Confessions of a Reader in Secret

Intrigued? Don't be.  It's nothing that is truly all that bad.

I am a fan-fiction reader. Yes.  I read fan-fiction. My little sister got me hooked on it, and at first, I will admit I did not see the draw. Then, I began to read some really good stories which had some pretty original ideas, and I began seeing some things that made me think, "Hey, I would actually buy this book if it were published."



There's been quite a bit of an uproar over the years because some authors were pulling their stories, changing the names of the characters (which were originally based off another author's work), and publishing under different titles.

At first, I was livid--especially when I was reading one and hadn't quite finished it when it was pulled--but, then I asked myself, was I into it for the story or because it was based on these characters that I knew from the original work by the original author. If the answer was the latter, then there was nothing to really get upset over. If it was the preceding, I did everything I could to find if it had been published. In all cases, it had not been published by a publishing house, but had been taken by other "writers" and represented as their own work.  Basically, it was stolen, misrepresented, and was taken down for "protection".

Recently, a book series--rumored to have been shopped by Hollywood--is taking quite a bit of flack because it had begun as a work of fan-fiction.  The author had pulled the stories, changed character names and played with the title.  The story was good and far apart from the original work's storyline, however fan-fiction readers are in hate mode.

Why?

Granted the story, originally, was written as a Twilight fan-fic (yes, I said Twilight. Get over it.), but there wasn't much if anything that resembled Twilight. Yes, it began in Washington, but not in the small town of Forks. The characters were adults and there was no "other-worldliness" to any of them.

I think the truer issue is that at one time the reading was free and now, if they want to read the story and some of the additional pieces that were added, they have to pay for it.

I said the story was good...it wasn't great, and I wouldn't pay for it, but other readers of actual published works have.  There were a few things that bothered me about the fan-fiction story (to the point where I stopped reading), but some people really loved it.  So, I guess I do feel a bit sorry for them, but in my own personal opinion....

...it should be the author's right to choose what they do with their story.  She had a good following for the series and if she chose to take it another route, then she had to know it could either ruin her or do something really great.  If she gets the Hollywood deal...I don't think she'll be too worried about what "the little people" think.

Even if they are the ones that gave her the stones enough to go after her dream.

"You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it.  If you want something, go get it. Period." - Pursuit of Happyness (Movie)