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flap, glorious flap
May. 9th, 2003 04:00 pmFor 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.
( a whole lot more stuff, great links, and a lovely long quote )
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.
( a whole lot more stuff, great links, and a lovely long quote )
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
