Fanfiction: Inspired or plagiarized?

“There’s a time and place for everything, and I believe it’s called ‘fanfiction’.” ― Joss Whedon

In the age of the Internet, books, movies and alike tend to get a very loyal, large fan base. Through the Internet, various ideas, views and even speculations about certain stories or books are made. But this doesn’t end at discussions, conversations, or as it happens, heated debates. The readers are, more than often, so entranced or sometimes even merely interested in a story, that they bid to write various pieces on the basis of the original story.

Let’s look at this from an optimist’s perspective. Looking at it positively, we say that it not only promotes the original story, but in addition gives young writers a base to work on, and kindles their avidity for writing. Internet fan fiction also provides budding authors with a wider audience for their literary efforts than ever before, resulting in improved literacy rates.

Whereas, from a pessimistic point of view there, of course, arise legal problems. Is it right to take an entire universe created so sedulously by one person, and use their work as the basis of your own pieces? Wouldn’t it fall under plagiarism? These are questions raised very commonly by various people.

Let’s take the example of the very famous Fifty Shades of Grey. How many of you knew that it was originally a fanfiction based on the widely-popular series of Twilight? A new question arises here. The names of trademark characters and places might be changed to avoid infringement. But is it ethically right to appropriate the ideas of one, into your pieces of work?

Supporters of fan fiction have mixed feelings about the Fifty Shades of Grey’s overwhelming success. Some feel that fan fiction is not supposed to be profitable, and that James betrayed the community and its values by signing a book deal with such a major publisher. It wasn’t the first fan fiction to be published, by any means, but it was the first that was so big and so popular and got so much attention.

Still, others are hopeful that James’ success will set a precedent for writers of fan fiction to gain respect among the literary elite. Many publishers now scout potential clients through fan fiction sites.

Holly Root, a literary agent told Vanity Fair:

“There were definitely editors that said they thought [fan] fic was over, which I think is funny in retrospect. That was 2012, and how many deals [for Fifty Shades Of Grey] have there been since then?”

It seems like every few years a big name author will holler something about how evil, heinous, and morally wrong fan fiction and fan fiction writers are, and then the fans get upset. After all, the author massively insulted a large portion of their loyal fan base.

Here’s what George RR Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series, thinks about fanfiction:

“Write every day, even if it is only a page or two. The more you write, the better you’ll get. But don’t write in my universe, or Tolkien’s, or the Marvel universe, or the Star Trek universe, or any other borrowed background. Every writer needs to learn to create his own characters, worlds, and settings. Using someone else’s world is the lazy way out. If you don’t exercise those ‘literary muscles’, you’ll never develop them.”

Although, for most, fanfiction is a non-issue. The problem for fanfiction writers, like me, is getting people to read and care about our books that much in the first place. You have never would heard a mid-list or small press writer shriek about fanfic the way bestsellers do. In my opinion, as well as of fans and fanfic writers, so much ire is spent over something that ultimately helps books, keeps the conversation going past the long tail of marketing, keeps them alive and loved. This argument is a generational one. You have a whole host of authors coming into their own who grew up with fanfic as a fact of life, or even committed it themselves. Who have been messing about with creative commons since forever. A whole generation who sees fanfic as, not a nuisance, but a mark of success, a benchmark — if someone wrote fanfic about a book, then that book has really made it. Certain authors might always hate and fear fanfic, and every once in awhile the internet gets its hackles up and has a debate about it. But that should happen less and less as years go by.

You really shouldn’t stop this beat, my friends.

It’s too old, and too basic.