Should unfinished posthumous novels be published?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

But the onus is also squarely on the author (while they're alive) to ensure that their final wishes can't be trampled on by greedy publishers/relatives. If it's important enough to you... take care of business and set it up though a lawyer.

Which answers my question quite nicely, thank you. Nice to know that only a cop with his gun drawn will keep the vultures out of my belongings when I go.

[DiapDealer]

Nice to know that only a cop with his gun drawn will keep the vultures out of my belongings when I go.

It's not like taking a dead man's boots is a recent development or anything.

For the record, I agree with you that personal drafts, outlines and ideas shouldn't be fair game for the vultures when authors die. But since everyone knows that they will be... don't leave it up to chance and word of mouth. Back your wishes with legal papers or accept the fact that your unpublished scribblings will be scrutinized for "publishable material." Those are the two choices.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Is there no reason to protect an individual's privacy, if it takes the form of a written word or created image that they created solely for themselves, and do not wish to show to anyone save their God?

I suppose we could portion off a section of the network for private ramblings and such, but we are talking about writings that the author did mean to be published at some point, even though what we have might be incoherent ramblings, it might still be an interesting read.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

I suppose we could portion off a section of the network for private ramblings and such, but we are talking about writings that the author did mean to be published at some point, even though what we have might be incoherent ramblings, it might still be an interesting read.

That's not necassarily true. How many authors now have private letters and diaries published posthumosly because the hiers stand to make a buck out of it? No one writing a love letter really contemplates that in 50 years when they are dead and famous that those very personal letters might be published all for the sake of "insight into the author" (read: profit by the heirs).

And as for drafts, until an author has actually sent those drafts out the door, you cannot make claim that they were ever intended for publication. They could have fully finished it and chucked it into the fire after being unhappy with it. I'm not arguing against posthumous publication generally, only where it violates the authors wishes.

I have to agree with Steven here. Its sad that it takes a lawyer and the threat of lawsuits to prevent an authors wishes from being ignored. But if people would show an ounce of consideration for people both before and after death, there would be alot fewer people in my profession.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Hm. I've got a lot of illustrations... things I created before I started writing. I'd wanted them to be destroyed when I die.

Guess I'd better just take care of it myself.

Of course, a lot of this might be rendered moot if Very Secure Passwords become ubiquitous. If I can secure all of my writings behind a reasonably unbreakable password, once I'm gone, no one will be getting into those files.

Problem solved!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Hm. I've got a lot of illustrations... things I created before I started writing. I'd wanted them to be destroyed when I die.

Guess I'd better just take care of it myself.

Of course, a lot of this might be rendered moot if Very Secure Passwords become ubiquitous. If I can secure all of my writings behind a reasonably unbreakable password, once I'm gone, no one will be getting into those files.

Problem solved!

That's exactly what I was just thinking.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Hm. I've got a lot of illustrations... things I created before I started writing. I'd wanted them to be destroyed when I die.

Guess I'd better just take care of it myself.

Of course, a lot of this might be rendered moot if Very Secure Passwords become ubiquitous. If I can secure all of my writings behind a reasonably unbreakable password, once I'm gone, no one will be getting into those files.

Problem solved!

For a couple of years, until VSPs have been hacked. Then you'll need Very Very Very Secure passwords.

Never count on current tech to last forever.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

And as for drafts, until an author has actually sent those drafts out the door, you cannot make claim that they were ever intended for publication. They could have fully finished it and chucked it into the fire after being unhappy with it. I'm not arguing against posthumous publication generally, only where it violates the authors wishes.

And what if there was no door to send things out of? What if everything just existed in its own place at all times?

At what point do we say a work has been published? When the creator of the work determines it to be so? Would creating a single copy of a work and leaving it on your coffee table cause the work to be published if the author wills it to be so? Does this act of publishing qualify as sending itself out the door? Has the work now entered the public consciousness to be acted upon? Able to be torn apart and reworked into something more?

[JDK1962]

Agree with those saying it's up to the author to deal with. But (IMHO) very, very, very few writers will ever have the problem.

I'm sure the big commercial names (e.g., Robert Ludlum, L. Ron Hubbard) are laughing in their graves about their names continuing to appear on books, since I feel confident in saying they were writing for the money anyway. I've no doubt that, 30 years after James Patterson's demise, we'll still be seeing books coming out of his factory ("based on a 3-second rambling of James Patterson into a Dictaphone!"), and he's probably already planned it out.

For the literary names, it's a harder call. Agree that if they thought something was publishable, they probably would have published it. To take the original post, I think if DFW wanted his book finished/published, he would have stuck around to do it. But he clearly could have left a direction of what to do with it. Or burned it. Point is, he gave up control of his own work, and for better or worse, the result is in his canon now.

Writing is (intellectual) property with real value, and it's unrealistic to think that heirs won't treat it as such. IMHO, Kafka is really the only special case worth discussing, since it's probably the best known case of a writer's explicit wishes being overridden. It opens up a very rare but philosophically interesting can of worms.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

And what if there was no door to send things out of? What if everything just existed in its own place at all times?

At what point do we say a work has been published? When the creator of the work determines it to be so? Would creating a single copy of a work and leaving it on your coffee table cause the work to be published if the author wills it to be so? Does this act of publishing qualify as sending itself out the door? Has the work now entered the public consciousness to be acted upon? Able to be torn apart and reworked into something more?

Legally speaking, when he submits it to his publisher for sale, sells it directly or otherwise disseminates it in a manner consistent with his intent to make it available for public consumption. And by public, i mean doing more than passing it around to editors, or a select group of friends seeking a critique. Or in the case of the web, more than just sending it to a beta.
You seem not to care at all that a writer has a very real property right in his creation just as much a if he'd built a hot rod or a house with his hands. If he wills that hotrod be dismantled on his death or that house destroyed or otherwise disposed of, its his perogative, just as much with his creative works left behind.

It is his by definition. It does not cease to be his just because he pulled it out of his head and put it on paper. You don't have the right to consume that material until he says you do.

[Penforhire]

I'm with astrangerhere. Stuff on my personal hard drive or my password-protected cloud storage is NOT yours to rummage through after I'm gone. Just because I wrote it down doesn't mean I want you to read it.

Even in the modern always-connected age there remain obvious available borders between self and public. Are those borders so hard to see and respect?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I'm with astrangerhere. Stuff on my personal hard drive or my password-protected cloud storage is NOT yours to rummage through after I'm gone. Just because I wrote it down doesn't mean I want you to read it.

Even in the modern always-connected age there remain obvious available borders between self and public. Are those borders so hard to see and respect?

Obviously, when it comes to things people want... respect, rights and borders are irrelevant to them.

[JSWolf]

I am surprised nobody has mention the Wheel fo Time series with Brandon Sanderson taking over for Robert Jordan.

[DiapDealer]

That was arranged by Jordan before he died. There is no issue. All is proceeding as RJ wished it to be.

[crich70]

Some books I think fall into a grey area. Billy Budd by Herman Melville for example. He died in 1891 but Billy Budd wasn't published til 1924 when someone found it, completed it and saw it published (according to Wikipedia). On the one hand it was a book by Melville, but due to him having not had it published in his lifetime it's still under copyright though it was (mostly) written before 1900. Most books aren't in such a grey area as Melville's book as far as copyright goes though I don't think. It's nice to have a complete set of a favorite writer's works, and if he/she had a book completed but not yet published at their time of death I think the option should be there to have the MS published if their family wishes. And sometimes books can be considered as collectible by the readers as well. Like J.R.R. Tolkien's "Unfinished Tales" books for example. They show the development of what became LOTR and some readers like to explore the evolution of such a volume. Of course the final say comes down to the author's family and the publishers. If either one says "no" then nothing will happen.