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flap, glorious flap
For anyone who might have missed the snarkfest: Diana Gabaldon, whose Outlander novels I utterly failed to read (too many awful research howlers in the first three pages of the first book), has emphatically and publicly denounced fanfic and fanfic authors. I'm not linking to her posts myself -- the links below do that -- but she ranks us with rapists, stalkers, white slavers, and pedophiles. Way to endear yourself to both your fan base and your fellow pros, gal.
The nature of the online response is fascinating, since it reflects the evolution of fanfic -- the growing acceptance of it by pros, the growing recognition that it's part of fandom and part of the world of writing. I also see it as another reflection of the shifting relationship between the creators of media and fandom -- there's been a lot of change and maturation there since I first tiptoed into fandom, heavens, 30 years ago.
All of which is a pretty highfalutin' excuse for enjoying a snarkfest. When you get right down to it, I think some of the comments on Gabaldon's hissy fit are better written than her novels seem to be. The more I've read about her books, the less inclined I am to read them.
Here's the post on Whatever that alerted me to the flap, and here's the post on Fandom Wank that has a very good wrap-up of it. Here's a beautifully written open letter on the subject by Kate Nepveu, and here's a well-written observation on the hypocrisy of Gabaldon's denunciation of smut in fanfic. And here's a lovely list of professionally published works that meet some element of the definition of fanfic, and here's a recently started list of authors and others (i.e., actor Paul Gross) who either support fanfic or are publicly Neutral Good about it.
The last item, at present, lists67 75 in favour, including such minor luminaries as J. K. Rowling, Joss Whedon, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Also Terry Pratchett, Tamora Pierce, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Lois McMaster Bujold, Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, John Scalzi, Diane Duane, Steven Brust, Katherine Kurtz, Stephanie Meyer (yes, rly), and Nora Roberts (who is on the fanfic.net 'no-fly list', but has publicly given her okay).
And the anti-fanfic list? 15 against, of which Anne Rice and Archie comics are the most notable, followed by Gabaldon. Take those three away, and, well, you're not looking at the current Hugo nominee roster, or any NYT best-seller list. ETA: the list is now 16; I just added George R. R. Martin, who's very upset at how shabbily his Good Friend and Brilliant Writer Diana is being treated by teh intranetz. Also, Gabaldon has pulled her posts, thereby Flouncing off her own blog. I guess she didn't like the resulting heat when she set fire to the kitchen.
ETA again: the 'anti' list will probably end up at around 25, as the current flap is pushing more pros to state their positions in public forums, and the lawyers have spooked a fair number of them.
I'll end with this delicious quote from this lovely post by Aja Romano, who attempted, unsuccessfully, to carry on a reasoned online dialogue with Diana Gabaldon on the subject:
"We get that you think fanfic is illegal. It's not; it's currently non-explicitly protected by the fair use clause of the U.S. copyright law; we've been over this. Ad nauseum. For about thirty years now. That argument is old, and in the meantime people are moving into their fourth decade of writing Star Trek fiction. Or new, revolutionary, earth-shattering novels with fanfic at their root.
"We get that you think fanfic is a stepping stone to being published. You're wrong. Fanfiction is not a set of training wheels, not some shameful awkward thing you do before you grow up and learn the ~true meaning~ of being a ~real writer.~
"Fanfic is brilliant, beautiful, faithful to canon, critical & powerful, hysterically funny, full of love, subtle, diverse, poetic, adorable, amazingly original, subversive, heartbreaking, progressive, homage-based, political, sharp, smart, satirical, incredibly complex, feminist, beloved by thousands of people, and transformative on a scale that's hard to describe.
"And it is written by some of the most incredibly talented people on the internet. Fanfic writers are bestselling and acclaimed professional authors. They are agents and editors. They are network television executive producers. They are New York Times journalists. They are Supreme Court clerks. They are PHDs and experts in their fields.
"All of us are still writing fanfic. None of us need training wheels or stepping stones.
"We get it. You hate fanfic. We don't care. We don't have to. Fanfic belongs to the tradition of reinvention and reinterpretation that each of the creators listed above has freely, fully participated in.
"And as of this moment, I'm one author who is too busy participating to stop and explain it to you one more time."
ETA 2: Another, longer list of authors with specific policies against fanfic. This one actually includes some names of significance. Some of them are responding to What The Lawyers Say, others just plain don't like the idea. Fanfic.net REALLY needs to get the No-Fly list updated. (I've already emailed them once about it. But you know what ff.pit is like.)
These are partial lists of the names that mean something to me:
Legal issues: David Weber, Jim Baen, Orson Scott Card, Marion Zimmer Bradley (and she had good reason to be chary). Also, by secondhand report, Roger Zelazny and Fred Saberhagen.
Don't like the idea: David Drake, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Jordan, Esther Friesner, Ursula LeGuin, Patricia Morrison, Larry Niven, John Norman (don't barf!), Spider Robinson, Robert Asprin, Jack Chalker, Jasper Fforde (yes, that last one's a real pity, and has a hypocritical flavour to it).
BTW, there's one author on that last list who has not sacrificed any of my respect by her stance, and that's Ursula LeGuin. I revere her works, and somehow, the thought of trying to write fanfic in her universe is, in my mind, akin to attempting to whack chunks off of a perfectly cut diamond. You just don't.
'Beth
May 2010
The nature of the online response is fascinating, since it reflects the evolution of fanfic -- the growing acceptance of it by pros, the growing recognition that it's part of fandom and part of the world of writing. I also see it as another reflection of the shifting relationship between the creators of media and fandom -- there's been a lot of change and maturation there since I first tiptoed into fandom, heavens, 30 years ago.
All of which is a pretty highfalutin' excuse for enjoying a snarkfest. When you get right down to it, I think some of the comments on Gabaldon's hissy fit are better written than her novels seem to be. The more I've read about her books, the less inclined I am to read them.
Here's the post on Whatever that alerted me to the flap, and here's the post on Fandom Wank that has a very good wrap-up of it. Here's a beautifully written open letter on the subject by Kate Nepveu, and here's a well-written observation on the hypocrisy of Gabaldon's denunciation of smut in fanfic. And here's a lovely list of professionally published works that meet some element of the definition of fanfic, and here's a recently started list of authors and others (i.e., actor Paul Gross) who either support fanfic or are publicly Neutral Good about it.
The last item, at present, lists
And the anti-fanfic list? 15 against, of which Anne Rice and Archie comics are the most notable, followed by Gabaldon. Take those three away, and, well, you're not looking at the current Hugo nominee roster, or any NYT best-seller list. ETA: the list is now 16; I just added George R. R. Martin, who's very upset at how shabbily his Good Friend and Brilliant Writer Diana is being treated by teh intranetz. Also, Gabaldon has pulled her posts, thereby Flouncing off her own blog. I guess she didn't like the resulting heat when she set fire to the kitchen.
ETA again: the 'anti' list will probably end up at around 25, as the current flap is pushing more pros to state their positions in public forums, and the lawyers have spooked a fair number of them.
I'll end with this delicious quote from this lovely post by Aja Romano, who attempted, unsuccessfully, to carry on a reasoned online dialogue with Diana Gabaldon on the subject:
"We get that you think fanfic is illegal. It's not; it's currently non-explicitly protected by the fair use clause of the U.S. copyright law; we've been over this. Ad nauseum. For about thirty years now. That argument is old, and in the meantime people are moving into their fourth decade of writing Star Trek fiction. Or new, revolutionary, earth-shattering novels with fanfic at their root.
"We get that you think fanfic is a stepping stone to being published. You're wrong. Fanfiction is not a set of training wheels, not some shameful awkward thing you do before you grow up and learn the ~true meaning~ of being a ~real writer.~
"Fanfic is brilliant, beautiful, faithful to canon, critical & powerful, hysterically funny, full of love, subtle, diverse, poetic, adorable, amazingly original, subversive, heartbreaking, progressive, homage-based, political, sharp, smart, satirical, incredibly complex, feminist, beloved by thousands of people, and transformative on a scale that's hard to describe.
"And it is written by some of the most incredibly talented people on the internet. Fanfic writers are bestselling and acclaimed professional authors. They are agents and editors. They are network television executive producers. They are New York Times journalists. They are Supreme Court clerks. They are PHDs and experts in their fields.
"All of us are still writing fanfic. None of us need training wheels or stepping stones.
"We get it. You hate fanfic. We don't care. We don't have to. Fanfic belongs to the tradition of reinvention and reinterpretation that each of the creators listed above has freely, fully participated in.
"And as of this moment, I'm one author who is too busy participating to stop and explain it to you one more time."
ETA 2: Another, longer list of authors with specific policies against fanfic. This one actually includes some names of significance. Some of them are responding to What The Lawyers Say, others just plain don't like the idea. Fanfic.net REALLY needs to get the No-Fly list updated. (I've already emailed them once about it. But you know what ff.pit is like.)
These are partial lists of the names that mean something to me:
Legal issues: David Weber, Jim Baen, Orson Scott Card, Marion Zimmer Bradley (and she had good reason to be chary). Also, by secondhand report, Roger Zelazny and Fred Saberhagen.
Don't like the idea: David Drake, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Jordan, Esther Friesner, Ursula LeGuin, Patricia Morrison, Larry Niven, John Norman (don't barf!), Spider Robinson, Robert Asprin, Jack Chalker, Jasper Fforde (yes, that last one's a real pity, and has a hypocritical flavour to it).
BTW, there's one author on that last list who has not sacrificed any of my respect by her stance, and that's Ursula LeGuin. I revere her works, and somehow, the thought of trying to write fanfic in her universe is, in my mind, akin to attempting to whack chunks off of a perfectly cut diamond. You just don't.
'Beth
May 2010