‘Twilight’ Fanficcer Trying To Make Money From Stephanie Meyer’s Work
Wednesday, April 8, 2009Posted in: fanfiction, Lee Goldberg Fanfiction is evil
Ya see, this is where I have a problem with fanfiction.
Some fucktard sent out a press release, promoting her self-published fanfiction sequel to Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight:
This September 2009, a new controversial book hits stores. It is called Russet Noon and it is a tribute sequel to the Twilight Saga. Written by Gothic webmistress and author LadySybilla, Russet Noon is an unofficial continuation to the last book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. Russet Noon is told from Jacob Black’s perspective and it explores the questions left unanswered at the end of the last installment in the Twilight Saga.
I agree with Lee Goldberg’s assessment, this bint is effing delusional.
This was Goldberg’s somewhat predictable reaction to the story:
This delusional fanficcer doesn’t care that she is violating Stephenie Meyer’s copyright because she doesn’t think Meyer has one. Honest.
“We’d like to thank all the buyers who pre-ordered Russet Noon. The promotional offer to purchase the novel early is now over and will resume in August 2009. Please contact our sales department to find out more about the release of Russet Noon this September 2009. Beware of half-truth accusations and find out about the actual facts on copyright laws.”
She elaborated on her view on copyright law in a second press release.
“When fictional characters become such an intricate part of the popular psyche, as is the case with the Twilight Saga, legal boundaries become blurred, and copyright laws become increasingly difficult to define. This is especially the case when actual cities like Forks and Volterra are used as the novel’s settings. Such settings are not copyrightable, as they are considered public domain.
Similarly, the Quileute Nation is also not copyrightable, and neither are vampire or werewolf legends. Copyright laws protect writers from unauthorized reproductions of their work, but such reproductions only include verbatim copying. Characters are only copyrightable if their creator draws them or hires an artist to draw them.
Stephenie Meyer herself borrowed a great deal from previous works dealing with these mythologies. Russet Noon is an original story inspired not only by the Twilight Saga, but also by many classic Gothic novels from the Romantic and Victorian Periods of Literature. If anything, the publication of Russet Noon will only strengthen the popularity of the Twilight franchise, since it will serve to further establish its already legendary status.”
This dimwit’s rationale for violating Stephenie Meyer’s copyright is so inane that I bet even the Organization for Transformational Works won’t defend her…
Listen, I have no problem with fanfiction per se, but that’s only as long as the fanficcers aren’t making any money off of somebody else’s hard work. And if they are making money out of somebody else’s hard work, then the original creator should be financially compensated at the very least.
The bloody cheek of it. Dumb twat.
Amarinda Jones
April 8
9:58 am
I would have called her a wankerette but dumb twat is just as good
Sparky
April 8
10:54 am
“When fictional characters become such an intricate part of the popular psyche, as is the case with the Twilight Saga, legal boundaries become blurred, and copyright laws become increasingly difficult to define.”
BWAHAHAHAH! Oh lordy, oh that’s good! Quick quick, get her to defend her theft some more, it’s funny!
Wait, no, first ask her to define what a quintissential part of the popular psyche twilight is again. Oh this is going to fail but she has a great career as a stand up comedien ahead of her
Shiloh Walker
April 8
11:49 am
So because popular characters are so popular, the writer who CREATED them no longer has the rights to them?
Um. Whatever. Nice way to say thanks to the author for giving you some entertainment-take away the very thing that gave you the entertainment.
People can seriously suck. However, she has no leg to stand on. I’m assuming she’ll get her tail sued off.
katiebabs
April 8
12:17 pm
Doesn’t Stephanie own the character Jacob? Perhaps not the actual place, but well known characters I would say are a no-no.
So does that mean I can write about Cujo, risen from the grave because that character by Stephen King is so popular?
Hey, he killed the dog off, so I have rights to it now.
Lori
April 8
1:07 pm
Where’s JK Rowling when you need her?
Heather Holland
April 8
1:14 pm
I think my fave part is where she claims you have to draw the characters in order to own them. Man, I suck at drawing. I’m so screwed. lol
Now, all joking aside. It’s sad. That’s what this is. Very, very sad that someone can be that far off base and still think she’s right even when it’s pointed out that she’s not. Don’t you just love how people have a way of twisting things to suit their own needs?
Jody Wallace
April 8
2:19 pm
Perhaps it’s a parody…because this justification is certainly a parody of copyright law *laugh*
AztecLady
April 8
3:39 pm
How can something be ‘completely original’ yet a ‘tribute sequel’? [right on the cover image in Goldberg’s link]
Someone is a bunch of fries short of their happy meal, for sure.
willaful
April 8
6:34 pm
This press release didn’t come out on April 1, did it? Because just from that title, I’m having trouble buying that this is real.
Nonny
April 8
6:58 pm
Willaful, I posted about it awhile back on Romance Divas. It’s, sadly, not a joke.
Angelia Sparrow
April 8
9:30 pm
We have a feral! Call out the Socialization Squad!
See, this is where net-fandom gets to be problematic. An older fan from zine days, would have been properly socialized in the great commandments of fanfic:
You don’t make money on it.
You don’t show it to the talent.
She needs to have every legal repercussion possible dumped on her.
JulieLeto
April 8
10:14 pm
God, I hope Meyer pulls a JK Rowling and sues the idiot. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again in regards to fan fiction, “CREATE YOUR OWN DAMNED CHARACTERS!”
I know I shouldn’t paint the whole phenom with one brush, but it’s idiots like this who give fan fic a bad name…and rightfully so.
Twilight fans should be OUTRAGED.
Lorraine
April 9
1:03 am
Although I didn’t read Twilight, *I likey sexxing in my books* it’s Meyer’s writing and story that made the series so popular. Who cares what this fanfic author has to say? It’s obnoxious that a fan would presume to continue the story. Why would anyone want to read this?
It’s Meyer’s world and no one but she can know her character’s points of view about anything.
Louise van Hine
April 9
2:08 am
creeps in quietly… while she is likely to lose a copyright suit on the basis of co-opting Meyers’ characters and elements of the plot, she sorta kinda has a point about being able to base a vampire story in real places with real names and say “nyah”. However, she better have $100K per story to back up the brazenness, because that is what the fine is for violating copyright. $100K per violation. And she could have easily done a lookalike with different names and skated past any potential issues. Copyright when it comes to original works with similar themes and places is a big gray area, but if you’re going to make something a tribute fic, then you’re firmly on intellectual property that doesn’t belong to you. Like the author who wrote the slave’s tale based on plot elements of “Gone with the Wind”, (the author won the copyright suit, btw), there has to be significant originality to the transformed work, and a large part of the argument that won it for that author was using a character who was generic in GWTW and made it completely her own – there was none of Mitchell’s prose anywhere in evidence. So having a common origin point or common plot element is not enough to sue for copyright violation, but co-opting the main characters, is sort of a no-brainer here.
Louise van Hine
April 9
2:42 am
whoops, addendum here. The GWTW defense was that the story was a parody, and with that defense, was able to settle out of court and continue publication. So unless “Russet Noon” could be legitimately deemed parody (and thus protected speech) she’s probably shit out of luck.
Mary M.
April 9
3:13 am
F**k. What an idiot. People like this girl will only give more ammunition to authors who are already against fanfiction, and make life more difficult to all her fellow fanfic writers. Way to go. The only defense for fanficcers is that they work out of love and not for profit. People love a book’s characters and want to write about them, that’s great in my book but they don’t deserve to make money out of it because the biggest work – establishing the world and the characters – has been done already.
Lolita Lopez
April 9
7:11 am
LOL. Some people are just off the effing chain…
Karmyn
April 9
10:22 am
I heard she’s given up trying to publish it, has issued refunds, and is just going to make it available for free on her website.
Seems like somebody forgot rule #1 of fanfic. Thou shalt not attempt to profit from fanfiction.
Tuscan Capo
April 9
4:42 pm
LOL My wife read this post and she had a quite different speculation on the controversy.
Anyway, I attempted to read one of these Twilight books (and yea, eventually got through the entire thing), but sorry it bored me to tears. I may have enjoyed something like this in my younger years, but nowadays I prefer more mature characters.