pop culture intertextuality is just so damn *fascinating*
today a parody movie (50 shades of black) comes out, based on the 50 shades of grey movie, which was based on the 50 shades book, which was based on twilight, which was somewhat based on interview with the vampire (which anne rice based on an earlier short story she wrote), which was based on Dracula and other vampire stories, which originally came from Dr. John Polidori’s The Vampyre (even though Vampires were a thing in folk tales before then, he was the one who made them all classy, etc.)
so really, like so many things, this is all Lord Byron’s fault.
So I received a very nice set of private messages from a reader offering to let me read their fanfic, after asking me if it was cool to do so and kindly asking me if there was anything in particular that I wanted to see in fanfic. They also asked what difference, if any, I saw in reposting fan art vs. reposting fanfic. I have decided not to make the ID of the questioner public (Hello out there! I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to stay anonymous or not ,and I figured better safe than sorry), but I am happy to answer all of these questions in detail.
• No, I do not read fanfic based on any of my fiction. The only possible exception would be for a tiny fragment/drabble of a satirical or sentimental nature (like a holiday greeting). There are no other possible exceptions.
• This does not mean I do not encourage the writing of fanfic based on my fiction. I approve of it, and heartily encourage it, but please don’t bother calling it to my attention, because I will not read it.
• One major reason for this is to cover my butt, legally and artistically. I know how my own stuff is supposed to go. I do not require or request hints, prompts, votes, or arguments on the subject. I also do not need any possible suspicion that I have plagiarized from the work of my fans and readers; a blanket refusal to read fanfic is the cheapest, most effective protection against this.
• Also, I believe it’s important to cut me out of the fanfic approval loop. When you write fanfic about my worlds or characters, you should be completely ignoring the questions of what I’d want or what I’d do. Fanfic is your chance to go happily nuts with the elements of my stuff that you like, seasoned with elements that serve your own fascinations and pleasures. I’m flattered that you might like to run your fanfic by me, but really, I am immaterial to it. Embrace the freedom to make it for yourself and your fellow readers in a canon-free environment.
• I repost visual art because it’s a medium in which I do not produce professional work of my own (just as I link to things like songs, animations, and similar shenanigans whenever I can find them). It’s really as simple as that… I can’t plagiarize someone’s paintbrush strokes, and I have none of my own for them to plagiarize, and I try to be very careful not to say things like “Oh my god, yes, this should be considered a canonical visual reference for the entire sequence!”
So wait, I can come back? I can finally come back to my fandom and contribute fan works?! I was also around during the fanfiction purge, knew authors who were slapped with orders from Anne’s lawyers and helped hide secret archives of VC fic so this? This has made my day!
Yes! Welcome back to the party *u* It seems that Certain People are content to live and let live re: fanworks.
(But we are rational about it, we only post to sites like AO3 publicly; we still keep some things as They Must Be Kept, just in case…)
So. Is fanfiction okay now? Like, I’m sure Queen Anne isn’t still chasing people down with legal papers, but did we get outright approval to post stories? When did that happen?
Short answer: Yes, fanfic is okay now. AR now “ignores fanfiction.” That’s her current stance. We don’t have her approval, we have her tolerance. Not sure exactly when that happened (but there are timestamps in my FB screencaps below).
*~And AO3 has pledged itself as a safe haven* for fanfic writers to post their works!~*
*meaning: AO3 will attempt to defend the writers against copyright infringement claims. The legality of fanfic is nebulous right now, as the courts are slowly defining fanworks under the Fair Use doctrine on a case-by-case basis.
“I got upset about 20 years ago because I thought it would block me,” she says. “However, it’s been very easy to avoid reading any, so live and let live.” – Anne Rice, Nov. 2012.
Aaaaand here are the best FB screencaps re: AR’s stance on fanfic I could find, in reverse chronological order (there’s more, just trying to keep this post from getting too long, emphasized w/ my highlights, of course):
(^Year unknown on that one, old screencap; couldn’t find it again.)
…You want MORE? Hit the jump.
Also this is relevant, from 2014: “A big congratulations to Anna Todd, 25 year old author of One Direction fan fiction, "After” on her new deal with publishing house Simon & Schuster and her movie deal.”
In her comments below, AR seems to compare her inspiration of Hollywood’s vampire movies made in the ‘40s as being similar to Anna Todd’s inspiration re: the boy band 1D. In a way, AR is saying what we all know that writers ARE influenced by outside sources, in various media; Anna Todd’s work cannot be simply written off (no pun intended) as purely derivative fanfiction of 1D just like AR’s work cannot be simply written off as purely derivative fanfiction of Hollywood’s vampire movies made in the ‘40s.
Not that anyone has accused AR of that that I’m aware of, but it might have been an issue raised in 1975 when IWTV first came out.
“Anne Rice objected to fan fiction based on any of her characters (mostly those from her famous Interview with the Vampire and its sequels in The Vampire Chronicles) or other elements in her books, and she formally requested that FanFiction.Net remove stories featuring her characters.[52]However, in 2012, Metro reported that Rice has taken a milder stance on the issue: “I got upset about 20 years ago because I thought it would block me,” she said. “However, it’s been very easy to avoid reading any, so live and let live. If I were a young writer, I’d want to own my own ideas. But maybe fan fiction is a transitional phase: whatever gets you there, gets you there.”[53]
“
No spoilers, takes place during TVL when Lestat and Nicolas are mortal in Paris together. Prompt words used: Satisfied, Non-Stop (I used Unstoppable instead), Helpless, Wait For It. Beta-read by @gairid ❤
Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Vampire Chronicles – All Media Types Relationships: Armand/Louis de Pointe du Lac Additional Tags: Angst, Dubious Consent, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Emotional Manipulation Summary:
Continuing on with Armand and Louis’s story – New York City in the early part of the twentieth century. A long held secret comes to the fore.
I-want-my-IWTV 