Writing a sequel on another's work.

[mcseminole]

As a long time enjoyer of this site I am often frustrated when "left hanging" on a really enjoyable storyline. I am confident that I am not alone. My question is whether it is ethical for another writer to pick up where the other left off? Of course giving credit to the original author and story, would it not only be ethical but complementary? Does this happen often? Is there a thread (I did look) that is setup for this purpose? A place where readers can request sequels to long "dead" stories? I realize that as long as it is read it is not ever truly dead but I think you know what I mean. Would other readers appreciate such a thread? Would writers wish to expand on another's work? Would you, as a writer, be offended if someone created a sequel to a story you wrote 15 years ago?

Thanks in advance for your replies and thank you all for painting such wonderful images in my mind.

 

[SimonDoom]

No, it's not ethical without permission. Giving credit isn't enough.

You have two options:

1. Take some of the basic ideas of the previous story but rewrite it as your own story. Make it different enough that there are no ethical or copyright infringement problems.

2. Get permission from the author. Somebody asked me if they could continue one of my stories, for which I had never really planned a sequel, and I was flattered and gave them my permission.

 

[Lifestyle66]

As a long time enjoyer of this site I am often frustrated when "left hanging" on a really enjoyable storyline. I am confident that I am not alone. My question is whether it is ethical for another writer to pick up where the other left off? Of course giving credit to the original author and story, would it not only be ethical but complementary? Does this happen often? Is there a thread (I did look) that is setup for this purpose? A place where readers can request sequels to long "dead" stories? I realize that as long as it is read it is not ever truly dead but I think you know what I mean. Would other readers appreciate such a thread? Would writers wish to expand on another's work? Would you, as a writer, be offended if someone created a sequel to a story you wrote 15 years ago?

Thanks in advance for your replies and thank you all for painting such wonderful images in my mind.

As Simon said, you would need the original author's permission.

One author, Kalimaxos wrote the open-ended story “JUST ONCE… IF YOU DON’T MIND?” in April 2021, in which he encouraged others to write their own ending. He asked in one of his comments that we give him credit for the original story (which I did with web links.)

But when writing my own stories and series, I have a vision for who my main characters are and where I want them to go in the future. So, I'm rather attached to my stories, and would be reluctant for others to take over the story line.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I would be…displeased. Like John Wick displeased.

It’s not the story that is at issue, it’s the characters. Other writers could certainly write excellent sequels to anything I wrote, but they would be peopled with imposters.

 

[SimonDoom]

I would be…displeased. Like John Wick displeased.

It’s not the story that is at issue, it’s the characters. Other writers could certainly write excellent sequels to anything I wrote, but they would be peopled with imposters.

Messing with MelissaBaby's characters is like messing with John Wick's dog. Don't go there.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I would be…displeased. Like John Wick displeased.

Notice the sudden frost on those avatar shades, the background ticking sound of a clock suddenly slowing down...?

 

[KeithD]

My question is whether it is ethical for another writer to pick up where the other left off? Of course giving credit to the original author and story, would it not only be ethical but complementary?

No, it's not ethical, unless the original author has given explicit permission.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Two authors wrote unauthorized sequels to my Office Wife story. I wouldn’t have minded if they were GOOD sequels, but they both wrote clichéd BTB revenge garbage. (The original is a Loving Wives story but is the opposite of BTB).

One of them had the nerve to whine when I trashed his awful sequel in his comments section. What a turd. Haha.

 

[Lifestyle66]

As a long time enjoyer of this site I am often frustrated when "left hanging" on a really enjoyable storyline. I am confident that I am not alone. My question is whether it is ethical for another writer to pick up where the other left off? Of course giving credit to the original author and story, would it not only be ethical but complementary? Does this happen often? Is there a thread (I did look) that is setup for this purpose? A place where readers can request sequels to long "dead" stories? I realize that as long as it is read it is not ever truly dead but I think you know what I mean. Would other readers appreciate such a thread? Would writers wish to expand on another's work? Would you, as a writer, be offended if someone created a sequel to a story you wrote 15 years ago?

Thanks in advance for your replies and thank you all for painting such wonderful images in my mind.

While others here might say it's unethical to create an unauthorized sequel, IMO, it would be a copyright infringement.

Copyright starts with the first publication of a work and doesn't necessarily require any formal notice or pro-active application for protection. Gaining a copyright registration merely makes proving the owner's right in court easier.

And per the USPTO: ... copyright infringement as such: "As a general matter, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.

That said, although it's probably technically illegal, there's no financial incentive for an author here to pursue copyright infringement, unless you are publishing the sequel for profit somewhere else.

 

[Euphony]

Two authors wrote unauthorized sequels to my Office Wife story. I wouldn’t have minded if they were GOOD sequels, but they both wrote clichéd BTB revenge garbage. (The original is a Loving Wives story but is the opposite of BTB).

One of them had the nerve to whine when I trashed his awful sequel in his comments section. What a turd. Haha.

Did they actually admit/credit using your original characters or was there some deflection to "yours were generic so I'm not stealing specific people?"

 

[MajorRewrite]

Did they actually admit/credit using your original characters or was there some deflection to "yours were generic so I'm not stealing specific people?"

They credit using my characters. The whole point for them was twisting my characters to turn a happy office romance into a lunatic BTB rant.

 

[Euphony]

They credit using my characters. The whole point for them was twisting my characters to turn a happy office romance into a lunatic BTB rant.

That's disturbing. I don't care for BTB tomes but even I'd find someone reversing it and turning a (well charactered ) BTB into a lovey dovey romance equally gross.

Yours sounds more like an aggrieved reader decided to put out a hit on your protags for some (unhealthy) reason.

 

[ElectricBlue]

With the others on this, don't do it without the original author's permission.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

George Anderson's "February Sucks" has got to be one of the stories with the most sequels/alt versions on this site. The last time I checked, a search brought up more than 800 renditions of the story, and IMO every one I have read did a disservice to the original.

George apparently gave his permission freely, and I often wonder if he regrets doing so with many of the versions that his story spawned.

 

[PastMaster]

No, it's not ethical without permission. Giving credit isn't enough.

You have two options:

1. Take some of the basic ideas of the previous story but rewrite it as your own story. Make it different enough that there are no ethical or copyright infringement problems.

2. Get permission from the author. Somebody asked me if they could continue one of my stories, for which I had never really planned a sequel, and I was flattered and gave them my permission.

Not only is it not ethical - you could well be breaking copyright laws if you continue a story without the authors permission.

 

[SimonDoom]

While others here might say it's unethical to create an unauthorized sequel, IMO, it would be a copyright infringement.

These aren't mutually exclusive points. Some of us (me, for example) feel that copyright infringement in many cases IS an ethical issue, as well as being a legal one. In the context of Literotica, I think ethical shaming is a stronger check against wrongful conduct than warning against legal liability, because the real-world risk of facing a copyright suit here is tiny, especially for ripping off a story published at Literotica that almost certainly is not and never will be copyright registered, rendering the copyright, such as it is, practically toothless. The applicable authority isn't the law or the US courts but Laurel.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The applicable authority isn't the law or the US courts but Laurel.

Exactly!

 

[Bazzle]

I've rewritten and sequelled another story on here, and potentially rightly been criticised for it.
Like you the original story needed more.
I reached out to the original author and waited 9 months for a reply before publishing it.
Laurel clearly read the original and mine, as several similarities needed changing before she would publish it.
The original was some thing like 4k words, by the time I had fleshed it out mine was 16k words. Not sure if could be classed as a copy!
I took a premise and built upon it.
It's been nearly 18 months now and the original author has not replied.
I totally understand the ethics and law side of things. Hey ho.
B

 

[SimonDoom]

I've rewritten and sequelled another story on here, and potentially rightly been criticised for it.
Like you the original story needed more.
I reached out to the original author and waited 9 months for a reply before publishing it.
Laurel clearly read the original and mine, as several similarities needed changing before she would publish it.
The original was some thing like 4k words, by the time I had fleshed it out mine was 16k words. Not sure if could be classed as a copy!
I took a premise and built upon it.
It's been nearly 18 months now and the original author has not replied.
I totally understand the ethics and law side of things. Hey ho.
B

I'm curious what you did to get approval from Laurel.

Did you change names? Events? Places? What did you keep and what did you change?

 

[MelissaBaby]

Messing with MelissaBaby's characters is like messing with John Wick's dog. Don't go there.

I will cut a bitch.

 

[Voboy]

I'm late to the party, OP, but no. Just no.

 

[oneagainst]

I don't have a problem with it, so long as the author asked and then there was a ref back my origin story. Have responded to Anon commenters a couple of times with "how about do better, and I'll ref your story in the comments", but (shockingly) the fair-play offer was never taken up. If you put the effort in to build up characters over 80k words and then that's it for them at the end, it seems, uh, a little wasteful.

At the end of the day, it's your world, you decide what's canon and what's driftwood that just never happened. You're not bound by what misc. author wrote unless you choose to be.

 

[Bazzle]

I'm curious what you did to get approval from Laurel.

Did you change names? Events? Places? What did you keep and what did you change?

Here is the original :- https://www.literotica.com/s/miss-agatha-willoughbys-academy
Here is mine:-
https://literotica.com/s/miss-enid-kirkwood-s-academy
Names changed, highlighted that I've taken ideas and expanded them in every direction.
I ripped out everything from the original that didn't float my boat, putting in things that did.
So same idea, different direction.

 

[lovecraft68]

I find it somewhat disheartening that this question is asked so frequently because the answer that if its not yours, and you don't have permission, then you don't touch it seems common sense to me, and pretty much the rest of the forum.

If you want to do, and change characters and this and that like the example of above, then go the rest of the way and write your own story "Based on a story by" and a flat out part two of an existing one are two different things.

 

[Bazzle]

I find it somewhat disheartening that this question is asked so frequently because the answer that if its not yours, and you don't have permission, then you don't touch it seems common sense to me, and pretty much the rest of the forum.

If you want to do, and change characters and this and that like the example of above, then go the rest of the way and write your own story "Based on a story by" and a flat out part two of an existing one are two different things.

Exactly. I then wrote my own sequel to my "own story". Taking it further forwards well beyond the original seed that was the stories original end point.