Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
It's not less work to write in a world with existing characters than to make up new ones. There's a potential argument that it's harder--you have to match preconceived notions of how the characters will act--but I think that balances out with having existing traits to draw on. A believable "what happens next" story takes just as much creativity and literary skill as a "here's what happened to people you've never heard of" story.
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A tangential aside, since whether or not it's easier or harder is not the point at all, but I'm not buying the "harder" argument for one second.
Good writing is good writing and it may be hard no matter what, but starting with a successful, popular idea does nothing but make it easier.
Like in TV, comparatively lots of writers write or contribute to episodes of successful series, but far fewer create a successful, popular show that goes on to employee those episode writers, and generate fan fic.
Now, show me a fanfic writer who was was perhaps the ONLY fan of an obscure forgotten property, and who's fanfic work MADE it into something popular, and I'll agree that person did the harder work.
But as I said, that's all an aside. Copyright exists to give the creator control for a period of time. It's
supposed to be a reasonably limited time, to encourage the production of work that will LATER be available to everyone, for all kinds of uses, but for the limited period of copyright, it's up to the owner as to how it's used. There's no reason for or defense of publishing fanfic from that point of view. And I think it's a good point of view, if only we can get that "reasonable time" thing back into existence.
Until then, various progressive and novel licensing terms are the way to, not undermining copyright protection altogether.
ApK