Entry tags:

author entitlement, authors, creator wank, doesn't mean what you think it means, fanfic, suck it up and deal, writers are often pompous douches, your kink is not okay

Diana Gabaldon, author of the wildly popular Outlander series, has an opinion on fan fiction: 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.

Highlights include:

Writing fanfic is just like breaking into someone's house.
Fanfic is WAY WAY WAY TOO PORNY omg ick people have sexual fantasies!*
What to do about an auction offering fanfic to raise money for a cancer patient? She doesn't want to "seem heartless"! So she seeks advice in the comments. Which are mostly full of "Fanfic? I have never heard of such a despicable load of garbage! Also, CRUSH THAT CANCER PATIENT!"

ETA: Unpublished author Eddie Louise (who cannot write the word "shit" and seems to fail spectacularly at reading comprehension) offers fanfic writers A CHALLENGE! Accept it if you dare, sniveling pedo thieves!

ETA 2: Previously, Ms Gabaldon has said fanfic is like selling your children into white slavery. Well. Now. I don't even know what to do with that.

ETA 3: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has some discussion on the topic.

ETA 4: And bookshop on LJ/DW has a rebuttal.

ETA 5: See what happens when I leave the sweet embrace of the internet for a few hours? Ms. Gabaldon updates her blog!

ETA 6: Evidently Ms. Gabaldon deleted all evidence of her hissyfit, but some wankas have screencaps in this thread.

ETA 7:

kate_nepevu has screencaps and the text of Gabaldon's posts here. And via

alchemynerd, more screencaps available here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/tiz4vp
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ibidpj
http://www.sendspace.com/file/r6zik6
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hlknqo
http://www.sendspace.com/file/d9alsh

Thanks for all the links! :)

MOD REMINDER: Remember, my little wankas, we DO NOT troll the wank. Nor do we write fanfic after the author has specifically requested people not and post it in the comments here, no matter how tempting it may be. Carry on. oh god my inbox ow ow

*Just as a point of interest, I was a bookseller for 12 years, and had several customers tell me about the sex scenes in her books. Some were pro ("My friend told me to read these books for the sex scenes, and she was totally right, they are so hot, this is best thing to happen to my sex life in years!") and some were con ("What is up with all the sex all the time? Where's the story?"), but one thing you can't say about her books is that they're sexual-fantasy free. :D

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lady_ganesh
2010-05-03 08:19 pm UTC (link)

Pro- may not be the right word, but certainly not anti:

Jim Butcher's named in the wank as basically letting people run free with his stuff.
IIRC, Neil Gaiman is okay with it, though I can't remember any statements.
Naomi Novik is on the board of the Organization for Transformative Works, and IIRC there are a few other authors on the board.
Joss Whedon is not a novelist but is vocally pro-fanfic.

I suspect the vast majority of authors don't care that much, or don't feel strongly enough about it to voice a public opinion and risk alienating potential readers/colleagues on both sides.

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	zing_och 2010-05-03 08:40 pm UTC (link)
	Also the pro writers who are (or were) themselves fanficcers: Naomi Novik and Sarah Rees Brennan come to mind. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zing_och 2010-05-03 08:46 pm UTC (link)
	oops, somehow didn't see Naomi's already mentioned! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	asparagirl 2010-05-03 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	And Jane Espenson, who certainly read fanfic back in the day, although it's unclear if she also wrote it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sleepyjean 2010-05-04 02:59 am UTC (link)
	In her keynote address at the first WriterCon, she said she had written slashy Starsky & Hutch fanfic. I love Jane. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	lady_ganesh 2010-05-03 09:12 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, and J. K. Rowling is clearly fine with fanfiction. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	darkrose 2010-05-04 04:14 am UTC (link)
	Within certain limits. I distinctly remember C&D's going out to a couple of Snarry sites. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lady_ganesh 2010-05-04 04:16 am UTC (link)
	I think those were mostly trademark issues, IIRC. But I could be wrong. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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vorpal_blade, 2010-05-04 04:49 am UTC

	amaresu 2010-05-04 12:36 am UTC (link)
	Rachel Caine mods her own LJ fic comm. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rani 2010-05-04 01:05 am UTC (link)
	...That's so awesome. Although I still like some of her old fanworks better than the Weather Warden books that I've read. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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amaresu, 2010-05-04 02:03 am UTC

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rani, 2010-05-04 02:26 am UTC

	beckyh2112 2010-05-04 02:32 am UTC (link)
	Seanan McGuire is also a fanficcer, though I believe it's taken the trunk to all of her original fiction writing these days. She is all right with fic as long as she never reads it (for legal reasons). She does still participate in Yuletide, at least as of '09. gave her an aneurysm for Christmas once by filling a Yuletide request for one of the worlds she wrote (Reply to this)(Parent)

	disdainful_soul 2010-05-04 04:23 am UTC (link)
	Tamora Pierce wrote fanfiction (although back then they didn't call it that). According to her FAQs, she wrote Star Trek and Lord of the Rings stories. There's also R.J. Anderson. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	shark 2010-05-04 06:26 pm UTC (link)
	Pierce has also been known to actively ~~taunt~~ ~~bait~~ engage her fandom with drabbles. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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magic_at_mungos, 2010-05-04 09:50 pm UTC

	dragonfangirl 2010-05-04 06:14 am UTC (link)
	And Lois McMaster Bujold, as I understand it, whose first published work was actually a star trek fanfic with the serial numbers filed off. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	spawn_of_kong 2010-05-04 06:23 am UTC (link)
	Neil Gaiman not only gives his thoughts on fanfic in the Q&A's on this journal entry, he even writes a little bit of Sméagol/Gollum slash. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	visp 2010-05-05 09:46 am UTC (link)
	That man is awesome. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	winterfox 2010-05-04 07:55 pm UTC (link)
	Jim Butcher is critically praised? Commercially successful yes, but critically... uh. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lady_ganesh 2010-05-04 08:00 pm UTC (link)
	My memory may be faulty and in fact probably is. I've never read him, m'self. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	winterfox 2010-05-04 08:08 pm UTC (link)
	I've particular issues with him. Specifically, with the fact that he thinks making his protagonist a chauvinistic prick is witty, funny and endearing. Then there's the fact that most women in the series are described sexually, the protagonist keeps remarking on how dainty and delicate they are, and etc etc. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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lady_ganesh, 2010-05-04 08:15 pm UTC

(no subject) - winterfox, 2010-05-04 08:18 pm UTC

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librarianmouse, 2010-05-05 07:32 am UTC

	ladyjax 2010-05-05 07:27 am UTC (link)
	Susan R. Matthews, author of the Jurisdiction Universe novels, used to be well known in Blake's 7 fandom. I have copies of old fanzines and she's in them. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	funwithrage 2010-05-06 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	I think Pratchett's come down on the sure-fine-but-don't-let-me-know-for-legal-reasons side, as has Lackey. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	derryderrydown 2010-05-09 02:06 am UTC (link)
	Karen Healey is definitey pro-fanfic. (Her first novel came out a few weeks ago.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lady_ganesh 2010-05-09 02:09 am UTC (link)
	YES and she is ADORABLE too. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	derryderrydown 2010-05-09 02:10 am UTC (link)
	Yes, she is! She gave me BOOKS when she stayed with me! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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lady_ganesh, 2010-05-09 02:55 am UTC

platedlizard
2010-05-09 08:28 pm UTC (link)

Steven Brust is heavily pro-fan, and apparently interacts quite often with his fandom. I haven't seen his stance on fanfiction specifically, but he recently thanked a lot of fans for helping him with his latest book (he's on the final chapter of Tiassa! WOOT!)

Terry Pratchett's stance is basically 'it's awesome that you want to write it, just don't send it to me'.

Michel Stackpole and Aaron Alleston used to frequent alt.fan.wedge during it's peak years, lots of fan fiction there. Although they did not read it, they were pretty supportive. (mind, at the time they wrote for Star Wars, so their official stance had to be that of George Lucas's, but they seemed pretty flattered)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

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