I was playing around on Facebook today and checking out my Associated Content page, as I have just got 3 articles published this week, when out of the blue it hit me to look into the legalness of fan fiction. If you don't know what fan fiction is, here's the deal - I'll use myself as an example, because I have written fan fictions. A fan fiction can be one of several things, it usually is where someone takes characters from an established story by another writer and uses them to create a totally new idea, or a whole other story or even just an extension of the established story. Okay, so here's what I mean; I have started 3 fan fictions (none of which are completed, and probably 2 of which I will never complete); because I love the X-Men and Wolverine comics so much, and just comics in general, I had this idea for a character. I had started writing my own sort of comic, but again, never finished it. It started out that I was just drawing these characters and then I decided they needed a story. I did character sketches, the same as I would for any story I'd write. I had it all planned out, the problem was I was throwing X-Men characters into the mix, so it would become a fan fiction - which I was okay with.
The character of Wolverine is ever popular and he fascinates me and I enjoy his in depth history. I decided to write a Wolverine fan fiction with my completely original characters. So I wrote, and I write and I am often taking time off of my own original stories to work on my fan fiction...why? Because it feels like a little break to me...like if I was working in an office and it was time for my 15 min break - everyone needs a break. I don't spend too much time each time working on it because I know I can never get anywhere with the story and would rather work on things that can be published, but it's still fun to write. I have about 3 pages written since I started it sometime last year - you can see that I don't work on it too much. One reason is that I want the idea to have some degree of originality and one pitfall about writing comic book fan-fiction (especially those that have been around for decades) is a lot of it has been done already. But again, this is just for fun. Sure I do often ask myself, what's the point? Well the best answer I can give is that it's good practice and keeps your writing juices flowing. If you are stuck on a story or article you're writing, it can help to work on something like a fan fiction. You won't need to come up with too much at first if you are just creating a new situation for established characters or extended a story you read, or movie you watched, or changing the ending if you didn't like the original.
I would say to you though to use caution when writing any sort of fan fiction as there is potential for copyright issues, however, that brings me to my point for today's post. I often asked myself if it was plagiarism or a form of copyright infringement to write a fan-fiction. I always thought there was no harm in it if you had no intent on profiting from the work and you make sure anyone who reads it has the credits from the writer who's world or characters you're using. There are several websites out there for fans to publish their stories online - it's all free (those I've come across) and no one profits from anything and normally the writers and web-hosts give credit where credit is due. I believe that in the Star Wars Insider there occasionally is fan fiction featured as well as fan art. I don't subscribe to the magazine, but have purchased many copies, but I have none to look at to say for sure as I've sold my back issues on eBay.
So, is it legal to write, and more importantly, is it legal to publish on your blog, or website, or on one of these fan fiction archive sites? The short answer is yes, so says a new organization started by a law student in the hopes to protect fan fiction writers and encourage them to write more. The organization is called The Organization of Transformative Works. From what I have been reading, the copyright laws do not specifically say what is copyrighted when an author writes a story, but the general concenses seems to be that that the characters and world they live in is not included in the copyright, but rather it's the story itself, the words used in the story, the situation the characters went through - but it would only be copyright infringement if you are using the whole story or portions of it. As I said, use caution. Here's a place with a good FAQ.And here still is another place (a blog) saying opposite of what the OTW says.And still another blog about the issue, this one more up to date.
Some points about the last blog I shared - he says some authors find fanfic innocent flattery and others find it illegal and hate it. If I were a published author (or even not) and saw someone used my characters in a story all their own, personally I think I would feel flattered, not threatened. Now if that fanfic writer then tried to profit from that story, than I would have issue. But it's unclear if I'd have any rights to fight it because it's unclear if the copyright protects my characters. This writer of said blog, Brad's Reader, also states he does not like fanfic because he finds it non-exciting. I don't agree with him at all. He points out that it is not copyright laws that may make it illegal for you to write a fanfic, but also fair use laws, which may mean it's legal for them to write it.
So after reading this, will I stop writing my Wolverine fan fiction? No...because it's my own story with my own characters, Wolverine just happens to be featured in it, but he is not the main character. It's more like a crossover story to me.
The majority of people who commented on Brad's Reader's blog post have stated they see no harm in fanfic and would be flattered if someone used their characters to write their own story, but would have issue if they tried to sell it. Exactly how I feel. What do I plan to do with my fanfic? Nothing, perhaps finish it, that's all. I just like writing it, and maybe it will give me a story idea where I can extract Wolverine out of it entirely...frankly I probably can now.
So I will keep doing what I do - write what I want to write and have fun doing it. If writing isn't fun, than maybe it's not something you should be doing. Sure it's work....but you should want to do it, you should like doing it. I like to write...i just wish I had more time to do it. That may sound like an excuse to some and I know plenty of writing mags tell you that there is always a way to find time, but I don't like writing if I can only manage one paragraph - I'd like to get more done than that at once. My goal is to set a certain time, or amount of time each day to writing, than I can set a time or certain amount of time to sewing doll clothes, something I really want to get going on...it's a juggling act because somewhere in there I need to get my son to and from school, spend time with my daughter, and my son...feed my family, clean my house, and still have moments to socialize with adults. The day in the life of a wife, mother, aspiring writer, wannabe doll clothes fashion designer, and still want to do my graphite pencil art too...and I am the perpetual student, always wanting to learn more.
The character of Wolverine is ever popular and he fascinates me and I enjoy his in depth history. I decided to write a Wolverine fan fiction with my completely original characters. So I wrote, and I write and I am often taking time off of my own original stories to work on my fan fiction...why? Because it feels like a little break to me...like if I was working in an office and it was time for my 15 min break - everyone needs a break. I don't spend too much time each time working on it because I know I can never get anywhere with the story and would rather work on things that can be published, but it's still fun to write. I have about 3 pages written since I started it sometime last year - you can see that I don't work on it too much. One reason is that I want the idea to have some degree of originality and one pitfall about writing comic book fan-fiction (especially those that have been around for decades) is a lot of it has been done already. But again, this is just for fun. Sure I do often ask myself, what's the point? Well the best answer I can give is that it's good practice and keeps your writing juices flowing. If you are stuck on a story or article you're writing, it can help to work on something like a fan fiction. You won't need to come up with too much at first if you are just creating a new situation for established characters or extended a story you read, or movie you watched, or changing the ending if you didn't like the original.
I would say to you though to use caution when writing any sort of fan fiction as there is potential for copyright issues, however, that brings me to my point for today's post. I often asked myself if it was plagiarism or a form of copyright infringement to write a fan-fiction. I always thought there was no harm in it if you had no intent on profiting from the work and you make sure anyone who reads it has the credits from the writer who's world or characters you're using. There are several websites out there for fans to publish their stories online - it's all free (those I've come across) and no one profits from anything and normally the writers and web-hosts give credit where credit is due. I believe that in the Star Wars Insider there occasionally is fan fiction featured as well as fan art. I don't subscribe to the magazine, but have purchased many copies, but I have none to look at to say for sure as I've sold my back issues on eBay.
So, is it legal to write, and more importantly, is it legal to publish on your blog, or website, or on one of these fan fiction archive sites? The short answer is yes, so says a new organization started by a law student in the hopes to protect fan fiction writers and encourage them to write more. The organization is called The Organization of Transformative Works. From what I have been reading, the copyright laws do not specifically say what is copyrighted when an author writes a story, but the general concenses seems to be that that the characters and world they live in is not included in the copyright, but rather it's the story itself, the words used in the story, the situation the characters went through - but it would only be copyright infringement if you are using the whole story or portions of it. As I said, use caution. Here's a place with a good FAQ.And here still is another place (a blog) saying opposite of what the OTW says.And still another blog about the issue, this one more up to date.
Some points about the last blog I shared - he says some authors find fanfic innocent flattery and others find it illegal and hate it. If I were a published author (or even not) and saw someone used my characters in a story all their own, personally I think I would feel flattered, not threatened. Now if that fanfic writer then tried to profit from that story, than I would have issue. But it's unclear if I'd have any rights to fight it because it's unclear if the copyright protects my characters. This writer of said blog, Brad's Reader, also states he does not like fanfic because he finds it non-exciting. I don't agree with him at all. He points out that it is not copyright laws that may make it illegal for you to write a fanfic, but also fair use laws, which may mean it's legal for them to write it.
So after reading this, will I stop writing my Wolverine fan fiction? No...because it's my own story with my own characters, Wolverine just happens to be featured in it, but he is not the main character. It's more like a crossover story to me.
The majority of people who commented on Brad's Reader's blog post have stated they see no harm in fanfic and would be flattered if someone used their characters to write their own story, but would have issue if they tried to sell it. Exactly how I feel. What do I plan to do with my fanfic? Nothing, perhaps finish it, that's all. I just like writing it, and maybe it will give me a story idea where I can extract Wolverine out of it entirely...frankly I probably can now.
So I will keep doing what I do - write what I want to write and have fun doing it. If writing isn't fun, than maybe it's not something you should be doing. Sure it's work....but you should want to do it, you should like doing it. I like to write...i just wish I had more time to do it. That may sound like an excuse to some and I know plenty of writing mags tell you that there is always a way to find time, but I don't like writing if I can only manage one paragraph - I'd like to get more done than that at once. My goal is to set a certain time, or amount of time each day to writing, than I can set a time or certain amount of time to sewing doll clothes, something I really want to get going on...it's a juggling act because somewhere in there I need to get my son to and from school, spend time with my daughter, and my son...feed my family, clean my house, and still have moments to socialize with adults. The day in the life of a wife, mother, aspiring writer, wannabe doll clothes fashion designer, and still want to do my graphite pencil art too...and I am the perpetual student, always wanting to learn more.
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