Readers and writers

[owlmoose]

So I know that fanficrants can be a scary place, but this post is actually generating some interesting discussion, particularly in this thread.

Who owns a story? The writer? The reader? A writer of course can pull down any story at any time, but do they have the "right" to demand that every copy of the story be deleted? (From the Google cache, from the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine, from people's harddrives, etc.) Does a reader have the "right" to be able to find the story again? Do they have the "right" to download it, to pass it on to friends, to write their own fanfic based on it? Complex questions, I think.

I tend to think that, once a story is posted to the Internet, we lose control over what happens to it. It's out there, in the world, free to be read, reviewed, linked, copied, downloaded, fanficced. Why should we expect more control over our writings than traditionally published authors? A professional writer could never demand the return every publically available copy of a book. Once published, it's out there. Even if such a thing were possible, the story would live on, in the minds of the people who had read it.

Personally, I tend to think of a story as a collaboration between its writer and its readers. The writer creates the story, but it doesn't really come to life until someone else reads it. Perhaps this is a part of why we all adore reviews so much: a review is proof that someone read, that the story did indeed take on that life of its own. Maybe not the life we inteded for it, but a life all the same. (I think this is true for all stories, not just fanfic, although of course the feedback loop is more immediate in fandom.)

Anyway. Just my random thoughts on a Thursday evening. What do you all think?

Comments

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

All I know is, I mourn when a good story goes down and have been known to plead with someone to leave their stuff up for people to enjoy or download one Just In Case it ever disappeared. I have been known to share a good piece of fanart or fanfic with friends, the way one might xerox a great cartoon and hang it up on the office bulletin board. However, I guess I draw the line at hosting something that a writer has taken down, unless I have permission. I have scoured the web looking for some great Aulu fanart that vanished when an Aulu fansite died, found alternate sites hosting SOME of the missing pieces and linked to those, but have never uploaded the ones I had saved to my own Aulu fansite, much as I wish I could showcase the great work of a few artists.

EVERYONE must also realize that when they post something on the internet, it's going to get archived, unless they put it under a private lock. Even then, it may be. That's the nature of the web. You can no sooner demand it be otherwise than you can demand that whatever trees got chopped down to make a published book spring back to life again after you throw the book away.

As for fanfic of our fanfic, sure. If we write fanfic at all, we really MUST allow that and be flattered by it. (I say this with full humility, remembering all too well the horror I felt the one time someone ffed an original story of mine and totally perverted the meaning of it. I'm sure Tolkien would not approve of that Elrond/Gilraen smutlet lying around on my hard drive somewhere.)

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

EVERYONE must also realize that when they post something on the internet, it's going to get archived

I agree with this in principle, but I wonder how many people realize it in practice.

And yeah, I think it's pretty disingenuous for someone in a *fanfic* community to make an "I am the author and so whatever I say goes" pronouncement. We may not always like the results, but it's definitely a pot calling the kettle black situation.

So here is a question (straight out of Professor Krausz's Aesthetics class): can a work have a meaning the original creator didn't intend? You say that the fanfic of your story perverted its meaning. Would you say that the ficcer misunderstood your story or just that they found a meaning that you didn't originally put there (but that stands up to an analysis of the text)?

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Since I'm reading Nietzsche for a "myths, their uses and misuses" class... short answer: Yes indeed, people can find meanings in a work that the author didn't intend. All texts are subject to multiple interpretations, many of which the author never thought of-- that is indeed the joy of readers and reviews -- but I think there comes a point when you have, indeed, missed the point of a text and distorted it.

I had written a story about a person in a wheelchair who found true liberation and freedom building and flying kites (somewhat exaggerated autobiographical, due to my rheumatoid A.) A youngster of about 15 wrote and turned in a story to his English class, from the point of view of a witness watching my character in the story I'd written. The thrust of his story was that the handicapped girl was an antisocial bitch who went off to play her own game instead of playing with the other kids, and thus she was depriving herself of friendship. Which I suppose was one way of looking at it, but it didn't honor the "I can't run... but I can fly!" theme of the story I'd written.

It also bugged me that he rewrote my story for an English assignment, but that's another issue. :/

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

All texts are subject to multiple interpretations, many of which the author never thought of-- that is indeed the joy of readers and reviews -- but I think there comes a point when you have, indeed, missed the point of a text and distorted it.

I pretty much agree with this view. And it does sound like your "fan" missed the point your work completely. I hope it didn't come off like I was asking you to defend your position. I was just curious.

I love that you are able to find many applications of Nietzsche to fic and to fandom! :)