Author Topic: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects  (Read 13498 times)

Offline louisev

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BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« on: July 06, 2007, 05:50:30 pm »
It is no longer a rumor:  at least three BBM fan fiction book writers have received letters from the lawyers representing Simon and Schuster, the publishers of "Brokeback Mountain" requesting the complete withdrawal of their work from all internet sites and from all publication.  My own series of novels were the subject of a cease and desist letter in April 2007.  Since I was already contemplating the reworking of my series, which in its early form takes place after the end of Annie Proulx's story and which only peripherally touches the plot of her story, fashioning the unwritten parts into a murder back-plot, it became feasible for me to write a new novel with a gay theme and change the characters that I had borrowed.  I withdrew the site, and have been working hard, with Leslie as my editor/co-author, to 'convert' my books, and am pleased to say that part of the audience for the fan stories have taken well to the changes that make "Tales of Greenlea County" erotic novels with their own reason for being, and with, hopefully, a commercial career as gay erotic fiction.  I never had the intention of disrespecting the author's intent, nor to take ideas that did not belong to me - the inspiration I got from BBM had opened out a new avenue of fiction for me that I had only begun to explore with my previous erotic novel, "The Erotic Etudes."

But other stories, written as AU's that involve both the characters of Ennis and Jack, are not so reworkable, and have presented severe dilemmas for their writers, and the two I know of have chosen not to argue the matter.  One of these authors went silent after a cryptic announcement, but the other posted an announcement on his Livejournal before withdrawing his stories within the ten-day notice period:

http://no-reins.livejournal.com/13096.html

Lucian's entry in his blog references a site I had been referred to many months ago when I was first struggling with issues of copyright and plagiarism within the fandom, "Chilling Effects."

http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/

However, another site has referenced BBM and fan fiction, and maintains that erotic fan fiction has its place as protected speech as a form of criticism and commentary, and should be protected under the law.  I find this point of view intriguing and may possibly prove to have some legal merit.

http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/09/fan_fiction_as_critical_commen.html

However one feels about the 'rights' of fan fiction authors, the BBM fan community will be undeniably affected by the decision of the publishers of BBM to defend its rights by issuing letters, and undoubtedly, as they meet with no challenge to their stance, they will most likely issue more of them.  the Dave Cullen forum, www.davecullen.com, has issued a policy that prohibits open discussion of fan fiction and C & D due to legal concerns over copyright.  However, we at Bettermost do not believe that our site, nor our readers or members, should have any concern about the open discussion of copyright law and fan fiction, nor should anyone be discouraged from expressing an opinion about it.

The individual authors who have been affected by the C & D have chosen to refrain from comment beyond the statements I have referenced here.  I too have issued a comment on my own LJ about my decision to rewrite those of my fan fics that fall outside the realm of parody:

http://louisev.livejournal.com/225229.html

My intentions toward the authors of the book and screenplay of "Brokeback Mountain" were to do no harm, nor to benefit from their hard, original, inspiring work.  But neither do I believe that my own original work should be suppressed, and have been putting in the extra effort to make it into a form that puts the effort in a form that is not challengeable legally.  I suggest that who have devoted great effort to writing erotic fan fictions, to read and research, to decide upon your own goals as authors, and consider the risks and potential costs, before the fandom receives a wider ranging legal challenge.  I urge those of you who have found a new vocation in fiction writing, to consider writing your own original works, adapting what you learned in these writing exercises, and not let your voice be quelled because the route of fan fiction in this fandom may close.  And to feel free to have an open dialogue with other writers and readers here about the chilling effects now affecting all of us who love and still watch and read Brokeback Mountain.
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


mvansand76

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2007, 06:24:06 pm »
It is no longer a rumor:  at least three BBM fan fiction book writers have received letters from the lawyers representing Simon and Schuster, the publishers of "Brokeback Mountain" requesting the complete withdrawal of their work from all internet sites and from all publication.  My own series of novels were the subject of a cease and desist letter in April 2007.  Since I was already contemplating the reworking of my series, which in its early form takes place after the end of Annie Proulx's story and which only peripherally touches the plot of her story, fashioning the unwritten parts into a murder back-plot, it became feasible for me to write a new novel with a gay theme and change the characters that I had borrowed.  I withdrew the site, and have been working hard, with Leslie as my editor/co-author, to 'convert' my books, and am pleased to say that part of the audience for the fan stories have taken well to the changes that make "Tales of Greenlea County" erotic novels with their own reason for being, and with, hopefully, a commercial career as gay erotic fiction.  I never had the intention of disrespecting the author's intent, nor to take ideas that did not belong to me - the inspiration I got from BBM had opened out a new avenue of fiction for me that I had only begun to explore with my previous erotic novel, "The Erotic Etudes."

But other stories, written as AU's that involve both the characters of Ennis and Jack, are not so reworkable, and have presented severe dilemmas for their writers, and the two I know of have chosen not to argue the matter.  One of these authors went silent after a cryptic announcement, but the other posted an announcement on his Livejournal before withdrawing his stories within the ten-day notice period:

http://no-reins.livejournal.com/13096.html

Lucian's entry in his blog references a site I had been referred to many months ago when I was first struggling with issues of copyright and plagiarism within the fandom, "Chilling Effects."

http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/

However, another site has referenced BBM and fan fiction, and maintains that erotic fan fiction has its place as protected speech as a form of criticism and commentary, and should be protected under the law.  I find this point of view intriguing and may possibly prove to have some legal merit.

http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/09/fan_fiction_as_critical_commen.html

However one feels about the 'rights' of fan fiction authors, the BBM fan community will be undeniably affected by the decision of the publishers of BBM to defend its rights by issuing letters, and undoubtedly, as they meet with no challenge to their stance, they will most likely issue more of them.  the Dave Cullen forum, www.davecullen.com, has issued a policy that prohibits open discussion of fan fiction and C & D due to legal concerns over copyright.  However, we at Bettermost do not believe that our site, nor our readers or members, should have any concern about the open discussion of copyright law and fan fiction, nor should anyone be discouraged from expressing an opinion about it.

The individual authors who have been affected by the C & D have chosen to refrain from comment beyond the statements I have referenced here.  I too have issued a comment on my own LJ about my decision to rewrite those of my fan fics that fall outside the realm of parody:

http://louisev.livejournal.com/225229.html

My intentions toward the authors of the book and screenplay of "Brokeback Mountain" were to do no harm, nor to benefit from their hard, original, inspiring work.  But neither do I believe that my own original work should be suppressed, and have been putting in the extra effort to make it into a form that puts the effort in a form that is not challengeable legally.  I suggest that who have devoted great effort to writing erotic fan fictions, to read and research, to decide upon your own goals as authors, and consider the risks and potential costs, before the fandom receives a wider ranging legal challenge.  I urge those of you who have found a new vocation in fiction writing, to consider writing your own original works, adapting what you learned in these writing exercises, and not let your voice be quelled because the route of fan fiction in this fandom may close.  And to feel free to have an open dialogue with other writers and readers here about the chilling effects now affecting all of us who love and still watch and read Brokeback Mountain.

Thank you for posting this, Louise. A real eye-opener and very worrying.

It's something to seriously consider when you start a new story. After my first AU story Right Where You Are I am now starting an AU!AU and have been thinking about changing the names, because really, the names is all they have in common with BBM and I don't want to run the risk of getting in the same situation where you have to withdraw your story from the Internet.

But it is interesting what no-reins wrote on her journal:

I can’t know either why S & S targeted my work and not any of the hundreds of others being written. We could speculate forever, but we still wouldn’t know.

Do you have any idea?

The http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/ link is not working... do you know what happened?

Thanks again, Louise.... I am so sorry this happened to you but I appreciate that you are using your experience to warn other writers.

Mel

Offline louisev

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2007, 06:42:47 pm »
 
Why these and not others?  It could be that they had become interested in work that had attracted fan art.  I know in my own C & D letter it mentioned depictions of Heath Ledger from the movie and my first theory was that it was the fan art (which, ironically, I did not create, I just added it on my blog) that attracted attention, or the book length nature of it, or my comments on Bettermost (also quoted) which stated my intention to publish a reworked version.  I clarified in a phone call with the lawyer that my publishing plan was for a reworked version that involved a murder plot, and not anything in common with BBM, and it occurred to me at the time that perhaps there was some misinterpretation of what I was planning to want to publish.  The first author to withdraw work last fall had published a fanzine and the fan art had visible resemblances to scenes depicted by the actors in the BBM film.  This theory, regarding recognizable actors from the film as a possibly profile, may or may not hold water.  But I took the precaution of removing all fan art pictures and all announcements on Wranglers, and now that the search engines and caches are catching up, the LJSeek references are gradually dropping the last of them.  The art I am using with the reworked story is an original painting to which I have full rights, and the new character could not be mistaken for any BBM character. in book or movie.

“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline Lumière

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2007, 06:51:33 pm »
Interesting and sad.

With all these goings-on, I guess I'll have to move my E & E fanpics, they'll be gone from the LS gallery.

Too bad some authors are coming under fire.
I guess it is not enough that they are not writing for profit.

*sigh*


Offline RouxB

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2007, 08:31:45 pm »
Not much we can do about it so we may as well ride it as long as we can.

I better speed up on saving the stories I love.

 O0

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Offline louisev

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2007, 09:01:14 pm »
 
Try this link, maybe they reworked the fan fic link:

http://www.chillingeffects.org/copyright/
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline souxi

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2007, 07:03:26 am »
Not much we can do about it so we may as well ride it as long as we can.

I better speed up on saving the stories I love.

 O0

Yes me too. I just found this thread. I,ve been frantically saving stories this morning. I,m still thanking my lucky stars I got my copy of SN before it got taken down. What a bunch of killjoys these legal people are. >:(

Offline louisev

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2007, 07:55:38 am »
It could be that the owners of the copyright to BBM do not understand the mismatch between the actual experience of the fans in their desire to interact with the story through fan fiction, and the notion of protecting themselves commercially.  The audience for BBM fan fiction are those who have already invested heavily:  most BBM fans have multiple copies of the book, the Story to Screenplay piece, copies of the screenplay, many copies of the DVD, and have aired the film in theaters five, ten, sometimes fifty times, before turning to fan fiction - the only medium that remains both new and interactive (because unlike Star Trek - there are no possible sequels).  The iidea of commercial competition, of robbing the authors of potential revenue - is certainly absurd here.  I have read in press commentaries on fan fiction, that this genre actually generates a greater market for the original, and that it is sometimes welcomed by those being imitated, and if the goal were greater interest in the story - these should be welcomed. 

But until there is a sea change in the definition of Fair Use, at least in North America - the exclusive rights to derive the work remains with the holders of the copyright.  As an author, this comforts me.  It means that when and if my writing gets the attention of a wider audience, I have protection against someone who might use the idea to make a film of it, taking the story and running with it and affording me no credit and no recourse.  But on the other hand, laws in some European countries are far more restrictive, having no clause or provision for critical commentary, parody, or other 'fair use' provisions that exist in American laws, and this may be evidence of a future narrowing of the definition of 'fair use.'

As it stands now, those who have the gold - the successful, famous authors and screenwriters and filmmakers - will always be able to call the bluff of a penniless fan fiction writer who does not have $100,000 to lose by challenging a multinational media firm and losing on an unfavorable interpretation of Fair Use.  We are not on equal ground - fan authors are not commercial money making publishing houses - they do not have well heeled New York lawyers.  We may never have them.  But we will have the long lasting memory that what inspired some of our most heartfelt writing inspiration, was dampened in its expression by those who have already benefitted greatly from our enthusiasm, and who will continue to benefit from it.


“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


yb

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2007, 08:02:24 am »
From Lucian's announcement, he sounded like he's planning on 'publishing' his story, would this be the trigger point to the lawyers?  The first one had published her story as a fanzine, then you (a misunderstanding of your intention) and Lucian's.  It seems like 'publish' is the word that leads to this action.

Do you mean DC has now imposed a regulation not to discuss the fanfics even in the designated thread?  I've deleted my account recently so I don't know what has been going on over there. 


Offline Penthesilea

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Re: BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2007, 08:33:36 am »
I remember my reaction when I first heard of Fanfiction. Before BBM, I had no idea that something like this exists, let alone what it means.

One of my first thoughts was: this can't be legal! And for my personal sensation (coming from one of those European countries with stricer laws than the US) it is rightfully illegal.
Speaking especially of BBM here: I read FF, I enjoy it and I even write it (only to a very small intent). I have grown very fond of some FF stories.

But: my personal sense of justice still tells me it's not legal what we do. And apart from the legal aspects, I am even not sure what I think of the moral aspects. But this is not the topic here, it's only about the legal aspects and we should try to be level-headed on this topic.

The characters do not belong to us. They belong to Annie Proulx in the first place, and to Ossana/McMurtry and the publishers . And if one of the owners of the story (respectively their legal representatives) demands to withdraw a FF, they have every right to do so. It's nothing to fret about. We can regret it, we can feel sorry for the author and sad when a story is no longer available. But my peronal feeling is that we have no right to be angy about it.
I think every author of FF should be aware that s/he writes on the risk of being told to withdrawl the story. I think we should be aware that what we do is not legal.