Eight Reasons That Are Not Why I'm Opposed to Fifty Shades

[giselle_lx]

I wrote this about a week ago. And I mostly wrote it for me (hence it's snarkier than usual), to rebut the constant refrains I keep seeing about why people are opposed to pulled-to-publish fanfiction. It seems people want to put words in the mouths of those who are opposed to P2P, so that they can claim we're flip-floppers, or hypocrites, or that

Comments

[scarlett71177]

I can say simply that I agree 100%. And I think ELJ is getting a lot of flack because hers is popular and current, but I haven't agreed with anyone using fic to get published in any fandom. I feel SO USED as a reader if I supported you and your fic the first time around and then you expect me to buy it?! It makes me think you just used the fan-base because it was an existing audience. I guess (in Twi-fandom) it leads to other issues with AU and AH, but that's another story, lol.

[giselle_lx]

Yes! I think so much is being made of Icy because it's the "it" thing, but to me, this laser-focus on her actually muddles the deeper issues. It allows people on both sides to pretend this is some sort of personal fight, when to many of us, it's about something much, much broader and deeper.

[scarlett71177]

Agreed, and I think the whole jealousy argument is so cheap and it belittles a different moral and creative set.

[doneitall]

Whoa. I'm new to this actual issue, but that "writer" is lucky. I do agree with your sole reason though. I wouldn't be able to publish a fic if I knew that it was reminiscent of the fandom it was created for, and I knew that it was pure porn, not that I'm getting any offers. I like erotica I just don't want to be known for writing it. I really liked your reasoning, and some of its sub-parts made me laugh.

[train_lindz]

I agree with everything you said, 1000%.

I haven't read it, either in its current form or when it was free online as fanfic (though I remember seeing people talk about it), but the fact remains to me that no matter how far off the mark the characters end up from their original muses, they are/were Stephanie Meyer's property and she's receiving monetary gain for something that belonged to someone else. People could claim that I'm looking at this too black and white, but it's stealing.

[giselle_lx]

I don't think it's too black and white at all. Because once you start going down a slope, where do you stop sliding?

For me, it's an internal thing--I always tell the story of how in first grade, I essentially wrote "Spot" fanfic--the series with the yellow dog with the brown spots, "Spot Goes to School," "Spot Learns to Paint," etc. I wrote my own versions on notepads and stapled them together to "publish" them and show them to my teacher. I couldn't draw Spot and I had a thing for Pongo and Perdita, so I drew him as a Dalmation.

However, I knew as the tiny writer that my character was really Spot from the books and that I didn't create him.

So I guess I remain confused about why people think it's okay to take another's characters. YOU know you did it, even if you get away with it...it's like stealing from a store and not getting caught. Doesn't mean you didn't steal. Just that you're not going to jail.

[limona]

Somehow I had no idea you were on livejournal. I guess I really do live under a rock.

But I digress.

My feelings are not quite as pure as yours. In addition to your one reason, I also feel varying degrees of 1, 2, & 6 that amplify my irritation. If you, for instance, did exactly what Icy did, my care factor would be way less. Why? Because your prose is prettier and I like you. That would help me overlook the rest of it.

Also, ramen noodles are delicious.

[giselle_lx]

Ramen noodles are delicious. :)

but yeah, I guess being a bookseller who sells a lot of dreck, I don't mind dreck. Sure, I'd prefer if better writers were out there, but the reality is, a lot of the people who really have chops (sorry to say) are writing their own stuff and selling that instead.

And I'd be lying if I didn't say her behavior influences my reaction to some of her situations--for instance, I'd go to bat for some other P2P authors if their books were being reposted on FFnet, but I just can't muster the energy to get too vexed about Fifty Shades of Malfoy. But an author being nice or not doesn't really change how I feel about the P2P.

[jilburfm]

I always want to copy & paste your arguments and send them to the people in my real life who are now reading these books.

I'll give you proper credit, of course.

[giselle_lx]

By all means! If I post something on the internet, my intention is to share it...

...hence the whole not publishing my fic thing...

but I digress. :)