Anti-fanfic Bingo, redux

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

All right! Our first round of Anti-Fanfic Bingo went beautifully, and we have plans for your responses, but let's move on to the second row of the card:



How would you respond to these accusations? Just like last time, please tell ComRel!

Graphic by the wonderful Ciderpress.

Ithiliana's post that started it all is here.

-- femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelyn
Community Relations Committee

Comments

[lorax.livejournal.com]

It's a waste of time; you should be learning how to become a Real Writer!
Like everyone who plays tennis should train for a career? Or everyone who jogs should train for a marathon? Writing, when done for money, is hard work - just like any job. Fanfic writers are writing as a hobby. It's a way to enjoy their favorite entertainment venues in a new way, relax, and sometimes socialize with other fans through their work. Not everyone wants to write just so they can hone their skills to publish the next great work of literature - some people just want to enjoy themselves.

It's totally different if the author is dead!
Why? Why is writing published additions to or explorations of a dead author's universe considered an homage, while the same thing written for a living author is theft or something along those lines?

How would you feel if somebody wrote fanfiction about your story?
Honestly, I would be flattered. No matter how bad the fanfiction is, no matter how much it warps the characters from how I see them. No matter if it was slash or het or weird mpreg things that make my head spin - I would be flattered. People rarely write fanfiction for something they hate, after all. They're writing because they loved something I created and wanted to explore the world further, and that would be a gratifying thing.

It's like you came by my house and stole my car!
Whaaaa? Fans ARE THE ONES WHO BUY THINGS. Fannish people are the madwomen and men who buy the extended collector's editions, and the comic-book prequels, and then statuettes and collect the toys. We ARE your consumer base. Just because we borrow characters to write stories about them doesn't mean we're stealing any money out of your pocket. If anything, we help add more - because we're also the ones who pimp the series/books/movies to friends, and try to drag other friends into our new fannish obsessions.

You HAVE to think of the children!
For one thing, I'd much rather my kids stumble across a smutty story, regardless of who is involved, then see some of the pointlessly violence-glorifying things on the news today. But that aside - fanfiction is, for the most part, very clearly marked with headers and ratings that make it easy to avoid reading what you don't want to read. It's easier for children to stumble across GENUINE porn than fanfiction porn on the internet. And you don't see any sign of the REAL porn being taken down. Children shouldn't be allowed free access to the internet anyway. Be a parent, watch your kids, and stop expecting the rest of the world to do it for you.