Fanfic...

[KillerMuffin]

What is the site's stand on it? Who likes it? What do other people think of it? Has anyone noticed it? Do you think that fanfic is good or bad? Are people too paranoid about copyright or is this something that should be taken into consideration?

I don't like it on general principle. It's just not legal. It's copyright infringement pure and simple. I would get extremely hot under the collar if someone took one of my characters and wrote a story involving that character. Particularly if that character was made to do something I never wanted that character to do. Like that's ever going to happen.

However, during a recent story writing research expidition through the celebrities category (which I've never looked at before), I noticed fanfic. I didn't even know there was such a thing as fanfic until someone emailed me about using an essay on their site. It didn't occur to me that it was copyright infringement until I'd studied up on it some.

Fanfic, for those who aren't familiar, is writing stories based on fictional characters. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Star Trek, Star Wars. Fans write their own fictional scenarios, usually sexual, about their favorite movies, stories, shows.

I think that fanfic is mostly harmless. It's just fans having fun with what they admire. They aren't trying to make money off of it and they're not trying to hurt the creators and copyright holders of the characters they're using. The intention is good.

Ah well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, is it not?

 

[alltherage]

I am not interested in that particular kind of story. I do not think it does any great harm but somehow it feels a bit lazy and lacking in creativity. I would think that in order to do it "well" the character would have to act in some way close to the creators intent. I think I should go read some of these stories before I form a solid opinion.

I find that if I try to write a story that includes a character that is closely based on someone I know I am hindered and not helped by that knowledge. It is very difficult for me to write a story about an event in my own life. I feel compelled to be overly cautious in the "getting it just right," and loose any flow I might have if I allowed myself the freedom to see where the story takes me. I think if I tried to write fanfic I would have the same experience.

If one of my characters where used by another writer I think I would be pissed off. It is somewhat like selling a book to hollywood. The author is often disappointed in the results. I am egotistical enough to think that I am the only one who completely understands my characters. Someone else's use of them is a bit like raping my mind.

 

[Never]

Fanfic is to copyright law what sodomy is to some state laws. Hmm.. That's a spacious analogy.

Fan fiction is, technically, illegal. Still, you never see companies crack down on fan fiction and you can often see them unofficially encourage or at least condone the work. The only time I remember a company taking legal action was when Disney demanded a comic book featuring Disney characters using drugs and having sex not be published and sued the writer/artist of the comic book.

Stopping fanifc means threatening fans with legal action - something most companies would think twice of. Fanfic is also free advertising and helps to build a sense of 'community' around a product or franchise. Case in point, the last two PC games I've played both had an official website and forum. On the forum, fans would post their fiction and occasionally you could see the Moderators comment that they enjoyed a particular piece. You never saw a Mod. plug a thread, or threaten a poster with legal action or even ask them to not use the copyrighted names and ideas. If they had there would have been an uproar.

I'd also like to point out the KillerMuffin has written a Batman fanfic, though I'm not certain she realizes it.

 

[karmadog]

probably a typo, but

"Spacious analogy"

That's hilarious. Ha ha ha!

 

[poohlive]

I wonder, just how far does this fanfic go?
What is the law, does anyone know it word for word?
I'm just thinking, what about Role Playing? Things like Austin Powers and Evil Dead and Harry Potter and Star Wars and are being used in the ORP and SRP. Do we have to go so far as to say that's not being creative enough?
What about just writing about it? There are threads in the general forum that talk about copyrighted materials all the time, can they not talk about copyrighted materials without concent from the author or the company or whatever.
Talking and dicussing is one thing, but when we post, we actually put our thoughts for everyone to see. How far does it actually go? We can say that we are simply exercising our freedom of speech, but that freedom only goes so far, especially with copyrighted materials.
What exactly does the law say?
I know I've played Spiderman dozens of times, I'd hate to think Stan Lee was going to sue me one of these days. That would be so mean of him, in fact I think I played him as well as any comic book could. I suppose he has that right though.
Well, without the exact copyright law, I wouldn't know what's going on.
KM, you said you researched this, could you enlighten us?

 

[Hecate]

Fanfic - I like it ....

*raises hand* Guilty!

I am an avid fan of the Wheel of Time series of Robert Jordan. That "series", for those unfamiliar with it, has about the complexity of Tolkiens "Lord of the Rings" (or maybe even more since it stretches to 8 or 9 volumes in the meantime).

There is a quite large fan community on the web rlated to that particual "world" (do a search and you will get easily 20.000 plus hits to WoT) and Mr. Jordan just relaeases a new volume every 1.5 to 2 years .. so we were all left hanging in there - each of us with his own ideas as to what may happen next, speculating about who really was this or that demonin disguise .. and so we started to write our own sequells to bridge time between books ... just for our own fun, testing if the others could "contradict" our own theories by their ideas or by something we had missed in the earlier books.

What I did (and still do) is not to take any of the main characters of the book, but invent my own characters based in "Randland", giving them abilities (like sorcery and such) that were typical for that setting and invent own adventures .. now, of course, in that line of writing there is no way to not use specific and characteristic images and caleidoscopic splinters that unmistakeably identify my stuff as a "copy" of someone elses imaginary world, but hey, wouldn't you be proud if you impressed millions of people enough to think about the world you created enough to makem them "think it real", to populate it with their own inhabitants?

I don't like using the characters of the books, but well, Trollocs are Trollocs (they are "just monsters without any distinct personality and appear in individually undistinctable hordes) and if my adventure story is in need of a monster why not use a Trolloc? Or why not use a newly invented Aes Sedai persona, and just by giving it that title it saves me from pages and pages of explaining that sorceress' abilities, value systems and all? Specially when you are attracted to writing dark fantasy and mystery stuff it is getting increasingly difficut to come up with your own worlds and monsters - it all has been done somehow somewhere before ... even reading the original works of RJ makes it obvious that he borrowed a little bit of this and a little bit of that, fantasy, ethnic heritage and national lore of the nations of the world, to create his world, so I am not feeling particularily bad about it.

And hey - didn't most of us wonder at times how in those "clean, familyrated" fantasy worlds the "little baby trollocs" were made? Or what the sorceress and her familar were doing "after hours", or how the hero relaxed after his battles in a more adult way ?

 

[KillerMuffin]

It is such a rub, isn't it? I'd just read today that Fox had brought around some lawsuits on fanfic a long time ago, but nothing real recent.

Anyway, here's the US copyright law involving these things:


http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html


I don't see why they would object as long as there was no commercial gain involved in the whole thing, after all it is their fan base they'd be going after which is bad business. I don't like it, but that's only on principle.

But it does have me curious.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Actually, I think the question should be when is it wrong and when is it okay?

Obviously use of copyrighted material is illegal but everyone does it all the time anyway and most copyright holders don't care. I know that some people have taken my stories and printed them on expensive paper, changed the names, and given them as gifts with my name absent. I actually have no problem with this because they told me they did it and said the person know where they got the story from. That and they didn't sell it.

I'm using a copyrighted quote and copyrighted pictures and I know a lot of people do it.

So, the question is, when is it too much?

 

[Never]

Re: probably a typo, but

"Spacious analogy"

That's hilarious. Ha ha ha!

That's not a typo, I made a spacious analogy; I'm not quite certain why that's so funny.

 

[Couture]

If it's hot the why not?

There are paradies and satires of all kinds of stories and movies. Doing the same thing with a sex story that doesn't take anything away from the original is harmless in my opinion.

One of the best stroke stories I have read was a Batgirl story by the Weatherman.

 

[poohlive]

Ok, after about an hour or so going through copyright laws and exclusive acts and Title 17 of the United States Code, I have finally figured this all out.
Fanfic can be copyright infringement, but there are a bunch of loopholes to get past this.
First, the person who did the original work is entitled to that work. It's his, so you can't take any of his stuff without permission. This will be easy if I give an example.
Harry Potter. Simple, easy, and most people know it.
Ok, if you publish a few chapters from the Sorcerer's stone, then you are breaking copyright law.
They are also entitled to prepare derivated work based on the work itself. Which means, you can't start publishing sequels of Harry Potter on your own. No quidditch matches with Harry or study nights with Hermione. Sorry.
Now, what Hecate did is quite clever. He doesn't use any of the main characters or quotes any of the books or entangle old plots, rather just uses the basic idea or the theme. That is not copyright infringement. Legally, Jordan can not sue you because you have made your own idea. There are similarities, but they two works are different enough that it can't be held up in court.
I think there are a lot of reasons Fanfic isn't prosecuted. Well, most of it isn't, anyway. First, like other people have said, it's good for business, and it helps get their name out there. Secondly, people are using their own ideas. They may have a familiar character or a similiar theme, but the idea is original enough to be there own. Finally, what harm is it really going to do? That dirty Disney thing might hurt images, but most Fanfic stays true to the original, and helps rather than hurts the image? The author isn't making any money, the people who see the fanfic recognize the story. It's a win win situation here.
In fact, the old roleplaying thread of Harry Potter that Honey_B started up was the one that inspired me to read the series. I enjoyed it tremendously.
When is fanfic wrong?
Well, if it makes profit, it's wrong. That's first and foremost. People get sued for it, pure and simple. If it's in poor taste it's wrong. A gang bang with the seven dwarves in Snow White is copyright infringement.
BUT!
A gang bang by seven dwarves is pefectly fine.
Go figure!
When is it ok?
If someone has an idea that would make a good story. Maybe, what if Spiderman was at the world Trade Center on September 11th? Now, that would be some fanfic I'd like to read. If someone really likes a copyrighted publishing, and thinks they should write a story and let others share it, then it's ok.
Just a warning, even if it is in good taste, and even if you think you were accurate in the story, there's still a chance you could be sued. As long as your willing to take the risk, go all out. Have fun, be crazy, and remember...
Drugs don't kill people, guns kill people, or whatever.
~Gary~

 

[JUDO]

ahem...

Poohlive -

But SpiderMan was at the Twin Towers, now that they're gone, the studio is redoing the scene where he swung his spidey-web between them.

Also, Snow White is not Disney's and not copyrighted. It's in public domain, so whack away with the dwarfin orgy.

KM-

If fanfic makes you grumpy, just imagine how you'd react if someone wrote you into a story without permission. Hmmmm...

 

[The Sex Master]

What is the site's stand on it? Who likes it? What do other people think of it? Has anyone noticed it? Do you think that fanfic is good or bad? Are people too paranoid about copyright or is this something that should be taken into consideration?

I don't like it on general principle. It's just not legal. It's copyright infringement pure and simple. I would get extremely hot under the collar if someone took one of my characters and wrote a story involving that character. Particularly if that character was made to do something I never wanted that character to do. Like that's ever going to happen.

However, during a recent story writing research expidition through the celebrities category (which I've never looked at before), I noticed fanfic. I didn't even know there was such a thing as fanfic until someone emailed me about using an essay on their site. It didn't occur to me that it was copyright infringement until I'd studied up on it some.

Fanfic, for those who aren't familiar, is writing stories based on fictional characters. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Star Trek, Star Wars. Fans write their own fictional scenarios, usually sexual, about their favorite movies, stories, shows.

I think that fanfic is mostly harmless. It's just fans having fun with what they admire. They aren't trying to make money off of it and they're not trying to hurt the creators and copyright holders of the characters they're using. The intention is good.

Ah well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, is it not?

I think it boils down to the MAIN issue of~~~Are they obtaining material wealth by using the work done by others.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

When is fanfic wrong?
Well, if it makes profit, it's wrong. That's first and foremost. People get sued for it, pure and simple. If it's in poor taste it's wrong. A gang bang with the seven dwarves in Snow White is copyright infringement.
BUT!
A gang bang by seven dwarves is pefectly fine.
Go figure!
When is it ok?
If someone has an idea that would make a good story. Maybe, what if Spiderman was at the world Trade Center on September 11th? Now, that would be some fanfic I'd like to read. If someone really likes a copyrighted publishing, and thinks they should write a story and let others share it, then it's ok.
Just a warning, even if it is in good taste, and even if you think you were accurate in the story, there's still a chance you could be sued. As long as your willing to take the risk, go all out.
~Gary~

Nice. But one thing...the gang bang with Snow White and the seven dwarves wouldn't be copyright infringement, as you could claim it was a parody. Given pornographic content, that could be an easy win. I almost wrote this story (although there are probably thirty of them already just on this site) but with a twist. Maybe I'll finish it...
Anyway, I haven't read much Fanfic, so I'm not sure exactly how it works (assuming you mean the fanfic site, not fanfic in general). As far as it being on this site, don't sweat it, since this isn't a paying site. They can't sue you for infringement unless you turna profit, then they get a cut. That aside, all they can do is demand you remove the work.
Actually, I guess there's a site called Fanfic(???) out there somewhere. Someone read one of my stories and suggested I submit it there (A Warrior's Tale: Elvin Encounter) though it has al my own characters in it. Would they still accept it, is anyone aware?