Quote:
Originally Posted by spindlegirl
I thought fan-fiction was about being a fan of something and writing a story based on it, not on whether or not you do it for money.
EL James said on the radio that her 50 shades series was written as a Twilight fan fiction, (I've read neither twilight nor 50 shades) and she's profiting from it.
I've clearly messed up the nomenclature, though, so I apologize.
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But you
haven't necessarily messed up the nomenclature. It's not always that clear-cut, or it at least greatly depends on who you talk to.
Generally speaking, when someone writes fanfic in a fandom that's not public domain, there is an understanding that you aren't supposed to profit from it, which can lead to drama when an author
files off the serial numbers the way E. L. James did.
However, from the (admittedly very short) forays I've made into the
Twilight fandom, the rules seem to not be the same there, and there's quite a
large list of
Twilight fic that has been published after some character name changes. (From what I hear, the same was frequently true of
Xena Uber-fic.)
So, in that way, yes fanfic authors can profit off of it -- they just can't do it monetarily without at least removing trademark infringing names and such. I've also seen people argue that fanfic authors who turn pro with original fiction are profiting off of their success as fanfiction writers because they have a built-in audience. That one greatly depends on the situation. It seems to have worked well for Cassandra Clare, for example, but not so well for Sarah Rees Brennan (who 5+ years later still gets angry letters from former fans about how her published fiction sucks, and why can't she just go back to writing
Harry Potter slashfic?). Then you've got Naomi Novik who still writes fanfic under her fandom pen name, in addition to cranking out a
Temeraire novel a year -- and manages to keep her identities separate enough that when asking for reading recommendations under her fandom name, someone recommended her own novels to her.
I actually think this is a key point of discussion. Are unauthorised Jane Austen sequels saved from being considered fanfiction just because their authors can legally make money off of them? Putting aside royalty checks, and assuming that the quality of writing is equal, what's the difference between, say,
Mr. Darcy's Daughters and the various next-gen
Harry Potter fanfics? Or between Neil Gaiman's
Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu crossover "A Study in Emerald?" and a
Sherlock/Dr. Who crossover? Where is the dividing line between pastiche and fanfic? Because from where I'm sitting, there looks like a hell of a lot of overlap.
In my opinion, the not-for-profit part of fanfic is more of an etiquette/legality thing than an actual dividing line between fanfic and not-fanfic thing. But YMMV.