Celebrities and Fan Fiction

[Erlikkhan]

I love writing in this category, but readership is always quite low. I've tried to put stories like "Back to the Future" into other categories like incest, but they always gets changed back to Celebrities and Fan Fiction by the reviewer. Is this a legal thing? If so, I can understand when real people are involved (like my Britney series), but movie parodies of "Back to the Future" and the "Wizard of Oz" are based on fictional characters. In any event, clarification of this issue would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[NotWise]

I love writing in this category, but readership is always quite low. I've tried to put stories like "Back to the Future" into other categories like incest, but they always gets changed back to Celebrities and Fan Fiction by the reviewer. Is this a legal thing? If so, I can understand when real people are involved (like my Britney series), but movie parodies of "Back to the Future" and the "Wizard of Oz" are based on fictional characters. In any event, clarification of this issue would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I'm not sure, but I think Laurel is very careful with fan fiction because of possible liabilities. Tx Tall Tales' description of the Celebrities category from Love Your Readers: Categories is:

Celebrities: If your story involves sex with a celebrity as a central theme, it belongs in the celebrity category. This includes famous characters in established fiction, not just real people. That's right, Captain Kirk, and Hermione belong in Celebrities. A celebrity cameo appearance can be successfully submitted under its main category, if it's non-sexual.

 

[Erlikkhan]

Many thanks for the clarification. I guess I need to look at the rules for submissions more carefully.

 

[SimonDoom]

Many thanks for the clarification. I guess I need to look at the rules for submissions more carefully.

One of the wrinkles for celebrity/fan fiction here that you should be aware of is that the Site will not let you "age up" characters that are known primarily as underage characters in a famous story. So it's not kosher to write about the Harry Potter kids "20 years later" having sex. A weird rule, in a way, but that's how it is.

 

[Handpop]

I'm not sure, but I think Laurel is very careful with fan fiction because of possible liabilities. Tx Tall Tales' description of the Celebrities category from Love Your Readers: Categories is:

Celebrities: If your story involves sex with a celebrity as a central theme, it belongs in the celebrity category. This includes famous characters in established fiction, not just real people. That's right, Captain Kirk, and Hermione belong in Celebrities. A celebrity cameo appearance can be successfully submitted under its main category, if it's non-sexual.

Would that also apply to TV-formats?

In the Netherlands, we have a television show called 'Beste Zangers' in which singers come together in a holiday-villa for a couple of days to sing songs for each other (Look it up on YouTube; there are some pretty good performances)

I've been thinking about writing a story with fictional artists coming together for this show. Should / would that fit in Celebrities and Fan Fiction, or should it go in any of the other categories?

 

[RejectReality]

As long as all the characters are your creations, a real location or event won't put it in Celeb and Fanfic.

Would that also apply to TV-formats?

In the Netherlands, we have a television show called 'Beste Zangers' in which singers come together in a holiday-villa for a couple of days to sing songs for each other (Look it up on YouTube; there are some pretty good performances)

I've been thinking about writing a story with fictional artists coming together for this show. Should / would that fit in Celebrities and Fan Fiction, or should it go in any of the other categories?

 

[GuessImJamie]

One of the wrinkles for celebrity/fan fiction here that you should be aware of is that the Site will not let you "age up" characters that are known primarily as underage characters in a famous story. So it's not kosher to write about the Harry Potter kids "20 years later" having sex. A weird rule, in a way, but that's how it is.

First Lisa and I have 223 stories posted here, so I appriciate the site and know the owner is overworked. But this topic really upsets me. The problem is in the term "best known." I really like fan fiction but stopped submitting that genre over this issue.

I don't write "underage" stories. I understand and abide by the rules as posted. But this rule is so #$@^%$ arbitrary. Harry Potter is banned anyway, dunno why. But the last movie has the primary characters depicted by Rowling AS ADULTS WITH CHILDREN GOING OFF TO SCHOOL AT HOGWARTS. They have a 11 year old kid but are for some reason "best known as being 14." Arrest Sirley Temples husband for pedophilia why don't you???

Like my Rejected Amelia Bedilia story (she is 30-ish in Peggy Parish's original and the Rodgers are even older)..Don Rickles CPO Sharkey retires and moved in next door to the Rodgers. I obviously thought it was cute, he tells her to fuck herself. Being a literalist she can't figure out how and asks the Rodgers who assist her. Then they have pie. He is 60 ish they are 40 ish. The freaking story had four characters, 60, 40, 40, 30 underage!!!

Lisa's Brady bunch story fan fiction not of the series but of later movies was okay but not my Waltons fan fiction likewise based on the movies.Rejected i suppose nobody watched those...

And as to the blanket Disney ban. NEITHER WALT NOR HIS PREDECESSORS OR ASSIGNS PAID HANS CRISTIAN ANDERSON OR HIS DECENDENTS A DIME!!! The Ice Queen isn't a Disney creation... HE JUST FUCKING TOOK IT FROM PUBLIC DOMAIN AND HE DOESNT OWN IT!!! Lisa's Grimm fan fiction was okay, again nobody read HCA!!!

Arggghhhh!!!

Hold it can't do Peanuts either... Even though it was on Broadway.

 

[Handpop]

As long as all the characters are your creations, a real location or event won't put it in Celeb and Fanfic.

Thank you!

 

[SimonDoom]

Would that also apply to TV-formats?

In the Netherlands, we have a television show called 'Beste Zangers' in which singers come together in a holiday-villa for a couple of days to sing songs for each other (Look it up on YouTube; there are some pretty good performances)

I've been thinking about writing a story with fictional artists coming together for this show. Should / would that fit in Celebrities and Fan Fiction, or should it go in any of the other categories?

Unless the MCs of the show (if there are any -- I don't know the show) are the erotic focus of your story, I wouldn't think this concept would qualify as "Celebrities and Fan Fiction."

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don't write "underage" stories. I understand and abide by the rules as posted. But this rule is so #$@^%$ arbitrary. Harry Potter is banned anyway, dunno why.

The film franchise is owned by Disney Corp, a $100-billion company that's famous for aggressively enforcing its intellectual property rights, especially for anything that might tarnish their wholesome image. They've shut down Harry Potter fanfic sites even without adult content involved. Small wonder Literotica doesn't want to invite that kind of attention.

But the last movie has the primary characters depicted by Rowling AS ADULTS WITH CHILDREN GOING OFF TO SCHOOL AT HOGWARTS. They have a 11 year old kid but are for some reason "best known as being 14."

This is a short scene in the epilogue of one of eight films. For the vast majority of the story, the kids are under-age.

Arrest Sirley Temples husband for pedophilia why don't you???

Real people are not fictional people. Blocking content from a website is not arresting people for pedophilia.

Like my Rejected Amelia Bedilia story (she is 30-ish in Peggy Parish's original and the Rodgers are even older)

I suspect the issue there is not so much under-age characters but that the books are seen as children's books. IIRC Literotica discourages fic based on children's entertainment even when the characters are canonically adults.

And as to the blanket Disney ban. NEITHER WALT NOR HIS PREDECESSORS OR ASSIGNS PAID HANS CRISTIAN ANDERSON OR HIS DECENDENTS A DIME!!! The Ice Queen isn't a Disney creation... HE JUST FUCKING TOOK IT FROM PUBLIC DOMAIN AND HE DOESNT OWN IT!!! Lisa's Grimm fan fiction was okay, again nobody read HCA!!!

Legally, Disney owns the aspects of the Ice Queen that are original to Frozen and Frozen 2.

In practice, Disney can bulldoze pretty much anybody into the ground with legal costs, regardless of what legal theory says ought to be public domain, and if the law isn't sufficiently friendly to them they'll lobby Congress to change it, as they have done before.

If you don't like that situation, you'd be better off working to change it than complaining about L&M setting policies that are presumably aimed at protecting themselves from being bankrupted by litigation. Or post on one of the other fiction websites that is willing to take that risk; they're not hard to find.

 

[8letters]

The [Harry Potter] film franchise is owned by Disney Corp, a $100-billion company that's famous for aggressively enforcing its intellectual property rights, especially for anything that might tarnish their wholesome image. They've shut down Harry Potter fanfic sites even without adult content involved. Small wonder Literotica doesn't want to invite that kind of attention.

Actually, the Harry Potter films are owned by Warner Bros, which is a part of AT&T.

 

[SimonDoom]

The film franchise is owned by Disney Corp, a $100-billion company that's famous for aggressively enforcing its intellectual property rights, especially for anything that might tarnish their wholesome image. They've shut down Harry Potter fanfic sites even without adult content involved. Small wonder Literotica doesn't want to invite that kind of attention.

.

I'm not an expert on the facts of this situation and am not 100% about them, but this doesn't sound right. Warner Brothers owns the rights to the movies (although I think it sold them to NBC Universal, but not to Disney). But movie rights aside, I assume JK Rowling still has the copyright in the books. If she wanted to write a sequel to Harry Potter, I assume she could. So I don't see what right the movie studio would have to prevent someone from writing a work that's arguably derivative of the books, as opposed to the movies.

My understanding is that JK Rowling actually has been rather permissive about Harry Potter fan fiction, but that she's concerned about pornographic fan fiction, because of the risk that children who are Harry Potter fans could get access to it. That's a reasonable concern.

 

[GuessImJamie]

I suspect the issue there is not so much under-age characters but that the books are seen as children's books. IIRC Literotica discourages fic based on children's entertainment even when the characters are canonically adults.

Gosh it would be nice if that were the rule to have it stated somewhere. So you dont write a page and a half that is rejected with a boilerplate statement that says you dont accept fan fiction where folks are "artificially aged to be over 18" or something like that that just leaves an author scratching thier head.

Legally, Disney owns the aspects of the Ice Queen that are original to Frozen and Frozen 2.

In practice, Disney can bulldoze pretty much anybody into the ground with legal costs, regardless of what legal theory says ought to be public domain, and if the law isn't sufficiently friendly to them they'll lobby Congress to change it, as they have done before.

If you don't like that situation, you'd be better off working to change it than complaining about L&M setting policies that are presumably aimed at protecting themselves from being bankrupted by litigation. Or post on one of the other fiction websites that is willing to take that risk; they're not hard to find.

IRL I run a business, and I get fighting with elephants. Even if you win you get stomped on a lot.

The only time in my life I ever wore handcuffs... Strike that, the only time I wasn't naked wearing handcuffs (although I got fucked-but not in the good way) was after I was accused of stealing my own property (that I owned free and clear). I had an airplane and crew under contract and the government decided that the lessee could BOTH cease paying me AND retain the ship and it's contract as an "asset" in thier bankruptcy proceedings. Right, I flew it to Canada and parked it there. I never flew into Miami without being required to pay a small bribe to the US Customs folks working there. I know the score.

I don't know if a lot just slips through, or if the rules keep changing or... As I started off saying that I post here because it's the place people come to read stuff. Having stories rejected when they meet the posted standards is frustrating when the only reward given for writing is seeing the number of clicks on a story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My understanding is that JK Rowling actually has been rather permissive about Harry Potter fan fiction, but that she's concerned about pornographic fan fiction, because of the risk that children who are Harry Potter fans could get access to it. That's a reasonable concern.

And Laurel is right not to allow it here.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm not an expert on the facts of this situation and am not 100% about them, but this doesn't sound right. Warner Brothers owns the rights to the movies (although I think it sold them to NBC Universal, but not to Disney).

Doh! Right you are, and I really should've remembered that. WB might be slightly less lawsuit-happy, but still not a group I'd like to mess with.

But movie rights aside, I assume JK Rowling still has the copyright in the books. If she wanted to write a sequel to Harry Potter, I assume she could. So I don't see what right the movie studio would have to prevent someone from writing a work that's arguably derivative of the books, as opposed to the movies.

In that case, it wouldn't be WB but her book publishers. I don't know her legal arrangements, but no publisher is going to pay megabucks for the publishing rights without some legally enforceable guarantee of exclusivity. Certainly JKR and her publishers have gone after derivative works repeatedly in the past.

My understanding is that JK Rowling actually has been rather permissive about Harry Potter fan fiction, but that she's concerned about pornographic fan fiction, because of the risk that children who are Harry Potter fans could get access to it. That's a reasonable concern.

Often the licensees are much more draconian than the creators on this kind of thing. Back when the first HP films were coming out, Warner Bros pressured a bunch of fan websites to hand over their domains. They eventually cooled it off after realising that making teenage fans cry wasn't really good PR.

Gosh it would be nice if that were the rule to have it stated somewhere. So you dont write a page and a half that is rejected with a boilerplate statement that says you dont accept fan fiction where folks are "artificially aged to be over 18" or something like that that just leaves an author scratching thier head.

I agree, and I apologise for the tone of my previous reply to you - it is reasonable that you'd feel frustrated about that, and I didn't think that through before posting. This site is kinda terrible about documenting changes from the original rules. Now and then Laurel will post a clarification on the forums, or some author who discovered these rules the hard way will discuss it there, but those are very hard to find afterwards. And then somebody else rediscovers it the hard way.