How to go about finishing someone's work

[gentle504]

There's this story on adultfanfiction that hasn't been updated for close to ten years. I was wondering if there's I can continue the story even if the author doesn't respond to the email request I sent ?

 

[ElectricBlue]

This question runs here on Lit every couple of months. The consensus is generally no, don't do it, not unless you have the writer's permission. The existing work is the other writer's work, not yours.

I certainly wouldn't like it if someone came along and continued any of my characters without my permission (which I wouldn't easily give).

Write your own piece, is my advice.

 

[sr71plt]

Nope.

 

[HeyAll]

I've seen people do it, and leave a disclaimer on top saying it's fan fiction of another author's work .

So go ahead, you won't get in trouble or anything.

 

[sr71plt]

Sure, if you want to be a sleaze bag and, though being an author yourself, you don't mind stepping on another author's proprietary rights to their own work.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Don't do it. You can freely harvest ideas from other people's stories and write something new and better. But never take their text directly.

People around here laugh at copyright law and DCMA, but I once got a site to pull down stolen material by going the DCMA route. Which tells me that someone else could do it to you if you stole stuff. So don't.

 

[EquinoxRising]

It's in poor taste to ask Lit for advice for a different story site.

 

[Handley_Page]

You might get into legal trouble.
I'd suggest taking the ideas and doing it all on Lit.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You might get into legal trouble.
I'd suggest taking the ideas and doing it all on Lit.

For me, this is a question of ethics rather than one of legalities.

And originality. Why would you want to follow in someone else's trail? That's the bit I don't get.

 

[sr71plt]

It's the easy button way of writing. The setup has already been done for you.

 

[plesmore]

Think of older stories being in the Lit library. You can check a story out, read it and critique it if you wish - but unless you are doing a book report with footnotes, plagiarism is a term that comes to mind.

 

[TxRad]

Think of older stories being in the Lit library. You can check a story out, read it and critique it if you wish - but unless you are doing a book report with footnotes, plagiarism is a term that comes to mind.

And Laurel doesn't take that lightly. Good way to get banned.

 

[Hypoxia]

Copying another's words is plagiarism. What is a non-copied sequel based on a story? How does that differ from fanfic, with a story universe's characters put in sexual situations?

 

[sr71plt]

Copying another's words is plagiarism. What is a non-copied sequel based on a story? How does that differ from fanfic, with a story universe's characters put in sexual situations?

It's not plagiarism. And there's a place for it, especially when sanctioned by the original author or heirs, but it's unethical except in very strict circumstances and, when not sanctioned, it could be successfully sued if it impinges on the profitability of the original. In circumstances on a Web site like this, it's just unethical and sleazy when not sanctioned by the originator--and sometimes is jerked off the Web site by the site owners (although this isn't uniformly applied).

I think fanfic is sleazy and borders on unethical too (and sometimes is successfully sued if the perpetrator is making money off of it or the originator has managed to trademark it), so I won't try to draw that distinction.