Tag: fan fiction

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The catchup: Links from Twitter

Here are some of the things I’ve micro-blogged over @clubjade in the last week or so.

Hollywood hyperbole. Sony’s Amy Pascal thinks that James Cameron’s Avatar could be the next Star Wars. I’m just trying to think of an upcoming genre movie I care less about than Avatar and failing miserably.

Duck and cover, Dallas. Will Texas be able to handle the squee produced by an official Twilight convention? We can only hope the lack of Robert Pattinson gives them a fighting chance.

Space blob approaches! Guys. GUYS. Waru is coming! I repent of all my Twilight mocking. Okay, not really.

But the real question is, who did they ship? Wired’s Scott Brown takes a brief look back at Sherlock Holmes fanfic.

Presented without comment. Guess who wants to write a Wonder Woman novel?

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Twilight infringer backs off, sort of

With fandom buzzing and several professionals weighing in, Lady Sybilla and her ‘publisher,’ AV Paranormal, are backing off on selling her Twilight fanfic, Russet Noon. But she’s not going to take it laying down!

Swarming with self-righteous judgments and slander galore, some of these postings have gone as far as to threaten Lady Sybilla and her team with everything from boycotting the novel, reporting it to web administrators, and even stalking the addresses listed under Whois registrar entries.

Slander is a term used for defamatory speech. The term she’s actually looking for is libel. But wait, there’s more:

Blown out of proportion falls short of describing the overzealous crusade that has given these teens “a common enemy,” as one of them has called it. Some of these volunteer soldiers are so militant about their cause, that eBay buyers appear to have been contacted one by one in an attempt to persuade them to request refunds on their Russet Noon preorders.

Now we all know that sometimes fandom will get a bit… overzealous in reaction to people trying to publish fan fiction of copyrighted works. Some of it might even qualify as libel, though most of what I’ve seen is simple boggling at her ignorance. But that is the absolute most minor reason not to do it. In short? Lady, if you don’t want people saying mean things about you when you do something stupid on the internet, maybe you should stop fanning the flames.

A recent theory, however, could mean her behavior isn’t born out of arrogance and ignorance, but instead something even less savory. Could Lady Sybilla have manufactured this situation simply to get more views on her site and cash via Amazon affiliate links? If so, she wouldn’t be first in fandom to attempt to (fandom_)wank her way to profit, but perhaps the most successful to date…

Once again, a huge tip of the hat to Caito and the folks at Fandom Wank.

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You still can’t sell your fanfic: Twilight edition

I hate to make two Twilight posts in a week, but now it seems the fandom has their own Lori Jareo wannabe in the form of LadySybill, who’s written Russet Noon, a post-Breaking Dawn story about Bella’s other love interest, Jacob Black. Nothing surprising about that as a fanfic: But she’s calling it a “tribute novel” and was directing readers to… eBay? And it seems she thinks she can get away with it because… Stephenie Meyer didn’t draw pictures of her characters:

The characters in SM’s novels were not copyrighted because she never drew them or hired an artist to draw them. Today she shares her character copyrights with Summit. And, no, Russet Noon does not have direct permission from SM to publish this sequel, which is why the article says that it is a “Tribute” or “Unauthorized” Sequel.

And here’s what her ‘publisher’ has to say:

When fictional characters become such an intricate part of the popular psyche, as is the case with the Twilight Saga, legal boundaries become blurred, and copyright laws become increasingly difficult to define.

Yeah, that would totally hold up in court. Get the rest of the story and boggle at length at Sparklefield and Fandom Wank.

UPDATE: Has LadySybill seen the light?

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The catchup: Links from Twitter

Here are some of the things I’ve micro-blogged over @clubjade in the past few days.

Simplicity itself. The most surprising thing about this figure is that they haven’t actually tried to market it yet.

Internet famous. I get the feeling I would appreciate this #SXStarWars craze more if my time moderating message boards hadn’t given me a complete disdain for line-by-line thread games.

Hey, it’s better than Anakin. Baby name fail! Or win?

Bad bad bad, wrong wrong wrong. Topless Robot has a regular feature called Fan Fiction Friday, where he rightfully skewers awful (usually ‘erotic’) fanfic. This week’s selection? A Jacen/Leia fic called ‘Sexual Situations.’ Yes, it’s awful. Yes, it’s explicit. But there’s snark! Still, if you click through that link, don’t you dare say I didn’t warn you.

Cleanse your brain. Star Wars lunchbag art!

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It’s Friday, so here’s some silly fanfic that everyone (even fanboys!) can enjoy

Rogues and the dreaded ‘Mari Soo’ stir up trouble in The Secret Diary Of Luke Skywalker.

1809 hours: Mon Mothma told me to “stop moping about Bespin” and to get on with my life. After all, she added, much as I’d lost my hand and all, she was sick of “removing Wes Janson from my quarters at ungodly hours of the night, demanding a ‘goodnight kiss’,” and “it’s your responsibility as commander to keep your squad in check regardless of how you’re feeling” and “civic duty” and “orange flightsuits” and blah blah blah. Huh. See if I blow up a Death Star for her again.

…It is Friday, right?

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Fanfic: Dispatches in ignorance from Marvel VP

The Beat highlighted some interesting dialogue out of the ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference:

Ira Rubenstein (Marvel): But Dave, I think there’s a difference. No one can write about Spider-Man or X-Men except for us.

Dave Roman (Nickelodeon Magazine:) I disagree.

Stuart Levy (Tokyopop:) Totally.

Rubenstein: Those are our characters. How could someone else write another Spider-Man story?

Roman: Because fan fiction is becoming so powerful. I’ve seen the power of fan fiction. Working at Nickelodeon, there are people out there doing ‘Avatar’ comics that are soooooo much better…

Rubenstein: But that’s like saying YouTube is a real entertainment channel. It’s not.

Roman/Levy/like five people in the audience: It is.

Rubenstein is not only a VP, he’s the VP of Marvel’s Global Digital Media Group. Which means that knowledge of the various internet subcultures would be, I’m guessing, a part of his job. And you know what fanfic fandom is full of? The great untapped audience of women. It’s true for the generally boy-tastic Star Wars fandom, and I don’t doubt the numbers are similar for Marvel properties. And no guys, it’s not all an exploration of Iron Man/Captain America slash. (Though some of it is. Deal. Hell, use it. A panel or two of awkward dialogue will get you buzz. And that means sales. Because shippers are crazy. Trust me: I used to be one.)

On the one hand, I know some folks (in Star Wars fandom) who avoid fanfic because “it’s not the real story;” On the other hand, I’ve known dozens, if not hundreds of people for whom fan fiction is nothing less than the driving force of their fandom activity. And you know what that means? Interest. Pageviews. Sales. See, all those people who will sit there are bitch about the latest storyline? At least some of them are going to actually buy it, even if only so they can write a thousand-page epic on how things should have gone.

As for the Youtube bit… Sheesh. I can understand not knowing about fanfic, but Youtube? But here’s a tip: Fan fiction and Youtube are free. And in this economic climate, that means they are some pretty fierce competition. Know them, know their appeal. The fanfic community might not be as much of a usable resource as Youtube, (Buzz!) but it’s still an audience. You can’t afford ignorance.

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Culling the Twitter: Random acts of linkage

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The zombie revolution spreads to classic lit!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is coming in April (and not the first, either) from Chronicle Books. I know you guys will want to read this one. Just check out the blurb:

As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead.

How could any zombie fan resist? (Or is Elizabeth Bennet, Zombie Slayer, a sign that the trend has finally played out?)

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Sorry, the RPF is in another castle

There is no Christian Bale fan fiction here. We like him and all, but not that much. ClubJade.net might come up in Google for it (okay, I can’t find it, but I guess someone did) but all our fanfic is old and about the fictional people of Star Wars.

Answerer 3: It’s called Real Person Fiction, and it does indeed exist. There have been some actual fandoms devoted to the stuff. Sorry.

But since you clicked, have a consolation prize.