Discussion Rebellion against LucasFilm

Another one!

Why do fans make fan-fiction?

I can understand that it is an obvious question that it's done for pleasure, to share with others fans and there isn't enough official material to read. But I am liking for more insightful opinions into Star War fan fiction. What does fan-fiction mean to you?

Will Brooker uses the Rebels vs. the Empire as an analogy for the creation of fan-fiction. Fans creating fiction in rebellion against LucasFilm.

Would you agree with this statement?

Thanks.

 

Completely disagree. In fact, I couldn't disagree more. I write fanfiction because I enjoy the universe and everything in it. I see it more like playing in someone else's sandpit. If I wanted to rebel against LucasFilm I'd just find another sandpit to play in.

 

I like that!

"I write fanfiction because I enjoy the universe and everything in it. I see it more like playing in someone else's sandpit. If I wanted to rebel against LucasFilm I'd just find another sandpit to play in."

Just stuck that in the paper in response to Brooker's analogy

 

Fanfiction is a creative outlet, no matter which universe you write in. On my local PBS station, there is this commercial that has this girl who writes Dowton (sp?) Abbey fanfic who sums up writing fan fiction very well. I can't see writing as a rebellion unless it's on picket signs.

 

Well said, moosemousse. I think for most of us SW is an inspiration and the movies, books, games, etc. are springboards to other ideas, not something we're "rebelling" against. Stories about the GFFA are vast and varied and only limited by the imagination. Amateur or professional, we're all either just re-writing or expanding the SW universe. We're all here because we like the sandbox, regardless of whether we're adding sand in, taking it out, or just moving it around.

 

If I wanted to rebel against something I didn't like I would be writing crappy Twilight fanfiction. I don't know one fanfic writer who isn't a fan of the films. There may be aspects of the films we dislike, but overall we are all fans. Fanfiction lets people play with our favorite characters in a way that is impossible for professional writers. We can be downright silly with the stories or write steamy romances. We can throw in whimsical plots like time travel or alternate dimensions.

If a person rewrites a movie in fanfiction it is more like seeing an alternate ending for a movie. When Anakin dreamed his wife would die in childbirth, wouldn't it have been nice if Anakin brought Padme to see a gynecologist to make sure the pregnancy was going along fine instead of consulting a Sith Lord about the problem? It's not that we are rebelling against Lucasfilms. Lucasfilms got us to love the characters...sometimes people want to write a story where there is a happy ending.

Now, if anybody is rebelling against anything...it might be the Expanded Universe...or what it has become (I describe it as novelizations of snuff films). I know I was upset when the powers-that-be decided to kill off many of my favorite characters in the novels. EU readers have a lot invested in these stories. I probably have over 100 novels on my shelf that I have read. That is thousands of dollars over the last twenty years spent on the franchise and countless hours reading the books. I do admit I write a lot of alternate universe fanfiction stories almost out of rebellion of what was done.

But when it comes to the films...I love the films and wish the books were more upbeat like the end of A New Hope.

 

I'm just having a good time and hopefully sharpening my skills as a writer so that one day I can publish pro fics. They are creations of my own.

Mostly I am rebelling against the EU now since it seems to be a pile of crap after LotF and a bit before.

I have rants for the EU but this isn't the place.


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Sorry guys, just to explain further into Brooker's statement. The 'rebellion' isn't against LucasFilm and Star Wars but a rebellion against the lack of material that has been released following the original trilogy. When the first batch of novels came out the lawyers of LucasFilm tried to put a stop to fanfiction under copyright laws but fans continued to produce fan fiction against LucasFilm's wishes. In that sense Brooker saw it as a rebellion against Lucasfilm as they were trying to stifle the production of fanfiction. Apologies for the misunderstanding, my fault.

 

Well, since I didn't know they tried to stifle fanfiction....I guess I am not rebelling against anything. I have seen a list of fandoms where fanfiction is forbidden and Star Wars wasn't on that list. I have seen threads concerning fanfiction and the legality and most writers believe although it might be illegal Lucasfilms tolerates it. Personally I think it would be foolish to ban fanfiction because it keeps readers interested in the EU. Although there are some writers that never read the books, most keep up with the novels.

And also there is no way to stop it. When this site went down for half the year some of the writers banded together into Yahoo groups and shared stories with each other in personal journals or emailing chapters to each other. I do worry about what Disney will do, but I heard they have not squashed Marvel Comic character fanfiction, so maybe they will continue to look the other way. I don't see how it is hurting the franchise. I think there would be a bigger rebellion if they did ban fanfiction. I don't think my interest in the books would be as high. Fanfiction writers are not a huge portion of the fandom, so it may not hurt Disney's bottom line. But if they ban fanfiction they better forbid cosplay, role playing, fan art, 3D art, fan design and graphics and fan films. Why pick on writers? If we are infringing copyright it should be an across the board ban...then let's see how it hurts their bottom line.

Also, I heard a rumor that Star Trek did forbid fanfiction and other copyright infringements...and the fan base dried up. When I go to Books-A-Million I don't see an entire section filled with Star Trek stuff...but there are three rows of pure Star Wars. I don't know if that is true or not about Star Trek, but that might be something that would be an interesting comparison. I do know that I refuse to read books written by authors that forbid fanfiction because I assume they are stuck up jerks. I know some authors say it is okay as long as it is child friendly and I can understand that when we are talking about author's of children's books.

 

I never really understood why companies and authors forbid fan fiction. I mean, none of us are making money off of it so there is no harm being done to their pocketbooks and this thing about not wanting their characters to be run through the ringer in fan fiction is ridiculous. The moment they die and someone buys the rights to their work, those characters are gonna end up in situations their authors never intended, so why cry over spilled milk? Accept the fact that its not official work, that the worse stuff is probably being seen by 0.1% of the world population and that it makes money for you through the purchase of your official work and merchandise and that the harder you fight it, the more is written.

In fact, I know a few people who got into other stuff through fan fiction because they looked at a fan author's other stories. I got a couple people interested in Pirates of the Caribbean after they read some of my Barbossa work. I myself finally got into Harry Potter through a Star Wars fan author and I have all the books and movies because of it. Fan fiction, imho, is free advertisement and who in their right mind would refuse free advertisement of their work?

Imho, I think it really boils down to the fact that the fans come up with better plots and writing than the authors themselves and its an ego thing. Be honest, how many of you have come across well written stories with great plots and execution that you wish it was published, that it should be published?

And yes, I would rebel against any franchise or published author that tells me "no you cannot play in my sandbox". You want me to continue to be interested in between publications, then let me play in the sand!

I mean seriously, did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever intend for Sherlock Holmes to marry a woman young enough to be his daughter? How about Holmes/Watson pastiches? Would he care? Doubt it since he hated Holmes by The Final Problem and if he did care, he cannot do anything about it anymore and/or probably would have welcomed the attention since it meant more sold copies of his own work in the end.

 

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Star Wars has been around for 35 years and has probably the most loyal and extensive fandom of any movie. There are other great movies like The Wizard of Oz or Gone With the Wind, but we don't see an entire section dedicated to Wizard of Oz books and toys at Borders. There are other movies that have big fandoms now like Twilight...but do you think 35 years from now people will be going to conventions as Bella or Edward? If anything the Star Wars fandom gets bigger and bigger and I think it is because of what CmdrMitthrawnuruodo said, "Fanfiction is free advertising for the franchise" (and also the other fan activities like the 501st, fan art and fan films).

Lucas' hands off approach to the fans allowed him to build up a multi-billion dollar business. I think that is a pretty good business plan. I only hope Disney keeps the same approach.

 

This arguments holds no water with me since there hasn't been a "lack of material." One of the things that SW has always excelled at is generating content in various types of media. That, in part, has helped feed and grow the fanbase.

A lot of people enjoy reading and/or writing fan fiction. As long as there are original soruces that writers draw inspiration from there will be fan fiction; it is inevitable. History has shown that those franchises that embrace their fandom in all of its facets, including fan fiction, are the ones that are the most thriving and enduring.

 

This is what is going to happen when fanfiction is banned. You may have a few people who go underground with it, but when sites like TFN and FFN stop allowing SW fanfiction to be posted most writers will stop writing. Most fanfic writers are readers of fanfic, so with these forums gone they will stop coming to TFN unless they want to go to JCC or the Senate and get trolled on. So they stop coming to TFN regularly and therefore they don't hear about that new SW novel out...so they don't buy it. A few years later they may see there is a new 10 book series out that they didn't know about, but instead of buying it they look up reviews in Amazon and realize most SW fans are disappointed, so they decided not to buy it.

The movies come out and they won't miss those. They realize the movies are not following canon EU, so they decide they don't want to read new novels after the reboot. With no books in between the movies SW is out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind (unless you do Cosplay or something not banned) and SW becomes a smaller and smaller part of your life until one day you realize, "Wow, I haven't read a SW book in ten years. I wonder if I can sell my old collection on eBay?". And that is how fandom would probably end for me. And it doesn't just end with me. I have two sons that love Star Wars...their enthusiasm for the fandom probably will also die since I am the one buying the books they are reading.

We are not writing SW fanfiction to rebel since most of the fanfic writers here think Lucas doesn't care. When fanfiction does get banned it wont increase fanfiction written, it will cut it down tremendously and some people will lose their enthusiasm for the fandom. That is what I think.

 

Personally, I highly doubt it will get banned. Pirates of the Caribbean Fanfic is allowed, Marvel fics are allowed...Disney hasn't shown any signs of banning fics of their own works (and/or acquired works), so I doubt SW fans have to worry.

At least, that's my opinion.

 

I agree. I mentioned the Marvel fanfics earlier. The thread owner wanted to know if we are writing fanfiction because Lucasfilms frowned on it. So, are we writing as a rebellion against LucasFilms? My opinion is NO because I doubt any of us thought Lucas had a problem with it. He may not like it, but he turns a blind eye. We write because we love the characters and want to see them in various situations.

 

LFL tried to ban the ultimate expression of fanfic, the One-Man Star Wars Broadway show. The Courts decided that because SW is such a known entity, the show was considered a parody and allowed to continue. Interestingly, Lucas has now embraced a 'live and let live' policy towards us and others, and this has been followed by many other authors and entities. JK Rowling is actually a fan of the genre and considers it to be flattery.

 

That is such ancient history, as to be not even relevant any more.

 

One author said that she felt that fan fiction showed a lack of creativity on the fan's part (or something along those lines).

George did file a cease and desist order on a fanzine back years ago; the fanzine contained Luke/Han slash which might have bother him since Han and Leia were destined after a certain point and Luke was interested in Leia before he learned that they were siblings.


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Seriously? I wonder who said that. Lack of creativity is rewriting something else, slapping a different label on it and publishing it. *cough*Eregon*cough*

 

Maybe she meant we are borrowing a pre-made universe with established characters and species. I have to agree playing in somebody else's sandbox is a lot easier than building a sandbox of my own. But, with that said, we are being a hell of a lot more creative with our time than people who spend their evenings watching TV.

 

Kristen Britain, she wrote the Green Rider books.


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"The Starman and Moon Goddess."

 

Amen Jedi_Lover, amen


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"The Starman and Moon Goddess."

 

Another intersting topic - I need to get away from the E7 Board more often...

I don't see it as a "Rebellion' but more of an embrace - we were so moved by the stories, we started to create our own...

Interesting to note that for a while, Star TREK actively EMBRACED fan fiction and it's writers with its 'Strange New Worlds' books...

From the Amazon copy:

Book Description

Release date: July 1, 1998
Here's what you, the fans, have demanded for decades! An anthology featuring original Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation®, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®, andStar Trek®: Voyager™ stories written by Star Trek fans, for Star Trek fans!
After a lengthy competition that drew thousands of submissions; these astounding stories, written exclusively by brand-new authors, were selected for their originality and style.
These eighteen fantastic tales rocket across the length and breadth of Federation time and space, from when Captain Kirk explored the galaxy on the first Starship Enterprise™, through Captain Picard's U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-D and Captain Sisko's Deep Space Nine to Captain Janeway's Voyager, with many fascinating stops along the way.
This all-new volume contains stories by: Landon Cary Dalton, Phaedra M. Weldon, Keith L. Davis, Dayton Ward, Dylan Otto Krider, Jerry M. Wolfe, Peg Robinson, Kathy Oltion, Bobbie Benton Hull, Alara Rogers, Franklin Thatcher, Christina F. York, Vince Bonasso, Patrick Cumby, J.A. Rosales, jaQ Andrews, Jackee C., and Craig D.B. Patton.
Find out what happens in the Star Trek universe when fans -- like you -- take the helm!

 

No.

I just like Star Wars. So, I make my own. Very, very slowly, lately.

 

Just want to say thank you to everyone for your time and responses to my questions. Has been most helpful in writing the paper, even those who disagree with what I or Will Brooker have said and some of which will be included into submission!

Thanks again!