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Abusing the People of Westeros: Famous Authors on Fan-Fiction

By Emily Temple on
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Charlie Stross

Though Stross, author of many science fiction novels and short stories, doesn’t care if anyone writes about his characters, he does care if that practice impinges on his own ability to make a living. He explains, rather eloquently we think, “I am not a precious sparkly unicorn who is obsessed with the purity of his characters — rather, I am a glittery and avaricious dragon who is jealous of his steaming pile of gold. If you do not steal the dragon’s gold, the dragon will leave you alone. Offer to bring the dragon more gold and the dragon will be your friend.”

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Anne RiceCharlie StrossDiana GabaldonGeorge R.R. MartinJ. K. RowlingJ.D SalingerOrson Scott CardStephenie MeyerUrsula K. LeGuin
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Hmmmmm... so what is their stance on 50 Shades being published, seeing as how that was simply a Twilight fanfic that happened to change the character's names? I think I agree with Patricia C Wrede on this point, It can be used as a means of practice for the author before they venture into their own worlds. (her blog about it can be found here: http://pcwrede.com/blog/some-uses-for-fanfiction/). She usually doesn't read it herself, simply because she doesn't want the legal complications should she inadvertently take an idea some fanfiction writer had and publish it in a book. I've read several other authors who hold the same/similar views. As an author myself, I get that you feel a personal connection to your characters, they almost become a part of your own family if you hang on to them long enough (such as writing a series). I know what Martin means when he says they become like your children. But, like any parent, you don't know everything your children do or say or get into, and sometimes you may lose connection with them. To me, fanfiction writers are like the character's peers, the ones that know about the other sides of the characters, the goofy, gritty, whatever stories that the author didn't pay attention to. Or maybe their the ones that write the blooper reels in the characters' stories. Either way, I don't see what the big deal is with fanfiction.

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I want to point out that fan fictions aren't just for books,they are for people too.I write fan fiction for a group called "The Creatures".Fanfics can be written for ANYTHING!I have to say most fanfic writer for the creatures are younger(like myself),cause' I'm 12.I know a 10 year old who writes fan fiction.These authors,I personally think,need to do what the creatures do,and ignore it.I know that one of we make fanfics for(romance ones at that),LOVES it and reads it everyday.if you ever look at the fan fiction section on the Creature hub,most of it is romance. In case you don't know who the creature are:They are a group of gamers(all boys) around 20,25.(and yes,most of the romance is guy on guy)

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I dont understand some of these people. NOBODY is profiting or making money off of your world and characters. These are fans who admire your work loyally enough to sit down and give themselves maybe a different ending or situation for the sake of fun. Just relax.

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The SF authors whom I respect the most, Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah, creaters of the Sime~Gen universe, encourage fan fiction. In fact, they have their own Worldcrafters free writing school on their website, www.simegen.com. I agree with the general consensus. There are no new ideas or plots or stories under the sun. By now, everyone is borrowing from everyone else. If it isn't for-profit or done deliberately to hurt or defame the author or her/his characters/universe, there is no harm in fan fiction. Authors who object can just get over themselves. Chances are I have no interest in their books anyway.

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@Farseer Or, you know, her BDSM fanfic of Sleeping Beauty, or Rameses and Cleopatra, or ANY of her historical novels. Because all of those instances have "[her] own characters."

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LeGuin doesn't acknowledge the miniseries.  She says it's an adaptation in name only. I also think she's a bit misinformed and/or confused as to the very concept of fan fiction.  Anyone who tried to actually publish their fan fiction (as opposed to, say, putting it up on a fansite, which is somewhat different) gets laughed (or sued) off the Internet rather quickly unless it's something that's fallen into the public domain.

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It's pretty rich to see Anne Rice whinging about other people doing it after writing that bible fan fiction a few years back.

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Here's the hing about your children: they grow up. Orson Scott Card is confusing copyright with trademark. While we might expect authors to understand something about copyright, many only have a personal-interest view of the subject. That's not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but don't pretend otherwise.

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I truly don't comprehend why some authors are so against fan fiction! In my view, fanfic has 3 purposes: celebration, exploration, and education. These works are often produced because people deeply loved the source material; their fics are a celebration of the original work. Other times people use fanfiction to explore and express some of their own deeply held beliefs or problems, much like children might do with dolls. In this case, the use of previously existing characters provides a bit of emotional/psychological distance that original characters wouldn't provide. Finally, many people start writing fanfiction because they want to write, but don't know how to start. Fanfiction can act as literary "training wheels," helping an aspiring writer to begin learning how to write compelling dialogue or structure a scene without needing to worry about character or world creation issues. In all of these cases, sharing the work is a vital element of the process. People who love the source works want to share them with others, spread the joy. Those who are exploring share, in some ways, to express their beliefs, fears, and hopes within a safe environment that is likely to support them. Finally, those who write fanfic to gain education about writing share their work for the most logical reason of all: they want to get feedback on how to improve their craft and know that fanfic often garners much larger audiences than original work. In each of these cases no harm is being done to the creators or their creations. The words in my copy of "The Game of Thrones" doesn't suddenly change because someone wrote a fanfiction about Tyrion re-uniting with his lost love. Nor does this piece of fiction harm Mr. Martin. If anything, someone who wasn't a SFI fan might become one because of seeing a friend post or recommend the story (this example is not entirely hypothetical). Long story short: authors need to get over it and acknowledge that although they might personally dislike fanfiction, they have no real moral leg to stand on when it comes to "forbidding" people to create it. A legal one, perhaps, but certainly not a moral one. We've only gotten to the place we are as a society by being able to play with, experiment, and learn from the accomplishments of others.

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Ironic that Salinger is quoted as an example of opposition to fanfiction, since it's a quote from him that's one of my favorites to support it: "The true poet has no choice of material. The material plainly chooses him, not he it." Use that the next time someone comes out with the hoary "Why don't you just create your own characters?" chestnut.

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I've read quite a bit of fanfiction. There are some amazing, epic stories out there that make me want to encourage the person to write for profit, but a large portion of it is utter garbage. It's still worth it, for me, to sift through a pile of rubbish to find one jewel, but I can understand an author's frustration when all they're seeing is a handful of poor examples that slaughter their creative vision. Personally, I think I side with J.K. Rowling the most. There is an egregiously large number of Harry Potter fics out there that feature pedophilia. I'm not a huge HP fan and this fact turns my stomach. If I were her, I'd be bothered to the point of wanting to take some sort of legal action against these authors, if the law allowed.

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I myself write fanfiction for a number of different series, and it's how I got started writing seriously. I do have my own characters and original stories that I write, and I have fun with them. I love to write fanfiction, and I love to write with my own characters and world. I prefer fanfiction, in some ways, but in others, I prefer original fiction. They're equal, in my mind. I think a bias against fanfiction is frankly ridiculous, and, really, I've read some fanfiction that's better than the source material. (I've also read some fanfiction that is truly horrific, but Sturgeon's Law—90% of everything is crap, and that applies to published books/movies/TV shows as well as fanfiction.) I completely support buying the source material in order to support the authors, but saying "no fanfiction" is like giving a group of kids a ball and then telling them that they're only allowed to look at it—they're not allowed to play with it. When a person sees an interesting story with compelling characters and a fascinating world, they're going to want to play in the sandbox a little. I can understand a desire for people to be careful with your things, but refusing to allow people to play with something you made, when it won't even affect you or the original something-you-made, is just a bit childish and selfish. If you're squicked by fanfiction involving your characters, you don't have to read it. The back button is always an option. There's a little red button in the corner of your browser window for a reason. If you don't like something, you don't have to look at it. If the very idea of fanfiction offends you, then you can, I dunno, put up tips for character creation and worldbuilding on your website to try to inspire young writers to create their own characters and worlds. You don't have to make a big fuss and bother over something that's essentially people taking a closer look at something they find interesting. You can, if you like—everyone's entitled to their opinion, and if I said differently I'd be a huge hypocrite—but you don't have to. If someone is inspired by your work so much so that they want to create something new based off of it, that's a huge compliment. It says that you haven't just created something vaguely interesting that people will read over a weekend and then forget about. You've created something that has made someone think and ponder and wonder and consider. You've turned the switch in someone's brain to ON. You've inspired another person to write. Here, I'll give you another example. Say you're a surfer. (Ridiculous premise, I know, but go with me here.) You think that your style of surfing is completely unique to you, that you're the only one who surfs in this particular way. (Whether or not you're correct in this opinion is irrelevant.) You're out surfing, when you notice someone (a kid, much younger than you) on land, trying to imitate what you're doing with your hands and arms and feet and legs. When you go over to ask them what they're doing, they answer, "I thought that what you were doing was really cool, and I want to try it out." Now, consider your reaction. Are you annoyed that someone else is "stealing" what you thought was yours? Are you going to launch a lawsuit against this kid for seeing something cool and trying it out for him- or herself? Or are you going to be pleased that something you did inspired someone else to do the same? Publishing fanfiction for profit when a) the source material is still in copyright and/or b) you don't have permission from the original authors is really not cool, but observe all the Star Wars novels—those are essentially jumped-up fanfiction. Look at all the adaptations and spinoffs of the original Sherlock Holmes stories—those are fanfiction. Fanfiction is what happens when a person looks at a story and asks, "What if?" What if Star Wars was told from Darth Vader's point of view? What if Moriarty was the real good guy? What if Harry was sorted into Slytherin? (I know for certain that all three of these premises have been done to death in their respective fandoms, but I tried to pick examples that most everyone would understand.) You can't stop people from asking "What if?" That would be like asking people to permanently turn their brains off and stop thinking, and I was under the impression that people thinking was something we wanted more of, not less. So this kind of turned into a huge rant, and I apologise if I've inadvertently offended anyone, but I have strong feelings about freedom of expression and fandom and suchlike. Namely, so long as it's not actually hurting anyone, people should be allowed to do what they like. If people aren't making a profit off of fanfiction they write, and they're not shoving their work in the author's face and demanding that they read it, then they're not hurting anyone.

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The original Star Trek was on TV for two years (+/-) Fanfic writers explored every last crevice of that franchise and 4 decades later, the franchise is *still* ticking along in one form or another. I'd call that a fair indication that Fanfic helped nurture and sustain what might otherwise have been nothing more than a "little lark".

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The authors who are "banning" fan fiction being written is shooting themselves in the foot. When fic is being written you keep the interest for the book going within the fanbase and that is crucial when there might be a break for a year or five between new releases. Also: Free advertisement? I can't count how many times a fic author that writes for something I like has gotten me into something new just because of them gushing and writing about it (This is why I own too many books, games and Tv shows). I honestly don't see how it can hurt the authors when fic writers don't earn any money off it and just do it as a way to express their love for the world and characters. It might be hard to believe to these professional authors, but not everybody wants to be an author just like them. Call it "lazy" or unoriginal or whatever but some people just just want to tell a story, release feelings though and with characters other can recognize and relate to as a mouthpiece. Fic, fanart, fanvids, fanedits, fan discussions and everything fannish is what creates and sustains a fandom. If you remove pieces of it, you are limiting the growth of it and that is a bad and kinda shitty thing to do to your fans.

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Why not let consumers decide? It's not suprising that a legal monopoly holder would wish to preserve that monopoly, because it benefits them--not the readership.

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Pretty sure Orson Scott Card is mixing up copyright and trademark. A trademark must be defended in order to maintain it. See also: Adobe's page on the correct use of the word Photoshop, the "Barbie Girl" song lawsuit, etc. Copyrights are inviolate regardless of your consistency in defending them.

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Fanfiction is not a lazy way out really. It's not written for profit, it's written more for curiousity and community. Many authors use the characters or the 'world' of the original fiction merely as a vehicle to explore possibilities with characters. Or sometimes they really wished the ending had been different, so they re-write it for fun, or they wish two characters had been friends or enemies or lovers and write it accordingly. Often times, they have an original plot or a interesting twist and a merely using the characters that they love (and interact with a community of people who also love them) as a convenient means to do this exploring. It's also very convenient that the audience know what the characters "past" is, or what they look like etc. If money is being made off it - that is seriously wrong... but, I really can't see that happening? Most fanfic is just on internet forums - and it's about creating discussion and fantasy usually. I don't see how you could seriously say that someone writing a few pages on an internet form about a certain character or what they wish had happened in a movie/book/tv show constitutes copyright infringement. They are not hurting the original work or the author in any way, shape or form.

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It seems that it's really only authors who are up in arms about fan fiction maybe because the medium of writing is too similar to their own. I don't see authors complaining much about fan art, for example. And in the same vein, the TV writers aren't terribly bothered by fan fiction but do get up in arms about fan videos/movies (e.g., the Community Inspector Spacetime web series snafu). Perhaps a visual artist would balk at a similar visual interpretation of their work but be less bothered by fan fiction inspired by their work. The only argument I find compelling is that author's have a special relationship with the characters and want control over the finite, canon story being told with those characters. That seems legitimate to me. The copyright/profit argument sounds like a weak excuse paraded out for legitimacy. As many have accurately said, no one is profiting and for many, the art of it is about exploring the what-ifs, not aiming for some kind of non-existent grab for cash or credibility. And if it supports the fan community and helps put more quality authors out in the forefront then we're all the better for it.

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I've written a little fanfiction, and I've read a lot. What I really want to know is how Stephenie Meyer feels about the 50 Shades trilogy, knowing that it's essentially a copy-paste of a fanfic formerly titled "Master of the Universe."

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To Julia - "The fact of the matter is it is illegal to reproduce an author’s copyrighted material without permission. To do so is plagerism, pure and simple." No, no it's not. There are various parts to examine in fair use law. 1) The first factor is regarding whether the use in question helps fulfill the intention of copyright law to stimulate creativity for the enrichment of the general public, or whether it aims to only "supersede the objects" of the original for reasons of personal profit. - Fanfiction is all about creativity; I've never seen any of it done with the intentions of profit. 2) The nature of the copyrighted work - is it fact or fiction? Is it published or unpublished? - While the fact that it is fiction a strike against the fair use of fanfiction, the fact that it is usually based on already published material is a point for it: "The scope of fair use is narrower for unpublished works because an author has the right to control the first public appearance of his or her expression" 3) The third factor assesses the quantity or percentage of the original copyrighted work that has been imported into the new work. In general, the less that is used in relation to the whole, ex: a few sentences of a text for a book review, the more likely that the sample will be considered fair use. - Rarely does anyone take any significant "quotation" from any piece of published work in the creation of fanfiction, and if they do, it is usually far less than the four-hundred generally allotted. 4) The fourth factor measures the effect that the allegedly infringing use has had on the copyright owner's ability to exploit his or her original work. - Fanfiction does not impede the copywrite owners "ability to exploit his or her work" in any way shape or form.

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I will agree that at no time should fan-fiction be sold for profit using characters created by someone else that DO NOT fall under public domain (example - Shakespeare's work is under public domain hence the 400+ adaptations of it). Author's who express their requests of fans not writing fan fiction for their character's, that can only be held so far as to the posting of said fan-fiction on an internet forum or blog-site. However, what is done in the privacy of one's one home for personal pleasure is the prerogative of that said person and no one else's.

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I am in the "write your own characters, you creeps" camp.

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I think fan-fiction has its place: on the internet, available for free, written for fans by their fellow fans. Sometimes developing your own characters is the hard part of writing. You know the story line, but you have a hard time creating a character that belongs and grows during the story. So, I understand how writing fan-fiction can help a budding writer gain skills that will further their craft. But they need to then create their own characters for their own stories and leave the fan-fiction behind. The problem I have is when a fan writes a piece of fan-fiction, gets positive feedback on it, and then changes the names of the characters so the story can then be sold as an original piece of fiction. E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey is a piece of Twilight fan-fiction. She simply replaced all the 'Bellas' and 'Edwards' with new names. And now she can charge $10 per e-book and it's at the top of best seller lists. Aside from the fact that it's a horribly naive and misleading piece of fiction, it's unworthy of the $10 people are paying for it. Especially when you can get it for free online. And while I think fan-fiction is fine and dandy, I also think that writers and fans should respect an author's wishes if the author requests that they not write fan-fiction. If you enjoy the author's worth, respect them enough to follow their wishes. At the same time, good luck trying to censor the internet. But I absolutely don't think you should be able to sell fan-fiction. It is in no way a positive thing for the fan-fiction community. It sets a poor example.

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Ever notice the ones who make the most money, whine the loudest? I will say lot of authors don't make money off me, that is what public libraries are for, I pay them $12/yr and get to read all the books I want! I am pretty sure the authors don't see any royalties passed the initial library purchase, and I don't see them whinging about that, then again, perhaps no one has asked them, and perhaps the publishing companies haven't told them. In regards to George R.R. Martin's comment “Every writer needs to learn to create his own characters, worlds, and settings. Using someone else’s world is the lazy way out.” Leads me to think he forgot that before Robert Jordan (real name James Oliver Rigney, Jr.)wrote his Wheel Of Time series he was the author of several Conan The Barbarian stories a good 6 years before the first Wheel Of Time Book was published. So does that make Robert Jordan lazy? Or is it over looked because he was contracted to do it by the people who own the rights? People write fan-fiction because they love the characters and the worlds, and I most stories I come across have original characters added to the mix. What about historical fan-fiction? Are we unoriginal if it takes place in the old west? Gee if that's the case every author after those initial penny dreadfuls and pulp magazines could be classified as unoriginal too? sorry Larry McMurty, guess Buffalo Girls doesn't quite make it.

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The fact of the matter is it is illegal to reproduce an author's copyrighted material without permission. To do so is plagerism, pure and simple. As for the argument that "it isn't for profit," that is completely irrelevant. Publishing fan-fiction, publishing it anywhere, is a violation of copyright law, unless one has the author's permission. None of your pro-fan fiction arguments can change that unless you can get the law changed. If you want to practice your writing skills through fan-fiction, fine, but don't publish it. Not on the internet, not anywhere, or you are breaking the law. If a thief steals something but makes no money off of it, it is still stealing, he it's still a thief. An author's work is intellectual property, and profit or not, fan-fiction is stealing, then publishing, a person's intellectual property. It is illegal. If you want to write and publish fan-fiction without an author's permission, and without consequences, find a way to get the law changed, if you can.

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The thing about publishing your work is that if you're sharing your characters, you're sharing your characters. You can make all the argumnts against it you want, but if you've made your work available to the public in any way, you have shared it. If you don't want anyone else touching it, you should have kept the books in your closet. SELLING fanfiction? NO. That's over the line. But you see a website out with "I thought it'd be neat to see these two characters do ___"? To get offended and angry over that is, in my opinion, an insult to your readers. Essentially telling them "This is not for you. You may read it, but don't love it, get attached, or think too much about it. I didn't write this for you to enjoy, I wrote it for me, and I am only letting you read it so you will give me money."

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@Fortytwo There is no such thing as your own worlds and peoples. All art is derivative, and fanfiction writers have a great deal of personal investment in the characters they write, even though they are closely and transparently modelled on the portrayal someone else put together. Is it immoral and invasive to write about people you know personally, or to write characters that closely resemble them, or to use episodes from real life that other people have taken part in? Sure, maybe. And it's every writer's business to do so.

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First off, the writers who have been chosen for quotes are notorious throughout the Internet and the fan communities as being anti-fan fiction. So by cherry picking these particular writers as representative of a majority opinion amongst all writers you are showing a strong bias. If they were chosen merely because they are renowned for having made any commentary on fanfiction then it is lazy research. Most writers, if they're even aware of fanfiction, generally shrug it off as a complete non-issue. Fan writers are generally speaking aware of the fact that they write for fun and that should they try to make a profit off of another's characters they will be policed from within the fan community before the authors' lawyers even have a chance to learn of it. On the other hand, an increasing number of writers are admitting to having their roots in fanfiction, or even to have earned their first publication based on fame from within the fanfiction communities (Cassandra Claire and Naomi Novik come to mind). After all, what do you call the writers of the various franchise series such as Star Wars or World of Warcraft, or the majority of mainstream comic or TV writers? The only excuse for not calling them fanfiction writers is that they've been licensed by the company that owns the characters, and at that point you're admitting it is a financial matter rather than a creative one. Fanfiction writers are not in any way hurting these authors or the works with their writing, if anything they are spreading the word with their enthusiasm and should be considered free advertising. Yes, the original authors have to be seen defending their copyright and that is fair, but these are works done for free. If anything, it speaks to the sorry state of our current copyright law that creative works are considered to be licensed-to rather than owned by their purchasers. If the current copyright laws were retroactively applied to history then we would have no Classical writers like Virgil, Ovid, Homer, or Euripides, there would be no Shakespeare (except for the Tempest, his only full original work) or Marlowe, there'd be no Milton or "Ulysses". This slavish devotion to a "completely original" idea is being countered by fanfiction writers, who ask for nothing in return except for the freedom to practice their passion.

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Saying this as someone who has dabbled in both original and fan fiction:I stopped writing fan-fiction because I started to believe it was an infringement of something very personal. A character-author relationship can be very personal and important to the author, and, in some cases, I'd say it's roughly equivalent to someone taking your childhood imaginary friend and putting them in their own situations. Seeing that can actually be hurtful. Yes, these are products that are put out there partly to make money, but it requires a great deal of emotional investment in a world and characters to finish something like a novel. This is often something fanfic authors have in spades - many of them I've associated with are lovely people, doing this out of devotion to a particular fiction with no intent of profiting from it - but the original canon is still something that's often fiercely personal to the author. It's art, an expression of its writer, and fanfiction, in some ways, is the equivalent to painting "a few extra strokes" on a vintage Van Gogh because you think it looks slightly better. The right to consume is not the same as the right to produce.So, while I'd say authors should take it more as flattery than an offense, and shouldn't be angry with the fans for doing what they love (or actively start suing writers of it), I find myself thinking that fan-fiction essentially isn't right. The time and creativity people use on writing fanfic could so easily be used on creating their own worlds and peoples.

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Back when Xena: Warrior Princess was still on the air, the show runners actually hired a popular Xena fanfic author (Melissa Good) to write three scripts for them, two of which were used on the show (the other would have been if they could have secured song rights to it in time, as it was a musical). I'm not a fanfic writer, but I've read a fair bit of it in multiple genres in my time. I get why it's done, and I enjoy it when it's well written. It's not done for any sort of profit, it's because the authors enjoy the show/book/movie/etc., and want to write their own stories within that world. If I were someone like JK Rowling, I think I would be thrilled something I've created could mean so much to someone that they wanted to play in that world for a bit. Yes, copyrights are important, but so is creativity. If no profit is being made, then what's the harm?

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Honestly, as long as someone isn't trying to take credit for your stories or trying to make money off of fan-fiction I don't see why they are so opposed to it. Fan fiction, as far as I know, is just something shared in a community of people who really enjoy a work. As for fan-fiction being a waste of time- well, isn't any hobby essentially just a way to pass time? Time spent writing fan-fiction is easily the same time spent doing stuff like watching TV or browsing the internet or reading books.

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I thought the vast majority of fanfiction was free. Who is actually trying to publish fanfiction for profit? Who would try to represent/sell that? All indications I've seen are that fanfiction is written for fun. It has nothing to do with trying to make a buck on someone else's work. These authors railing about copyright and their livelihood sound stupid if they're referring to the fact that people imagine additional stories involving their characters or settings for fun.

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As a fanfiction writer, I think that many published authors fail to see the true purpose of it. It is a form of community between likeminded individuals. It also serves as excellent practice for - yes - eventually creating your own original work. Everyone's gotta start somewhere. Fanfiction for profit is wrong and copyright infringement, pure and simple. However, I don't know of any fanfic that has been published for profit. What does it hurt an author if someone loves their stupid story or characters or world sooooooo much that they want to participate in it in a creative way? Art is thievery. Everything came from something else. Imagination shouldn't be squashed or ridiculed, especially by those who depend on it to make a living. That's just hypocrisy.

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Of course, the bigger question here is when do authors' work becoming fan-fiction in and of itself? Let's take Anne Rice. Pretty much anything after "Tale of the Body Thief" exists in a sort of YAY! VAMPIRES! world. Sure, she created the world, but she's not doing service to it in the way she did originally. Or Orson Scott Card, whom I hate, both for his rampant homophobia and his poor storytelling abilities, but seems to produce another Ender book every five days that reads barely above fan fiction. Actually, Rowlng's advice makes the most sense to me. The whole, 'Sure, have fun. It's your time. But please please remember, these are kid's books."

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Fanfiction is creative, but for many people it's more about sharing, being social and having fun than creating someing original. Not every person who enjoys writing aims to be a published author. Toymakers all over the world know that they can't control how people play with the toys they make. If they could, Santa would have been prohibited by copyright law from ever bringing a Barbie and Ken to my neighborhood. I doubt Mattel, Inc. ever imagined naked, spanky adventures when conceptualizing Barbie's Dreamhouse. It's a big world out there authors, and a huge playground. Stop sweating the small stuff and just be flattered that you were able to inspire someone else's imagination. It means you did something right.

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It's extremely reductionistic to describe the readership of Rowling (or even, Meyer) to teen girls. Likewise, fanfiction is written by a diverse audience (though admittedly there are more females writing than males). You write that you read an article dissecting the stigma of fanfiction, but clearly you've already bought into it. I'd suggest reading more on fan-culture (Matt Hills, Henry Jenkins) if you are going to write about it with any depth of clarity.

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Ok. As an author. I can see being uncomfortable with fanfic. I can see being worried about people actually steeling your work. HOWEVER. We live in the era of the internet. If you have the artistic courage to publish it, have the artistic courage to admit that someone loves your work enough to want to follow it down some very strange rabbit holes. Whats the harm? If they publish it for profit, thats different. its not as though they are steeling your work, if anything its advertising. Grow a pair or get off the internet.

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I find it ironic that Stephanie Meyer thinks fanfiction is a waste of time, considering her novels are maybe half a step above the drudge written on fanfic websites. I would give anything to ask Jane Austen how she would feel about having someone add zombies to her classic masterpiece so that they could make a ton on money off of her characters. Is that not just glorified fanfiction?

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Laurel K. Hamilton is also adamantly against fan fiction but I think it's more that it's sure to be better written than her stuff (which is terrible). And Ursula K. LeGuin's stance is curious given how terribly awry that SciFi miniseries adaption of Earthsea went. No fan fiction could be worse than that. Fan fiction based on books can be really tricky. I can see the author's point of view on that. Fan fiction based on TV/movies/etc. is so much less complicated and there's a lot of excellent works out there as well as authors who started off writing fan fiction and later became published authors (notably in the Star Trek realm and also that 50 Shades of Grey author). There was an interesting discussion on io9 a few weeks ago on a similar topic. EW did an article on this too a few months ago. It must be a hot topic! http://io9.com/5899757/whats-the-science-fiction-universe-where-you-prefer-the-fanfic-to-the-official-stories

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