THANK GOODNESS you’re back and you’re responding so rationally! See? More info is the cure for jumping to conclusions. I’m glad that I was able to clear up a lot of the issues in my usual eloquent and honest way ;]
You’re forgiven for lashing out. Hyperbole is out there in the world, take this as a learning experience to not let it rile you so easily.
And it took me at least 3 hours to write that reply so it’s even better to know it was worth it.
Next time, message me privately, rather than lash out creepily on Anon.
Yes, you did change my policy, for the better. This instance was the last straw after a few prior attempts to “call me out” on things. It reminded me that this should be fun for me, I’m not paid to do it, I have no obligation to anyone (aside from the Tumblr guidelines of appropriate use). I try to make sure my facts are correct before stating anything definitive, and I admit when I don’t know smtg.
However, few ppl would come back and admit that they were a little hasty before, so that is much appreciated. Thanks for doing that. It was a huge relief.
When smtg upsets you, first do some introspection, why are you letting this rile you? Then, calmly, do some investigation and/or ask for info in a respectful way.
[2nd ask sent]– almost entirely just a complete theft of the intellectual property that they started as fan-derivative works of. so i don’t know if half of what op claims is fair? because it’s true that anne rice chased away her online fandom with a broom, but it’s not totally baseless given the circumstances. she’s not just some crazy old lady imo. sorry again, i don’t want to start a fight but i don’t agree.
Okay, so this is a HUGE topic and I could write an essay and a half on all the issues raised, but it DOES sound like you’re trying to start a fight, partly bc you submitted this on Anon (and you started w/ “this is ooc” so it’s clear you’re an RPer, infringing on the VC copyright through RP, which is writing fanfic, for free!) and partly bc of your general tone, which in all fairness I could be misreading.
I’m not sure you totally understand AR’s War on Fanfic in the early-mid 90′s, or the actual points raised in the post you disagree with so strongly, so that’s why I’m taking the time to answer.
However, for everyone’s future reference: my policy has been to answer every Ask I get but that policy is changing NOW. If I get the feeling that a message is provocative in a negative way, I won’t answer it publicly. Privately, I might, if you come off Anon.
^Louis doesn’t really want to get involved in this discussion. It’s ok, just sit there and look pretty, hun, we’ll keep this brief.
asked a question, “Why is there so little Vampire Chronicles fan activity or content?” [X], and then;
2)@the-savage-nymph-art replied to that question [X]. Brilliantly and succinctly, I would add. They even provided one of the purposes of fanfic: to share headcanons. Whether in an AU, or PWP, etc., we’re exploring the characters through storytelling.
What @the-savage-nymph-art didn’t mention is that exploring canon through writing/sharing fanfic (both for-profit and not-for-profit, I assume) predates AR’s War on Fanfic. You can do your own research on that, but here’s a good article to start with, by Ewan Morrison.
Monika Bartyzel: talks about derivative works based on fanfic (it mentions 50 Shades & Twilight, too), but focusing on the Mortal Instruments. The thrust of the argument is that TMI was TOO derivative:
“…But until a story is willing to break through the boundaries of its inspiration and drop the mimicry in favor of its own voice, it will always be as derivative as its origins — no matter how many names you change.”
(^So there is a difference between fanfic that shares headcanons to explore, and fanfic that seems to merely mimic the canon it’s derived from.)
Anon, Anne Rice no longer has an issue with Fanfic. I don’t remember what year this was posted on FB but it was, and she hasn’t mentioned it since, that I’m aware of.
^So really, with that, the argument is kind of over.
But I am definitively saying, I run this blog as respectfully of Anne Rice as I can, w/ just a little light teasing bc we do that even to our own parents! she’s given us a great gift in the VC.
This blog is about positivity and inclusivity, and arguing over whether a derivative work is worthy of being considered worth standing alone as a separate work, that’s for the courts to decide on a case-by-case basis as we define what is a “derivative” work. There are some fanworks that I love so much that I WISH they were canon, that I WISH I could buy as a beautiful physical book to repay the creators for bringing me Such Feels!
Hit the jump for just a little more.
Anon’s argument has 2 points:
A) That fanfic written for fandom and then altered by changing the character names, etc. (aka ”filing the serial numbers off”, “Hermione” becomes “Eloise” or whatever) so that it can be sold for profit, is infringing on the copyright of the original creator. Anon mentions 2 examples that are making tons of money. I’ve heard of those series and the accusations of their beginnings as fanfic. I haven’t read them or followed the reviews about them though, so I can’t comment on whether or not they really are derivative works.
B) That Anne Rice is wrongfully accused of being “just some crazy old lady” in defense of the her VC copyright.
As per Anon’s point A), this is a nebulous thing, copyright law is still being worked out for it. It’s slowly developing on a case-by-case basis, and sometimes it’s settled out of court. Look at the Unofficial Harry Potter Encyclopedia case, for example. Not a fanfic, but still, a fanwork. The judge ruled that the
Unofficial Harry Potter Encyclopedia could be published for profit, in an abridged version of how it was originally intended to be, bc it served as a reference work, so it had value, but in its entirety it would have been
unfair competition w/ a similar work that J.K. Rowling intended to release (and she is still working on, years later).
As for your point B):
Nowhere in @the-savage-nymph-art‘s reply is Anne Rice referred to as “just some crazy old lady.” In fact, it was only you, Anon, who called her “dickish.”
Actually, there are several mocking references in @the-savage-nymph-art‘s commentary to those who write fanfic, in the usual Tumblrland Hyperbole™ kind of way, which is intended to grab your attention and add a little levity to a serious and saddening topic. Don’t you get the joke, Anon? Silliness! Or can you not take it as humorous when smne mentions “your gloriously blushing butt-cheeks” ?
I disagree with you, Anon. Anne Rice has given us an incredible gift. Yes, I have mentioned that she waged War on Fanfic. That’s a fact. It’s actual history.
Fanfic sold for money w/ the serial numbers filed off, (like 50 Shades does to Twilight and the Mortal Instruments *allegedly* does to Harry Potter) well, the creators of the original works have every right to pursue copyright protection! Have they, in these cases? Because the authors of 50 Shades and the Mortal Instruments seem to be doing fine, getting movie deals an all.
Maybe the authors of 50 Shades and the Mortal Instruments were sued and settled out of court.
But maybe, in these cases, the derivative work (as Anon calls them) was sufficiently AU of the fandoms they were adapted from to constitute enough originality to be considered works that stand on their own.
Let’s see what happens when someone writes fanfic w/ the serial numbers filed off based on 50 Shades and the Mortal Instruments!
Oh wait, 50 Shades already has a parody of it, 50 Shades of Black. Let’s get popcorn and see if a legal dispute fires up…
But actually I would rather wait patiently than rush anyone in charge and possibly get a worse adaptation than QOTD.
Technically, I think the most recent VC adaptation we got was Claudia’s Story, (2012) by Ashley Marie Witter (deviantart here), which was gorgeously illustrated and very well-written. It’s IWTV from Claudia’s POV. I got myself a copy. 10/10 Highly recommend.
Check my #VC news tag, in which we’ve been taunted with VC adaptation news occasionally.
If anyone knows anything on this subject, please tag me or send it to me so I can share! Include a link or screencap tho, so it’s more legit ;]
I’m not locked into Gerard Way as Armand, just a suggestion I’ve gotten from ppl before.
Really, Anne? Levi is 13 now. Still a kid. Could be that she loved his acting, in addition to his physical features. I don’t know what her deal is with infantilizing Armand, but he’s not the only character AR sees as childlike. Even Gabrielle, an actual adult: “If there was any flaw in her it was perhaps that all her features were too small, too kittenish, and made her look like a girl.” – TVL
Levi could play little Andrei, though. His physical features meet my headcanon as kid!Armand, and look how cute he was as Peter Pan:
♛*cupping the chick in his hands* Fortunately for you, this wouldn’t even make a decent snack, but as I am not equipped for petcare of this type, I’ll deliver it to someone better suited for this.
(BTW I have a few more Armand casting suggestions sitting in my inbox, you’ll see more at some point)
I couldn’t find any gifs of Matthew Clavane, acting requires the face in motion, obviously, so it’s hard to say. But physically I wouldn’t kick him out of bed he has the right amount of ice and tenderness in his features (Armand is from Kiev, which according to AR is in Russia and according to the google is in the Ukraine so idek), looks like he could be Russian/Ukrainian, and he could definitely pass for 17. Lookit those kissable lips, you can see why Marius had to rescue him!
^Gonna need a nice warm coat when u go visit your folks in a frozen tundra 😉
^CU bc of reasons. Little ice prince.
Hit the jump for a few more.
^I really like how pronounced his birthmarks are in this pic, especially the lip one. There’s charm in imperfection, and it gives him an even more boyish appearance. I couldn’t find a pic of him smiling but I assume he is capable.
^I’ll forgive his awful hat that I tried to crop out as much as possible bc it’s TopMan and bc the blouse and velvet blazer are 70’s glam and kind of A+ on him.
Now that I think of it, almost everything we do revolves around that. We go out to performances to watch people play music or act, we go to cafes to watch people argue and flirt with each other, we go to museums and galleries to watch people admire art and we look at the people depicted in the art. Louis and I both prefer portraiture to abstract art, but there is still something captivating and innately human about the pulsing color blocks of a huge Rothko or the confident brush strokes and warm sunlight suffusing Jim Monagle’s landscapes… But I’m getting off-track here.
You want to know superficially what we’re looking at, and which one of us, and why. Okay.
Louis and I greet the early evening with a good long walk, and I barely conceal my interest in people we pass by. I’ll nod at a beautiful tattooed genderfluid youth across the street, break away from Louis to drop some money in their battered guitar case as we go along. Joining up with Louis again, I’ll slip my arm around his waist where he’s stopped to watch someone closing up their jewelry shop, and find that he’s admiring their hands more than any of the gems.
In general though, I make a more obvious display that I’m looking, and Louis keeps it more to himself. He might lean over and whisper to me about someone who catches his eye. Louis appreciates the beauty of women over men, the way they’ve chosen to display – or not – their décolletage is of particular interest to him. When he takes the Little Drink, he’s almost always snaked his hand up to that tender area, subconsciously. Kneading it like a cat. It’s very arousing to see.
I’m intrigued by all ages, but older men, well, they’re my favorite.
Something about wisdom accrued over time, showing the signs of authentic living, the crow’s feet, the beards, the weathered skin, it all speaks of experience. I like to take them for a Little Drink to glimpse the depth of their souls. Am I looking for a father figure? I’ll leave that up to you to over-analyze.
This people-watching has changed over time. Vastly improved.
In the beginning, I could barely drag Louis out of the house to people-watch; he lived in a kind of terror that he would find someone’s gesture, their voice, so worthy of Life itself that I’d choose that very creature to strike down like the Devil incarnate, just to torture him. Absolutely not my intention. What he couldn’t understand at that time is that people-watching is one of the greatest pleasures we have, mortal or immortal, and not just as a buffet on parade. I tried to teach him that, but it’s something he finally absorbed when he had to set a good example for our daughter.
Back then, I steered us to derelict neighborhoods, looking for the worst among men, so that killing those kinds of people would ease his fragile conscience, but Louis’s gift is his curse in that he finds beauty to an even greater extent that I do, even in the most awful beings. The stench of rats on his breath at the time was proof enough of that.
No you are not the dumbest person in this fandom nonono! It’s visually very similar on purpose ;]
I brainstormed for this url alot, my blog was inspired by vampchronfic and vampire-chronicles-appreciation, so I wanted VC represented in the url prominently. I realized that “VC” rhymes w/ the “I want my MTV” slogan that MTV had in the 90s (and 80s), but “I-want-my-VC” didn’t quite flow right. “IWTV” had a better letter combination and here is a gif of the versions of the design process bc of reasons
The real question is, do ppl even remember that “I want my MTV” slogan? BC I DO. I guess I could change my url if I had to, but it would be tough to beat this.
I-want-my-IWTV 