(no subject)

From here, from a link I saw on Irene's page posted by quothraven ^^


- On people wanting to write their own Discworld stories.

"There is no question that using characters, backgrounds, plot threads, etc, etc of an author in copyright can get you into serious legal trouble -- there have been cases over this recently in the States. Try publishing a James Bond novel without consulting the Fleming estate and see what happens. It's amazing that people don't realise this. Publishers are used to getting stories with a covering note saying 'Here's a story I've set in Harry Spiven's 'World of Hurts' universe...' and the publishers say 'Did you get his permission?' and the writer says 'I don't have to do that, do I?' and the publishers go white and say 'Does the Pope shit in the woods?'

That's the REAL world. Now let's talk about FANDOM.

The law isn't any different. But there's people out there writing HHGTTG stuff, Red Dwarf stuff, Star Trek stuff and Discworld stuff for the amusement of their friends. Authors react on an individual basis. Some hate it and try to stop it. Anne McCaffrey -- I think, although I'm open to correction here -- doesn't mind so long as her main characters are not used. Douglas Adams seems to have tolerated/given permission for a welter of Hitchhikers stuff in the ZZ9 fanzine.

It seems to me that if something is being done on an amateur basis by a fan for fans, and is clearly their own work, and is done out of a shared regard for the basic subject matter, then it would be kind of chilly for an author to run around hammering people. It's fandom, for god's sake. I don't give anyone permission, I just smile and think what the hell.

There's a danger, of course, that some dumb bugger out there will interpret this as an indication that Discworld is now in the public domain or open to franchising. It is neither. If anyone tries a commercial rip-off -- not a parody, not fanac, but a cynical attempt to cash in on my Discworld -- then the sewage farm will hit the three megawatt aerogenerator."

"I'd rather fanfic went on somewhere where I don't see it. Why? Because if A Fan writes a piece about, say, Discworld tax collectors, and I chose to write about Discworld tax collectors a year later, A Fan will send me the 'nyer, ripoff, you nicked my idea' email."


Hehehe...that's so sweet ^-^ Compared to say...was it Anne Rice who demanded no fanfic? >__>;