(no subject)

[telaryn]

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.

Comments

[maiafay.livejournal.com]

Liking Harry potter, but not a "huge" reader of the fandom...I can say that this really floors me. I Consider Fanfiction a rather large "gray" area when it comes to writing tales about already established characters. However, when a talanted authors stoops as low as to put quotes and dialogue from various sources, that's a bit pathetic. I would have recognized the buffy sources, having a few characters in my stories "influenced" by the Buffy verse and Angel. Yet, I agonized over a OC character called Callie for My resident Evil story, to say the "song of the green" (she's based a little off of drucilla and Illyria in the manner of speech.) Here is how I used it:

"Days past sluggishly. So many tests, so many days asleep. Too tired to move. She could hear whispers, the sound of music no one else seemed to hear. Callie had no idea where the music was coming from. Mr. Wesker visited her often, and was very interested in the songs Callie heard. He told her that her DNA was being re-written, and that she was a hybrid of sorts. A part of NOVA was forever inside her, changing her physical makeup as well as her internal. He sounded pleased about this, and seemed relieved that she would survive after all. He brought her flowers one day, and the song Callie heard grew deafening. Callie could see images in her head: of trees, meadows, insects and birds. She could feel the earth speaking to her, teaching ancient secrets so that she may learn--understand the forgotten language. When Callie told this to Mr. Wesker, he listened--truly listened. He seemed to believe her when no one else would. Only when Callie used her newfound knowledge by changing the flowers to pink instead of white--did the others believe.

After she was better, Mr. Wesker gave her a place among the new BOW--told her she was special, unique, even among his own. He built her a private garden where Callie could listen to the song of the green as often as she wanted. It was her sanctuary, her private paradise…"


When Illyria in Angel season 5 loses her powers, she is running her fingers over the plants along the hallway, and states "I can no longer hear the song of the green." (or something along those lines...) I thought people were going to bash me or somthing, but no one noticed. Maybe I'm just really paranoid, but I want to be true in my talant and style in writing--as well as my artwork.

Bottom line, I may be influenced by characters and dialogue, but I damn well no better than to use them word for word. That woman was a lazy fool and deserves whatever flames or reprecussions she receives.

[bluestocking7.livejournal.com]

As a fan-fic reader and former writer, I have been sort of following the Cassie Clare issue...and it makes me sick. I have to deal with issues of plagiarism all the time (and the very indignant responses by students accused of it who see nothing wrong with "borrowing" some materials). They claim adding a word or two of their own - or a sentence between copied phrases, legitimately makes it their own. They REALLY believe this. I had one student tell me that he has a constitutional right to free speech and that means he can use whatever words he wants - so what if someone else said it first. This idea is not at all uncommon.

I guess what annoys a lot of people about Cassie Clare is that someone is going to give her money based on her "witty" and "smart" writing - when she stole most of if froma combination of others. She is a plagiarist - and she doesn't even apologize for it because she thinks it's okay.

[tinne.livejournal.com]

Plagiarism for any artist isn't just completely wrong — it's damned lazy. I've seen the same thing with my college design students and especially with even younger art students I work with. Depressing — they really DO believe everything out there is for their taking and they're belligerent as hell at any notion that that's certainly not the case. Of course, these are the same people who will scream bloody murder the first time someone rips off their concept and takes credit for it an ad agency they'll be working for in the future. Or someone who might download jpegs of their work off of a web site and steal it for use in their own portfolio.

I even had one guy in his late 30's — some idiot academic, old enough to know better — sitting on a recent convention copyright panel start to light into me about how wonderfully creative "mash-up" culture was and how artists had the right to appropriate the work of others "to create something new and original". What BS. As if I had the nerve to be offended if someone lifts bits of my work to create something for profit, without my permission and compensation.

No one gets to "mashup" someone else's logo or concepts in my class and take credit for it, especially when they are nowhere near good enough yet, and without the minimal skill set to create their own original material first. That's the fastest road to an "F' in my class, short of not showing up to play.

[ivyfree.livejournal.com]

I don't get what satisfaction there is in plagiarizing things. Even if you say, "I'm using JKRowling's characters and dialogue from Pride and Prejudice" what is the point of writing it? It's not funny. It seems like a lot of work for no reward, unless, of couse, one considers the admiration of the ignorant to be a reward. Personally, I'd prefer the admiration of the intelligent and discriminating.

[telaryn.livejournal.com]

I do agree with you, however more people than not these days (not just in fandom) believe that any press is worthwhile.

What hurts here is that this chick ended up with a book contract as a result of her plagiarized work.

Of course the final note is that this is probably the one and only book she will ever publish. I could be insane, but I suspect publishers don't like their authors being outed as unrepentent plagiarists (and she *is* unrepentent as of this point).

She's slated as a guest for D*Con. In light of everything that's coming out at this point, I have to wonder if she's even going to show.