Plagiarism and reviewing
Jul. 12th, 2004 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
louiseluxI 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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-13 11:00 pm (UTC)I think it's really stupid for an author/creator to put the kabosh on fanfic. In the end the creator is only hurting himself- both by making himself (or herself) look like a complete asshat ("MY toys! And I WON'T share!"), and also by potentially smothering the fans' interest in their work. I think they sometimes forget that, hey, without us? They wouldn't be successful. Sure, they'd get a book or two, but if books don't sell- boom. They're gone. We *make* them. The least they can let us do is write stories about their characters- we're not making money off any of it, and I've never heard of fanfic harming either the author's sales, nor the reputation of his/her characters. If, say, JKR did something like that, not one red cent of my money would ever go to HP again. Books can be read via library, movies can be seen through a friend. Vote with your dollars, etc..
Now, it *is* their property, and I think that if an author were to say, 'I really don't like my characters doing/being used for X (incest, bestiality, Harry wearing red shoes, whatever), could you please not write it,' I think that would be a reasonable request and would probably honour it. At least by not distributing. :)