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

[enigel]

heh, I'm not sure I'd stop writing fanfic if the author was displeased with the idea... and since, as it has already been mentioned, a great part of the joy is brought by sharing the writings, I'd still want to share them.
case in point: if I ever get a plot bunny for "Interview with a vampire", I'd write it, because I don't think I'd be harming anyone.
now, if the author asked me personally... I'd probably stick them friends-only or password-protected :D

yeah, criticising a fic can be done without being an attack on the person. it just has to be phrased veeery carefully ;-)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I think if the author asked me personally to stop then I wouldn't post them on the net at all. I'd feel too guilty and worried. If they're asking personally, there's more of a possiblity that they sue me personally too, if they found out:)