Plagiarism and reviewing

[louiselux]

I see the plagiarism argument has resurfaced on the old flist.

There's this idea that people who write fanfic are not only breaking the law but are somehow wasting their talent/time/precious souls to boot. I delight in using someone else's characters and derive vast amounts of entertainment from it, as long as the author doesn't mind. If they did mind, then I think I'd stop. Which brings me to a point - would you stop writing fanfic if the author asked you to stop? What would you consider as 'stopping'? Stopping distributing or posting it, or stopping writing altogether?

Another hoary old chestnut that nonetheless bothers me, because you really can't get away from it, is the idea that by attacking someone's fic you're attacking them as a person. I don't believe this is true, but I can see why some people feel it. It's hard receiving criticism, as hard as it is to give pain-free criticism. I think the same general rule applies to this as to any social interaction - practise common decency in reviews and LoCs. Personally, I try and be honest, think about the language I use, and think about my own motives.

Comments

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

I got a splendid idea for a Profs fanstory once, that was based rather solidly on another story by Meg Lewtan, and so I wrote to her asking if I could do it. (If it had been "inspired by" or somesuch I would probably have plunged light-heartedly ahead and just credited her story in the end-notes, but it was very definitely "based on", and I wanted her informed consent before I did it.)

She wrote back (rather ill-temperedly) saying no, no, no, and how did you get this address anyway? (Mutual friend, who assumed Meg Lewtan wouldn't mind.)

So I wrote back rather sadly, deleting her address and her real name from my archives, and agreeing that I wouldn't write it. Which I didn't, and eventually the plotbunny stopped gnawing at me.

I guess that's my definite line: if there's a single identifiable creator, and the creator says no, you don't. Where there is no single identifiable creator (as with most TV shows/movies) or where the creator says "What fanfic? I see no fanfic with my blind eye!" it's okay so long as you are not profiting or attempting to profit by it.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

(Assuming this Meg Lewtan is a fan, and her story fanfic) I think it's pretty damned hypocritical for a writer to object to someone writing fanfic of her fanfic.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

I disagree. It was Meg Lewtan's story: she had a right to control what other people did with her story.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

if there's a single identifiable creator, and the creator says no, you don't

I think that's fair enough. If I asked another fanfic author if I could base something quite definitely on their story, and they said no, I wouldn't do it. If an author said 'no fanfic', then I wouldn't. Thankfully, it's never happened to any fandom I've been interested in - although I can imagine how awful it must be for fans, in those cases.