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Sophie (sqbr) wrote in fandom_lounge,
@ 2009-10-22 06:54:00

Mercedes Lackey allowing Fanfiction
http://www.mercedeslackey.com/news.html

As you folks already know, my agent, Russel Galen, has in the past been opposed to fanfiction. However, he is also Cory Doctorow's agent now, and Cory is a persuasive little gnome.

As a result of this, I am happy to announce that we are officially permitting fanfiction to be licensed as derivative fiction under the Creative Commons umbrella.

What this means is: NO, you cannot make money on it. NO, you cannot self-publish a fanfiction novel of Valdemar (or any of my other stuff) and try and sell it on Amazon. And NO, I still am not going to read it, because I am already so far behind on my research reading I barely have time to read that.

But YES, you may write and post away, folks, so long as you license it as derivative and under Creative Commons. If it is anything other than PG-13, please take all the proper precautions to stick it somewhere that innocent souls won't be corrupted. Do not scare the children or the horses. Have fun!

Kinda makes me wish I liked her stuff :D

(nb I am very very slow replying to comments)

(Post a new comment)

	crysiana 2009-10-21 11:02 pm UTC (link)
	Did I wake up on opposite planet? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	sqbr 2009-10-22 01:51 am UTC (link)
	Yes! Wait..no! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mmanurere 2009-10-21 11:04 pm UTC (link)
	It's interesting that she describes the no-fanfiction policy as being something her agent insisted on. Hadn't heard that before; but I don't follow her work, so I probably wouldn't have anyway. (Reply to this)(Thread)

feenix
2009-10-21 11:11 pm UTC (link)

That's the thing - normally, isn't that something that the author decides? I can see why an agent would advise her to not allow fanfic, though - horror stories of HP porn, for instance.

But her rules of engagement are actually quite reasonable for such a sudden about-face. They're pretty much conventions that fandom generally follows anyway - don't force it on the author, don't sell it for moniez, think of the children (even if they think of you naked)...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

mmanurere, 2009-10-21 11:44 pm UTC

pyratejenni, 2009-10-22 06:49 am UTC

caffeine_fairy, 2009-10-22 02:50 pm UTC

cmdr_zoom
2009-10-21 11:54 pm UTC (link)

IIRC, it was never about whether she liked it and all about the potential liability of "OMG this book you just published is JUST LIKE the fifteen chapter paen to my Mary Sue OC that I sent you unsolicited four years ago and which you MUST have read instead of throwing it in the trash with all the others - SEE U IN CORT HOR".
Which is something all writers have to deal with, but I gather that in her case, one fan actually did sue. And that was that.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sqbr, 2009-10-21 11:56 pm UTC

scifantasy, 2009-10-22 02:19 am UTC

miraba, 2009-10-22 02:37 am UTC

scifantasy, 2009-10-22 02:44 am UTC

sqbr, 2009-10-22 02:24 pm UTC

cmdr_zoom, 2009-10-22 04:14 am UTC

sqbr, 2009-10-22 02:24 pm UTC

sarracenia, 2009-10-21 11:59 pm UTC

inarticulate, 2009-10-22 12:29 am UTC

jaseroque, 2009-10-22 12:48 am UTC

inarticulate, 2009-10-22 01:25 am UTC

fryingpanofdoom, 2009-10-22 11:05 pm UTC

mister_terrific, 2009-10-22 07:33 pm UTC

eleutheria, 2009-10-22 01:06 am UTC

inarticulate, 2009-10-22 01:25 am UTC

m_butterfly, 2009-10-22 06:15 am UTC

tofuknight, 2009-10-22 06:59 pm UTC

m_butterfly, 2009-10-23 09:14 pm UTC

sgtgeorgecarter, 2009-10-22 07:16 pm UTC

theropicus, 2009-10-22 10:22 pm UTC

m_butterfly, 2009-10-23 09:08 pm UTC

	sqbr 2009-10-22 01:52 am UTC (link)
	It sounds to me more like he used to forbid it and now thinks it's a good idea, it's not clear (from this press release at least) that she was ever against it personally. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	atreyu 2009-10-21 11:11 pm UTC (link)
	"innocent souls won't be corrupted" I was under the impression she didn't write anything that those so-called 'innocent souls' should be looking at anyway. Not that it stops them. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	walkingundine 2009-10-22 12:12 am UTC (link)
	Her stuff is really not very pr0nzy. Suggests more than it outright states, type of thing. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

overlord_mordax, 2009-10-22 12:42 am UTC

m_butterfly, 2009-10-22 06:18 am UTC

walkingundine, 2009-10-24 12:22 am UTC

	ravenscanary 2009-10-22 01:52 am UTC (link)
	Heh. Like many girls of my generation... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sqbr, 2009-10-22 02:01 am UTC

ravenscanary, 2009-10-22 02:35 am UTC

sqbr, 2009-10-22 03:01 am UTC

breecita, 2009-10-22 03:31 am UTC

sepiamagpie, 2009-10-22 06:17 am UTC

theropicus, 2009-10-22 10:28 pm UTC

soupspooks, 2009-10-23 02:33 am UTC

Re: Spoilers~!!! -

theropicus, 2009-10-23 02:37 am UTC

Re: Spoilers~!!! -

m_butterfly, 2009-10-23 09:23 pm UTC

Re: Spoilers~!!! -

soupspooks, 2009-10-25 05:20 am UTC

Re: Spoilers~!!! -

m_butterfly, 2009-10-23 09:29 pm UTC

m_butterfly, 2009-10-23 09:31 pm UTC

Re: Spoilers~!!! -

soupspooks, 2009-10-25 05:28 am UTC

blue_penguin, 2009-10-22 04:02 am UTC

sqbr, 2009-10-23 06:42 am UTC

duende, 2009-10-22 06:06 pm UTC

sqbr, 2009-10-23 06:45 am UTC

brennalarose, 2009-10-22 02:49 am UTC

sqbr, 2009-10-22 03:02 am UTC

brennalarose, 2009-10-22 04:34 am UTC

talec, 2009-10-22 05:53 am UTC

veleda_k, 2009-10-22 03:08 pm UTC

sqbr, 2009-10-23 06:47 am UTC

kookaburra, 2009-10-22 11:01 am UTC

waitwut, 2009-10-22 11:59 am UTC

tez, 2009-10-23 12:21 am UTC

ariadne484, 2009-10-23 02:49 pm UTC

	the__ivorytower 2009-10-21 11:12 pm UTC (link)
	I find all of these things totally acceptable. I, too, wish I had the desire to write fanfiction about her stuff (I read the Valdemar stuff and eventually grew out of love with it, but the elemental mages stuff is still neat). (Reply to this)

	annathepiper 2009-10-21 11:22 pm UTC (link)
	This is pretty nifty, yeah. :) I'm another reader who more or less fell out of love with Valdemar but who is still kinda hanging in there with the Elemental Mages. Not that I actually have time to write fanfic, but I'm pleased on principle! (Reply to this)

	janegraddell 2009-10-22 12:11 am UTC (link)
	NO, you cannot self-publish a fanfiction novel of Valdemar (or any of my other stuff) and try and sell it on Amazon. I would make a snide remark wondering how readers are supposed to tell the difference, but that would be mean-spirited. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	cmdr_zoom 2009-10-22 01:16 am UTC (link)
	Well, we were raised by hyenas, you know. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

feenix, 2009-10-22 01:46 am UTC

crysiana, 2009-10-23 02:21 am UTC

cmdr_zoom, 2009-10-23 04:07 pm UTC

	mirhanda 2009-10-22 02:54 pm UTC (link)
	Mean spirited, maybe. But also true. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	bitca 2009-10-22 04:53 pm UTC (link)
	Was going to say that she already DOES allow Valdemar fanfic, it's just published in a compilation! (Reply to this)(Parent)

quartz
2009-10-22 12:58 am UTC (link)

I think my brain broke at the point when it realized that Cory Doctorow and Mercedes Lackey were being mentioned together, especially since I just finished reading Little Brother and started To Light A Candle. One of these things is not like the other!

That said, this is good news for fanfics because she writes so many different universes, all of which have incredible possibilities for original stories set in them (Elves, magic, and Formula 1 racing!) which couldn't be touched before. Personally I'm dreading the Mary Sue Herald fics that will soon spread throughout the internet, but freeing up the other universes is so worth it.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	starlady42 2009-10-22 01:09 am UTC (link)
	Elves, magic, and Formula 1 racing! Not gonna lie -- I'd read that. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

ravenscanary, 2009-10-22 01:56 am UTC

yoritomo_reiko, 2009-10-22 05:18 pm UTC

quartz, 2009-10-22 07:58 pm UTC

yoritomo_reiko, 2009-10-22 08:14 pm UTC

m_butterfly, 2009-10-23 09:17 pm UTC

mercorir, 2009-10-24 02:11 am UTC

	platedlizard 2009-10-23 08:24 am UTC (link)
	Personally I'm dreading the Mary Sue Herald fics that will soon spread throughout the internet, but freeing up the other universes is so worth it. Too late. Don't laugh, that was my very first fan fic Damn, I need to update that thing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mcity 2009-10-22 01:22 am UTC (link)
	Ah do declare, my heart is all a-fluttuh. (Reply to this)

	scifantasy 2009-10-22 02:20 am UTC (link)
	Do not scare the children or the horses. Heh. (Reply to this)(Thread)

brennalarose, 2009-10-22 02:51 am UTC

scifantasy, 2009-10-22 02:54 am UTC

brennalarose, 2009-10-22 04:35 am UTC

iamnotyourmuse, 2009-10-22 05:07 am UTC

	brennalarose 2009-10-22 02:53 am UTC (link)
	Hot damn! That might actually get me WRITING fanfic again. (Reply to this)

	adevyish 2009-10-22 02:56 am UTC (link)
	I wasn't aware that you could publish derivative works of non-Creative Commons stuff under CC. (Reply to this)(Thread)

beccastareyes, 2009-10-22 12:39 pm UTC

adevyish, 2009-10-22 11:14 pm UTC

	tofuknight 2009-10-22 07:02 pm UTC (link)
	Maybe someone might write stuff in her Valdemar universe that actually made sense, instead of her stuff is another who fell out of love with it but reads it anyway because it's still brainless crack (Reply to this)(Thread)

ladylance, 2009-10-23 03:46 am UTC

	platedlizard 2009-10-23 08:19 am UTC (link)
	Eh, she's never gone after it online that I know of, there's a Mercedes Lackey section over at FF.net that's been there forever(which reminds me, my Mary Sue needs updating). I've always thought her policy was more about cover her ass then actually preventing fanfiction. If she was serious about that it would have only taken one email and FF.net would have yanked that section. (Reply to this)

	ariadne484 2009-10-23 02:55 pm UTC (link)
	Heh. Was anyone else here in her fanclub, where one of the requirements for creating a ~~Sue of one's very own~~ Persona was a fanwork, often fanfic? One just had to avoid using her characters in the story. This might be why I've never despised OCs in fanfic the way many others have. (Reply to this)(Thread)

m_butterfly, 2009-10-23 09:15 pm UTC

justjenn, 2009-10-25 01:24 am UTC

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