Writers Central

[SwanCullen]

Okay, I got reccomened this thread by Openhome (Yep it's me ElektraLane from FF.net!) I am currently writing a story that's centered around Alice and the fact that she actually has a blood realative still alive. I am sorta stalled for it, but it's more in the way it's writing. Openhome actually inspired me to write an Alice story (Alice is one of my fave character's in Twilight

[VirginiaMay]

Hello Lovelies,

Have you ever had an idea while reading another author's fic and wondered if it would be really tacky to just run with it?

Now, personally, I have no intention of stealing someone's entire idea and just writing it better. No way. No, I like to think of the other author's story as being a prompt. In this case, the story is one of those "lovers stranded on a deserted island" stories, and to be fair, this is not exactly an original idea anymore. (I seem to recall a little film called Blue Lagoon that was very popular, among others.)

However, as I'm not entirely sure that I am thinking clearly on this issue, I thought I'd put it up for discussion.

*ah, sigh* Fanfic is a bit confusing when it comes to intellectual property and integrity. We are after all, using another author's characters to begin with. Your thoughts are appreciated.

[SwanCullen]

I don't think there is anything wrong with that. after all you said that we are using another author's characters etc... Anything can give you a promt to write a story. You just have to be careful you don't copy the storyline, or anything.

[VirginiaMay]

Okay, I got reccomened this thread by Openhome (Yep it's me ElektraLane from FF.net!) I am currently writing a story that's centered around Alice and the fact that she actually has a blood realative still alive. I am sorta stalled for it, but it's more in the way it's writing. Openhome actually inspired me to write an Alice story (Alice is one of my fave character's in Twilight

Hi there Swan~

Welcome Aboard! Thanks for the reply. I totally took that prompt and ran with it. It's my first All-Human story and holy cow the ideas came really fast. I'm just gonna go with it! See you 'round!

Ginnie

[Amanda Beth]

For anyone who plans on one day publishing a book, do you plan on using a pen name? I was thinking of using my maiden name, but then I was thinking I could use intials like C.W. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, . Beth is my mom's name and she's the one who always told me I should write so A.B. (insert maiden name)? Anyone ever given any thought to it?

[Openhome]

Okay, I got reccomened this thread by Openhome (Yep it's me ElektraLane from FF.net!) I am currently writing a story that's centered around Alice and the fact that she actually has a blood realative still alive. I am sorta stalled for it, but it's more in the way it's writing. Openhome actually inspired me to write an Alice story (Alice is one of my fave character's in Twilight

EleckraLane!!!!!! Hi you lovely person!
I'm so very sorry I've been missing in action, but the month of May has totally spit me up and chewed me out. I'm soooo happy you are here!

As to leaping from one author's idea to an idea of your own, I think it's perfectly wonderful. ElektraLane talked with me first, and I would always do the same thing if I were using a fic as a launch pad. As you said, Ginnie, where and how copyright and intellectual property end and begin in fanfiction is a tangled mess. The best thing to do is contact the author and discuss it with them. However, if it is just the seed of the story, I see no issues as all. At the end of the day, we are all plagiarists.
Ginnie, send the link when you are done! I am hoping to read SwanCullen's story tomorrow.

Amanda Beth!! What a wonderful question to wonder about!! I am so excited for you! Can you tell?
I have seen several agent's and author's blogs on this, and they all point to the same thing, writing as an alias is a pain in the butt. It may protect your identity, but in today's society, it is almost impossible to keep it secret anyway. If you REALLY don't want people to know who you are, then I think the initials and maiden name are perfect.

[Amanda Beth]

I wouldn't really be doing it for anonymity purposes...not really sure why I would but I just started thinking about it lol. I guess I want Beth in there because I want to give my mama some props lol. And when you think of it, I'd say 90% of the world doesn't know JK Rowling's real name off the top of their head, she was told by her publisher to make one because boys wouldn't buy fantasy books written by a woman.

In other thoughts, I'm a little nervous that I would eventually be tracked down to this site or whatever. I don't read the smut in stories like CW&IA MoBS, but technically I'm still reading X rated material. I'd also probably pull LAF and TPC from the internet.

[VirginiaMay]

I wouldn't really be doing it for anonymity purposes...

In other thoughts, I'm a little nervous that I would eventually be tracked down to this site or whatever. I don't read the smut in stories like CW&IA MoBS, but technically I'm still reading X rated material. I'd also probably pull LAF and TPC from the internet.

I guess I thought about that before choosing my pen name for fanfic purposes. If I were to publish, I imagined that it would be preferred to use my real name. (Or my initials and married name.) So I chose a pen name that has nothing to do with my real name. However, it is the technological age: all any of us would have to do is lose a laptop or a portable drive and techies would be able to pull of just about everything there is to know about us.

On the other hand, this is still America, (well, I live in America and this site is American anyway. ) and there is a little thing called freedom of speech. To that end, I have checked out published books from the public library that were scandalously graphic. There are violent books on the shelves, smutty books on the shelves, profane and bigoted books on the shelves. I was a little disturbed by this because, while they may restrict who can check out certain materials based on age, anyone of almost any age can wander through the shelves and pull a book down and read it without ever leaving the library.

Is there any difference between reading fanfic on the net and reading at the library anymore? Okay, the access to smut is much easier and more private, but there is a whole shelf of smut at the library and at the bookstore. The difference to me, is only in the medium: virtual or print.

Is it that you think you will be professionally shunned for reading fanfic, or writing it for that matter, or is it more a personal preference to keep this part of your life private? Because, seriously... are we really going to be judging authors by what they read? Or by what they write with their own pen?

[Openhome]

I use both my real name and my screen / pen name with regularity. If you contact me, I'll probably answer with my first name, and if you want to find me, the odds are, you will. I pity the poor soul that goes to the effort, though. I'm a teacher and a mom. Pretty boring.

It is recommended that you use initials if you want to get a cross -gender audience because girls are less likely to read from a mail unless they know his work and guys will not read from a woman unless they already like hers. So, for marketability, initials do make a difference.

[Total Twilight Fan]

I got told about this thread as i am on ff.net, but i dont really understand you guys :S