a fanwork section?

[Elanel]

We've had this problem on my forums with Harry Potter fanfiction. I actually took legal advice and had to make some guarantees concerning how the fiction would be used and such. Pain in the neck, really. I'd not bother with it at all but telling an HP fan to stop writing fanfiction is like telling Mel Gibson to stick to non-alcoholic beer.

[Qualapec]

fanfiction.net has a Dresden Files section.

I undestand the legal aspects that there are some blood-suckers out there that are going to jump all over the author just for money or just to mess with them, and there are some authors out there that are just picky about that kind of thing. Nora Roberts for example.

But let me get this straight. Jim can't even acknowledge it exists? No. I don't mean posting or leaving a review or anything. I mean like he has to pretend the fanfiction doesn't exist?

Okay, I'm sure that also didn't convey what I'm thinking.

So he can't acknowledge it's out there. Like he can't make a statement about how he feels about people writing in his universe because as far as he's concerned it can't exist otherwise he'll get sued?

Really...I'm not an airhead, just confused.

~She-Wolf

[Shiloh]

How's this for a lousy analogy?

I've heard of giant squids.  People have told me that they're out there.  I however have never seen one in person (in squid?), so I can't truly know that they exist.

Never mind; that really was lousy.

The legality lies in the fact that fanfiction makes use of an author's intellectual property.  To use Jim's characters, settings, and so forth could therefore be seen as a sort of plagiarism.  If an author visits a fanfiction site and doesn't push to have references to his or work removed, the site's owner could say that the author has tacitly endorsed the site.

And as others have stated, suppose I write a story in which Harry does X.  Suppose Jim in a future novel has Harry do X, or an X-like thing.  I then get all irate and sue Jim for stealing my idea.  Jim's best argument against that is that he's never been to the site where I posted my story.

[Qualapec]

Things like that are why I'm much more suited for medicine than law...

But yeah, I see the point. Why the heck to people have to be so fricken trigger happy when it comes to sueing somebody else? They know that by writing fanfiction it's barely legal as it is so why sue for something that wasn't their's to begin with?

Yeah, money. I know. Still bugs me

~She-Wolf

[Tersa]

I know we can't do a fanfiction fanworks section, but would fanart section work?  I draw fanart and a few other people on the board do as well.  Would it be possible to have a place to post art and icons that people make?

[Priscellie]

Seconded!  We want a fanart section!  *clammors, but politely and with respect to the busy moderators*

[Mickey Finn]

(Just popping in to say that I think the only one that can create new sections is the owner, Iago, who's running around trying to get the RPG and Spirit of the Century off the ground...so don't lose hope just because you don't hear anything for a while.)

[Priscellie]

(Just popping in to say that I think the only one that can create new sections is the owner, Iago, who's running around trying to get the RPG and Spirit of the Century off the ground...so don't lose hope just because you don't hear anything for a while.)

Gotcha.  Thanks for the update!

[BigMama]

I must confess that the idea of fanfiction puzzles me. It seems to me to show an abysmal lack of creativity to want to get some kind of adulation on what is essentially the theft of someone else's ideas and characters.

[Qualapec]

I must confess that the idea of fanfiction puzzles me. It seems to me to show an abysmal lack of creativity to want to get some kind of adulation on what is essentially the theft of someone else's ideas and characters.

Um...I don't like being called uncreative. I've done some crazily creative things that had never been done before in that fandom.

Just because I use somebody elses characters to portray those ideas doesn't mean I'm stupid or incapable, it's just what I like doing at this point and it's what I'm good at at this point.

And it isn't theft. It's playing around in somebody elses world. I'm not making money and I'm definatly not in it to sue.

~She-Wolf

[Baelmyrrdn]

I must confess that the idea of fanfiction puzzles me. It seems to me to show an abysmal lack of creativity to want to get some kind of adulation on what is essentially the theft of someone else's ideas and characters.

Well, they do say that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Seriously, I've read a lot of fan fiction over the years...and some of it has been *very* creative (maybe a bit too creative, slash fic, ugh!)

In any event, as I see it, it's the original author's call...if he/she doesn't mind people playing in their universe (while not getting paid), then I have no problem with it.   Afterall, some day, the original author may want to do a "contributed anthology" in his/her world...and if enough fans are interested enough in the mythos to want write their own stories in it, they'll also buy books edited by the original author for that purpose.

[SoulCatcher78]

Seems to me it's about protecting the copy right.  By protecting copy rights, I mean the characters/places/etc contained in the books which would likely be mirrored in fanfics.  Xerox and Kleenex are no longer copy right held terms because they became such a part of the commonly used language.  Google will be next if it's keeps being used as a verb.  Most copy right holders have to pursue any infraction to their copy right or face loosing the "value" of the copy right if they don't do it enough times.  By ignoring the fact that fanfics exist, an author protects his intellectual property rights and doesn't have to worry about the future litigation of the fanfic writers who could theoretically limit the amount of plot choices available to him/her. 

[iago]

Regardless, for this site, the matter's not up for discussion.  We're not going to do a fanwork section.  Those sorts of things are better done on fan sites rather than official ones.

That being the case, I'm gonna close this thread.