Continuations by people other than the original author/creator aren't worth getting worked up about.

[TheRedChamber]

The topic of someone wanting to continue a unfinished and apparently long abandoned story by another writer is one that rolls around weekly on this forum, and inevitably it seems to bring near universal condemnation. At the same time, within mainstream media, we're increasingly treated to reheated sequels to decades old media properties - a new Lord of the Rings anime, a new Star Wars trilogy, half a dozen new Star Trek spins offs, apparently a new Murder She Wrote TV series. All these green-lit by companies which own the rights but which are written and made by teams who often had no involvement in the originals.

I think there is an assumption, certainly that Disney had, that when they brought the rights to Star Wars that, in some way, they were also buying the fandom that came along with it. A common saying amongst sci-fi affictionardos is that 'No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans'. For myself, I feel like I'm very easy to please - I just want a movie that is equally good as one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. If you bought a two-star Michillin restaurant the expectation would be that you wanted to continue serving food at two-star levels. Not that you would keep the names of the dishes and most of the decor the same.

About two decades ago, a few years after the Star Wars prequels were made, I found myself watching TV and thinking to myself. "Wow, Battlestar Gallactica is now a better science fiction series than Star Wars. Who could have predicted this when I was a child?"

Then, about a decade ago, midway through the release of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, I found myself watching TV with my six(ish) year old daughter and genuinely thinking "Wow, My Little Pony is now a better epic fantasy series than Star Wars. We truely are in a through the looking glass world here."

The place I've reached is that why should I care about or give any creedence to derivative works that are not created by the original authors. If someone asks me these days if I'm a Lord of the Rings fan, I'll be careful to say that I'm a J.R.R Tolkien fan. Beyond that, any new Middle Earth spinoffs get exactly the same benefit of the doubt that any new generic fantasy series would get (possibly slightly less as I'd have more patience for understand what was special about the newly created property.) As an example, I watched the LotRs Rohirrim anime for about fifteen minutes on a recent flight and then turned it off and didnt feel any of my usual 'completionist' anxiety about it. I didnt like what I saw, but I also wasn't offended by its existance. The impact it has on J.R.R's legacy is less that a tadpole's fart in the Atlantic Ocean.

But, and this is where it gets controversial, this attitude also carries over to Literotica. Who really cares if someone writes a free conclusion to a free and unfinished story? That person wasnt the original author, and the original author is still perfectly free to come back and finish the story if they want to. As long as it is disclosed that it is a derivative, unofficial and non-cannon work, I don't see a whole lot of harm to it.

I know people feel strongly about this topic and I'm well aware of the legal and ethical arguments. I also feel like as a community which is producing (mostly) free and (somewhat) taboo-breaking content, it would be nice if there was more of a 'hippy' attitude towards it. People will say its down to each individual author, and indeed it is and it must be. I don't know that I've much on here worth borrowing from (although I have been approached for permission for one derivative work) but I am edging towards including some kind of blanket release for what I write and encouraging others to do the same (if they want to, of course.)

 

[SimonDoom]

The answer to your question is very simple: Many authors consider this an unethical inappropriation of the original author's work, and IP rights in the work. To them, it is a very big deal.

The law is on their side. In most cases this would be a violation of copyright. I think many, if not most, writers and other artists consider copyright infringement to be unethical as well as potentially illegal.

In the cases you cited, permission was obtained. That makes all the difference.

Your idea of a blanket release seems like a good one. I'd have to think about it for a bit but might be inclined to grant such a right if someone wanted to do a continuation of one of my stories.

I don't have any objection to people having their own personal, philosophical differences on this issue. But I do object when it is suggested that the site is perfectly hunky, dory on this, because it has said that it's not. The site's position is that you should obtain permission from the original author. People can quibble over the degree to which the site enforces its rule, but that is the stated rule, and I think the right, honorable thing to do here is to follow the rule rather than to try to reason to yourself that it's OK because they don't consistently enforce the rule.

This issue has been debated so many times in so many threads that I suspect this thread will reach the "drink" point soon.

 

[PapaRomantic]

I don't want my stories continued in any form or fashion by anyone other than myself. I wrote what I wrote, and they say what I want them to say.

At some point in time when I quit writing stories for Literotica, I need to be able to rely on my right to have my stories left alone. If that's not going to be the case, then I'll pull all of them so they won't be changed.

I have the right to withhold a "green light." That's my right as an individual author on a free story site, just as much as it's the right of major film and video studios to do the same thing.

Now, if somebody wants to pay me some money to change or alter my stories, let's talk!

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Damn it! I feel totally humbled by your rant. I need to up my game ASAP.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

On topic, I agree with you mostly. Even if I understand the outrage authors feel at the idea of someone violating their copyright, for me it's not that big of a deal.
If someone wrote a continuation of a story of mine, I'd likely treat it as fanfiction. I would even comment on it probably. As long as it was clear that it's not an official continuation, and the material wasn't offensive or disrespectful toward my creation, I wouldn't mind it.
There is obvious flattery in someone writing fanfiction of your work.

 

[TheLobster]

What you’re saying is that readers don’t care whether the story is continued by original author or someone else. And you’re right; no one reasonable would scoff much at Star Wars sequels by Disney if they were at least at the level of prequels. It doesn’t matter that Rings of Power is made by Amazon, what matters is that it’s an unmitigated disaster that craps all over Tolkien’s legacy.

The authors, however, do care. We don’t want to lose control over own characters and storylines. Even if it’s someone else’s work and it technically shouldn’t concern us, the precedent it sets weakens the ironclad rule that permission is always needed.

 

[THBGato]

What I don't get, whenever these threads come up, is this: there is a section of literotica called fan fiction. Surely, if a writer was to write a sequel to another story here, that is basically fan fiction?

In which case I never really understand those who object that doing so somehow breaches the ethics of the site - the idea that people can do this is surely built into the very structure of the site. (I appreciate that this means such stories should only be published in the fan fiction section.) And those who object are basically arguing that stories published on literotica somehow deserve a higher level of protection from unauthorised sequels than Star Wars or The 100 or The Wheel of Time, which seems bizzare.

Not that I'm interested in writing sequels for others' stories. And if somebody wrote a story in which all my lesbian characters suddenly decided they were straight after all, I'd probably be a little bit sick in my mouth.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

In my opinion, there two scenarios associated with "continuation" of someone else's work:

• The first is when someone wants to expand on what has been fully created, and write a sequel. The "fandom" effect.
• The second is when someone wants to complete an obviously incomplete work by someone else. The "frustration" effect.

Neither is acceptable without permission of the original creator, or whoever else owns the rights. Period.

As far as Literotica is concerned, I do wish that the site would exercise some control over stories that have sat stagnant and incomplete for years. Delete them and let the writer resubmit if and when they get back into the mood or overcome whatever obstacles they have faced to cause the stagnation. Maybe if writers knew that they had a deadline to complete their story, they would be either motivated to keep at it, or better yet, complete it before publishing.

 

[Omenainen]

I don’t really care what OP thinks is and isn’t worth getting worked up about. Some people don’t think stealing is that big of a deal, especially if they’re the ones doing the stealing. I do think it’s a big deal. I believe in doing what’s right, and I have a very clear idea what is right regarding this issue. I’m kind of disappointed not everyone shares these views, but that’s people for you. There’s all kinds and many of them are assholes.

 

[Erozetta]

For me, the difference is "Who risks the harm from this unauthorized work?"

As it stands currently, any fan works of large scale fandoms can be seized by the owners of the copyright. Every fan fiction writer is subjecting themselves to possible litigation that they cannot win by writing in said fandom. Those companies have the means to defend their property, most Lit authors do not have those same means to defend the rights to their work (Nor would they be likely to considering it's valued at $0 so proving damage would be difficult if not impossible.)

My view is that I hold all of the risk when I write fan fiction. I'm aware of the potential loss of my personal work even with all original characters simply set in their world and I write it anyways at my own risk. The original intellectual property is in no danger from me or my work because the owner of the property is already well known and has the capability of (rightfully) seizing any work based on their property. Which means any hours I put into that work will not be compensated in any way and can result in a monetary fine further harming me. I carry all of the risk with fan fiction, the original work is in no danger, the original creator will not be harmed by my works, but they can certainly harm me.

With a Lit author's work, the risk falls mostly to the original creator. They would need to pay to defend ownership of a work that they created but have valued at $0 by placing it on a free site. They would not be awarded any monetary damages at the end, beyond potentially legal fees and court costs, but even that's not entirely likely as it could seem like a frivolous suit over something with no monetary value. They would be lucky to have the unauthorized work(s) pulled as a result of any such lawsuit. They risk the harm to reputation (being seen as selfish for bringing about a lawsuit over something so "petty") and their property (they risk losing control of intellectual rights if they don't defend their status as the original content creator. Letting one person 'get away with' writing a fan fic of the free piece can create the argument that precedent has been set by not fighting that first instance of copyright infringement, particularly with a work valued at $0.)

If the Lit creator had the same likelihood of winning damages from a lawsuit brought against someone infringing their work, I wouldn't see it as an issue as the means of defense of their work is available to them. As it stands, they do not hold the same ability to litigate against those who infringe their work as there is little chance of winning and a big chance of them having to pay to defend their ownership of their work, which harms them overall even if they *do* win.

 

[TheRedLantern]

don't know that I've much on here worth borrowing from (although I have been approached for permission for one derivative work) but I am edging towards including some kind of blanket release for what I write and encouraging others to do the same (if they want to, of course.)

I did this a few weeks ago when it looked like some personal & professional stuff was going to take me away from a hobby like Lit. I put it in my About/profile page, but I wonder if I should publish a "story" that makes it explicit. If someone has some high-bandwidth communication with Laurel, it might be worth getting her perspective on how to make it clear that an author is okay with someone building on their work.

The setting I created was originally going to be for some Lovecraftian horror that I was thinking about writing, but it turned into interracial erotica because I guess that's the next best thing(?). I had always envisioned "open sourcing" my setting & characters the way he did (Lovecraft had some faults, for sure, but he also had some really innovative literary ideas).

Having stated my opinion, I recognize that other authors feel differently and that the law is (and should be) on their side. I wouldn't consider writing in someone else's setting without an explicit invitation.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Not that I'm interested in writing sequels for others' stories. And if somebody wrote a story in which all my lesbian characters suddenly decided they were straight after all, I'd probably be a little bit sick in my mouth.

I think this captures the issue perfectly.

I for one would loathe what anyone else thought my characters would do, beyond what they do in my stories. They're my characters, dammit, go write your own characters.

It's parasitic, this notion that people have, that they can continue someone else's stories, just because they want to. It's an insult, frankly. They might be better writers than me, sure, but clearly, not an original bone in their body.

 

[jsmiam]

I don’t really care what OP thinks is and isn’t worth getting worked up about. Some people don’t think stealing is that big of a deal, especially if they’re the ones doing the stealing. I do think it’s a big deal. I believe in doing what’s right, and I have a very clear idea what is right regarding this issue. I’m kind of disappointed not everyone shares these views, but that’s people for you. There’s all kinds and many of them are assholes.

Are exceptionally opinionated people with exceptionally inflated opinions of themselves, their writing, and their intellect included in the insult you posted to this thread?

You’re usually a little more sneaky with your fight starting, where you can pretend and claim you didn’t instigate. This time not so much. You’re slipping.

Regarding the topic at hand, Ironically I agree with you, people should be original.

But you don’t hesitate to call people out. Consider yourself called out.

 

[lovecraft68]

It occurred to me that when discussing this there is no better example of how no one cares than 50 Shades of Gray which started as 100% Twilight fan fic even using the names Edwin and Bella then was spun into a story about a guy so disgusting he made the vampires look like good people. Playing off someone else's original work made James a millionaire and other than rumors of some type of payoff to Meyers camp, no one cared. Random House said Hell yeah, a rip off, get it in print ASAP.

My response to this endlessly asked question is, its not all that ethical in my mind, and that's it. It doesn't seem illegal to do here because there's examples of it, and I don't get into the tiresome copyright claims of yay or nay. If someone asks I answer, but don't get worked up. People are people and people have different 'codes' for lack of a better word. As my wife says not my circus not my tent. I can't push what I think is sleazy onto someone else.

 

[Katie_Mae]

I did this a few weeks ago when it looked like some personal & professional stuff was going to take me away from a hobby like Lit. I put it in my About/profile page, but I wonder if I should publish a "story" that makes it explicit. If someone has some high-bandwidth communication with Laurel, it might be worth getting her perspective on how to make it clear that an author is okay with someone building on their work.

I've published a statement in my bio that I welcome fan works (fanart, fanfiction etc).

I felt like a big headed idiot doing it, but only did because it turned out someone did want to do a fan work but felt a bit shy to ask.

I'm not sure what you mean by publishing a story that makes it explicit though? Do you mean an Author's note, or an essay etc?

I think the issue with having a blanket way of "opting into" fanworks, is I think we find that people would have different "terms." Eg I'm fine with anything that is non-commercial, transformative and credits the original work. It could be fanfiction, fanart... hell, even interpretive dance. Whatever. But, others might be okay with fanart but not fanfiction, or they might be okay provided you don't you don't make their straight characters gay (or vice versa). Or they're okay with you using their world but not their characters etc.

 

[lovecraft68]

The topic of someone wanting to continue a unfinished and apparently long abandoned story by another writer is one that rolls around weekly on this forum, and inevitably it seems to bring near universal condemnation. At the same time, within mainstream media, we're increasingly treated to reheated sequels to decades old media properties - a new Lord of the Rings anime, a new Star Wars trilogy, half a dozen new Star Trek spins offs, apparently a new Murder She Wrote TV series. All these green-lit by companies which own the rights but which are written and made by teams who often had no involvement in the originals.

I think there is an assumption, certainly that Disney had, that when they brought the rights to Star Wars that, in some way, they were also buying the fandom that came along with it. A common saying amongst sci-fi affictionardos is that 'No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans'. For myself, I feel like I'm very easy to please - I just want a movie that is equally good as one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. If you bought a two-star Michillin restaurant the expectation would be that you wanted to continue serving food at two-star levels. Not that you would keep the names of the dishes and most of the decor the same.

About two decades ago, a few years after the Star Wars prequels were made, I found myself watching TV and thinking to myself. "Wow, Battlestar Gallactica is now a better science fiction series than Star Wars. Who could have predicted this when I was a child?"

Then, about a decade ago, midway through the release of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, I found myself watching TV with my six(ish) year old daughter and genuinely thinking "Wow, My Little Pony is now a better epic fantasy series than Star Wars. We truely are in a through the looking glass world here."

The place I've reached is that why should I care about or give any creedence to derivative works that are not created by the original authors. If someone asks me these days if I'm a Lord of the Rings fan, I'll be careful to say that I'm a J.R.R Tolkien fan. Beyond that, any new Middle Earth spinoffs get exactly the same benefit of the doubt that any new generic fantasy series would get (possibly slightly less as I'd have more patience for understand what was special about the newly created property.) As an example, I watched the LotRs Rohirrim anime for about fifteen minutes on a recent flight and then turned it off and didnt feel any of my usual 'completionist' anxiety about it. I didnt like what I saw, but I also wasn't offended by its existance. The impact it has on J.R.R's legacy is less that a tadpole's fart in the Atlantic Ocean.

But, and this is where it gets controversial, this attitude also carries over to Literotica. Who really cares if someone writes a free conclusion to a free and unfinished story? That person wasnt the original author, and the original author is still perfectly free to come back and finish the story if they want to. As long as it is disclosed that it is a derivative, unofficial and non-cannon work, I don't see a whole lot of harm to it.

I know people feel strongly about this topic and I'm well aware of the legal and ethical arguments. I also feel like as a community which is producing (mostly) free and (somewhat) taboo-breaking content, it would be nice if there was more of a 'hippy' attitude towards it. People will say its down to each individual author, and indeed it is and it must be. I don't know that I've much on here worth borrowing from (although I have been approached for permission for one derivative work) but I am edging towards including some kind of blanket release for what I write and encouraging others to do the same (if they want to, of course.)

Great post.

It brings to mind the toxic you tube culture that lot of 'reviewers' have created. There is this attitude among them that nothing classic or an original IP-example Star wars, LOTR-should ever be remade or added to. Now personally all I have against it is don't you have your own ideas? Did we need Beetlejuice 2 35 years later? But other than seeing Hollywood in creatively bankrupt mode I don't have a problem with it.

Why? Because no one is making me watch it, and if I do and don't like it? Okay, I say it sucks and move on.

But losers like Critical Drinker, Nerdrotic, and a slew of other trolls do this thing where its "Not my Tolkien!" Its "Not my Star Wars!"

Most of this of course stems from their claim these are for "Modern Audiences" which is troll speak for woke. Not saying there aren't agendas pushing to some extent, but um, yes a movie made in 2025 is going to reflect different views than they did in 1985 so what? Again, watch it ot don't, like it or don't. Rings of Power is so awful I don't think I could list all the reasons why. But...Not my Tolkien? I didn't know fans owned the original IP, did any of you?

There's a clown on YT that at one point had 40, count them forty videos about Rings of Power during season one. He did forty vids on a six or 8 (I can't recall) episode show. So, you hate it, but you'll make money bashing it to your low IQ troll base?

We tend to be a bit protective of the movies we grew up with and don't like seeing them become low quality cash grabs some of which barely resemble the original, but is it that important? I think any Star wars movie beyond the original 3 is crap. But does it somehow take away those first three? I can't watch them anymore? The new one sucked so somehow the original is tarnished? The hubris is incredible here.

Now of course a lot of this is an agenda. The clowns I mentioned hate female leads, they don't like seeing different ethnic groups in roles etc and that's what they really mean most of the time.

Rachel Zeglar made a comment about Snow White "Its not 1937 anymore" in reference to them wanting to change some things. In one sense, I like a direct remake to be faithful, but on the ither side, she's right, we live in a different time and what people enjoyed in 1937 maybe they don't now, its no big deal. Don't watch it.

The Exorcist is the best, most iconic horror movie ever made to myself and many. It's had some bad sequels and prequels (and one good one part 3 based on Blatty's sequel Legion) but the one that came out a couple iof years ago Believer was an outright abomination that deliberately shit on so much of the point of the original. It was woke in many ways, it was a slap in the face to the source material, it was so bad the director was fired and what was going to be a trilogy was quickly dropped. I only saw it because my daughter wanted to go so I went, then she wanted toleave halfway through and I'm like "You dragged me to this, we stay"

But as bad as it was, am I running around screaming not my Exorcist? The original can never be watched again, its been pulled from shelves, gone forever? No, its was a pile of shit that I'll never watch again and if asked I will say it sucked, but FFS this is not the end of the world, fans of the original just pretend it doesn't exist. Kind of like I do with my first wife.

Rant over.

 

[alohadave]

As far as Literotica is concerned, I do wish that the site would exercise some control over stories that have sat stagnant and incomplete for years. Delete them and let the writer resubmit if and when they get back into the mood or overcome whatever obstacles they have faced to cause the stagnation. Maybe if writers knew that they had a deadline to complete their story, they would be either motivated to keep at it, or better yet, complete it before publishing.

SOL has a system that marks stories incomplete and inactive. You see it in the story listings when you search. For people who will absolutely not read something that is not finished, it's a useful feature. Something similar could easily be setup at uploading that gives the option to allow/authorize continuations by others.

With a Lit author's work, the risk falls mostly to the original creator. They would need to pay to defend ownership of a work that they created but have valued at $0 by placing it on a free site. They would not be awarded any monetary damages at the end, beyond potentially legal fees and court costs, but even that's not entirely likely as it could seem like a frivolous suit over something with no monetary value.

Copyright in the US has statutory damages and actual damages. If you register your work within three months of publication or infringement, you can claim statutory damages of a set amount. I doubt most people are registering their work unless they are also publishing commercially. Actual damages is where the amount of money lost from the infringement comes into play.

The larger problem with copyright law in the US is that it's stupidly expensive to sue in federal copyright court. There were efforts in the past to make it easier, like a copyright small claims court, but I haven't heard any news on that in years, since before Covid.

 

[TheRedLantern]

I've published a statement in my bio that I welcome fan works (fanart, fanfiction etc).

That's what I did, as well. The problem that I see with this approach is that bios are easy to change, so the person who did a fan story based on your work was doing something ethical at the time, but if you removed that from your bio they'd now be doing something unethical. Perhaps that's just the risk the derivative author takes.

I'm not sure what you mean by publishing a story that makes it explicit though? Do you mean an Author's note, or an essay etc?

I don't know either. In my post I meant just clicking "New Story" and writing a brief essay or statement that outlines the ground rules of what I want Literotica to interpret as something that I, as the original creator of the setting, characters, and stories, consider to be acceptable.

I agree with everyone here that permission should be granted and not assumed, and that the decision is entirely with the original author. What I'm asking is "okay, I'm fine with people using my ideas, how can I let Literotica know that derivative works have my permission to exist, provided that it satisfies these conditions (to allow the originating author to preserve what they consider to be core tenets of characters & setting)?"

 

[Erozetta]

Copyright in the US has statutory damages and actual damages. If you register your work within three months of publication or infringement, you can claim statutory damages of a set amount. I doubt most people are registering their work unless they are also publishing commercially. Actual damages is where the amount of money lost from the infringement comes into play.

The larger problem with copyright law in the US is that it's stupidly expensive to sue in federal copyright court. There were efforts in the past to make it easier, like a copyright small claims court, but I haven't heard any news on that in years, since before Covid.

That's kind of my point. It costs about $45 at minimum to register copyright of a work. Who's going to pay $45 to protect a work put up for free? Particularly those who have over 100 works?

Odds of statutory damages being higher than the cost of bringing a lawsuit or hiring a lawyer is unlikely.

Either way, when you infringe on the work of a self published author, particularly one who puts their work up for free, you put them into a position of no winning option, they can pay to defend the ownership of their free work, or they can suck it up and let it go. Most can't afford the lawsuit, either monetarily or in regards of the time it would take to see it through. It's a different situation for writers on sites like Lit than it is for the owners of intellectual property that has fanfic offshoots.

Basically, if it harms another (particularly free) writer, I won't do it. If it's part of a large commercially successful work? They have the money behind the property to seize my work, I lose my effort and time and they will likely get financial compensation from me on top of that if they want it. The one who infringes gets hit harder than the one infringed upon. For free writers, the writer is likely to get hit harder than the one infringing, even if they win the lawsuit. They will get hit particularly hard if they don't pay to register their copyright of a story for which they will never receive a dime.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

The answer to your question is very simple: Many authors consider this an unethical inappropriation of the original author's work, and IP rights in the work. To them, it is a very big deal.

The law is on their side. In most cases this would be a violation of copyright. I think many, if not most, writers and other artists consider copyright infringement to be unethical as well as potentially illegal.

In the cases you cited, permission was obtained. That makes all the difference.

Your idea of a blanket release seems like a good one. I'd have to think about it for a bit but might be inclined to grant such a right if someone wanted to do a continuation of one of my stories.

I don't have any objection to people having their own personal, philosophical differences on this issue. But I do object when it is suggested that the site is perfectly hunky, dory on this, because it has said that it's not. The site's position is that you should obtain permission from the original author. People can quibble over the degree to which the site enforces its rule, but that is the stated rule, and I think the right, honorable thing to do here is to follow the rule rather than to try to reason to yourself that it's OK because they don't consistently enforce the rule.

This issue has been debated so many times in so many threads that I suspect this thread will reach the "drink" point soon.

How is it anymore a copyright violation than any other fan fiction? People here don't seem to get worked up over that, I belive there are a number of AH denizens who write fan fiction.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The setting I created was originally going to be for some Lovecraftian horror that I was thinking about writing, but it turned into interracial erotica

I mean, Lovecraft would have considered that to be horror.

 

[MelissaBaby]

In my opinion, there two scenarios associated with "continuation" of someone else's work:

• The first is when someone wants to expand on what has been fully created, and write a sequel. The "fandom" effect.
• The second is when someone wants to complete an obviously incomplete work by someone else. The "frustration" effect.

Neither is acceptable without permission of the original creator, or whoever else owns the rights. Period.

As far as Literotica is concerned, I do wish that the site would exercise some control over stories that have sat stagnant and incomplete for years. Delete them and let the writer resubmit if and when they get back into the mood or overcome whatever obstacles they have faced to cause the stagnation. Maybe if writers knew that they had a deadline to complete their story, they would be either motivated to keep at it, or better yet, complete it before publishing.

Rather than delete incomplete series, perhaps they could be moved to an archive, where they are still available to be read, and possibly continued by the author without having to make multiple resubmissions.

But in either scenario, delete or archive, how would it be determined if a series is complete or not? The distinction between separate chapters of a single stories and anthology type series is a not a simple matter. Many series are a hybrid, made up of stand alone stories that connect into one longer narrative.

As for the overall issue, my position is that no one else knows what happens to my characters, so anything written as a continuation is worthless and not worth any reader's time.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

That's what I did, as well. The problem that I see with this approach is that bios are easy to change, so the person who did a fan story based on your work was doing something ethical at the time, but if you removed that from your bio they'd now be doing something unethical. Perhaps that's just the risk the derivative author takes.


I don't know either. In my post I meant just clicking "New Story" and writing a brief essay or statement that outlines the ground rules of what I want Literotica to interpret as something that I, as the original creator of the setting, characters, and stories, consider to be acceptable.

I agree with everyone here that permission should be granted and not assumed, and that the decision is entirely with the original author. What I'm asking is "okay, I'm fine with people using my ideas, how can I let Literotica know that derivative works have my permission to exist, provided that it satisfies these conditions (to allow the originating author to preserve what they consider to be core tenets of characters & setting)?"

Add a note in your profile encouraging anyone who wants to use your stories/characters to take a screenshot of your profile in case it goes dark?
That would seem to solve the problem.

 

[SimonDoom]

How is it anymore a copyright violation than any other fan fiction? People here don't seem to get worked up over that, I belive there are a number of AH denizens who write fan fiction.

No. 1, putting aside our own subjective opinions, the site clearly allows fanfiction, i.e., allowing Lit authors to write stories based on the universes of well known published works, but it also clearly says you cannot write sequels and derivative works of Lit authors without permission. So, that's the rule. It doesn't matter whether it's logical.

No. 2, we may disagree, but this rule makes perfect sense to me as a matter of economics, industry custom, and respect for our fellow Lit authors. It IS a little inconsistent, logically, but I think it makes good practical sense.

Fanfiction probably, in most cases, IS copyright infringement, but it's generally not pursued by well known authors (although it is by some) because it's not worth it, because they are making lots of money and the fanfiction authors aren't, and also because in a way it probably adds value to their intellecual property as a whole. It gins up interest in their work and probably increases their sales. These arguments don't apply to Lit authors. I make no money from this. I do it for personal satisfaction, and I feel it would be disrespectful to me for you to write a story based on mine without my permission.

 

[TheLobster]

I mean, Lovecraft would have considered that to be horror.

Since I cannot react to your post in three different ways simultaneously, I guess I have to do this: