Well, my two cents on this one is that it is a shame to see an excellent
writer stagnate in somebody else's creation.  LS is my example - knowing he
has come up with things like the Darkstarr Chronicles, I see him waste (IMO)
HOURS UPON HOURS writing Tears of a Dragon, drawing anime for it, doing
research on its different characters...  When so many hours and so much
effort goes into a story, or any type of project for that matter, "it's just
for fun" is no longer a viable reason.  If it were just for fun, why so much
work?

The fact is, I consider it a waste of talent for someone to write
exclusively fanfic.  Sure, write fanfic - heck, sometimes fanfic goes
places.  Examples:  the Stargate series on Sci-Fi channel, the multitude of
books published about Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, Star Trek, and a thousand
other on-going series that have hundreds of books.  Those people were
fanficcers before asked to write their original fanfics.  Those authors make
tons of money writing what is, in essence, fanfiction.

BUT, despite arguments to the contrary, it takes the same kind of
inspiration to write an original, with the same kind of planning.  Sure, the
characters and settings are all pre-provided but the plot, the character's
actions/reactions, everything else is original, and follows the same rules
an original would follow.  For example, what is so difficult about asking
yourself, "what would this ditzy, whiny blonde do if someone smacked her
with a sausage?" is not so different from asking "what would Usagi/Serena
do... etc".  Whether the character is an original one or one being
fan-ficced, there will always be parameters to how characters act.

Fanfiction has its uses, I agree.  It is fun.  It is a hobby.  It can lead
to inspiration for originals (ask the writers of "The Magnificent Seven,"
"Fistful of Dollars," and a little-known movie called "STAR WARS" about
being inspired by other people's works).  But I agree that it should not be
the be-all end-all of writing, no matter how nice a hobby it is.  When
you're researching four different manga, drawing pictures of events in the
story, and writing hundreds of pages, you're not engaged in a hobby anymore.

***By the way, Rob, that is very cool that you are doing an adaptation of
Bernard Shaw's work.  Adaptations are awesome because it helps put the story
into another context, and thus understand it better (do you think the
Japanese really got MacBeth before Kirusawa made the adaptation "Throne of
Blood," making feudal Scotland into feudal Japan?).***

One last thing before I go - JK Rowling did NOT take a year off to be with
her family, or at least that's not what she said in a LIVE interview.  She
made the excuse that GoF wasn't selling very well - hadn't made more than $7
million - so she was holding PoA back until GoF did better.  Not only did
she say this in the interview, EW slammed her for it in their next issue
(which I still have).  To hold a story hostage is arrogant, but to hold it
hostage from CHILDREN is despicable.  LS saw the same interview I saw, as
well as read the same comments in EW.  So anyone can enjoy her *work* all
they want, but I for one will NOT be contributing my hard-earned dollars to
someone who won't practice the integrity and sportsmanship that her books
tend to preach - erm, espouse.

OK, I'm done now.  =)

Jennifer Poulos

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