. Take what you like and make it your own. BFW and Scouries write the exact same stories. They're inspired by each other.

Do you have a court case citation on the J.D. Salinger case? You can trademark a character; you can't copyright one.

I am currently reading an advance copy of a novel being published by AmazonEncore (releasing in December) that heavily uses Holden Caulfield in it. There's been no hint that there's going to be a problem with the use of this character.

Fictional characters in previous works constantly turn up in new work.

This isn't a copyright issue.

(Reminds me. I recently had a talk with an author who writes a whole series on the grown-up Becky from the Tom Sawyer books. Not of a hint of a legal problem with that.)

 

[LaRocha]

Do you have a court case citation on the J.D. Salinger case? You can trademark a character; you can't copyright one.

I am currently reading an advance copy of a novel being published by AmazonEncore (releasing in December) that heavily uses Holden Caulfield in it. There's been no hint that there's going to be a problem with the use of this character.

Fictional characters in previous works constantly turn up in new work.

This isn't a copyright issue.

Mr. Salinger sued repeatedly over the years to protect his privacy and the sanctity of his work. In the last case, a federal district judge in Manhattan on July 1, 2009, indefinitely banned publication in the United States of a book by a Swedish author containing a 76-year-old version of Holden Caulfied, the querulous, precocious protagonist of "The Catcher in the Rye." In a copyright infringement lawsuit, Mr. Salinger's lawyers called the new novel, "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye," "a rip-off pure and simple." The book was written by Fredrick Colting, a 33-year-old humor writer who uses the pseudonym J. D. California. Mr. Colting said he would appeal the ruling.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/j_d_salinger/index.html