Fan fiction. Is it safe to do?

[RichardWark]

FF ideas

I want to see sexy fan fiction about the Avengers - no, not THOSE Avengers; I want to see John Steed and Emma Peel get it on after Emma kicks the shit out of someone in her leather catsuit.

Serena tricks Darrin (either one) into thinking she's Samantha and takes him for a wild ride. Or both Darrins; why not.

Speaking about wild rides, how about a Cartwright gang bang with a saloon girl?

Ironside gets a lap dance.

Sorry. Just feeling goofy. (Oops....no Disney)

 

[rescatooor]

My plan is to have the title be the same as the movie and then put a note at the beginning saying that the story was my rewrite of the movie. I need to touch base with Laurel to see if that's okay. I could write "Hanse and Greta: Adventurers" instead. I was going to have my story follow the movie closely at first and then veer off more and more as it went on.

I think you could just call them Hansel and Gretel. Sure, the -el is a diminutive but I don't think most people know or realize that so it doesn't really matter.

I'd call them professionally something else instead. Witch exterminators?

 

[TadOverdon]

Thank God that Buffy and the Scoobs hung around into their twenties. LOL

 

[SimonDoom]

My plan is to have the title be the same as the movie and then put a note at the beginning saying that the story was my rewrite of the movie. I need to touch base with Laurel to see if that's okay. I could write "Hanse and Greta: Adventurers" instead. I was going to have my story follow the movie closely at first and then veer off more and more as it went on.

To be honest, I have no idea whatsoever how the Site would respond to it. The rules about Fanfiction make no sense from the standpoint of law or logic. It's a matter of what the Site allows, and what you can get away with.

If you were to write a story with the same or nearly the same title and use the same characters and follow the same plot, but add erotic elements, I would think that would clearly be copyright infringement. If the owners of the copyright cared, they could stop you from doing it. It wouldn't qualify as a parody just because you've added sex to the story. But they may not care, and the Site may not care. I did something somewhat similar with my story about Frodo and Sam having an erotic encounter with an elf in Mordor, although the title doesn't mirror any titles in the Lord of the Rings series. If I were to receive a cease and desist letter from the Tolkien family, I would take down the story immediately, to avoid unpleasantness. But I would be shocked if I received such a letter. The same probably is true of your story.

 

[SimonDoom]

Which characters? The students are under 18, but there are plenty of teacher/parent/etc. characters in the HP series who are well over, and outside Literotica there's plenty of fanfic written about those adult characters.

There are plenty of other properties out there that focus on child protagonists but with adults around, and Literotica doesn't normally ban authors from writing about the adult characters from those stories. For instance, here's a story featuring Willy Wonka.

What does make HP different is that Rowling, her publishers, and their lawyers, have a history of sending cease-and-desist letters to sites hosting adult HP fanfic. I suspect that has a lot to do with why Literotica treats it as a special case, regardless of which characters people might want to write about.

I have to laugh, because you have a knack -- a talent, even -- for calling attention to details that undermine others' generalizations, including mine. You're right. I guess for purposes of my comment I assumed 90+% of aspiring Harry Potter fanfiction authors were interested in writing about Harry, Herminone, and Ron, or perhaps Luna, rather than Dumbledore or Hagrid. I suppose there's an audience for Dumbledore erotica, but I don't imagine it's very big.

 

[ElectricBlue]

rather than Dumbledore or Hagrid. I suppose there's an audience for Dumbledore erotica, but I don't imagine it's very big.

It's huge for Hagrid .

 

[WilliamTheCumqueror]

Where's my horny Foundation Trilogy fanfic at, dang it?

 

[rescatooor]

I suppose there's an audience for Dumbledore erotica, but I don't imagine it's very big.

I have definitely read a story where Dumbledore was getting it on. With MacGonigall, but back then Rowling hadn't outed him.

The weird thing about Harry Potter slash fiction (as we used to call it when we were kids) is that it's like baby's introduction to erotica. Very obviously from kids to kids, kind of PG with no real intention to turn anyone on. A lot like Yaoi, I suppose.

While I have fond memories of it, and think there is a place for it, adults should probably just leave it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I have to laugh, because you have a knack -- a talent, even -- for calling attention to details that undermine others' generalizations, including mine. You're right. I guess for purposes of my comment I assumed 90+% of aspiring Harry Potter fanfiction authors were interested in writing about Harry, Herminone, and Ron, or perhaps Luna, rather than Dumbledore or Hagrid. I suppose there's an audience for Dumbledore erotica, but I don't imagine it's very big.

It's small relative to the fandom as a whole, but 5% of that fandom is still a lot. For instance, from stories on Ao3 rated "explicit", there are 939 Snape/Remus and 463 Dumbledore/Grindelwald.

I think your "90%+" is about right - for comparison there are 2044 Harry/Ginny, 2729 Hermione/Ron, 4231 Hermione/Draco, and 11796 Harry/Draco.

 

[rescatooor]

It's small relative to the fandom as a whole, but 5% of that fandom is still a lot. For instance, from stories on Ao3 rated "explicit", there are 939 Snape/Remus and 463 Dumbledore/Grindelwald.

I think your "90%+" is about right - for comparison there are 2044 Harry/Ginny, 2729 Hermione/Ron, 4231 Hermione/Draco, and 11796 Harry/Draco.

That Harry/Draco number speaks for itself. Told you it was a lot like Yaoi. Those stories were really funny too.

And the stories I read weren't even in English. The numbers get wild when you take that into consideration.

 

[seXenon]

So, how "far" away from the original do you have to be.

Yeah, I'm a nubbie. So I wrote a couple of chapters of a Harry Potter, and it got rejected. There is no sexual stuff with any original characters. I was really writing something like "If magic like that existed, what kind of things would I want to do in that world" It's probably "lazy" I guess, but I liked using the world of Hogwarts, because some of the world was already developed.

So, my story is primarily about the "Room of Requirements". If an 18 year boy really got into the Room of Requirements, a Room that provided you with sexual options, what would you use it for? If you really did get a magical map showing hidden passages in a boarding school, where would you go? (DUH ... the girls shower room!!)

So, If I change the name of school from Hogwarts to MidTown School of Magic, but it still has a Room Of Requirements, is that "far enough" for Literotica, even though most people who say "It's a Harry Potter Fan Fic"?

Or, is the idea of a Room of Requirements already too much FanFic for literotica (and I guess the lawyers really)?

If I create a new school, how much has to change to be allowed?

I wrote it with a "Voyeurs' Map" instead of a "Maurader's Map", the point being, if I had such a map, that is probably the first thing I would do with it (and it certainly would have been when I was 18 to 20)

I wrote a section about "Time Turners" and using that in erotic coupling ... I'd love to be able to turn back time during sex and try something a bit different (especially when it didn't go well). Can I have a "time turner" in my story, or is that too much Harry Potter?

I used the four Houses of Hogwarts to kind of set the stage for the different kind of personalities. So the Slytherins are kind of power hungry and maybe a bit mean, the Hufflepuffs are generally kind and helpful. The Ravenclaws are smart. The Gryffindors are jocks. etc. Can I have similar houses in my story, or is that too much Harry Potter?

(note, this isn't a complaint against the Rules here, and I know I don't know the legal issues ... it more a question of understanding how to get the story posted)

 

[KeithD]

So, how "far" away from the original do you have to be.

That's the rub with submitting fan fiction here. What's acceptable is complex, floats around with few hard edges, and is all dependent on how a single submissions editor looks at the individual submission day by day/hour by hour. You aren't going to be able to pin down many "givens." So, yes, deciding what in fan fiction that can be posted to Literotica is problematic--and likely will remain so.

 

[SimonDoom]

So, how "far" away from the original do you have to be.

Yeah, I'm a nubbie. So I wrote a couple of chapters of a Harry Potter, and it got rejected. There is no sexual stuff with any original characters. I was really writing something like "If magic like that existed, what kind of things would I want to do in that world" It's probably "lazy" I guess, but I liked using the world of Hogwarts, because some of the world was already developed.

So, my story is primarily about the "Room of Requirements". If an 18 year boy really got into the Room of Requirements, a Room that provided you with sexual options, what would you use it for? If you really did get a magical map showing hidden passages in a boarding school, where would you go? (DUH ... the girls shower room!!)

So, If I change the name of school from Hogwarts to MidTown School of Magic, but it still has a Room Of Requirements, is that "far enough" for Literotica, even though most people who say "It's a Harry Potter Fan Fic"?

Or, is the idea of a Room of Requirements already too much FanFic for literotica (and I guess the lawyers really)?

If I create a new school, how much has to change to be allowed?

I wrote it with a "Voyeurs' Map" instead of a "Maurader's Map", the point being, if I had such a map, that is probably the first thing I would do with it (and it certainly would have been when I was 18 to 20)

I wrote a section about "Time Turners" and using that in erotic coupling ... I'd love to be able to turn back time during sex and try something a bit different (especially when it didn't go well). Can I have a "time turner" in my story, or is that too much Harry Potter?

I used the four Houses of Hogwarts to kind of set the stage for the different kind of personalities. So the Slytherins are kind of power hungry and maybe a bit mean, the Hufflepuffs are generally kind and helpful. The Ravenclaws are smart. The Gryffindors are jocks. etc. Can I have similar houses in my story, or is that too much Harry Potter?

(note, this isn't a complaint against the Rules here, and I know I don't know the legal issues ... it more a question of understanding how to get the story posted)

My understanding--and I could be wrong--is that this Site doesn't allow Harry Potter fanfiction, period. The basis for that is that the site does not allow you to "age up" characters from famous fiction in which the characters were under 18. So, from what I understand, it doesn't matter what you do, or how you try to do it. They won't allow Harry Potter fanfiction.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

My understanding--and I could be wrong--is that this Site doesn't allow Harry Potter fanfiction, period. The basis for that is that the site does not allow you to "age up" characters from famous fiction in which the characters were under 18. So, from what I understand, it doesn't matter what you do, or how you try to do it. They won't allow Harry Potter fanfiction.

This. While yes, there's that epilogue where they were adults, when people think of HP they think of a schoolboy who left school at 17. It won't be accepted here.

Post it on AO3 where any literate HP fic that demonstrates an understanding of actual anatomy will be very much appreciated by huge numbers.

 

[Bramblethorn]

My understanding--and I could be wrong--is that this Site doesn't allow Harry Potter fanfiction, period. The basis for that is that the site does not allow you to "age up" characters from famous fiction in which the characters were under 18. So, from what I understand, it doesn't matter what you do, or how you try to do it. They won't allow Harry Potter fanfiction.

Two distinct things here.

As per this post which seems to have Laurel's endorsement, "All characters must be 18 years of age or older at some point in the story, movie, television show, video game, manga, or anime upon which your story is based."

That rule doesn't necessarily forbid HP fanfic here. Characters like Dumbledore and McGonagall are well over 18 throughout the story, and the epilogue to Deathly Hallows features the main characters when they're well over 18, so Harry/Hermione could scrape through under the "at some point" criterion.

But from rejection notices that have been posted here, there is also a ban on all Harry Potter content, ditto Simpsons, ditto Disney, regardless of character ages. I'd presume the rationale is that these are seen as children's entertainment and thus more of a liability for Literotica than fanfic of works marketed primarily to adults.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So, my story is primarily about the "Room of Requirements". If an 18 year boy really got into the Room of Requirements, a Room that provided you with sexual options, what would you use it for? If you really did get a magical map showing hidden passages in a boarding school, where would you go? (DUH ... the girls shower room!!)

So, If I change the name of school from Hogwarts to MidTown School of Magic, but it still has a Room Of Requirements, is that "far enough" for Literotica, even though most people who say "It's a Harry Potter Fan Fic"?

Change the names, up-age the characters, stop being derivative (the brute in me says, "stop being lazy"), and write your own story, not a spin-off from something else, and I would think, problem solved.

I mean, Harry Potter, really? How passé. Haven't we all moved on?

Obviously not, but you get my point? Change stuff, and forget about explicit connections, and the problem really does get solved. In other words, be original. Novel, I know, but it really does make life easier.

(Says he, who has a blatant steal from the twentieth century's best sci-fi movie in a story with a HAL14000 computer, but at least the thing is all grown up. AND it knows where Simon lives, and cares about its predecessor's reputation...)

Carry on.

ps: good luck with getting your (tweaked) story over the line.

 

[Wifetheif]

I got away with it a few times but ALWAYS with public domain characters. Sheena, the jungle goddess is public domain as is Ki-Gor a Tarzan clone with a staggeringly beautiful flame-haired wife who got naked often. Both characters were published by Fiction House and started out as pulp magazine figures. Fiction House went bust in the 1950s and its characters lapsed into the public domain -- any writer's FAVORITE phrase!

 

[seXenon]

Well, I changed it to be Freshman students at the University studying "Applied and Theoretical Magic", and the students to belong to Frat and Sorority Houses with new Greek Names.... BUT still finding a Room that you enter by thinking about what you need three times...

It was still rejected. I guess that is still too derivative of Harry Potter.

Everyone is over 18, and there are no direct references to Harry Potter (except I guess that some of the spells are kind of tied to Harry Potter Spells -- the magical looking glass to see other people is called a Pornseive for example, and the spell for blowing someone's clothes off is striparamus)

I don't think it's that far off of other Magic University stories that I saw here, but I also realize there are not many Magic Unversity stories either.

 

[slutindianwife]

isn't fan fiction illegal?

 

[KeithD]

isn't fan fiction illegal?

No. In many cases it's grossly insensitive, though. In some cases, when it damages the branding of the target/victim, it's actionable and subject to a successful lawsuit. But "illegal" is something else.

I think that anyone writing should go through a self-examination first of "is this something the subject can reasonably be seen as doing and, if my mother had established as this character, would I still write this about her?"

 

[Bramblethorn]

isn't fan fiction illegal?

Some fanfic clearly is. For instance, back when Harry Potter was popular and people were waiting for Joanne Karen's next instalment, various Chinese publishers released a flood of knock-off Harry Potter books aiming to cash in on the popularity of the series. China is fairly lax about copyright, but if they'd tried marketing those in the USA or UK, they would undoubtedly have been sued into oblivion and I'm sure the courts would have held it to be copyright violation.

Some fanfic clearly isn't. If you wait long enough, the original work will be out of copyright, and then you can do anything you like with it, including republishing the original book verbatim and selling it.

In between, most fanfic exists in a grey area. Copyright law is complicated, a lot of fanfic could be argued to be "fair use", but whether a court would accept that argument... we don't really know. Trying to make money off it decreases the chances of being accepted as fair use, but it doesn't automatically disqualify it, especially if the fanfic is making commentary/criticism of the original work. For instance, The Wind Done Gone was published as a slave's-eye take on "Gone With The Wind", which was still in copyright, and Margaret Mitchell's heirs sued for copyright violation. The case was eventually settled out of court, so we don't have a legal precedent out of that, but the terms of the settlement suggest that Mitchell's heirs didn't think they were likely to win much out of it.

In practice, the rights holders usually don't go after non-commercial fanfic unless they think it might hurt their business or their brand. I think Charles Stross's position on fanfic is fairly typical though not universal:

I do not mind you writing encourage you to write fanfic using my characters and share it with your friends as long as you don't do so in a manner that fucks with my ability to earn a living... I am not a precious sparkly unicorn who is obsessed with the purity of his characters — rather, I am a glittery and avaricious dragon who is jealous of his steaming pile of gold. If you do not steal the dragon's gold, the dragon will leave you alone. Offer to bring the dragon more gold and the dragon will be your friend.

Fanfic is mostly a good thing for the source material, because a large and dedicated fandom is a pretty good guarantee of ongoing sales. When there's a long time between new books/films, fanfic communities help keep fans interested in a series. And quite a few published authors have at least dabbled in fanfic themselves, either before or after they went pro. One reader asked Neil Gaiman where he stood on fanfic, and he replied: "I won the Hugo Award for a piece of Sherlock Holmes/H. P. Lovecraft fanfiction, so I'm in favour."

With that said, some authors/publishers do have concerns about fanfic that might besmirch the purity of their characters. If a series is written for children and you're writing porn of it, the rights holders might be more inclined to send a Cease And Desist, and I suspect that's why Literotica avoids properties like Harry Potter - Rowling in particular has indicated that she's okay with family-friendly fic but not with explicit stuff, so that might seem a bit riskier.