Dear Ms Gabaldon

[heidi]

re: your dismissal of fan-created works, which was weird, dismissive of Pulitzer prize winning works and other classics, and most frustrating to me, inaccurate regarding the legal issues (although, of course, what you feel is ethical or not is a decision that is entirely your call)

I have a question.


What would the first minute of the May 3 episode of Chuck, which sets the show to the classic opening of Hart to Hart, be?

What about when Richard Castle wears a costume from Firefly?

Or, in fact, all of Studio 60, which is a names-changed-RPF of Saturday Night Live?

What about when Supernatural names a demonic character after a character from Good Omens?

Where does all that factor into your world-view?


I really want to address the discussion of help_haiti, but I am having a hard time doing so without crying. People - not just fanfic writers and fanartists and vidders and iconers but novelists and musicians from around the world - got together to do something positive to help people in need.

I was involved in both help_haiti and Helping Haiti Heal - both were grass-roots projects and collectively, they raised about a quarter of a million dollars which went to Partners in Health, UNICEF, the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Yele and over a dozen more organizations. We sent five-plus planes full of supplies to Haiti this spring because of fannish efforts.

And both projects included thank-yous from fan-creators and notable authors. For example, Helping Haiti Heal's thank-yous included wizard rock memorabilia, and a signed set of Harry Potter books donated by JKR. It included fanart, and signed books from Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Naomi Novik donated the ability to name a character in an upcoming book of hers, and Melissa Anelli personalized copies of her book about the Harry Potter fandom.

Fans and creators came together to do something wonderful, and it helped lives.

Now, how is that like seduction of someone's husband (and, btw, doesn't it take two to tango? Nobody cheats unless they want to.) or for (oh my God I cannot believe this comparison) hell's sake how is that like rape or even taking flowers from a garden?

No, no author has to be as understanding of her fans' urge to create stories or art or vids based on her works as JK Rowling has been.

But I can think of at least a dozen women who, in the last decade, have written (or beta read) Harry Potter fanfic and gone on to publishing contracts and best-sellers and sales of the movie rights to their books - and I know a dozen more who're going to reach that milestone in the next year or two. Yes, people would still be writing Harry Potter fanfic even if JKR wasn't relatively okay with it, because it would still be transformative and fair use and since fair use is a lawful use of copyright...

And that's a good thing.

Oh, and I have one last question for Ms Gabaldon.

When people make icons that include bits of your book covers, how do you feel about that? Because I am really kind of curious...

Comments

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I'm going to say what I said in another friend's LJ...

Diane Gabaldon got the idea for Jamie from watching Doctor Who and seeing another redheaded kilted man named Jamie.

At heart, in some form, everything she has written in that universe has been a transformative work.

She is pissing on the roots of her own tree, and it isn't cool.

[avidbeader.livejournal.com]

This. She has absolutely no room to open her mouth.

[roguebitch.livejournal.com]

You know I love you, right? This just makes me love you more.

*hugs*

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

;) let's see how much you love me when I faint onto you when Neil waks on stage this summer.

(Seriously, love you back.)

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

It left such a bad taste in my mouth :( And her self-acclaimed "true fans" didn't make it any better in the comments either.

And the sad thing? I used to be such a big fan of hers! But now I've lost a great deal of respect for her. I really hope she'll come to her senses and post some sort of retraction/apology.

[fictionalfaerie.livejournal.com]

Yes! I agree with you so much here- I adore Outlander and that series... when I met her I was so excited, she was such a doll. And now I'm just cringing at her and embarrassed that I ever enjoyed the work and admired someone that hateful. :\

[deirdre-c.livejournal.com]

I wonder how she feels about Halloween costumes?

Trekkies in Star Fleet uniforms = copyright infringement... why don't they make up their OWN futuristic pangalactic governmental systems and leave Roddenberry's alone?

Ugh.

[boosette.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing she would be ~~okay~~ with it as long as they were the officially licensed costumes and not homemade ones. Never mind that the officially licensed ones are frequently lacking in quality or not available in the needed sizes.

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

i think this is an awesome and important response. <3 Oh, and I also think no post about fandom & charity should go without mentioning the work thousands do each year to raise money for RAINN in the Sweet Charity project.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely! I've been an offeror and a bidder in SC for years, and it's such an important locus of fannish goodness.

Wait 'til you see our panel this summer on grass roots give-back fannish projects. :D

[888mph.livejournal.com]

Oh, look, another Anne Rice. (let's not forget WHO first wrote about vampires)

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

Bram Stoker? (-8 *ducks and runs away*

[tahirire.livejournal.com]

Oh dear Lord in Heaven, WAT.

I'm so glad I do not know of this woman. I would make a voodoo doll of her.

Really, you have to give mad props to the Supernatural people - never in the history of television (that I've heard of, correct me if I'm wrong)has a show been so open and supportive of its fandom. Castle is another great example - they've already given their fans lots of nods, and it's great. It builds a relationship between the fans and the show that wouldn't be there otherwise. I mean, look at 5.9!! O.o

People with that attitude don't truly understand art, imo.

Also, the Pulitzer prize list got me thinking about music. How many award winning songs copied a riff or melody from an older song? O.o ALL OF THEM.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

She really doesn't understand art - or, I'm afraid, writing. Her follow-up was all I did not realise people did all this for love! and I'm like, "Kiss today good-bye, and point me toward tomorrow because you sure aren't looking into the future or the hearts of the people who are creating it."

I love loving a show that is so supportive of fandom, the same way I loved JK Rowling when she first said that she was ok with fanfic (although she did note that she was squicked by the higher=-rated stuff, which I totally do understand) and the way WB has changed so much on a corporate level from being anti-fan to being so supportive of fan creativity and input (as long as it's not sold for profit) which is a sensible and giving approach.

[missyjack.livejournal.com]

actual you forget to mention Supernatural including fanfic about the show in the show...*head esplodes*

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

: nods

Go Becky!

I really wish someone would bring the woman who plays her to a con....

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU <333

[hllangel]

There are so many things about that post that piss me off. I don't even know where to begin. But her comment about Emmett from QaF really sent me over the edge. If she knew anything about the show, she wouldn't have described him like that. He turned out to be one of the wisest people on there.

But anyway. There is no measure big enough for the amount of fail there. and now, I will never read her books, even though I might have enjoyed them.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

That is exactly how I felt about the Emmett comment. If someone had introduced one of her characters to another character with that much bravery and strength of will, it would probably do wonders.

[rivers-bend.livejournal.com]

♥♥

Her post is one of the more ridiculous things I've read in recent weeks, and I love this response to it.

[junesrose.livejournal.com]

I never got into her books.... something about it just wasn't me. So glad I never did.

I'd LOVE to hear her response to this.

Thank you for this.

*gives you pink cotton candy*

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the pinktasticness!

[jayabear.livejournal.com]

I read her post, one of my other flisters linked it. And I stopped reading about four paragraphs in, when she first started ranting. I have now lost all desire at all to ever read any of her books.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Her hypocrisy is just bizarre and her self righteousness when she is *wrong* on all the legal issues she tries to discuss.

FAIL.

[dreamlittleyo.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this post, hon. I haven't read the entire article/blog in question because I don't think I'd make it through with manageable blood pressure. The first paragraph alone was enough to make me want to wreak violent havoc on something breakable in my apartment. Yes, she is entirely entitled to her own preferences and discomforts, much as I might disagree with them personally. But seriously, what lawyers is this woman talking to if she's coming away with a solid and unwavering conclusion that fan fiction is illegal? *facepalms*

Hence not finishing the article. But if anyone asks me to weigh in on the subject, I plan on linking them here.

[dreamlittleyo.livejournal.com]

*siiiigh* Aaand I just clicked and read further into the article after all.

And you can’t use someone’s copyrighted characters for your own purposes, no matter what those purposes are.

Really? REALLY??? Did it occur to this woman to even do a GOOGLE SEARCH before she posted this rant?

[bbennett.livejournal.com]

I just spent a 20 hour drive listening to one of her novels (I'm to disc 7, out of 33). I don't want to write fan fiction about her work; I'm just now left with a deep desire to correct her bad geography, inaccurate Gaelic, and edit out 75% of the scenes describing how fabulously hot the sex is between the two main characters.

This is completely bitchy and doesn't address your points, but after spending all day in the car ROLLING MY EYES OUT OF MY HEAD over her work, I couldn't not comment.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

B! How are you?!?!?

Are you still in DC? Will you be there over 4th of July weekend? Aaron & I are coming up for a post-wedding-thingy and would love to see you!

I am so amused by your list of her flaws - one reason I never read her books was because the descriptions by people who loved them made them sound more overblown than I was really interested in reading.

[sandy-phoenix.livejournal.com]

I agree with you entirely (as does, well, everyone who has ever really thought about this and many who have not). I read that tantrum of hers last night and, as horrible as it was, my first reaction was to laugh. How childish! But after the initial amusement came the disgust and disappointment. Without the fans, a book is just a collection of pages that takes up room on a shelf. No matter how hard an author has worked to craft the world and its inhabitants, it really doesn't take on life until someone else loves it as much as the author did. At least, that's my humble opinion. I can't imagine not worshipping at the feet of any group of people who loved something I wrote enough to bring it to life the way a fandom does.

*shakes head*

[oulangi.livejournal.com]

I personally love it when authors self select off my reading list. I save so much money!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And me with an empty ipad to fill with booksbooksbooks!

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I couldn't even reply to her post. I didn't think it would develop into a productive conversation. I just decided to post what I was thinking at my journal and be done with it.

What really annoys me is that she seems to have dropped those sweeping generalizations and triggering words in there as a way to get people all riled up about the 'big bad fic writers' before coming out and saying that she was basically sending a C&D to someone who was just trying to do what they could for a friend in need. Yeah. I really sympathize with your situation lady.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Didn't you know that a lot of fanfic is written on computers? And computers can have viruses on them? So fanfic spreads viruses? That is just one more reason why it's bad, DUH.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I left a comment over there. I had no inclination to read DG's writing before, and I certainly won't read it now. Seriously, who the fuck does she think she is? And she thinks she's being morally upright by considering hassling a bunch of people who are trying to raise money for a person's cancer treatments? SERIOUSLY.

Thanks for passing this along.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

This is one of those moments where I wish for a Someone Is Wrong on the Internet icon.

The discussion of help-Haiti there is just mind boggling. Maybe I should wander over and cite Gaiman.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

She was a bit more than condescending. And, apparently not a lawyer.

Still, the fun begins in the comments section.

Gist: "I had no idea that fanfic existed and I've never read any but that must be the worst thing to ever happen to anyone in the history of time!"

Morons....

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

And here I was thinking that every time someone posted a fanfic an angelngotnhis/her wings!

Oh, those commenters! (I bet they all love wicked. And that Madonna episode of glee.)

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

I've been following this since this morning, a friend posted on my flist.

I've gone from "WTMF!?!?!" to laughing hysterically at the Fandom Wank comments, to applauding Bookshop's post at DW. And now, I'm here.

All of you have posted well thought out pieces today, and that, if nothing else, is enough to reassure me that fanfic writers and fans in general are some of the smartest, most giving and loving people it's been my pleasure to know.

Thanks for this, it's been one crazy afternoon!

[eibbil-libbie.livejournal.com]

When I was linked to this on FB I had only one thing to say - that I was never happier that I hadn't given a dime to this woman.

But now I have to add that I love you so hardcore right now.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Her books are so freaking heavy my carpal tunnel acts up just thumbing through them in the bookstore....:)

BTW, *HUG* How are you doing, hon?

[hermorrine.livejournal.com]

An author I really enjoy has said things more than once about how much she hates fanfiction and today she referenced Ms. Gabaldon's statement today as well. It's one of those things that I just don't understand - how could I, considering my background? I don't agree with the arguments presented, and when it comes to Ms. Gabaldon and Anne Rice - I don't care. While I read both of their books once upon a time, I think they both have... lost the plot, rather literally, with their works in the past 10-odd years. But the other author... sigh. I love her books and I really like her - I talk to her on Twitter - but it's one of those things where I just have to go 'agree to disagree' and try not to let it get to me. :|

[shakespearechic.livejournal.com]

I couldn't make it all the way through the article because UGH epic fail. I've been rec'd her books multiple times, but now I can save myself some money and not bother.

Also - I agree with other comments - WTF is up with the snide comment about Emmett??!

[neros-violin.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about you and help_haiti when I read Gabaldon's post, even before it was brought up in comments. All I could think was... how proud I was and am to have taken part along with the rest of my fandom community, how much fun I've had partaking of all the incredible fan works produced in support of it, and how much hard work you and the other mods put into making it a success. :D