Misha wrote:I think the Twilight fandom really got to you
Yeah, I think it did!
So, much so, in fact that I really think I need to get out of there. I'm only reading about 10 Twilight fics at the moment (on FF.net), and as I'm not really a big fan of the fandom or the books in general (I just went there for some new AU-Human stories), I really just check out the forums for the gossip and to give my take on things
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However, I got so wound up by the discussions on the forums yesterday that I ended up ranting about it here...and then I could barely sleep last night because I couldn't take my mind off the senseless arguments regarding publishing over on the Twilight websites (I didn't get to sleep until 4 a.m. this mroning, and had to be up for work at 7).
In fanfiction defense of any fandom, there are some great fanfics out there that, with a little tweaking, can be incredibly well thought out original works and be published into books. Twilight is probably not the exception to this rule. On the other hand, instead of having 3,000 titles to go through (like with Roswell at fanfiction.net), you have like 200,000 stories. So it's absurdly hard to find a good story there.
Yeah, at the end of the day, I don't have a major problem with taking something that was originally a fanfic and completely reworking it with new characters, new settings, different plot details etc. and then publishing it in the real world without associating the work with fanfiction (essentially as Rosdeirdre did). However, what I don't agree with is simply changing the names and places, not changing the plot at all, then publishing it as a novel... with the same title as the original fic so everyone will associate it with fanfiction.
It happens to small fandoms as well. I read Superman Returns fanfiction, for example. As there are probably less than a 1000 fanfics written specifically for that movie I have probably read by this point at least the summaries of 80% of those fics (I have not checked live journal, so... ::shrug:: ). There are probably only 10 well written, thought provoking, novel length, inspiring fanfics there that should by all accounts be books by themselves. The problem for these writers is there's no option but to remain in fanfiction. You cannot alter a Superman story enough without losing Superman's essence to your new character. Plus, thank God there are no All Human fanfics to that fandom!
But I digress...
That's a good point actually - I was thinking about why publishing wasn't an issue in Buffy fanfic when I used to read it and I think it was because there were very few AU-Human stories and the majority of the fics were essentially trying to fix events that happened in the show... so there was not really any thought of publishing them. For me, that was the real joy of reading Buffy fanfiction... to read all the amazing ideas that the fans had for how the show could have gone.
All I'm saying is, as frustrating as this has been for you in your pursuit of a decent piece of twilight fanfiction to read, and as annoying as it is to see crappy works being printed, they have all the right to think the world of their works. And yes, it sucks when I'm the one who buys the book at the bookstore just to find such an awful story for my money.
Yeah, that's fair enough, I suppose
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The original question asked here was if the writers have the right to take away their works, Twilight or otherwise, and my opinion would be "yes". I wish too there was a nice way to say "your writing sucks" without hurting anyone's feeling and for the benefit of both the author and the story, but yeah... At least, take comfort on knowing that once those books do hit the real world, the general public is not going to worship it as your fanfic readers if it really is that bad
I just feel that the whole pulling and publishing fanfics thing over there is damaging both their fandom and fanfiction in general, partly because new readers are deprived of the well-known works of the fandom, but mostly because of the public nature of it all (especially with the publishing) - I feel like it's giving fanfiction in general a bad name and I don't want it to hurt the reputation (and possibly even the tolerance) of other fandoms as well
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There's not much one as a reader can do... You can stop reading the author, start telling others how this author just completely leave you out in the cold, I guess... And start a thread about it, of course
Lol.
I think my problem with it is mostly the shock and disappointment I feel when I read certain things about the fandom - I mean, I've been involved in fandoms for over a decade and they have always been relatively peaceful, kind and enjoyable communities, so it really makes me angry to see this new community come in and stomp all over the other fandoms (and draw attention to itself) with its cruel and callous behaviour - I was just reading about an incident last year where one of the big Twilight fics was translated so that a Russian girl and her friends could read and enjoy it. However, the girl didn't ask permission to translate the fic and there was a major fallout because of it.... the author took the fanfic off the internet (no idea why she felt the need to do so, since she wasn't the translator, but...) and so the readers (including some well-respected fic authors) all ganged up on the Russian girl on Twitter and threw obscene insults and death threats at her for depriving them of the story - I was absolutely shocked at the extent of the abuse... and as it was on Twitter there was no one to step in and put a stop to it.
Anyway, I've calmed down a bit now after yesterday and I've decided to try to stop thinking about this anymore... it's just been making me upset and frustrated (which probably isn't helping my writer's block either!).
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