A question of plagiarism

[allaire]

Where's the line between genuine fusion and outright plagiarism?

Somewhere else than the AO3 Abuse Team estimates it to be, says my gut feeling.

Anyway, judge for yourselves:

The Hobbit/Vorkosigan Saga fusion. The work the fusion is supposedly based on.

No, it's not the same, word for word (although there are identical passages). But it's the

Comments

[xkatjafx]

Which is why is called a *fusion* and not a crossover or an AU or whatever?

Maybe it's rare for somebody to do book fusions, but with movies you get this kind of fanfic all the time. It's the movie all over again, just with different "actors".

I think the identical passages are critical of course... but then if it's moviefic, I guess a lot of the dialogue is stolen, too.

I would say, don't read it, if you don't like it?

[allaire]

Yes, but honestly, is it a fusion if you genderswap your character (to better fit into the original storyline) and follow the original plotline faithfully? I thought the fun of creating a fusion work would be to confront a known story arc with a totally different character and take joy in said character bringing their own strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncracies to bear, thereby altering the plot or maybe even turning it on its head?

It's only the first chapter so far, so perhaps such a change will occur, but so far? I feel cheated, and yes, if I were the original author, I'd sue. Because this? In my opinion, it's not fair use, it's claiming someone else's plot idea, characters and their development, and world-building for your own. I'm missing the little additions that would make this a The Hobbit fanfic, and "Commander Belladonna Baggins" more than a pale copy of Cordelia Naismith.

[xkatjafx]

Yes, but honestly, is it a fusion if you genderswap your character (to better fit into the original storyline) and follow the original plotline faithfully?

Yes. I've seen this done a thousand times. Heck, I think I read at least 10 fanfic versions of Dirty Dancing!!
I'm not sure why you didn't. It's common with all kind of movies... it's stranger with books I admit that. But even there, it has been done before. I remember somebody actually taking some bodice ripper and putting Jared and Jensen in it. Basically just changing names and gender.
Is it good writing? Hell, no. It's VERY BASIC transformation.
Do you want to read it? Depends. Actually that bodice ripper kind of worked, because I hadn't read it before.

I'm not sure why you are so upset about it. If you don't like it, don't read it. Nobody forces you to touch it.

Can the author sue In this case? Probably. Will it do her any good? No. Fact is, some people will probably buy her books because they liked the "fanfic" version *shrug*

[ariss_tenoh]

I think if it's identical to the degree you are describing then it's not a "fusion" or even "plagiarism". It would be simple laziness and would make me wonder what was the point of typing the fic to begin with.