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.

[roguebitch.livejournal.com]

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

*hugs*

[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.

[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.

[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.

[888mph.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[missyjack.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[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*

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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*

[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.

To quote a classic:

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I am...
I am...
I am Superman, and I can do anything...


Yeah, maybe notsomuch of an understanding of the law, ya think?

[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.

[slashkilter.livejournal.com]

Oh, they're totally overblown, and some of the things that happen as well as most of the sex scenes are completely overdone. A lot of the characters are rather unlikeable, as well.

I just don't know. I did enjoy reading them, especially the third book which I re-read whenever I need silly escapism. She'd probably object to my classification and point out that hers is not mere romance, it is a literary historical novel.

[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. :\

[oulangi.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[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.