(no subject)

Good lord -- do a little tiny bit of research for an LJ post and starting losing large chunks of your day!

So. Cassie Clare (or Claire, or however you want to spell it). For those not familiar with the kerfuffle that's been rocking the fandom world this past week or so, go here. I warn you though, you will lose the better part of a day with this -- like the Ms. Scribe debacle, this is an (admittedly biased, but fairly detailed) summation of things that have happened in the world of Big Name Fandom over the past five years.

Harry Potter Fandom. Truly it brings the batshit insane to the yard.

It's got me to thinking, though -- hell, I think it's gotten most of us who are fannishly inclined and have dabbled in that bastard stepchild of "real" writing known as "fanfiction", "fanfic" or simply "fic" pondering our place in the literary universe.

Now, with regards to the woman at Ground Zero: do I think Cassie is a plagiarist?

Hell yes. Whispered or shouted, the evidence against her at this point is overwhelming. Which saddens me, because I think the existence of the Very Secret Diaries proves that the woman is talented.

Talented enough to deserve the book contract she got? Well...that's really another kettle of fish entirely. Especially if what I've been reading proves out as true, and there's stuff in her soon-to-be-released "original" work lifted from other sources.

That? Pisses me off. Not just because of my own situation, but because of all the other talented writers out there who are *more* talented than Cassie (and me, frankly) who have to work even harder to get themselves noticed because they didn't get famous on the strength of work they plagiarized from other authors and tried to pass off as their own.

Anyone who believes Cassie's presence in fandom and the popularity of her fic didn't play a role in her getting her contract...well, I'd like to hear your reasoning, because I don't buy it. Publishing is a business, and if you believe that an author will bring legions of pre-existing fans to her original fiction sales, why wouldn't you take that risk?

Of course at the heart of it is the belief that the ideas and words are original, even if the setting isn't.

Tangental to this are my feelings about the people who've carried this to professional writers, soliciting their opinion on the matter.

So. Not. Cool.

Fandoms are like Vegas -- what happens in Fandom stays in Fandom. We largely police our own ranks and handle our own shit. This *allows* the more tolerant professionals out there to turn a blind eye when we play in their playground. We don't abuse the equipment, we don't litter, and we're always careful to put everything back when we're finished.

If that changes, it forces the professional author to acknowledge that while we may not be stealing or despoiling the equipment we are, at the very least, guilty of trespassing in their world.

One lazy inconsiderate person spoiling it for the rest of us.

I think most authors/creators understand that fanfiction is a labor of love. We don't expect to be financially rewarded for our work -- those of us who write fic just want to be a part of something really, really cool.

Those of you who've been on my f-list for a while, remember this? Even people who wouldn't normally consider themselves fic-writers dove in for the chance to be part of something really wonderful.

And it was.

What if somewhere half-way through that oddessey, someone had dragged it to Disney's attention, forcing them to stop us from finishing? Yeah, life would have gone on -- and Will, Jack, et al would have been remained the safeguarded intellectual property of Disney -- but a bunch of us would have been robbed of the chance to link back to that entry occasionally and smile at what we were part of creating.

And quite frankly? I think that would have sucked.