Came across this article on LJ today.
Still trying to puzzle through the claim that fanfiction is “immoral.”
As ever, JKR knows where shit’s at.
To be fair, she doesn’t exactly need more money.I understand where the authors are coming from, but I don’t think they’re very well-informed on what fanfiction really is.
yeah. they seem to think that fanfiction is like piracy, and that if people do it less people will purchase/read their books.
I don’t really see how fanfiction would have any effect on monetary gains by the authors, if anything it would promote their books.
so yeah, they seem a bit misinformed.
Yeah, see, I don’t really understand the whole monetary reason thing, because my own experience has proved it wrong. Take, for example, The Dresden Files. I’d had friends tell me to read it, had looked it up, and had contemplated buying it a few times, only to go with something else. It looked interesting, but… not really interesting enough for me to invest the money. And then I stumbled upon some crossover fanfiction that I can’t even remember the name of. And I loved the character and the concept. Suddenly, I really, really wanted to read about this Harry Dresden guy and all his adventures. Fanfic was the reason why I decided to go for it. (And now I have given Jim Butcher all of my money, so.)
The thing is, summaries can only do so much to capture the essence of a book, and if it’s a crap summary, guess what? I’m not going to buy it. But if I see a fanfic author I really like, writing stories about that same title? I’m more likely to check it out. It’s free advertising. I can’t see how that could be a minus.
(I do, however, kind of understand why an author would hate when their poor children get mutilated for the sake of entertainment. But still.)
[edit] Actually, writing fanfiction is kind of like, “I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOUR SERIES SO MUCH I WANT TO PIMP IT OUT TO ALL MY FRIENDS ALL OVER THE WORLD,” and denying it is kind of. “I don’t want your love I WILL SUE YOU FOR LOVING ME.” (Although possibly I am biased.)
(via starmines)
