Fanfiction.net is being hypocritical.

I'm not posting a fanfic, but this is about a fanfic, so I figured it goes in this topic.

A day or so ago, an author named Clez, who's also a very good friend of mine, submitted a story relating to the movie Queen of the Damned. Now, fanfiction.net doesn't allow stories by Anne Rice, so they deleted the story and suspended her for a week.

I'm bringing this up because there are about twenty or more other stories that relate to Queen of the Damned that the moderators haven't done anything about, and yet they deleted hers. Sorry if you think I'm taking up space with this rant, but I think this is incredibly unfair for her.

So, if you are a fellow writer at fanfiction.net, as I am, please contact the site to complain. Or, you can contact me, at [email protected]

Thank you for your time.

I don't write Anne Rice stuff on FanFiction.net, but this incident doesn't seem really fair. The moderators need to keep on top of things and weed out all the inappropriate stories!

I know Clez, she's reviewed some of my stuff!

Why won't they allow Anne Rice?

Originally posted by Phoenix

Why won't they allow Anne Rice?

Because Anne Rice has stated that people are not allowed to write fanfiction about her stuff.

I don't think thats even the issue here: the moderators banned her while dozens (if not hundreds) of other authors still have fanfics on there with Anne Rice material!

we should mass e-mail them in protest...

On a point of accuracy, unless the authors who have the material also run the site, this is the site admins being sloppy, not hypocritical- and a protest should recognise that.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
On a point of accuracy, unless the authors who have the material also run the site, this is the site admins being sloppy, not hypocritical- and a protest should recognise that.

Yeah, I know. I just thought "hypocritical" sounded more fitting, or something like that. 😉

I was wondering why there was no Anne Rice on ff.net. I've been looking for a Queen of the Damned or Interview fic. Is there ANYWHERE that will post them?

Originally posted by Marandalee1988
I was wondering why there was no Anne Rice on ff.net. I've been looking for a Queen of the Damned or Interview fic. Is there ANYWHERE that will post them?

While I tend to be of the mind that fanfiction is a waste of time, I wouldn't go so far as to say it warrants litigation.

Why would you have an issue with people using your characters creatively in a non-profit sort of way?

It really alienates a portion of your fanbase for no reason.

Because it is copyright infringement (even if no one is profiting from it) and the holder of said copyright can defend it as strictly as they wish. It's their intellectual property, after all.

From an artistic standpoint, I can understand why a writer may also not be amused by all the horrible things that fanfiction writers can do to their characters.

I wouldn't advocate censorship/litigation (so long as the ff writers don't go for profit), but at the same time I've always thought that if you have any kind of skill as a writer you're better off writing your own stories.

I think it was TS Elliot who said that bad poets (substitute writer) "borrow" while good poets "steal".

Borrowing would be fanfiction, stealing would be retelling a story with your own unique spin such that it's barely recognizable as descending from the original. That's the basis of all real fiction.

Originally posted by Peach
Because it is copyright infringement (even if no one is profiting from it) and the holder of said copyright can defend it as strictly as they wish. It's their intellectual property, after all.

Originally posted by Peach
Because it is copyright infringement (even if no one is profiting from it) and the holder of said copyright can defend it as strictly as they wish. It's their intellectual property, after all.

It's a very flimsy case, and there's no tangible amount of money involved—as there would be if someone were to make money off of her intellectual property or illegally distribute her works.

Originally posted by Astner
While you're right I don't think that Anne Rice would take legal action against it because, economically speaking, it's not within her best interest to do so.

It's a very flimsy case, and there's no tangible amount of money involved—as there would be if someone were to make money off of her intellectual property or illegally distribute her works.

I'm admittedly not well versed in copyright law (I abandoned my aspirations for Law School just after two semesters of pre-law) but I would think that the onus would not be on Anne Rice to prove infringement but more on FF.net to prove that fair use hadn't been overstepped/violated. I wouldn't expect Rice to win, but I don't know if I'd call her case "flimsy"

Originally posted by Barker
Did you read the part of my post where I talked about there being no tangible benefit to Rice? And how this alienates the most passionate part of her fanbase?

Except that really it doesn't, as she's had the "no fanfic or derivative works allowed" stance for nearly two decades. Pretty much everyone is aware of this already and has been for a long, long time.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
While I tend to be of the mind that fanfiction is a waste of time.

That's dumb. It doesn't make any sense.

Spending time with characters we love is NEVER a waste of time.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
I've always thought that if you have any kind of skill as a writer you're better off writing your own stories.

And what makes you think we can't write both?

Unfair like a few things on this site......

Originally posted by chilled monkey
That's dumb. It doesn't make any sense.

Spending time with characters we love is NEVER a waste of time.

And what makes you think we can't write both?

Agreed. What better way to be inspired than by knowing what's possible? I'm an aspiring writer myself, and being a "skilled" writer is by no means an inherent quality.

Like any art, you have to persist like hell to even be able produce anything worthwhile, and fanfiction, for many (preferably the truly faithful and dedicated), is a healthy outlet for one's imagination and skillbuilding. Fanart is a similar avenue, as it requires an exhaustive effort from the artists and encourages them to apply and better themselves at their trade. One wouldn't dismiss that as a "waste of time" (no offense, Omega), so why would we do it with fanfiction?

Sure, I admit that there's an unfortunate frequency of those who would carelessly saturate the art with frivolous wish fulfillment with no real artistic intent, but God forbid we narrow our minds as result and overlook those who actually give a shit about what they're doing.

For the sake of future artists, we need to be able to provide them with constructive perspective; praise them for their strengths and point out their weaknesses so that they may correct them. To add to the earlier comment about how "the best poets 'steal'", these things allow authors/artists to challenge their understanding of works that inspired them to begin with so as to eventually translate what they've learned from it to their own original works. It would be more difficult for the relatively inexperienced to determine these things, would it not?