A few final links on fanfic

I've pretty much said my piece over on Wordpress in relation to this issue, but I thought I'd leave you with a few final links about the whole issue. Please note that Diana Gabaldon has made a more conciliatory follow-up post, although she still doesn't seem to have apologised for the hyperbolic insults she threw at ficcers in the comments to the first post.

A couple of professional authors have raised their heads above the parapets to make their own remarks about fanfic and their policies towards it. See John Scalzi, Charlie Stross, and, most significantly, sarahtales, here. I say 'most significantly', because Sarah Rees Brennan is a professional writer who started out writing Harry Potter fanfic. She's thus had writing experience from both sides - published and fanfic - and therefore, unlike most of the commenters on Gabaldon's blog, actually knows what she's talking about (the comments were HILARIOUS, mainly along the lines of 'eww, fanfic! I have only just discovered what it is, and I DON'T LIKE IT!').

kate_nepveu's open letter is also worth a read.

I've said it already on Wordpress, and I'll say it again: this whole problem is generational, and I don't mean in terms of age (although their is some correlation). You either come from a generation where the author's intention is supreme (and somehow knowable and completely communicable) and self-contained within the text, and reading is a passive activity, or you come from a generation where the culture is one of collaboration, remixing and mashups, and where a text means different things to different people. Each generation views the other as delusional, and I don't know how we're going to ever get past that.

That's enough on fanfic from me. To all my UK friends and readers, please go out and vote today!

A few final links on fanfic

I've pretty much said my piece over on Wordpress in relation to this issue, but I thought I'd leave you with a few final links about the whole issue. Please note that Diana Gabaldon has made a more conciliatory follow-up post, although she still doesn't seem to have apologised for the hyperbolic insults she threw at ficcers in the comments to the first post.

A couple of professional authors have raised their heads above the parapets to make their own remarks about fanfic and their policies towards it. See John Scalzi, Charlie Stross, and, most significantly, sarahtales, here. I say 'most significantly', because Sarah Rees Brennan is a professional writer who started out writing Harry Potter fanfic. She's thus had writing experience from both sides - published and fanfic - and therefore, unlike most of the commenters on Gabaldon's blog, actually knows what she's talking about (the comments were HILARIOUS, mainly along the lines of 'eww, fanfic! I have only just discovered what it is, and I DON'T LIKE IT!').

kate_nepveu's open letter is also worth a read.

I've said it already on Wordpress, and I'll say it again: this whole problem is generational, and I don't mean in terms of age (although their is some correlation). You either come from a generation where the author's intention is supreme (and somehow knowable and completely communicable) and self-contained within the text, and reading is a passive activity, or you come from a generation where the culture is one of collaboration, remixing and mashups, and where a text means different things to different people. Each generation views the other as delusional, and I don't know how we're going to ever get past that.

That's enough on fanfic from me. To all my UK friends and readers, please go out and vote today!