- Fan Fiction is a broadly-defined term for fiction about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creators. Fan fiction usually describes works which are uncommissioned by the owner of the work, and usually (but not always) works which are not professionally published. Fan fiction is defined against original fiction, which exists with its own discrete universe, and against canon works within the universe. Most fan fiction writers assume that their readers have knowledge of the canon universe in which their works are based (from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_Fiction ).
- Disclaimers are very important for these, since you are in fact treading on copyright material. You don't own it, and, if you create with their world, the copyright owner can claim your works(yes, they can... but 99.999999% of the time won't).
- If you take a movie/book and rewrite it, then that is plagiarism. Although.... if you take a book and rewrite the ending to make it completely different, then that is not plagiarism. (Star Wars - Luke dies, Han become a go-go dancer and Leia joins Darth Vader... ;) ) You can make stories that take place during certain events in the stories, as long as you do not steal the story.
Several professional authors and producers have asked that stories based on their copyrighted or trademarked works not be posted on the internet.
P. N. Elrod
Raymond Feist
Terry Goodkind
Laurell K. Hamilton
Robin Hobb (a.k.a. Megan Lindholm)
Dennis L. McKiernan
Robin McKinley
Irene Radford
Anne Rice
Nora Roberts (a.k.a. J.D. Robb)
Archie comics
George R.R. Martin
Anne McCaffrey even has her own 'rules' on her site. http://www.annemccaffrey.net/index.php?page_id=20
So, checking with an authors site might be a good idea.
For my 'fiction inspired by', I e-mailed Sherrilyn Kenyon, and then copied the reply in my disclaimer. (If you e-mail, don't expect an answer back for a while). Also, explain exactly what you're doing...the e-mail I sent was: "I was just wondering the rules you have regarding 'fiction inspired by' stories (also known as Fan Fiction)? I'm asking because I have some posted on a fictions site. I'm not asking you to read or look, or anything, but I don't want to 'borrow' any intellectual property without permission.
(The site is an established writing site, where people post, get comments on, etc, and disclaimers are present stating that it is not my work and there is a link to dark-hunter.com, as well as usual disclaimers.) If it is all right to post, let me know. If it is not all right to post, then definitely let me know so I can remove it."
Slash- the depiction of sexual or romantic relationships between two or more male characters, who are not necessarily engaged in relationships in the canon universe. Femslash would be relationships between female fictional characters.
Some authors have no issues with slash stories involving their characters, while others do. If you're intending to write slash, then take a good look at any and all websites about the author/characters, checking to see if it's been done. If there are none, then it may be safe to assume that the author(or even publisher) does not wish for their property to be portrayed that way.
The same thing goes with killing off an established character. Some authors don't mind, while others do.
If you intend to put a quote or short poem/song lyrics in your story you must cite the following in the author notes:-
Original Author
Source of quote including publication, page number etc
Date published
And maybe ISBN number.
This citation is important not only to you but also to the original Author. At times, it is hard to find all that, but please, do the best you can. This does not mean you can use the entire lyrics/poem, but a small sampling of it, maybe one stanza or so.
For quote, a lot of people do something like "As Mark Twain once said, "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ... that tells who originally came up with the quote.
Disclaimers - place your stories in the proper categories. 'Fan Fiction', 'Harry Potter', 'Star Wars', and so on.
Also, please place a disclaimer on the story itself (or on the list if you have one). The disclaimer I use... and feel free to adjust it to your story, if you wish... is: "Dark-Hunters, and all related things are owned body and soul(or, non-soul) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I claim absolutely nothing, excpet maybe the characters that I create, and possibly some situations. I am making absolutley no money from this, and the entire story is not intended to stomp on any copyright laws. I have written Sherrilyn Kenyon and received: "Dear Barbara, It is perfectly fine to write fan-fiction, just as long as you point out that it is indeed fan-fiction on the site you post on. Take care, Jack Taylor S.K. Staff" (note the 'maybe', and 'possibly'... doesn't mean I'm grabbing things, but I'm claimng those characters in case someone else decides to borrow them for their own story.)
I recently found a great site that answers a lot of questions about Fan Fiction - FAQs about Fan Fiction
So, there you have it... and now... go have some fun writing!!!
(might be of interest to those looking for similar fiction... FanFiction Category List)
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Very helpful.
