EliseShaw wrote:Mixed feelings and purely selfish worries for me.
1. I haven't (yet) read B&B, though it is on my list. By all accounts I've heard, it's a wonderful book. I feel especially bad for vjgm because someone else stole her work and published it themselves. Clearly that book has what it takes to make it as a stand-alone novel. Since it's vjgm's own work and merely started as Stephenie's characters, should Stephenie own the story line and rights to it? I don't think so, but I don't know enough about legalese to know if this will be enough to get the site shut down. The fact that it is linked to the Twilighted site and that we are all well aware that it started as one of the most famous Edward/Bella fics in the fandom makes me nervous.
2. I do worry that if this practice of publishing and profiting from former fics based on Stephenie's work gets big, eventually there will be some sort of fallout like the Anne Rice thing where none of us will be allowed to write twific any more, and that would be sad, particularly since (probably) 99% of twific writers do not plan to ever have their fanfic published. Every day it seems like the list grows of fics that have been pulled. At what point will this catch the attention of the wrong people?
3. It seems like AH Twific deviates more from the realm of fanfic than in other fandoms I've been in. Almost to the point where it's really just original fiction with familiar names and a familiar built in attachment to characters. That's a slippery slope. On the one hand, I think those are some really great stories and they are among the most popular... those authors are clearly writing what people want to read. On the other, if your fic is so different from the original characterization that you can change the names and a few details and have it be unrecognizable, should it have been considered fanfiction in the first place? I wouldn't want to see those stories not posted any more, because again, I think some of the best stories fall into that category, but it is something to consider.
4. I guess ideally, an author would use their success as a springboard and keep the fic posted as fanfiction and merely use their popularity to promote new original fiction that was never published as fanfiction, but I could understand that if I had written a story line that was wildly popular and really brilliantly done, I would want to claim the success for that too, especially in this case where (as evidenced by the fact it was published by someone else), it's clear the story was awesome enough to stand on its own.
5. In short, I wish everyone the best and would love to see all these ladies become famous authors, I'm just worried this is going to mean we will now soon be forbidden from writing twific, and that would be a very sad thing for a lot of people.
I don't believe I could have stated things much better. I have not yet B&B either, but have heard good things. I can understand the mixed feelings and fear of Twi-fic getting the axe, however, I do not believe one book will be enough to cause this to happen.
If SM chose to nix Twi-fic, I'm sure it would be a decision based upon egregious situations in which several authors profited from ideas clearly tied to the
Twilight franchise. Like Elise, I am no expert on legalese, but am sure that action will be taken if deemed necessary.
Changing names and details is not, in itself, enough to separate Twi-inspired stories into original fiction. However, I've been reading topics in the "Publishing" Thread (
http://twilighted.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=58), I have learned a lot about converting work into published manuscripts. Many AH stories are amazingly written and have wonderful, original plot lines. Some of the characters are a far cry from SM's, and the only thing that really ties the work to Twi-fic is the use of SM's character names. From what I've gathered, if a fanfic author has a prayer of being published, they need to pull their stories and do substantial rewrites. With that said, it is likely that B&B has been significantly edited to reflect these necessary changes, thus separating the work from Twi-fic.
Fanfiction, although caveatting off of popular published work, is a wonderful arena where novice writer's can develop their craft and try their hand at producing work. It's ideal because there already is a fan base craving more. Taking an original story idea and plugging in already beloved characters practically guarantees that at least someone will read it, even if the character development and storyline is entirely different from the published work. The author can receive feedback, which will help them develop their writing and story. In this instance that substantial edits have been made to completely distance one's work from fanfic, I don't personally believe it is unethical to pursue publication. In B&Bs case, I think the fact that the title remained the same is what is at the forefront of the controversy, seeing as the fanfic version was published online under the same name. This serves as a direct link to Tw-dom and is a bit dodgey. However, I have no clue on the legal aspects of publication and copyright, but I'm sure Omnific is well versed in this area.
As far as profit and readership is concerned, this is all circumstantial. Just because a novel is published does not mean it's going to achieve extreme success, or even minor success. Readership is tied to that factor. Even though many people have read this story online for free, there number of potential readers and buyers outside of Twi-fic is larger. Thus, even if Twi-fic readers wouldn't purchase the book because they've already read it for free online, there are many others who live their lives outside of Twilight and fanfic completely (shocking, I know...note the sarcasm
).
Anyway, the general consensus I'm seeing is that everyone is supportive of the author themselves, which is truly great to hear. I believe that everyone's feelings in regards to the issue are completely valid. It will be very interesting to follow the "fanfic publication" issue for this and other stories.
Thanks for starting this thought provoking thread! It's definitely interesting to hear opinions in regards to this matter!
