[FFML] Continue dead or abandon fics by other authors.

[Larry F]

On 8/13/2015 2:42 AM, Bryan Cupp wrote:
> While I agree that an attempt to contact the original author should be made, I don't
> really think that should be a defining factor.  As the author you should ask yourself a
> few questions here.  Did I abandon my work unfinished?  Are they writing some kind
> of continuation of my story that I had not planned on.  Were you an active part of the
> community when you found out that someone has wrote something that you came up
> with.
>
> Then there is how long ago was it written, and what about authors that have passed on
> and no longer can be contacted?  Should a writer let their ideas go to waist just because
> it is based upon an idea you created, and that was based upon someone elses work?
>
> While the idea of copyright and intellectual property was created to protect the writers it
> was not meant to be the monster that it has turned into today.  It was put into place so
> creative work authors could make money more reliably for their work, and then force them
> to make more and not just rest upon their previous work.
>
> Then corporations got involved.
>
> The fanfiction community really needs to take a step back from itself and take a hard look at where
> it came from.  Then ask itself why is it ok for us to write fanfiction based upon someone elses work
> yet it is wrong for anyone to write fanfiction based upon other fanfiction.

The best advice I can give any fan author about picking up someone else's story without permission is "don't do it". If you can't contact the fan author for permission, and he or she didn't post a statement that the story was free for anyone to pick up, don't touch it no matter how old it is or even if the original author is known to have passed away. You like the story concept? Write an original fan fiction story based on the idea behind it. Just don't copy passages from it or make it a carbon copy of the story you like.

I wasn't kidding about the fan fiction community policing itself. Plagiarize another fan author's work, and you'll find your email box and comment sections full of hate messages, you'll probably get banned from mailing lists and forums, and very possibly your account on reputable fan fiction hosting sites will be shut down because of user complaint flags. The consequence for getting caught in fan fiction plagiarism may not be legal action by the subject work's copyright owner, but there are very real penalties regardless of that. I see plagiarism warnings appear in communities I subscribe to fairly often, and they are always regarded as a call to arms.