Mock. Mockmockmock. Mockity-mock-mock

1:19pm: Richard Wheeler: Lee Goldberg's New Paul Guyot
Lee Goldberg's complaints about fanfiction get stale after a while, but not when inspired by great writers like Paul Guyot or Richard Wheeler. Who is Richard Wheeler, you ask?

"Richard Wheeler is one of the most respected and honored authors of western literature in the world today." - Lee Goldberg

And he's got a lot to tell fanficcers in the comments of Lee's blog.

( Richard Wheeler: 'I feel that fanficcers betray our literary tradition, betray the authors they steal from, betray copyright law, betray readers, and worst of all, betray themselves.' )

ETA: Since I submitted this yesterday, Richard Wheeler has added some choice comments.

Richard Wheeler:"I wonder how many fanfic writers list this activity on their resumes, or tell employment officers about it when applying for a position. I also wonder how many deliberately conceal this activity from current or prospective employers. That is, I wonder how many tacitly acknowledge that what they are doing isn't right."

Kete: I've never been employed because I've been self employed all my life - but do you have to list your hobbies hen applying for a job??? I never asked anyone who wanted to work for me.

Richard Wheeler: So now fanficcing is just a hobby. Upstream a bit you gents were celebrating the sale to a NY publisher of two books based on a Jane Austen character. And celebrating the commercial possibilities in fan fiction. Just a hobby indeed. Nothing related to one's career. Hmmm.

11:11pm: Copyright wank in FMA colors: 232nd verse, same as the first
Fullmetal Alchemist has been quiet lately. Is the fandom dead? No -- just out of practice. Well, we'll soon fix that!

It all starts, in this case, with a post on fanficrants. yuuo, brought to you by previous wanks like this one, opens up with an irate diatribe, properly punctuated with caps, against unscrupulous ficcers who sell their works for money.


YOU DO NOT MAKE MONEY OFF OF FANFIC.

EVER.

Do you realize the trouble you could bring down on the fanfic 'industry', such as it is, if you did? No, of course you don't, 'cause you're special and copyright laws apparently don't apply to you, or something.

So repeat after me until this is through your thick, fangirl skull.

YOU DO NOT MAKE MONEY OFF OF FANFIC.

( This is just the worst thing ever... and I mean worst. Like, worse than selling bootleg copies of tickets to Steve Irwin's funeral. )

( Minutae of copyright law gets trotted out. )

The wank continues even as I type, since apparently nobody in this debate is willing to sit back and let anyone else have the last word. Also don't miss the appearance of anax, which, as anyone who has seen him in action before knows, is a guaranteed wank fest all on its own.

Of course, a wank can't be a wank if it's confined to a single post in a single community, no matter how virulent. But meanwhile, cryogenia makes a post in her personal LJ, wondering about the seeming double-standard in fandom between fanart and fanfic. Fanart is considered okay to sell, but fanfic is not: discuss. ( Read more... ) And it looks like this thread, too, may dissolve into acrimony. More.