At least that’s the conclusion that Diana Gabaldon has come to.
OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I _know_ it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters.
Of course, I have some different conclusions (or I probably wouldn’t be posting about it.)
You can’t camp in someone’s backyard without permission, even if you aren’t raising a marijuana crop back there. And you can’t use someone’s copyrighted characters for your own purposes, no matter what those purposes are. Really. I’m not making it up; this is International Copyright Law.
Uh, not quite. There is a concept called Fair Use that, despite being attacked by corporate interests like the RIAA & MPAA, is still part of copyright law. It’s why you get to DVR an episode of Lost. It’s why South Park, or Saturday Night Live, or any random stand-up comic can satirize any piece of the culture out there, copyright or not. It’s why I can quote the blog text to critique it’s points. Lastly, the copyright is of the actual text, using a character or setting is much more iffy. In effect, Fair Use is based on if the new work is transformative, the purpose of the work, the amount of the work copied, and the effect on the original author’s ability to exploit their copyright. Basically, almost all of Fan Fiction falls into Fair Use as a practical matter, and only shades into illegality when it starts entering commercial use.
I can understand how she must feel about what she’s seen, Rule 34 and all. However, I think her argument (which has a few good points that boil down to “you really want to be a writer, come up with your own stuff,” and “you want to play in someone’s franchise go pitch a script to the right people.”) jumps the shark when it hits the following analogy:
But…imagine opening your daily mail and finding a letter detailing an explicit sexual encounter between, say, your twenty-one-year-old daughter and your forty-eight-year-old male neighbor—written by the neighbor. At the bottom it says, “Fiction! Just my imagination. All cool, right?” This would perhaps prevent your calling the police, but I repeat…ick.
I wouldn’t like people writing sex fantasies for public consumption about me or members of my family—why would I be all right with them doing it to the intimate creations of my imagination and personality?
The conflation of fanfic writers with creepy stalker behavior is a little over the top. And frankly, books aren’t your children. And to answer the latter question, you need to be all right with that because being an writer means you’re throwing your “intimate creations of your imagination” out for public consumption. Its an act of exhibitionism, and people will love it, people will hate it, and some people will use it for wanking material.
11 Comments
Irene · May 6, 2010 at 6:45 am
So, if a fanfic based on the HTT was posted on the net, what would your reaction be?
S Andrew Swann · May 6, 2010 at 7:15 am
Well I’m not going to offended. I may have to dig into the legal toolkit to make sure that how I react doesn’t interfere with my case the next time a large corporation decides to swipe my stuff for their own commercial work. (Yes this has happened, yes I started legal action, it was settled, and that’s all I can say about that.) That means is I will probably have to draft some sort of license for non-commercial derivative works and nicely ask the fan writer to agree to it.
Irene · May 6, 2010 at 2:41 pm
But would it irk or upset you somehow if in said fanfic Dominic took on a family business of ruling the TEC and he and Tetsami lived hapilly ever after with a bunch of kids? Oh, and there is such thing as pairings too – everyone with everyone…
Amanda · May 6, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I think it’s completely unfair to remove a writer’s agency to their book, much like removing a person’s agency to their body.
“Its an act of exhibitionism, and people will love it, people will hate it, and some people will use it for wanking material.”
That’s a very privileged thing to say, much like “If you wear a low cut top, you should expect people to stare at your boobs”. It is absolutely not fair and quite disgusting to turn a piece of fiction created in good faith – taking a nice intention/personality out of your head – into something it wasn’t intended ie: sexual. Harry Potter slash fan fic is an excellent example – stories about children, for god’s sake, turned into sexual beings.
Yes, this criticism even extends to if the original piece of fiction included sexual content. The writer’s agency extends to that sexual content, and it is abuse if it is taken further/in different ways in fanfic.
Writers, especially women writers, should feel safe in their agency towards their books and characters. Telling them to “suck it up” or “hey, stalkers are a part of life” is not creating a safe environment if they ever want to go out in public to talk about their books/to cons etc.
Wanting to limit or eliminate the sexualization in fan fic is ABSOLUTELY a safety issue, even if it’s “ok” under certain copywrite issues.
S Andrew Swann · May 6, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Amanda, I think your argument fails on a number of points, the primary one being the faulty premise that somehow treatment of fictional characters somehow is a reflection, or, an even worse premise, morally equivalent to the treatment of human beings. Second fail, the instance that somehow the sexualization of fan fiction is somehow a typical gender politics instance of white males keeping the women down. (I assume I’m reading your use of “privilege” correctly.) That argument stumbles a bit because must fanfic authors happen to be women (actually, that may be because most writers and readers are generally women, but the point stands) and the most typically sexualized fanfic is slash fiction involving two hot guys, Kirk/Spock being the modern internet ur-example of the form. You also suffer a faliure of logic when you respond to my comment “fanfic<>stalking” by answering “stalking is a bad thing.”
Let me restate this clearly: There is a very big difference between writing smut about fictional characters you like a little too much, and hunting down actual people and intimidating them. One’s a hobby, the other is a felony.
Amanda · May 6, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Hi Andrew,
I wondered if someone would bring up the whole “But slash writers are mainly women!” argument. I believe this weighted number is due to socialization, frustrations of women as sexual beings, and the internalization of aggression against other women – women writing smut, as in my example about Potter Slash, still doesn’t make it right.
“that somehow treatment of fictional characters somehow is a reflection, or, an even worse premise, morally equivalent to the treatment of human beings” – I absolutely believe this. A character is part of the writer’s personality/from their head. Sexualizing this character is an attempt to get inside the writer’s head, therefore sexualizing the writer against their will.
Yes, you are quite correct there is a big difference between writing the smut and acting on it, but it still doesn’t make it right. Imagine someone out there is sexualizing your characters, and in that round about way, you. It’s about that bodily agency I mentioned – the only with agency to sexualize your characters, and yourself, is you.
I appreciate our views differ. Thanks for engaging the debate.
Cheers
S Andrew Swann · May 7, 2010 at 7:07 am
The fact that we’re arguing from different premises is quite apparent. I should just point out that you are presuming a lot of what goes on in the head of a fanfic writer.
“I believe this weighted number is due to socialization, frustrations of women as sexual beings, and the internalization of aggression against other women” So you don’t think its a more plausible explanation that, demographically, there just happen to be more women writers and readers in general? More readers, and within that part of the readership, a greater propensity to write as an expression of their fandom? I really don’t think you need to drag gender politics into it (except maybe as an explanation of the gender discrepancy in literacy.)
“A character is part of the writer’s personality/from their head. Sexualizing this character is an attempt to get inside the writer’s head, therefore sexualizing the writer against their will.” Orly? Quick, what writer is being sexualized with K/S slash, or Doctor Who, or Batman, or Lost. . . The emotional connection readers are exploiting are the relationship with the characters. They are interacting with the text, not the writer.
michelle · May 7, 2010 at 10:53 am
Fanfic writers do it because they’re a little too caught up in the characters of some book they read. PROFESSIONAL writers create engaging characters….TO MAKE MONEY. That’s it. Don’t give me this “oh, this character is a part of me” crap. BS. If you write PROFESSIONALLY, like Diana Gabaldon, or S. Andrew Swann, its your JOB. It’s how you pay your BILLS. If you create great characters because you enjoy your job, great, but it’s still A JOB. No need to overly romanticize it.
As for women and low cut tops. Not only do women who wear low cut tops expect people to look at their boobs, THEY WANT PEOPLE TO LOOK AT THEIR BOOBS. To get offended because someone looks at your boobs when you hang them out there for all to see is childish and a bit retarded. In the real world, straight men and some lesbians ENJOY looking at women in low cut tops and if you wear one, you have NO right to expect otherwise. Other people should not be forced to conform to your little femi-nazi worldview. If you put your boobs on display, you are ASKING, no, BEGGING people to look at them.
Athena Andreadis · May 7, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Fanfiction is a complex issue:
“Dream Other Dreams, and Better”
http://www.starshipreckless.com/blog/?p=94
Terry · May 8, 2010 at 12:08 am
Just want to say I am a big fan of you Mr. Swann. Iv’e been reading your books for man many years. Love the ongoing Moreau series. On topic, I agree with everything you said Michelle. Writers have to make a living too. Yes they put there ideas and stories out there for the world, but it’s mainly to please the fanbase and to pay bills. How many authors are there today? Thousands. The word is “sell”. And I also agree with your comment about the shirts. It is so very true and I’m glad another female thinks so.
S Andrew Swann · May 11, 2010 at 7:00 am
If you’re interested in a less alarmist, and somewhat more cogent, feminist view of fanfic, I would direct you here.
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