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For posterity's sake...part 1

julian_black
2006-04-22 01:27 am UTC (link)

For anyone showing up late, here's part of the now-deleted interview in which Jareo explains why it's okay for her to publish her fanfiction:

Writing an Apocryphal Book, by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz

Look up “apocrypha” and “apocryphal” and you’ll come up with a whole list of words related to each other. In its least religious form, “apocrypha” simply means fictitious. In its most theological context, it refers to the fourteen books of the Septuagint which are not regarded as canonical–meaning some people don’t consider them as resulting from divine revelation.

Apocrypha has interesting word relatives, though, like cryptic, mythical, unverified, arcane, and imaginary. The list goes on, and if you pick up your thesaurus or your dictionary, you’ll find yourself occupied with referencing and cross-referencing words.

Perhaps one of the most powerful canons of science fiction is Star Wars. Conceived in 1975 by George Lucas, Star Wars follows the lives of Anakin Skywalker, his children and the Jedi Knights. Star Wars has captured the imaginations of millions of fans. It has given rise to numerous apocryphal works: short stories written on worlds created by George Lucas, works referencing lives of characters only hinted at in the original canon, and novels like those written by Lori Jareo, author of Another Hope.

Lori Jareo has been a Star Wars fan since 1977. A journalism major, she graduated from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, USA, where she also minored in English. At twenty, she obtained her first paid assignment as a professional writer. She has been staff writer for a signage/advertising trade magazine called Signs of the Times, staff editor and writer for Modern Machine Shop, has written software manuals, and is currently senior editor at WordTech Communications LLC.

In 1999, she began writing Another Hope. It is an apocryphal novel diverging from the original Star Wars plot line and was published by WordTech Communications in 2005. Already, Lori has the basic outlines for two books that will be her own version of Episodes 5 and 6. In this column, Lori speaks of her motivation for writing and publishing Another Hope.

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Re: For posterity's sake...part 2

julian_black
2006-04-22 01:28 am UTC (link)

The Interview:
Q: Could you tell us what inspired you to write Another Hope?

As you know, the two Star Wars trilogies were presented in reverse order. Episodes 4, 5, and 6 came out some decades ago, while the first ones—1, 2, and 3—were released in 1999, 2002, and finally completed in 2005.
I began writing my book Another Hope in 1999, and I imagined how Episode 4 might be different using some of the characters that appeared in the newer episodes.

Q: How much does Another Hope diverge from the original Star Wars?

Another Hope begins to diverge from the original plot line right away. In Episode 2, the audience learns that Luke and Leia will have two girl cousins, who are ages four and six. In Episode 3, which takes place a few years later, they are at the very end of the movie in the funeral march.
Episode 4 takes place twenty years after that, and my book is an imagining of what would happen if the older cousin had been forced into the Imperial Navy, serving aboard Lord Vader’s ship when Princess Leia is captured. My storyline emerges when Vader recognizes this woman, whom he knew when she was a child.
The real break from Lucas’ story occurs in the middle section of the book when Luke, Ben, and the droids arrive on Alderaan just before the Death Star comes, and they are destroyed along with the planet they had come to save.
The next two instalments differ even more.

Q: Having set Another Hope in an already existing universe, I find myself wondering if there was any concern on your part regarding copyrights?

No, because I wrote this book for myself. This is a self-published story and is not a commercial book. Yes, it is for sale on Amazon, but only my family, friends and acquaintances know it’s there.

Q: I also wonder how far a writer is allowed to write in a world and to use characters introduced by another author?

If it’s not a commercial project, I don’t see any problem. George Lucas’ Star Wars universe is fertile territory for so-names “infinities,” or alternate storyline material. Thousands of people write them, and they are posted on hundreds of unofficial Star Wars-themed web sites on the Internet. Lucas himself said that as long as no one is making a profit, he thought such tributes were wonderful.

The entire book is downloadable here and from the About the Book page for free, or the printed book can be ordered from Amazon, of course.

[...]

Q: Do you feel that writing an apocryphal novel is much harder work than if you had created a universe or world of your own? What goes into writing an apocryphal novel anyway?

The answer to that question depends upon a lot of things. If a writer is going to write an apocryphal novel set in an already existing universe, he or she has to be very careful to adhere to plausibility. [Yeah, never mind adhering to copyright law...] In every single word and action of every single character and machine, I had to be sure that it could have happened in the Star Wars universe.

[...]

Q: How does it feel to have published your first novel?

Yippee! Only my immediate family knew I’d been working on the book, and only when I had copies in hand did I tell anyone else about it. I had a launch party for it at a coffeehouse, which was great fun.

Q. Does having this first novel create any tension towards writing subsequent books?

In the two subsequent books, I will have to be extremely careful to keep plot and character details consistent, yet different enough to warrant two more compelling books.

[Two more books of her leaden prose? Yikes!]

[...]

Q: Could you share some of the response or reaction to Another Hope?

Several passionate Star Wars fans, whom I have known for many years, have always told me in conversation that they would like to know how Episodes 4, 5, and 6 could have been different given the prequels.
The feedback I have gotten from them about my book has been tremendous. My family loves it. They tell me that they enjoyed seeing better character and story development in my novel, and the fact that my book uses the knowledge gained from Episodes 1, 2, and 3.

Frankly, I hope Lucas sues the pants off her.

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Re: For posterity's sake...part 2

aruru
2006-04-22 02:58 am UTC (link)

I had a launch party for it at a coffeehouse, which was great fun.

Dude, can you IMAGINE the look of horror on the faces of any passerby who decided to find out what the party was about? Hell, can you just imagine the look of horror from the GUESTS? (Because quite frankly, I can't believe EVERY SINGLE ONE of her family and friends she shared this book with could be stupid enough to happily go along with this, right? There has GOT to be at least one of them who went along with it out of schadenfreude, yes? Pretty please? ;_;)

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Re: For posterity's sake...part 2

julian_black
2006-04-22 05:02 am UTC (link)

Well, writing fanfiction really is a fringe activity, and for all we know none of her family and RL friends are into it. If that's the case, they might not have questioned publishing a work of SW fanfic since they didn't know anything about it in the first place. Either that, or they swallowed the "apocryphal" bulldada. After all, she's a writer and editor, so she must know what's legal, right?

But I agree with you--somebody she knows, whether in RL or online, must have known better. Somebody must have tried to tell her that offering fanfic for sale is Simply. Not. Done. Even if common sense and her career as an editor hadn't been enough to tell her that she was just begging to have George Lucas' lawyers lay the smackdown on her, somebody around her had to know.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at that "launch party"...

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Re: For posterity's sake...part 2

life_on_mars
2006-04-22 11:20 am UTC (link)

offering fanfic for sale is Simply. Not. Done.

I'm sorry to disagree with you, and I'm not looking to pick a fight, but I think you need to remember the long and honourable history of the fanzine. Before the Internet it was the only way fan-fiction could be circulated reliably, and even now there are pockets of fandom where the tradition still holds good. There is nothing inherently less worthy about a zine than about a story published on the Net, and indeed sometimes the work has been subject to a great deal more scrutiny for the simple reason that the publisher is obliged to commit money to pay for the printing etc.

Having said that, profiting from fanzine sales is very much not on. Most people who printed zines, or who still print them today, did so with no commercial motive and were only concerned with covering their costs. I can assure anyone who is in doubt that there is no vast fortune to be made from fanzines; there never was, and these days it is even less likely.

What this Lori person did was stupid in the extreme - not the writing of the thing, not even the publishing of it, but the advertising of it on the kind of website that attracts major attention. Her commercial motives are obvious, and she's got what she deserved. However this does not reflect on the majority of fanzine publishers who even today advertise to a small circle of enthusiasts only and therefore, if they come to the notice of the relevant rights holders at all, are less likely to be slammed down.

Those who stick their heads above the parapet are liable to have them shot off. By far the safest course of action is to keep a low profile.

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Re: For posterity's sake...part 2

julian_black
2006-04-22 05:16 pm UTC (link)

I'm sorry to disagree with you, and I'm not looking to pick a fight, but I think you need to remember the long and honourable history of the fanzine.

First, thank you for being so delightfully non-wanky. I appreciate it.

Second, you're absolutely right--I admit that I'd forgotten all about fanzines.

That's mainly because until I got Internet access in 1998 I scribbled away about my fannish obsessions all by my lonesome. I didn't even know there was a term for what I was doing, and I didn't know anyone else who did it. I've never seen a printed fanzine for any of my old fandoms (which included Star Wars, back when the original movies were being released). To this day, my fandom participation is completely Internet-based, so yeah, I tend to forget all about 'zines.

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Re: For posterity's sake...part 2; mildly OT

life_on_mars
2006-04-22 07:54 pm UTC (link)

until I got Internet access in 1998 I scribbled away about my fannish obsessions all by my lonesome. I didn't even know there was a term for what I was doing, and I didn't know anyone else who did it.

And may I just add how well I remember that feeling of not being 'the only one'. Fandom has its drawbacks, which are very often relentlessly exposed on f_w and related groups, but there's nothing to equal the reiterated proof that one is Not Alone In The Universe; there's always someone out there in the ether to share whatever opinion we may hold. There is always a great deal more that unites us than divides us, and I find that incredibly reassuring.

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	Re: For posterity's sake...part 2; mildly OT (Anonymous) 2006-04-22 09:37 pm UTC (link)
	What I'm finding reassuring is that the fans are the ones who are outraged by what she did, and not just in the "she pissed in my sandbox" way. They are considering ramifications re pro writers, POD writers, small presses, etc. A very good sign, I suspect. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: For posterity's sake...part 1 perletwo 2006-04-22 01:59 am UTC (link)
	Rochita Sockpuppet-Ruiz raped the thesaurus. Mommy, make her stop! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: For posterity's sake...part 1 liebestod 2006-04-22 02:19 am UTC (link)
	I love it! With your permission, "Rochita Sockpuppet-Ruiz" is my new sockpuppet name. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: For posterity's sake...part 1 perletwo 2006-04-22 02:28 am UTC (link)
	But of course! It's not like it's copyrighted material or anything! ::hearts Manos:: (Reply to this)(Parent)

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