Speaking of:
That was my first panel I was on. That's me, Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Jeanne C. Stein. The panel rocked face and the house was packed. Hell yeah.
Now, to the topic at hand.
Look, if you want to be a professional writer, if you want to be published, if you want your book on the shelves of a store then knock it off with the fanfic.
I'm not hating on fanfic, but if you have the drive to write and the creativity to develop alternative plots and storylines then quit mucking about in someone else's world and start writing your own.
You can't sell your fanfic. You can't publish your fanfic. You can't truly call your fanfic your own.
What you can do with your fanfic is get sued for copyright infringement. (and before you get pissy at the "greedy" authors you need to understand that if an author does NOT defend (ie: sue you) their copyright then that copyright, by law, can be considered abandoned and fair game to published by anyone WITHOUT THE AUTHOR BEING PAID A DIME.)*
So, seriously, just write your own stuff. Don't be afraid. You can do it. And you will be happier for it.
And who knows, it might just become your first published book.
*this is a vastly oversimplified explanation of the complexities of copyright law. I am not an attorney, nor do I play on on television.
I totally agree, but now the line has been blurred with Fifty Shades of Grey. Yes, her publisher has said that Fifty Shades is not the same as her Twilight fanfic Master of the Universe. But when the two were compared, it was found, besides the name change, the two were 89% identical. How she ended up not being sued is beyond me. It disturbs me that a big six picked her up. But that being said, I will admit to having a love/hate relationship with the story. The only way I can see an advantage to writing fanfic is working out the kinks of your writing. Really there is nothing more exciting than seeing your own story in print. I will get to experience that joy myself later this year.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. Fanfic gets on my nerves and I would never read it. I enjoy reading fresh ideas from all the creative minds out there.
ReplyDeleteI never tried fanfic - unless you count when I was four and tried 'writing' Robinson Crusoe by copying it word for word. I have too much going on in my own head to have room for someone else's stories.
ReplyDeleteI've written fanfic, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it as a writing exercise. But to focus mainly on that and not nurture your own ideas will get you nowhere. Plus, it just loses it's appeal after a time, while the world a person built from scratch just gets better and better the more they think on it.
ReplyDeleteAnything goes now that 50 Shades was released. If a writer publishes their fan fic and they are sued, they can use 50 Shades to back up their case.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to see many many more fan fics being published in the hopes they can make a lot of money and get away with like like EL James did.