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Fanfic: Threat, or menace?
Mar. 21st, 2006 03:59 pmLadies and Gentlemen, today on People on the Internet getting Angry about Stuff, we present Robin Hobb, famed author of something. Apparently, Ms. Hobb doesn't like fanfic, so she has taken valuable writing time to let us all know.
You know, it's amusing. I don't like fanfic either. If you'd like to lubricate my brain with delicious alcohol sometime, I'll be happy to tell you about the time I was trapped in a hotel on the outskirts of Lansing, Michigan at Media*West (what is the opposite of a sausage fest, kids?), and the horrors I experienced within. You'll never be able to see a rerun of The Sentinel
I also agree with her that FanFic probably stifles a great deal of a writer's creativity. I have a dear friend who is quite a prolific fanfic writer. I've pled with them to try creating their own worlds and characters. No, they reply, I'm not very good at that.
Jesus, it's like being a baseball player who can run bases very well, but can't hit the ball. Learning to hit the ball isn't always easy, but it's part of the package. So put the metaphorical rubber rings on your metaphorical Louisville Slugger, and swing away. Dammit.
However, past that point, I diverge with her, in that I don't care. Okay, I do get to do this from the lofty position of a someone who is not a Published Author who must Fight Tooth and Nail to Defend her Vital Intellectual Property.
I am not someone who cares about trademarks or copyright, really, since I have none of my own to defend. I can't, at this moment, tell you which one needs to be defended, which ones need to be registered, or any of the other related quirks of IP law. I can't even tell you if game rules can be copywrited. Copywritten. Protected under copyright law. Copywrite law? Crap, I'm zoning. It's pumpkins all over again.
Anyway. Apparently Robin Hobb has gotten angry, and others have gotten angry back. I try very hard to be interested, but this is way out of my monkeysphere.
You know, it's amusing. I don't like fanfic either. If you'd like to lubricate my brain with delicious alcohol sometime, I'll be happy to tell you about the time I was trapped in a hotel on the outskirts of Lansing, Michigan at Media*West (what is the opposite of a sausage fest, kids?), and the horrors I experienced within. You'll never be able to see a rerun of The Sentinel
I also agree with her that FanFic probably stifles a great deal of a writer's creativity. I have a dear friend who is quite a prolific fanfic writer. I've pled with them to try creating their own worlds and characters. No, they reply, I'm not very good at that.
Jesus, it's like being a baseball player who can run bases very well, but can't hit the ball. Learning to hit the ball isn't always easy, but it's part of the package. So put the metaphorical rubber rings on your metaphorical Louisville Slugger, and swing away. Dammit.
However, past that point, I diverge with her, in that I don't care. Okay, I do get to do this from the lofty position of a someone who is not a Published Author who must Fight Tooth and Nail to Defend her Vital Intellectual Property.
I am not someone who cares about trademarks or copyright, really, since I have none of my own to defend. I can't, at this moment, tell you which one needs to be defended, which ones need to be registered, or any of the other related quirks of IP law. I can't even tell you if game rules can be copywrited. Copywritten. Protected under copyright law. Copywrite law? Crap, I'm zoning. It's pumpkins all over again.
Anyway. Apparently Robin Hobb has gotten angry, and others have gotten angry back. I try very hard to be interested, but this is way out of my monkeysphere.
