Often there wasn't any "filing" needed at all because the uber fanfics (AUs where the characters have different names than the original characters because they are reincarnations or whatever) didn't contain anything that directly referred to the show.
That would count as a likely candidate for "inspired by", at least IMO. It's got hints and elements of the original, but the author takes it in her/his own direction -- plus a lot of the clues are removed.
My point about the filing off versus not-filing-at-all is that the usual/original meaning wasn't because this was good writing (or ethical or whatever) to do so, but because "if they know it's fanfiction, they won't publish you, and instead the original copyright holders will track you down and hurt you" etc etc, not to mention the fen-tendency to consider fanfic-publication tantamount to being paid for fanfic, and that's really not kosher. Thus, having former-fanfic suddenly published by NY houses (and several different works from different houses, all within a year of each other) removed the stigma, effectively, by putting a stamp of credibility or legitimacy on the notion that something could not only be former-fanfic, but that one didn't have to hide that fact.
It just seems like some authors have taken the "I don't have to lie about the story's origins in marketing/publicizing the story" to actually mean "I don't have to actually do anything to hide the story's origins within the story itself because fanfic-publication is A-okay, now!"
As for the notion of publicizing the connection between quasi-ofic and fanfic origins, I do mind being expected to pay for it, and to some degree that's because I have a knee-jerk fen-reaction to the idea of being paid for fanfic (when it claims to be nothing more than fanfic, and thus is obvious about its fannish not-for-profit original purpose/ethics) -- but it's also because in the cases where I've come across not-really-filed, I had no warning. There's nothing in the (way too short) excerpt or description to really twig me, so I'm thinking I'm going to read someone's new and fresh take on the genre. Instead I get retread, and if I wanted retread, I'd read fanfic. Okay, so sometimes I want full-on retread, but not usually, because when I actually hand over money, I want to know the author put out effort (in re own creativity) to equal the effort on my part that went into making that cash I'm now handing to the author.
I guess one way to look at it is that if authors sold only-slightly-filed fanfic as ofic, but only charged me $1.50 for the novel, I'd be like: okay, that's fine, because there's only about $1.50 of your own work in there, and the other $5 is from the original creators who-are-not-you. And I say that as someone who's written both fanfic and ofic myself, so it's not like I don't know the effort that goes into writing -- but I also know that fanfic can, at times, be much less effort than if you have to come up with the dynamics, characters, quirks, and so on from scratch, even if the general premise is inspired.
no subject
Date: 9 Feb 2010 10:32 am (UTC)That would count as a likely candidate for "inspired by", at least IMO. It's got hints and elements of the original, but the author takes it in her/his own direction -- plus a lot of the clues are removed.
My point about the filing off versus not-filing-at-all is that the usual/original meaning wasn't because this was good writing (or ethical or whatever) to do so, but because "if they know it's fanfiction, they won't publish you, and instead the original copyright holders will track you down and hurt you" etc etc, not to mention the fen-tendency to consider fanfic-publication tantamount to being paid for fanfic, and that's really not kosher. Thus, having former-fanfic suddenly published by NY houses (and several different works from different houses, all within a year of each other) removed the stigma, effectively, by putting a stamp of credibility or legitimacy on the notion that something could not only be former-fanfic, but that one didn't have to hide that fact.
It just seems like some authors have taken the "I don't have to lie about the story's origins in marketing/publicizing the story" to actually mean "I don't have to actually do anything to hide the story's origins within the story itself because fanfic-publication is A-okay, now!"
As for the notion of publicizing the connection between quasi-ofic and fanfic origins, I do mind being expected to pay for it, and to some degree that's because I have a knee-jerk fen-reaction to the idea of being paid for fanfic (when it claims to be nothing more than fanfic, and thus is obvious about its fannish not-for-profit original purpose/ethics) -- but it's also because in the cases where I've come across not-really-filed, I had no warning. There's nothing in the (way too short) excerpt or description to really twig me, so I'm thinking I'm going to read someone's new and fresh take on the genre. Instead I get retread, and if I wanted retread, I'd read fanfic. Okay, so sometimes I want full-on retread, but not usually, because when I actually hand over money, I want to know the author put out effort (in re own creativity) to equal the effort on my part that went into making that cash I'm now handing to the author.
I guess one way to look at it is that if authors sold only-slightly-filed fanfic as ofic, but only charged me $1.50 for the novel, I'd be like: okay, that's fine, because there's only about $1.50 of your own work in there, and the other $5 is from the original creators who-are-not-you. And I say that as someone who's written both fanfic and ofic myself, so it's not like I don't know the effort that goes into writing -- but I also know that fanfic can, at times, be much less effort than if you have to come up with the dynamics, characters, quirks, and so on from scratch, even if the general premise is inspired.