Question. Can writers continue an abandoned story?

[HaralLuhhan]

EDIT: Hi the OP post has been answered I have a related question on page 2 I'm about to post. Just adding this so people dont continue trying to answer this.

Hi, I'm new here and was wondering the etiquette of referring to and adding to existing stories.

I found a story I liked. 8 parts, entertaining read. It cut short of the (ahem) climax however.

The author abandoned it and the site apparently, 10 years ago.

So I was thinking it might be fun to try to add an ending chapter or two to it.

Author: https://www.literotica.com/authors/wordsinthedust/works/stories

And story is "Unintended Lolita".

Some things about the story:
- It's in the Incest/taboo section
- Despite the odd title, it depicts no underage characters (naturally). No idea what the author was thinking with the title.
- It deals with the budding relationship between a father and daughter. Really, the mother is also heavily involved.
- The story was excellent (imo) but the author used a lot of sudden and unmarked pov and scene changes that seemed jarring.
- It is a nice 'happy' story. No non consent, abuse, manipulation and so on.
- This 'world' oddly has no hangups about this type of relationship, at least not that the author acknowledged.

I figured I could do one or more of the following with it:

1. Clean up and repost each existing chapter under my account, while naturally crediting the original author, maybe giving it new life. As well as continuing it if I can.
2. Attempt to continue the story, while crediting and linking to the original one for reference
3. Mind my own business and write my own dang story
4. Go back to lurking and forget the idea, noob
5. Delete my account and never darken this site again!

Some 'challenges' for me:
I'm not an author. Never wrote anything substantial, never mind erotica. I figure I could follow the original writers lead for this exercise at least.
I'd make a better editor than an author probably.

I don't have a great imagination. I can think about story ideas but getting them on paper (or computer etc, you know what I mean) is another thing.

That all said, I've read a lot of stories on this site and I think I can do better than several of them. lol

 

[Rob_Royale]

Not without the permission of the original writer. This comes up frequently here.

 

[StillStunned]

Most authors consider this a big no-no. At the very least, reach out to the original author and ask for permission. If you can't get positive permission, don't presume to use their stories.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

The original author hasn't been on the site in 10 years, which is why I was wondering. But I understand the rule. makes sense, thanks.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Hey, not trying to be sarcastic, but as one not-that-tech-literate person to possibly another, do you know about the search function?

 

[HaralLuhhan]

@joy_of_cooking I'm aware of such a feature, yes. lol. But I wanted to include my full idea to see what people thought about it, if it was allowed.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

Huh, well that search feature was actually useful. lol

It turns out an author named FinishTheDamnStory does exactly that. Or at least has done. They contact the author though, if possible

 

[ElectricBlue]

1. Clean up and repost each existing chapter under my account, while naturally crediting the original author, maybe giving it new life. As well as continuing it if I can.
2. Attempt to continue the story, while crediting and linking to the original one for reference
3. Mind my own business and write my own dang story
4. Go back to lurking and forget the idea, noob
5. Delete my account and never darken this site again!

This is your own best advice.

To continue someone else's story without their explicit permission is a big writer's NO for many of us. People waffle on about copyright and blah blah blah, but for me at least, it comes down to writer's ethics. It's their story, you have no right whatsoever to do anything with it.

Be inspired by it to write your own story, sure, but to take their content and say, "Well, I can do better," is presumptuous - particularly as you are also saying in the same breath that you might not do a very good job.

I'm sure you'll get far more satisfaction writing your own stories; then ask yourself, ten years from now, how you would feel if someone asked this question of you? I bet you'd be fine if they asked the question (because you could say yes, or no), but I reckon you'd be shitty if they just went ahead and did it.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Have you considered sending private feedback? It's possible that wordsinthedust is still around, just not writing.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

This is your own best advice.

To continue someone else's story without their explicit permission is a big writer's NO for many of us. People waffle on about copyright and blah blah blah, but for me at least, it comes down to writer's ethics. It's their story, you have no right whatsoever to do anything with it.

Be inspired by it to write your own story, sure, but to take their content and say, "Well, I can do better," is presumptuous - particularly as you are also saying in the same breath that you might not do a very good job.

I'm sure you'll get far more satisfaction writing your own stories; then ask yourself, ten years from now, how you would feel if someone asked this question of you? I bet you'd be fine if they asked the question (because you could say yes, or no), but I reckon you'd be shitty if they just went ahead and did it.

I didn't say "I could do better", but yes other than that, point taken. As well, the suggestion was to continue it, not to take their content as my own or something.

That all said, this was a thing, apparently, in the past. People got permission to complete others stories,when the author had given up on it. I'd happily do that if the author would respond, but I doubt they will answer after 10 years.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

Have you considered sending private feedback? It's possible that wordsinthedust is still around, just not writing.

Yeah I did try. I'll wait and see. not really expecting a response but you never know.

 

[ElectricBlue]

That all said, this was a thing, apparently, in the past. People got permission to complete others stories,when the author had given up on it. I'd happily do that if the author would respond, but I doubt they will answer after 10 years.

It comes up in the Author's Hangout four or five times a year, and gets the same discussion.

The bulk of the advice is to do it only with explicit permission; and ten years is nothing really, to go by. There's been a couple of writers just recently who have come back to the AH and said, "I've been away for a decade, I'm back writing," and one of them published the second chapter of a story after a fifteen year gap.

You're right, many people won't answer because they're dead or moved on, with no need for erotica in their lives, but you never know what a writer's plans for a story might be. I've got something here that's nearly eight years old, where I've got vague ideas for a sequel. I might never write it, but I certainly wouldn't want anyone else to use those characters and continue with some other story.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Hi, I'm new here and was wondering the etiquette of referring to and adding to existing stories.

I found a story I liked. 8 parts, entertaining read. It cut short of the (ahem) climax however.

The author abandoned it and the site apparently, 10 years ago.

So I was thinking it might be fun to try to add an ending chapter or two to it.

Author: https://www.literotica.com/authors/wordsinthedust/works/stories

And story is "Unintended Lolita".

Some things about the story:
- It's in the Incest/taboo section
- Despite the odd title, it depicts no underage characters (naturally). No idea what the author was thinking with the title.
- It deals with the budding relationship between a father and daughter. Really, the mother is also heavily involved.
- The story was excellent (imo) but the author used a lot of sudden and unmarked pov and scene changes that seemed jarring.
- It is a nice 'happy' story. No non consent, abuse, manipulation and so on.
- This 'world' oddly has no hangups about this type of relationship, at least not that the author acknowledged.

I figured I could do one or more of the following with it:

1. Clean up and repost each existing chapter under my account, while naturally crediting the original author, maybe giving it new life. As well as continuing it if I can.
2. Attempt to continue the story, while crediting and linking to the original one for reference
3. Mind my own business and write my own dang story
4. Go back to lurking and forget the idea, noob
5. Delete my account and never darken this site again!

Some 'challenges' for me:
I'm not an author. Never wrote anything substantial, never mind erotica. I figure I could follow the original writers lead for this exercise at least.
I'd make a better editor than an author probably.

I don't have a great imagination. I can think about story ideas but getting them on paper (or computer etc, you know what I mean) is another thing.

That all said, I've read a lot of stories on this site and I think I can do better than several of them. lol

You don't know the Author abandoned it.
They may consider it complete. End of story.
Etiquette:
The story belongs to and is their intellectual property.
You have no rights to it morally. (In my opinion only)
Simply because the Author has not written anything else does not give you permission to do anything.
If you can get a response from the Author and they give you permission, then fair enough.
If not, then no response is not a yes. It is actually a NO...
My opinion only.
I am no legal expert. Simply explaining my thoughts on ethics and morals of story ownership.

Cagivagurl

 

[HaralLuhhan]

You don't know the Author abandoned it.
They may consider it complete. End of story.
Etiquette:
The story belongs to and is their intellectual property.
You have no rights to it morally. (In my opinion only)
Simply because the Author has not written anything else does not give you permission to do anything.
If you can get a response from the Author and they give you permission, then fair enough.
If not, then no response is not a yes. It is actually a NO...
My opinion only.
I am no legal expert. Simply explaining my thoughts on ethics and morals of story ownership.

Cagivagurl

Yes, the point has been made most thoroughly, thanks.

The author definitely abandoned it, pretty clear from all the incomplete story beats.

I wasn't claiming it or suggesting I could consider it mine, so the point is unnecessary. Nor was I considering myself to have any rights to it. I was just thinking of attempting to write a continuation, just for a writing exercise for myself, to see if I could do it. I may still do so, and keep it to myself. I'll see.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The way writers historically have done it is, to write your own take on the story. Your own characters, not a beat-for-beat plot, but your idea of how the story could/should have gone.

-Rocco

 

[magic_rat]

Writing something original is always preferable.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

The way writers historically have done it is, to write your own take on the story. Your own characters, not a beat-for-beat plot, but your idea of how the story could/should have gone.

-Rocco

Good idea, thanks

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Good idea, thanks

BTW, it would be good etiquette to say, "This series was inspired by the work of ...." in the author note.

-Rocco

 

[Jonolvera776]

Hi, I'm new here and was wondering the etiquette of referring to and adding to existing stories.

I found a story I liked. 8 parts, entertaining read. It cut short of the (ahem) climax however.

The author abandoned it and the site apparently, 10 years ago.

So I was thinking it might be fun to try to add an ending chapter or two to it.

Author: https://www.literotica.com/authors/wordsinthedust/works/stories

And story is "Unintended Lolita".

Some things about the story:
- It's in the Incest/taboo section
- Despite the odd title, it depicts no underage characters (naturally). No idea what the author was thinking with the title.
- It deals with the budding relationship between a father and daughter. Really, the mother is also heavily involved.
- The story was excellent (imo) but the author used a lot of sudden and unmarked pov and scene changes that seemed jarring.
- It is a nice 'happy' story. No non consent, abuse, manipulation and so on.
- This 'world' oddly has no hangups about this type of relationship, at least not that the author acknowledged.

I figured I could do one or more of the following with it:

1. Clean up and repost each existing chapter under my account, while naturally crediting the original author, maybe giving it new life. As well as continuing it if I can.
2. Attempt to continue the story, while crediting and linking to the original one for reference
3. Mind my own business and write my own dang story
4. Go back to lurking and forget the idea, noob
5. Delete my account and never darken this site again!

Some 'challenges' for me:
I'm not an author. Never wrote anything substantial, never mind erotica. I figure I could follow the original writers lead for this exercise at least.
I'd make a better editor than an author probably.

I don't have a great imagination. I can think about story ideas but getting them on paper (or computer etc, you know what I mean) is another thing.

That all said, I've read a lot of stories on this site and I think I can do better than several of them. lol

Good stories take months to put together. Hours and lot's of Effort Good Luck!

 

[AlexIce]

I'm currently working on a follow-up story to an existing series here on Literotica. Before I began even typing the first word, I made sure to contact the original author first to get their permission.

In my case, not only did the author give their blessing for me to do so but they also made themselves available if I had any questions or needed any reference points.

If you're able to, reach out to that author. You'll be pleasantly surprised to see how friendly people are on here.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm currently working on a follow-up story to an existing series here on Literotica. Before I began even typing the first word, I made sure to contact the original author first to get their permission.

In my case, not only did the author give their blessing for me to do so but they also made themselves available if I had any questions or needed any reference points.

If you're able to, reach out to that author. You'll be pleasantly surprised to see how friendly people are on here.

You're lucky, in most cases we see here the author never responds.

But in some cases, like yours, they do.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

You're lucky, in most cases we see here the author never responds.

But in some cases, like yours, they do.

View attachment 2407704

Yeah I never got a reply, but I'll try to at least write a first chapter of my own story, similar to on that one, and see if there is any interest, maybe ask people to review it and give pointers before making it public.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yeah I never got a reply, but I'll try to at least write a first chapter of my own story, similar to on that one, and see if there is any interest, maybe ask people to review it and give pointers before making it public.

Similar is safe, there's countless stories out there that resemble others.

Like every babysitter story ever written LOL.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

Similar is safe, there's countless stories out there that resemble others.

Like every babysitter story ever written LOL.

True, lol. Got a link to your stories?

 

[lovecraft68]

True, lol. Got a link to your stories?

https://www.literotica.com/authors/lovecraft68/works/stories