Diane Gabaldon "barfs" at fanfic

[animeartistjo]

apocalypsos notified us about another author who hates fanfiction and man, oh, man, Diane Gabaldon takes the cake. Of course, I'm biased, but so is everyone else. In case you missed it, that's my disclaimer.

In the blog post, Ms. Gabaldon patronizes, condescends, and essentially does her best to portray fanfiction writers as the worst thing that has happened since Lucifer fell and Hell was created. I've actually read one of her books (not her Outlander series) and while I loved her descriptions and characters, it's a bit Mary-Sueish, to use a fandom term. It's a grown-up, better written, slightly less crazy version of the more well-known Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. 

She begins with this lovely paragraph:
"OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I _know_ it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters."

She "knows" it's illegal and it makes her want to "barf."

As a fanfic reader, sometime writer, and a member of the fanfiction community, I know just how gray fanfiction is, legal-wise. It's a huge debate among writers of fic that resurfaces every year or so. But really, some of my absolute favorite writers (Jim Butcher, Mercedes Lackey, and even the venerable Anne McCaffrey) are absolutely awesome about it: Creative Commons license, don't profit from it, and don't tell me about it.

I'm a bit more conciliatory about her points in the post, but seriously, no matter what happens, fanfiction won't disappear because you disapprove of it. That's the danger that comes from making anything public (and this makes me realize if I ever manage to get clients, locked layers, pdfs, and jpegs only!).

"I would like to point out that fanfiction is, actually, not plagiarism. From plagiarism.com: "According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to 'plagiarize' means

* to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
* to use (another's production) without crediting the source
* to commit literary theft
* to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward."

Every fanfic I've ever read, good or bad, bears a disclaimer right under the title. Fanfic writers are not stealing credit from you and ethical ones certainly don't profit from it!

Plagiarism would be copying and pasting parts of your books and rarely do fanfiction have any of that. They may quote dialogue, but with the disclaimer serving as the citation, it's almost like how an academic paper might use a quotation from your works. The readers of fanfiction are usually also other fans and would recognize quotes and know which part is your work and which is the fanfic author's.

Please also keep in mind that all fanfic writers love the works they write about and in your extremely condescending, patronizing, and negative stance, you are alienating a portion of your audience. Many of my friends hate Celine Dion and refuse to listen to her music because of her personal life. Your attitude can influence people who have never encountered your works before this post and you have missed out on potential customers.

Perhaps you could take a look at the silver lining. Often, I would read books I wouldn't otherwise if a fanfic author I like writes fanfic about it. A well known fanfiction author could promote your works very well on the web! It's a different kind of viral marketing if you look at it this way.

I love fanfiction and see no harm in it, so what I've just posted is biased. However, to some of the more intense comments, I believe that if you've never read fanfic before, or been a part of the fanfiction community, you do not have a right to deride what you are ignorant about. Please also keep in mind that fanfiction is a huge and varied community, just like any other online entity. You may have had the misfortune to stumble upon one of the more poorly run/written communities if you reaction is so extreme."


Added after 150 or so comments were posted after the above:

"A lot of the comments cite examples or similes that involve the fanfic author getting credit in some way, whether it be fame or fortune.

But guys, all fanfic writers write under usernames and while we're close knit online, we're actually spread out physically all over the world so we don't really know each other in real life. There are no personal benefits besides reviews from readers.

Essentially, we don't profit from writing fic, okay?

There is no personal credit or recognition, except that between fans. There are no real life pay-offs of any kind.

Of course, there are always the bad apples who want money for their fic but rest assured, the rest of us disapprove just as much as you.

Also, for those of you wondering why don't we just write original fiction, fanfiction is, like many of the comments from other pro-fic people have said, is a way for fans to get more material on already beloved universes/characters/etc. It's by fans FOR fans and we police ourselves pretty strictly, you can be sure of that. I'm not just speaking about the Outlander fandom, but fanfic in general as the trend responses seemed to have moved that way. In regards to Ms. Gabaldon's creations--well, now that we know, we'll stay away from her sandbox.

Another argument that seems to pop up is that fanfic authors are wrongly portraying Ms. Gabaldon's characters. I would just like to clarify that just like the literary world, there are good and bad fanfic authors. If your only exposure to fanfiction is fanfiction.net, it's my duty to inform you that to good fanfic authors, that place is a cesspool. For a good fic writer (No, we do no refer to ourselves as fanficcers), there is this thing as "in-character" (IC) and "out-of-character" (OOC).

Please do not deride or condemn what you do not know very well."

While some comments were posted by people who have no idea what fanfiction is and were just really incensed about this illegal writing, there are lots of good ones for and against fanfiction that I had fun reading from a purely academic standpoint.

UPDATE
Fantastic! It's been 6 hours since I've posted and the 72 comments have ballooned to over 360. If nothing else, Ms. Gabaldon should now realize how much online power fanfic writers have.

Another user, Lanna-lovely, posted a comment that sums up the rest of my reaction to this post:

"@martha...

"I am agog at reading some of the posts by people condemning you wanting to protect your work that YOU have developed over two decades."

Not all of the people here are "condemning" her for wanting to protect her work (I say "not all" because I've not read every single comment so I don't know if any people ARE doing that).

But I'm not condemning her for that. I think she's got fanfiction all wrong, BUT I think she's perfectly entitled to say she doesn't want fanfiction written about her stories.

The thing I'm not cool with is the fact that what she has written is aimed at ALL fanfic writers, not just people writing about her stories. AND she is insulting them, as has been pointed out before, comparing them to perverts, real life criminals and woman who seduce married men (reread her post if you missed all those oh-so-flattering analogies she threw in there).

If she had simply said she doesn't want fanfiction written about her characters, people would respect that. Just like with Anne Rice. The people who would write fanfiction are her fans, they respect her and write fanfics out of love for her work - but if she had made it clear she didn't want fanfics written about her stories, then her fans would listen.

But no. She didn't do that. Instead she wrote this whiney post insulting fanfic authors in general (and then a bunch of people who are ignorant about fanfiction and what it's about have then proceeded to call fanfic authors plagiarists in the comments and thiefs and insult them more - fanfiction doesn't take any money from the authors, the people writing it bought her books and plagiarism is copy directly and claiming it as your own and not crediting the original source... fanfic authors don't do that).

I'm sure my comments here may come across as harsh, but author or not, Diana is just a person and she was disrespectful and insulting to a whole load of people with this blog post so I'm not going to be all nice and sugarcoat my comments to spare her feelings when she didn't grant other people that same curtesy. She didn't even tell her fans she was against fanfiction giving them a chance to show they'd be respectful to her wishes, she just went ahead and insulted them."

And this lovely lady, Apteryx, brings up another incredibly relevant point! Uncut for the sweetness.

"Diana, I have to say I think you're being really precious about this.

I have never read fan fiction but it seems to me to be a completely natural thing for FANS to do. It is simply an adult version of children dressing up as their favourite characters from books and tv shows and role playing with those characters using their imagination and love for them.

And it is something that only the truly fanatical would do. These people are your biggest fans and you are crapping all over them. Fan fiction is produced from love.

I would also like to remind you that you have stolen other author's characters and put them in your books. Admittedly they are usually in cameos and I can't remember them all but one example is Dorothy Dunnett's 'Comte de Sevigny' who appears in Dragonfly in Amber. I assume you did this out of respect and admiration. I would suggest to you that writers of Outlandish fan fic are motivated by the same reasons. Although maybe not anymore after this blog of yours."

I wonder if Diane Gabaldon expected such a furor? And now that it's happened, whether she'll take the coward's way out and simply delete her post?

Also, I love you guys. I love how fanfic readers and writers all unite in the face of adversity despite our OTP wars and such.

UPDATE: Take 2
Okay, what? When I click on "oldest" for comments, I see 360. When I click "newest," I get 237. Why can't I read everything?

Lulz--also just realized I participated in my very first fandom wank.

Comments

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

What a fantastic comment (your comment, I mean). I just read Diane Galbaldon's post and found it very depressing. I'm pretty new to fanfiction, having only really got into it through Merlin at the end of 2008, and I've been constantly amazed by the quality of the work that appears as fanfic (sometimes, dare I say it, better than the show itself). I suppose it is a difficult one for authors, and there are legal ramifications etc etc, but it's fun, it's (mostly) harmless and I found her comments to be patronising in the extreme. For what it's worth, I don't write Merlin fanfic because I want to write my own stuff one day, or because I feel like I can't write unless I have established characters, I write it because I love the characters so much that what I get on screen isn't enough and I want to read/write more about them. I can't write if I'm not motivated to do so, and the thought of making up an original character/world just doesn't interest me at the moment. I have a job and other work, as I know most fanfic writers do, and my fanfiction is a hobby. I do it because I enjoy it. The end. I think, from reading some of the negative replies to her piece, that many people have no idea what it is or what's involved or how much fun people have with it. I have friends who think my fanfic hobby is a bit odd, and without taking part in that fannish world, it's really very hard to convince them otherwise.

I don't know. I guess I just don't know why people would want to stop something that brings a lot of happiness and creative fulfilment to people and as far as I can see, doesn't actually hurt anyone or the author.

Please excuse the slight rant here!

[animeartistjo.livejournal.com]

Yay! I feel the same way. I head to the web for fic when I love a show and want MOAR. It's so true that you have to be open-minded in order to really appreciate fic. It helps if you're reading the well written stuff too. I bet Gabaldon went onto ff.net. XD

Heheh, no need to be excused. I built this journal to rant and read rants in turn.

[maderr.livejournal.com]

Since when is McCaffery cool with fanfiction? Granted, it's been years since I've really been hard in fandom, and shit changes, but I remember when she was demanding all her shit be taken off ff.net and other sites. I only remember because Anne McCaffery disapproved, but Anne Rice was a fucking whackjob about it.

But, I could be misremembering, who knows.

It's sad to hear that Gabaldon is against it. I always thought she was a cooler person than that.

[animeartistjo.livejournal.com]

Nono, I remember the same as you--I think she recently changed it. A lot of authors have been, when I googled a few of my favorites.

Hmmm, I must look up this Anne Rice thing. You're not the first to have mentioned it.

[evilmissbecky.livejournal.com]

I think that's a great comment. As a wannabe-author, I think I would actually be very flattered by fanfiction about my work. To know that I created a world and characters that people feel so strongly about that they want to continue their adventures in fanfic...well, how could you not love that?

[animeartistjo.livejournal.com]

This may be a case of nature vs nurture, as most of us fanfic writers have grown up with it. Maybe for Ms. Gabaldon, this was like being smacked in the face with a wet fish so she reacted accordingly.

I just really hated how she ranted without really checking out the huge world of fandom. I think, when deriding fans and before you post such an inflammatory post, the wise author should check with your publicist/agent/editor. Because this is an enormous shit storm (forgive my French) now. There's actual back-and-forth debate in the comments!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

She writes such awful books ... Excellent comment, though!

[animeartistjo.livejournal.com]

Maybe? I read one of her novels back in my freshman year of high school and found it okay, but I've recently realized my tastes have evolved as that was 8 years ago. I remember it read like a romance novel in a historical fantasy-type setting and was enamored. It wasn't the Outlander series though--that one gave me the heebie geebies. XD

Thank you! I was trying to point out the fallacies of previous comments while defending my beloved hobby and informing Ms. Gabaldon that this really wasn't the wisest course of action in an non-confrontational way.

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

I have this to say about fanfiction:

I stumbled across HP fanfiction purely by (happy) mistake. Until then, I had no interest whatsoever in the HP verse. Once I got involved in fanfiction, both as an avid reader and a writer, I purchased each book in the series, have gone to see the movies and have purchase them on DVD, and have spent my money on other HP souvenirs such as Tshirts, notebooks, Valentines, action figures, etc.

Fanfiction can CREATE fans, and Ms Gabaldon should keep that in mind. I have never read any of her books, although I've been somewhat intrigued with the premise, but I can tell you now after reading this, I will NOT be buying or reading anything of hers.

She can take her fucking ball and go crying back home.

[animeartistjo.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I think 25% of the comments were along the lines of yours. Poor little author, posting too quickly in anger. XD I guess she was secure enough in her popularity and content with the current market share she possesses to post this thing.

[xiaou-xijiang.livejournal.com]

I find this *fascinating* to read from an outsider's stand point. I feel like I'm watching a boxing match or something.

While I agree (as a writer) that she's probably reacting to the supposed threat to her original work, I can't help but do a little victory dance with every other post that refutes her logically. Mostly because of the insulting way she presented her argument.


I personally would feel a bit flattered that someone found my world/characters innovating enough to try fan fiction, but to each his own I guess.

I wonder how she'll respond.

[avalon13.livejournal.com]

Greater authors than her have dealt with this with more grace.

[adores-draco.livejournal.com]

This has actually nothing to do with anything but she does have one thing in common with fanfic writers. Over doze of sex scenes. I've read a couple of her books and I like the idea of time travelling. But does there really have to be a rape or at least a rape attempt on every other page to keep the readers interested? No, I'm not exaggerating at all. Ever. :)

Please notice that I'm only hanging around here because I love slash and especially H/D slash. But het and especially not-so-well written het is just SO gross. Especially in trashy books. :D

[animeartistjo.livejournal.com]

I know! I read on the other commments and the reader said that there was a scene where someone's hand was nailed down and then they were raped! OMG, such hypocrisy.

[xiaou-xijiang.livejournal.com]

this may be relevant to your interests!

this

[animeartistjo.livejournal.com]

VERY relevant! I love hearing about cool cat authors like this.

Thanks for the link!