Post by Ynis Ainu on Jun 26, 2013 10:41:45 GMT -5
The Amazon goes fanfic thing is highly discussed currently in several fandoms among the fanfic writers. Most serious writers (some of them published with original ficiton) who write high quality fanfic highly resent it, for various reasons. I do so, too. My main reason is that fanfiction has to do with the gift culture, and that we write it for our own, but also fellow fan's pleasure. This developed to the point where it is because it was free, and IMHO shall continue to do so. Other, important reasons for me are the loss of rights at the text which is totally unacceptable for me, the strong limitations which are put on the fic which can be pupblished through this means, but also what this will mean for the original authors. If his were to become a wide-spread practice, it will certainly change the possibility of writing fanfic openly at all over time.
In the fandoms I know, there is not a small amount of really, really good fanfiction existing which is, in quality, at least as good as the original, in a few cases even better in some aspects. This must be a true case of dread for original authors, as they - and perhaps even rightfully - fear for their own works, success, and also money (which they, of course, fully deserve for their creation and work). More authors migth forbid creating fanworks about their works, which will, of course, not stop people writing it, just doing it more secretly. I don't think that's a good and healthy development. It might also result in publishers rather publish some fanfic which might bring them more gain, as all kinds of unsuspecting fanfic authors might enjoy the attention and money without realising the consequences, whereas original, new/ not well-known authors might get less possibilites to get published, because they don't guarantee the gain the umpeenth Snape-Hermione fanfic will give, to name a random example.
And then there is this a fanfic friend (author, translator, editor and publisher of no small merit) said: she writes fanfic because there she can write totally free, without having to look for salability, can experiment with styles and ideas, can just go for a fast mood-boosting if necessary, can cross blocked muses by letting her imaginarion run wild with whatever crosses her mind, short, let her thoughts and ideas and writing be free.
Mind, this really only goes for fanfiction. I'm absolutely convinced that no original work should be free if the author doesn't want it her/himself for whatever reason. But if we, be it hobby or published/ pro authors, make use of something somebody else has already created and spend countless hours of creativity and tedious work upon, we should not do so because we could perhaps make money out of it, but for the simple love of the creations of somebody else, as a kind of very special appreciation - and share this with others in the same spirit. Even if doing this serves as training for own, original work which we might later manage to get published - so much the better. Personally I would much more appreaciate a campaign to make fanfic readers realise that the only payment a fanfic author usually gets is feedback, which is a sore point. If, for example, I count the hits on my own stories, or the favourites a story gets, and compare it with the reviews, I find that less than 1% of viewers and less than 2% of those who fav it ever leave feedback.
There are people who seem to feel that if I write because I love it, I should be giving it away free. But I write 1) because I love it and 2) because it's the only thing I'm trained to do. I put an enormous amount of my time and energy into it, you know?
That's exactly my point, too. I would never expect you or any other author to give away your original work for free. That some of you do/did, like with devotee stories, is a gift to us readers, but we don't have any right to expect that they are free. I realise, of course, that something like devotee fiction is a rather special kind of literature where there perhaps is a large grey zone where free and non-free works intermingle, also depending of the time of writing/publishing. But that's perhaps a discussion not really fitting in here, as it's not fanfiction, but all original fiction with its own issues.
In the fandoms I know, there is not a small amount of really, really good fanfiction existing which is, in quality, at least as good as the original, in a few cases even better in some aspects. This must be a true case of dread for original authors, as they - and perhaps even rightfully - fear for their own works, success, and also money (which they, of course, fully deserve for their creation and work). More authors migth forbid creating fanworks about their works, which will, of course, not stop people writing it, just doing it more secretly. I don't think that's a good and healthy development. It might also result in publishers rather publish some fanfic which might bring them more gain, as all kinds of unsuspecting fanfic authors might enjoy the attention and money without realising the consequences, whereas original, new/ not well-known authors might get less possibilites to get published, because they don't guarantee the gain the umpeenth Snape-Hermione fanfic will give, to name a random example.
And then there is this a fanfic friend (author, translator, editor and publisher of no small merit) said: she writes fanfic because there she can write totally free, without having to look for salability, can experiment with styles and ideas, can just go for a fast mood-boosting if necessary, can cross blocked muses by letting her imaginarion run wild with whatever crosses her mind, short, let her thoughts and ideas and writing be free.
Mind, this really only goes for fanfiction. I'm absolutely convinced that no original work should be free if the author doesn't want it her/himself for whatever reason. But if we, be it hobby or published/ pro authors, make use of something somebody else has already created and spend countless hours of creativity and tedious work upon, we should not do so because we could perhaps make money out of it, but for the simple love of the creations of somebody else, as a kind of very special appreciation - and share this with others in the same spirit. Even if doing this serves as training for own, original work which we might later manage to get published - so much the better. Personally I would much more appreaciate a campaign to make fanfic readers realise that the only payment a fanfic author usually gets is feedback, which is a sore point. If, for example, I count the hits on my own stories, or the favourites a story gets, and compare it with the reviews, I find that less than 1% of viewers and less than 2% of those who fav it ever leave feedback.
There are people who seem to feel that if I write because I love it, I should be giving it away free. But I write 1) because I love it and 2) because it's the only thing I'm trained to do. I put an enormous amount of my time and energy into it, you know?
That's exactly my point, too. I would never expect you or any other author to give away your original work for free. That some of you do/did, like with devotee stories, is a gift to us readers, but we don't have any right to expect that they are free. I realise, of course, that something like devotee fiction is a rather special kind of literature where there perhaps is a large grey zone where free and non-free works intermingle, also depending of the time of writing/publishing. But that's perhaps a discussion not really fitting in here, as it's not fanfiction, but all original fiction with its own issues.