Theda Baratheon Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I'm not even against fanfiction really. My Immortal gave me and my friends hours of fun and laughter. But on the other hand...50 shades of Grey. :P tough choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I guess my point is that fanfic is simply a reflection of an incredibly ancient impulse, and that the only reason we think of such an impulse as fanfic is because of the modern paraphernalia of copyright law.I do see what you're saying I'm just not sure I agree with it. I think fanfiction comes from simply wanting a story not to end and wanting to create a "what happens next" or shippers wanting their OTPs to hook up lol rather than an ancient impulse to use existing characters in epic tales of hybris and honour :P :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King In The Couch Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I'm not even against fanfiction really. My Immortal gave me and my friends hours of fun and laughter. But on the other hand...50 shades of Grey. :P tough choice. Give someone a canvas and a lack of skills, plus goodwill and naïvety and you'll get the Ecce Homo. Gold is only found by digging in the dirt, you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Well My Immortal is probably considered by most to be "dirt" which is half of the reason it's so brilliant and hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felice Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 As for damaging his property consider that Marion Zimmer Bradley ran into difficulty from a fan who wrote fanfiction in one of her settings (which Bradley was originally very blazee about) necessitating Bradley drop a novel she was writting because it overlapped too strongly with the fanfic story. She didn't have trouble because someone wrote a fanfic, it was because she read the fanfic, told the author she'd read it, and offered to pay them, and the fan turned out to be an asshole. Simply not reading fanfic based on your own work is quite sufficient protection from such things. And you can't copyright ideas anyway; the "fan" in question wouldn't have stood a chance if they'd actually tried to sue MZB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Felice,If the world is Trademarked, doesn't that create an issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Many great writers have written the equivalent of fanfiction...it's simply another outlet for creativity. Stephen Moffat wrote Doctor Who fanfiction during the hiatus years ago- now he's the head writer for the show. People too often disparage fanfiction, and much of it IS quite bad, but whatever floats your boat, imo. I don't read it myself, but I have no issue with others reading or writing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Many great writers have written the equivalent of fanfiction...it's simply another outlet for creativity. Stephen Moffat wrote Doctor Who fanfiction during the hiatus years ago- now he's the head writer for the show.People too often disparage fanfiction, and much of it IS quite bad, but whatever floats your boat, imo. I don't read it myself, but I have no issue with others reading or writing it. People, like moffet, write that for money. Not because of some sort of outlet for creativity. It's easy cash, with little in the way of quality standards, and a quick turn around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castel Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 People, like moffet, write that for money. Not because of some sort of outlet for creativity. It's easy cash, with little in the way of quality standards, and a quick turn around. A recent example is Max Landis (probably best known for writing Chronicle and a thousand other things that aren't out): at the time of writing he wasn't really selling any of his fanfic stuff. He has a shitty (in his words) SuperMario script he wrote at like 18 that he never truly thought he could get published. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I do see what you're saying I'm just not sure I agree with it. I think fanfiction comes from simply wanting a story not to end and wanting to create a "what happens next" or shippers wanting their OTPs to hook up lol rather than an ancient impulse to use existing characters in epic tales of hybris and honour :P :P I think that's really limiting. Where does that leave something like Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality? That isn't simply what happens next, or shipping. It started off as a deconstruction, and has taken on a life of its own. It is fanfic though, seeing as it is a story about Harry having adventures at Hogwarts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Yeah but the Trojan War and mythic Heroes like Achilles and Agamemnon aren't really the property of Homer are they. Therefore having the Aeneid use the trojan war and certain heroes doesnt work as fanfiction. It might be funny to think about Virgil as a Homer fanboy but the concept of fan seems pretty modern to me. The Aeneid functions as a "what happened to X minor character from a famous work". I can't see any significant difference between Virgil, and someone writing a story about further adventures of Radagast the Brown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 People, like moffet, write that for money. Not because of some sort of outlet for creativity. It's easy cash, with little in the way of quality standards, and a quick turn around. Yes, because he was totally making money from his Doctor Who fanfics back in the 90s. Jesus, way to miss the point of my post just to get a swipe on Moffat. He was an example, not the 'end all, be all'. My POINT is that good and great writers often use other peoples' creations as sources of inspiration. It shouldn't be demonized as it often is (especially around here). I personally don't read or write fanfiction, but I have absolutely no problem with others doing so...nor will I put them down because of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 the aeneid is one of the best things ever. paradise lost is probably the best thing ever. they are ipso facto not fanfic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crom Dubh Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Classical authors, and indeed many authors before the modern era (eighteenth century, or there's about) had a very different idea about originality, and such. Imitation was built into the classical education system (the Isocratean and Ciceronian models at least, which proved influential throughout the middle ages and especially throughout the Renaissance) and working with certain "stock" characters, or with characters from cultural myth/legend was not only accepted, it was encouraged. Our modern view of "the originality" of an author's work derives in part from the Cartesian attack on Renaissance humanism, and the attendant rejection of its tenets (imitatio among them). Not saying fanfic is good, or bad, but I do think it's interesting to see how it recalls, in some way, a form of learning and cultural engagement that produced some of the literary works we now consider "classic." Most fanfic authors are unaware of that connection, I'd wager, but it's something I've come across as an academic in the rhet/comp field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Classical authors, and indeed many authors before the modern era (eighteenth century, or there's about) had a very different idea about originality, and such. Imitation was built into the classical education system (the Isocratean and Ciceronian models at least, which proved influential throughout the middle ages and especially throughout the Renaissance) and working with certain "stock" characters, or with characters from cultural myth/legend was not only accepted, it was encouraged. Our modern view of "the originality" of an author's work derives in part from the Cartesian attack on Renaissance humanism, and the attendant rejection of its tenets (imitatio among them). Not saying fanfic is good, or bad, but I do think it's interesting to see how it recalls, in some way, a form of learning and cultural engagement that produced some of the literary works we now consider "classic." Most fanfic authors are unaware of that connection, I'd wager, but it's something I've come across as an academic in the rhet/comp field. You're shoehorning Campbell into an obvious thread about copyright law. Poorly done. Using familiar archetypes is acceptable, hell, it's expected in genre fiction. It's comfortable. Ripping off someone else's world, rules, magic systems, character personalities, descriptions? That shit's just lazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Yes, because he was totally making money from his Doctor Who fanfics back in the 90s.Jesus, way to miss the point of my post just to get a swipe on Moffat. He was an example, not the 'end all, be all'.My POINT is that good and great writers often use other peoples' creations as sources of inspiration. It shouldn't be demonized as it often is (especially around here). I personally don't read or write fanfiction, but I have absolutely no problem with others doing so...nor will I put them down because of it. When did I take a 'swipe' at Moffet? I don't even know the fucker's work. Dr Who? Never watched it. Calm down. Hell, my two favorite authors had to resort to this shit, to (and I quote here) pay the bills. It's why they do it. Sometimes, in a crazy twist, some people want to take a different spin on the characters, I can let that go sometimes. Anno Dracula is an example of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crom Dubh Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 You're shoehorning Campbell into an obvious thread about copyright law. Poorly done. Using familiar archetypes is acceptable, hell, it's expected in genre fiction. It's comfortable. Ripping off someone else's world, rules, magic systems, character personalities, descriptions? That shit's just lazy. No, I'm not talking about Campbell (which Campbell? There's whole clans of them. if George Campbell from eighteenth century Scotland, then no, not who I had in mind at all), but nice try. There are degrees of imitation, I won't dispute that, but ideas don't just float around in the nether. On some level, a lot of work has been borrowed in some fashion. There's nothing wrong with that. Bakker's just writing First Crusade fanfic, if we're down to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I have a trove of board fanfic I've penned over the last few years wherein a handful of regular posters operate as a rogue ex-officio crime fighting force to save the universe time and time again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 No, I'm not talking about Campbell (which Campbell? There's whole clans of them. if George Campbell from eighteenth century Scotland, then no, not who I had in mind at all), but nice try. There are degrees of imitation, I won't dispute that, but ideas don't just float around in the nether. On some level, a lot of work has been borrowed in some fashion. There's nothing wrong with that. Bakker's just writing First Crusade fanfic, if we're down to it. Joseph? A hero of a thousand faces, the heroes journey? He's written on the topic a little. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crom Dubh Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Joseph? A hero of a thousand faces, the heroes journey? He's written on the topic a little. :rolleyes: Either way, not what I was talking about, even in the remotest sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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