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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

We're All Fine Here, Thanks. How Are You? - The FanFic Social Thread

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by mavjade , Aug 15, 2014.

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  1. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Well, I have insomnia -- or rather, I went to bed, fell asleep on the spot and after exactly 45 minutes a very loud motorbike drove through my street and woke me up :mad: Anyway, long story short, I'm in no shape to contribute intelligently to this discussion, but I'll contribute a post towards the 10,000 :p
     
  2. Jedi_Lover

    Jedi_Lover Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2004
    I have been told by two other Star Wars profic writers that it is in their contract that they can not read SW fanfiction. I guess it is just a very cheap way to avoid any lawsuit. I always thought fanfic writers don't have any rights, but I guess maybe they do. I would assume a lawsuit would be defended by the "unclean hands" defense. I already pilfered profic SW characters, so can I really be mad if somebody stole my ideas?
     
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  3. Admiral Volshe

    Admiral Volshe Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I'd be kind of frustrated if someone "stole" my fanfic idea, but at the same time, I have wanted to be a profic writer for a long time (for a couple of franchises), so maybe I am a bit more serious about things.

    If I ever become good enough to greatly inspire someone writing profic, I wouldn't sue. I'd just write them a very long and sad letter asking them "Mr/Mrs Profic Writer...why are you taking my story?" :p
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Jedi_Lover

    Jedi_Lover Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2004
    I'd still be irritated if it was an obvious case of plagiarism, but I don't know if I would sue simply because I am sure Lucas would have an excellent countersuit for me playing in his sandbox. Honestly, I don't think there is a snowball's chance on Mustafar that anybody with any writing talent would ever steal my fanfic ideas.
     
  5. mavjade

    mavjade Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2005
    I think I'd be more perturbed if someone wrote something along the lines of the original story I've had in my head for years, even though there's no way anyone could steal it because it's not out there anywhere. I know it would be coincidence, but it would be upsetting. I figure when I'm writing fanfic, I'm playing in someone else's sandbox so I don't really have any rights to it. I'd be sad if an original idea I had (at least so far as they can be original) in a fanfic was used, but I'd never sue.

    I do think someone would have a very hard time proving the idea taken was original to them and that it was stolen, but I guess they don't want to take that chance. I figure they have to cover their butts and just not reading anything is the best way to do that.
     
  6. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
    Even if the lawsuit is dismissed, it still costs money to defend yourself against it. I can see why publishers would be reticient to invite the opportunity to sue.

    On a kind of humorous side note - I was watching PBS tonight and there was an interview with Kareem Abdul Jabarr, who has co-authored a novel about Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's brother. The interviewer said, kind of impressed by this, it seems, "so.. you took a fictional character and created a fiction out of him?"
    o_O
    Um...we've kinda been doing that for a while here.

    We are, ultimately, playing in someone else's sandbox, unless like Jabbar you're using a story that is in the public domain.
     
  7. whiskers

    whiskers Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 19, 2005
    I actually just got one of the non-fiction books that Kareem co-authored. It was in a big lot of WWII books. It's about a unit of all-black tankers that served under Patton. Haven't picked it up yet (I'm currently reading another book I got in the same lot).
     
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  8. Admiral Volshe

    Admiral Volshe Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I imagined that book being about talking tanks, like a WWII version of Thomas. Then I realised what you meant. [face_laugh] Maybe it's bedtime already!
     
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  9. Exeter

    Exeter Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 2, 2005
    ...and after those two posts, I'm off to the YKYAAFFW thread :p
     
  10. Goodwood

    Goodwood Jedi Master star 5

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    May 11, 2011
    A number of those tankers were captured by the SS during the Battle of the Bulge and executed, their bodies discovered only with the spring thaw. There was no investigation and no war crimes charges were ever filed against the Germans on their behalf. Sad but true.

    Something to remember for Veterans' Day, I suppose.
     
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  11. whiskers

    whiskers Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 19, 2005

    Even sadder: the main focus of all the Battle of the Bulge atrocities was Malmedy.
     
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  12. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    Findswoman I put fan art in my portfolios all the time. When looking for work in comics and illustration, it's best to show the fan art. Publishers don't care how well you can draw your own characters; they want to know how well you can draw their characters.
     
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  13. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Re: Profic writers on fanfic: Aaron Allston once wrote a great blog post on why he was okay with fanfiction, and I'd like to think many decent writers are, but I also totally understand why the two worlds can never really meet. Fanfic is in a really grey legal area as it is, so I think profic writers (and editors) have to distance themselves from it, even if they are totally fine with it. And even if you go from fanfic to profic, you have to remove all trace of it from the internet. Which is kinda sad, because you get like fan-films as extras on Blu-Rays and whatnot.


    So, anyways, here was my odd evening. My roommate is the apprentice inter-faith chaplain at the university, so he often runs random board games nights and the like. It's always elsewhere, usually on campus, but tonight he thought he would try out a pizza and board games night here. I was fine with it, because we both thought, being November and on a Wednesday, hardly anyone would show up. We were so very wrong. I think at one point we had 32 people here. It was, fun... mostly because my "pizza partner' was my roommates brother who was here (we went to high school as well together and have hung out) so we ended up getting really weird as we were making our pizza (Oreos on a pizza is actually pretty good). We then saw the line up for the oven, so I just suggested we go downstairs and cook it, so we did and just kinda stayed down there, being anti-social and playing cards.

    However, there was one kinda awkward moment. I told my roommate (after my pizza was done) that people could use my oven if they wished, so two girls from one of my first year classes came down, and I don't think they realized that I owned the place, or even lived there, because they were giving me the stink eye as I'm there, grabbing pop out of MY fridge.
     
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  14. JadeLotus

    JadeLotus Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2005
    I can understand why profic authors stay away from fanfic - although I suspect some have read it and claim they haven't ;)

    So I'm back from holidays - did I miss much around here?
     
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  15. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
    Just the usual, plotting world domination. How was your trip?
     
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  16. JadeLotus

    JadeLotus Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Mar 27, 2005
    It was great! I'm exhausted though so glad to be home.
     
  17. Lazy K

    Lazy K Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 22, 2012
    Not to mention all the bad publicity a lawsuit like that would bring. Especially on the Internet, where people will make declarative statements based on rumors alone. Writer Steals Ideas From Fans!!! - goodness knows what damage a headline like that could cause.
     
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  18. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014

    Where was it and how was it? :)


    I WANT TO READ THIS.

    Or, more disturbingly, I want to write this...in a manner that's slightly sick and wrong.


    I say it should be related to aliens this time. :eek:

    Also, please, move this cool discussion somewhere, so we can continue it after this thread has been locked. It's one of the best debates we had so far and, for a change, it was not about 'ships. :p



    This really, really bugs me. On this very message board, it's OK to hate us, as if we were all clinical cases of delusional disorder or whatever. And they make all-inclusive statements that all fanfics sucks, that all of it is only wishful thinking and such...OMG, NO.


    Don't even get me started on that.

    Also, read Nick Hornby's Juliet, Naked. The way such statements are explored in that book is hilarious. :D
     
  19. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Welcome back JadeLotus [:D]

    This conversation tickled my legal brain cells, so I'll do some research about intellectual property and fan fiction at some point and post whatever I find here (or most probably in the new thread, since it's *ahem* unlikely to happen before 6 more posts are added to this thread). i'm no expert but I'm pretty sure it's possible to sue someone for plagiarism, even for fanfic -- the universe in which fanficcers write belongs to someone else, but the original characters, plots, descriptions etc belong to the writer regardless. Plus, there would be the issue of a profic author making money off what was plagiarised. I'm really curious to know if there ever was any solid fanfic-based lawsuit, actually [face_thinking]
     
  20. Tarsier

    Tarsier Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2005
    I'd be interested to see what you find. I don't think there's much caselaw on fanfic, but as a starting point, there is this case: Anderson v.Stallone (about the film Rocky IV) - basically the fanfic writer (he's not called that, but that's what he is) gets nothing after the studio used a lot of his script.
     
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  21. mavjade

    mavjade Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2005
    Just FYI - The thread won't be closed right at 10K posts since it's not a site issue anymore. Bri will start the new thread when she gets a chance and this one will go on until then.


    I don't know that I've ever heard of a lawsuit from a fanficer due to copyright, I'd be interested to know if there were as well. There of course has been a lot of talk on the legality of fanfic in general and I feel like maybe a few cases of a fanficer trying to make money and getting cease and desist letters. There have been a few discussions on the prior here in resource, but they are pretty old and IIRC focus solely on if fanfic is legal. If someone wants to start a new discussion thread on this topic with the expanded view from the other direction, that would be fine.
     
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  22. Jedi_Lover

    Jedi_Lover Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2004
    I feel like I am in bizzaro world. Today I saw my husband reading one of the new Star Wars novels. I have never, ever seen him read any Star Wars book. He's seen the movies, but he never expressed any interest in the EU. He puts down the book and says, "Do you think the Emperor will be in the new movie?" (He has never asked me Star Wars questions either). I said, "There was the Emperor Reborn in the EU so it is a possibility. Palpatine transferred his Force Essence to his clone in Dark Empire". He then comes up with a theory I never heard of in my life. "You know, I bet that wasn't Force lightning that the Emperor shot at Luke. I bet he was transferring his Force Essence and Luke is the new darksider."

    ACK! Where did that come from? o_O I know this might now sound weird, but I've known this man most of my life and he's showed nothing but a passing interest in Star Wars. Now he is reading books and spouting theories. I think he is a pod person! [face_worried] I'll tell you now, I am not sharing my 1970's SW comic books with him!
     
  23. brodiew

    brodiew Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 2005
    The trouble is he is reading NEW Star Wars novels. give him 'Heir to Empire' so he doesn't make the mistake of reading 'Heir to the Jedi'. ;)
     
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  24. Goodwood

    Goodwood Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2011
    Jedi_Lover Don't tell us you're disappointed that your husband is now into Star Wars... [face_clown][face_rofl]
     
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  25. Jedi_Lover

    Jedi_Lover Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2004
    The EU was my escape from him when he was acting like a jerk. That is why I have over 100 novels on my shelf.

    EDIT: I am the 10,000th post! [face_dancing]
     
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