Fanfic: Threat, or menace?
Mar. 21st, 2006 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebitterguyLadies 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.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 01:47 am (UTC)My experiences isn't that the sub-grouped geeks do it any more, just that they tend to be more noticeable (as any group is once you label a sub-group) about it.
In my experiences, most geeks tend to snipe at some sub-group, for when they meet someone who says, "You play D&D?" with some bit of disbelief or snark in their voice, and the offended person says, "Yeah, but at least I'm not a furry!" to which everyone agrees this is a good thing.
As for the sex and geek thing, well, I've been having sex about as long as I understood the 'geek' concept (started having sex in jr high) so I can't really say. But then, I'm still game for a good debate/argument over which sooper d00d would win a fight, whether before or after having sex. (Even better is that most of my lovers have been the sort I could have that very debate with... or other geeky debates.)
As for the not to their face thing, well, I've always been of the sort to say to their face what I'd say behind their backs - to not do so, IMO, is rather unfair and/or cowardly.
Personally, anyone who takes offense to anyone mocking their preferences in entertainment needs to ask themselves if they really want to be a furry, fanfic reader/writer, masturbator, wrestling fan, whatever. B/c if you care what some random schlub on the internet thinks about your enjoyment of it, then maybe you're not really meant to enjoy it.
/soapbox
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Date: 2006-03-22 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 02:13 am (UTC)Actually, I agree with you on that. ;)
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Date: 2006-03-22 02:38 am (UTC)That said, the buttkicking has also gone the other way.
Geekdom forever.
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Date: 2006-03-22 02:40 am (UTC)Yeah, that's b/c the ultimate answer to "Who would win between X and Y" is 'whomever the writer wants to win'.
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Date: 2006-03-22 02:53 am (UTC)Speaking of which, when I was in 5th or sixth grade, I created a series of comic strip pages wherein Marauder Gumby (he's, like, Gumby, but he's got a leather jacket, shades and an attitude) killed superman in a fistfight. Well, dismembered him to be precise. Superman lost why? Because I felt like it. :)
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Date: 2006-03-22 03:03 am (UTC)Did he at least use a magic or kryptonite knife to cut up Supes?
Or maybe he was made out of kryptonite... that would explain why he was green! Yeah....
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Date: 2006-03-22 03:05 am (UTC)I hadn't thought of the Kryptonite angle... hmmmm....
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Date: 2006-03-22 03:08 am (UTC)See.. genius. Pure genius.
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Date: 2006-03-22 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 02:12 pm (UTC)