Author Topic: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work  (Read 4150 times)

Offline serious crayons

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Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« on: March 02, 2013, 11:29:05 am »
Here's a Slate story about Hugh Howey, bestselling author of serialized, self-published, sci-fi ebooks, recently published as one book called "Wool." Among other interesting things, he's a fan fic fan, or at least supporter.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/03/hugh_howey_and_wool_how_the_self_pubbed_sci_fi_writer_relates_to_fans.2.html

Most intriguingly, Howey has encouraged readers who want to develop their own Wool stories to self-publish and sell their works. In an interview, I asked Howey about why he’s not just encouraging fan fiction but actually endorsing it. “There’s room for readers to become writers and play in this world,” he said. “I view fan fiction as the opportunity to teach readers how much joy there is in creating worlds instead of just living in them.” Right now—much to Simon and Schuster’s chagrin, one has to imagine—the first two of what are sure to be many Wool-related fan fiction stories are available for sale on Amazon.



Offline Penthesilea

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2013, 02:17:01 pm »
The author of the Twilight series (Stephanie Meyer, Meyers, sp?) also does.
The whole infamous Fifty Shades trilogy started out as fanfiction of Twilight. Not my kind of books, neither series, but there it is.
When FF gets published and one earns money with it, I think it can be okay, but also can not. I've read enough FF to know that there is plenty stuff out there where you can call the original work a loose inspiration at most. Stories that are miles away from their origins.

And I think every work of art starts with an inspiration from something that has been there before. Ideas don't develop in a vacuum. One may see a pair of birds coupling in a spring background in a park, and get an idea. But what if you don't see the scene yourself, but a painting of two birds coupling in a park in spring? Is it creativity in one case and plagiarism in the other? Given that you don't simply copy the existing painting, that is.
As a rough rule, I'd say the further away the FF/work is from it's inspiration, the easier it is to say go for it.

Offline CellarDweller

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2013, 09:08:06 pm »
That's very cool of him. 

I've shared this on DCF, in our slash section.  Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Katherine.


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Online Front-Ranger

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2013, 04:08:42 pm »
Some people think that I am against fan fiction. I really have no opinion about it one way or another. I've read two Brokeback fan fictions, Leslie's and another friend's. They were interesting, but I wasn't inspired to read further. When fan fiction becomes pornography, I think the two genres should be kept apart. Some authors like fan fiction but others, like Annie Proulx, don't. It's important to respect an author's wishes. IMO, most fan fiction is an exercise in self-therapy and that's a good thing.
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Offline tampatalon

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2013, 05:33:22 pm »
I have not read fanfic in awhile, but when I do I love all the imaginative ways (with-in reason) the stories go
off in directions I never myself imagined.
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Offline Monika

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2013, 06:48:24 pm »
Some people think that I am against fan fiction. I really have no opinion about it one way or another. I've read two Brokeback fan fictions, Leslie's and another friend's. They were interesting, but I wasn't inspired to read further. When fan fiction becomes pornography, I think the two genres should be kept apart. Some authors like fan fiction but others, like Annie Proulx, don't. It's important to respect an author's wishes. IMO, most fan fiction is an exercise in self-therapy and that's a good thing.
I wouldn´t call fan fiction a "genre" in itself. The term is usually used more broadly. All "fan fiction" really indicates is that it is fiction based on pre-existing fictional characters. Fan fiction can be anyting from haikus to  porn, really.

What if no one would have written Brokeback Mountain fan fiction? Just think on how much so many of us would have missed out on. To me, all the fan fiction out there is part of the BM legacy and testifies to the story´s impact.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2013, 08:11:03 pm »
IMO, most fan fiction is an exercise in self-therapy and that's a good thing.

Writing it certainly was for me.
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2013, 11:26:01 am »
All "fan fiction" really indicates is that it is fiction based on pre-existing fictional characters.

Right. As I understand it, many of the TV shows and movies featuring Sherlock Holmes are fan fiction. The upcoming movie in which James Franco plays the Wizard of Oz is fan fic, as are the novel and Broadway play "Wicked" (and the bleak but interesting 1990s novel "Oz.")  Every version of Star Trek aside from the 1960s original (even if it doesn't include Kirk and Spock, etc.) is fan fic.





Offline Monika

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2013, 12:45:50 pm »
Right. As I understand it, many of the TV shows and movies featuring Sherlock Holmes are fan fiction. The upcoming movie in which James Franco plays the Wizard of Oz is fan fic, as are the novel and Broadway play "Wicked" (and the bleak but interesting 1990s novel "Oz.")  Every version of Star Trek aside from the 1960s original (even if it doesn't include Kirk and Spock, etc.) is fan fic.





I don´t know if your examples are really called fan fiction. I don´t know well-defined the term is really, but it is usually used for stuff written by non-professionals.


Offline serious crayons

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Re: Author who encourages publishing fan fic of his work
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2013, 09:51:53 am »
I don´t know if your examples are really called fan fiction. I don´t know well-defined the term is really, but it is usually used for stuff written by non-professionals.



Well, that's a point. But your previous post said "All 'fan fiction' really indicates is that it is fiction based on pre-existing fictional characters" [emphasis mine].

So by your own previous definition, my examples totally qualify. But sure, if you want to change that definition and add other characteristics that the term also really indicates, then they may not be.

But who really cares about setting some sort of specific rigid boundaries around what is or isn't fan fic? We all kind of get it. The point is, some characters are so compelling that some people who like to write, professionally or otherwise, are moved to keep their stories going, imagining the characters in other scenarios.

In the United States, the characters of Sherlock Holmes books, the Wizard of Oz and Star Trek (whose characters, of course, were the original subjects of slash fiction, at least according to legend) have attained in the public mind almost the status of fairy tale characters like Snow White or Red Riding Hood.