Comments on: And ten thousand nerds said "...really?"

And ten thousand nerds said "...really?"

mightygodking — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:12:22 -0800

50 Shades of Grey author E.L. James is threatening a Coventry-area housewife with legal action for throwing 50 Shades-themed sex toy parties. Says James' agent: "You can't just hijack something someone else owns." Which is, to say the least, a little ironic. (50 Shades previously on the blue. Also.)

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:16:01 -0800

Pottergate II!

By: amro

amro — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:21:26 -0800

"You can't just hijack something someone else owns." Bahahaha!

By: symbioid

symbioid — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:22:00 -0800

Was anyone else disappointed upon finding out that MotU wasn't a He-Man fan-fic?

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:23:41 -0800

I wanna write some slash fiction about the Kool Aid Man: How he busts through your walls to give you pure Purplesaurus Rex pleasure. 50 Shades of Grape.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:24:48 -0800

...You wanna know something even more crazy? Someone is looking into publishing her own novel that was based on fanfic -- fanfic of 50 Shades of Grey. At least, they were at one point (they may have abandoned that plan). I want to see if this goes on long enough for someone to say "hey, wait, what if I took the plot of [insert whatever we're up to here] and rewrote it as a TWILIGHT story?"

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:34:03 -0800

allow me to express myself in the medium of my choice

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:34:03 -0800

Was anyone else disappointed upon finding out that MotU wasn't a He-Man fan-fic? Fifty Shades of Greyskull!

By: town of cats

town of cats — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:35:08 -0800

Wow. Talk about your unmitigated gall.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:37:58 -0800

I'm writing a fanfic about the helicopter. "Whir whir whir," said Charlie Tango as he hovered above my quivering...

By: Forktine

Forktine — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:39:37 -0800

fanfic of 50 Shades of Grey Wouldn't that just be Twilight?

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:39:56 -0800

OH SNAP OH SNAP II: SON OF OH SNAP OH SNAP III: THE OH SNAPPENING I think I just had a schadenfreudegasm.

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:41:09 -0800

I try not to judge people I haven't actually met in person, but this E.L. James character really does seem rather awful.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:41:49 -0800

OH SNAP Z: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE ZOMBIE SNAPS

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:42:40 -0800

OH SNAP TAKES MANHATTAN

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:43:53 -0800

ASYLUM OF THE SNAPS

By: saturday_morning

saturday_morning — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:45:20 -0800

THE EMPIRE SNAPS BACK

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:46:01 -0800

On closer inspection, there appears to be rather more than 50 shades of hypocrisy on this here kettle I'm holding.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:49:35 -0800

OH SNAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROWNOYOUDI'INT

By: bukvich

bukvich — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:50:21 -0800

All posts are © their original authors!

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:50:49 -0800

Meet Mr Fifty Shades: EL James's husband speaks out Yes, when Fifty Shades Of Grey hit number one on the NYT Bestseller List we swapped our pongy old Honda for a big shiny VW, but that's about it – although now the door has fallen off the oven we may refit our tatty kitchen sooner rather than later. Oh piss off you smug sods

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:50:56 -0800

OHSNAPTIC PARK: THE LOST WORLD

By: kittens for breakfast

kittens for breakfast — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:51:35 -0800

GINGER SNAPS ...oh wait I think I kinda screwed it up

By: clvrmnky

clvrmnky — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:52:26 -0800

Apropos: http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4307

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:53:25 -0800

IT'S A S-S-S-NAP (the staircase is the real snap)

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:53:55 -0800

I will gladly offer to host one of these aforementioned "sex toy parties". I see. I'm being told that I must first create a business in which I procure and sell sex toys, apologies for the confusion

By: ninjew

ninjew — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:56:20 -0800

oh I can't wait until the movies come out..

By: njohnson23

njohnson23 — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:57:42 -0800

Metafilter: All posts are © their original authors!

By: olinerd

olinerd — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:58:39 -0800

Mummy porn writer EL James Yeah I had a definite "WHAT kind of porn?!" double-take there.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:00:53 -0800

Mummy porn Rachel Weisz nooooo.....

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:01:36 -0800

He put the ram back in Ramses.

By: roger ackroyd

roger ackroyd — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:01:41 -0800

Here's the ad currently running on this page when you log out.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:03:50 -0800

How has no one yet linked the ONTD post on this? DISHONOR ON YOUR COW, METAFILTER.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:09:07 -0800

The woodwind sounds like creaky bed springs

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:10:04 -0800

If Ms. Winter rebrands her parties as Fifty Sheds of Grey, she'll be in the clear legally.

By: angrycat

angrycat — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:13:18 -0800

Snap, the final frontier.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:14:37 -0800

The Cult of Snap

By: mule98J

mule98J — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:18:40 -0800

Come now, little butterfly....surely, you didn't think this would go unnoticed. Thanks for the free advertising, now pay me for your egregious, egregious copyright infringement.

By: zombieflanders

zombieflanders — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:19:13 -0800

SNAPzilla vs MechOHSNAPzilla

By: thesmallmachine

thesmallmachine — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:22:25 -0800

I wish this woman hadn't become the public face of the fanfic community. Please don't think all fan writers are like this, for every possible value of "like this." It's a large, diverse community of many interests and skill levels, and most of the people I've met there are self-aware and unhypocritical. They'll obey the law and authorial edict, if applicable, but they have doubts about whether inventing one's own characters is the only measure of originality, or whether originality is the only measure of creative skill. And for this reason, they generally don't mind people who riff off their own work, except in cases when someone claims someone else's fan work is their own (because, after all, no fanfic writer would ever claim to have written Supernatural or The Avengers, unless you count Joss as a fanfic writer because he is using characters other people invented). I have to admit, though, that I don't know how I'd react if someone had a sex toy party themed after my old fic. None of it lends itself well to a sex toy party. I don't know anyone who has had this problem. Maybe once the sex toy parties get involved, all bets are off. To be fair to James, I don't see a quote from her anywhere on this article. She does not seem like an admirable person and I'm sure she sanctioned the lawsuit, but "you can't just hijack something someone else owns" isn't her personal defense of her actions.

By: Pistache

Pistache — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:25:36 -0800

THE SNAPPENING (WHAT A TWIST!)

By: KingEdRa

KingEdRa — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:33:24 -0800

Citizen Snap (SPOILER: Ebfrohq'f Gur Fanc)

By: straight

straight — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:33:45 -0800

Judging from his twitter feed, this thread full of O SNAP movie puns is exactly the response mightygodking was hoping for.

By: KingEdRa

KingEdRa — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:34:47 -0800

Oh Snap II: Electric Boogaloo

By: straight

straight — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:37:13 -0800

"You can't just hijack something someone else owns." Does Fifty Shade so Grey actually owe anything to Stephanie Meyer other than the names that got filed off?

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:39:01 -0800

Creepy implausible relationships, it sounds like.

By: luckynerd

luckynerd — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:43:12 -0800

I think ELJ is just pissed she's not making money off of the parties.

By: Strange Interlude

Strange Interlude — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:45:25 -0800

I'm still waiting for E.L. James to admit that she stole her pen name from the Keebler elves.

By: immlass

immlass — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:50:54 -0800

SNAPCEPTION! I love me some fanfic, even some kink meme, but ahhhh, the smell of schadenfreude in the morning. The only thing that could make this better is Cassandra Clare weighing in.

By: chavenet

chavenet — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:58:41 -0800

So, were _restraining_ orders issued?

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:08:15 -0800

So, were _restraining_ orders issued? Not yet, the paperwork is still tied up in deliberations. God this is awesome. As someone who has written fanfics myself, I would be so honored if someone actually created a party theme based on my work that I would probably show up just to thank everyone personally. But I don't think my ego could handle it. Plus, I'm still ironing out the rough edges of my latest work: Breaking Badder.

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:09:32 -0800

THE SNAPPENING. I took this photo a couple of days ago at my local Sam's Club. I call it "Fifty Shades of Snap."

By: Sing Or Swim

Sing Or Swim — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:12:09 -0800

BRIDE OF OHSNAPPENSTEIN MEETS ABBOT AND COSTELLO Am I too late?

By: zippy

zippy — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:12:14 -0800

COLM MEANY UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:13:13 -0800

Look at all those books. These books will never be gotten rid of. These books are how our civilization will be remembered.

By: Pudhoho

Pudhoho — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:17:43 -0800

I want to see if this goes on long enough for someone to say "hey, wait, what if I took the plot of ~~[insert whatever we're up to here]~~ NAKED LUNCH and rewrote it as a TWILIGHT story?" Any of the Tom Clancy novels that lean heavily on domestic political intrigue rather than the usual warporn stats would also work.

By: Suddenly, elf ass

Suddenly, elf ass — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:25:20 -0800

Did I ever tell you about the vampire who taught his asshole to talk?

By: These Birds of a Feather

These Birds of a Feather — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:29:03 -0800

Those books are the literary equivalent of twinkies and cockroaches.

By: Decani

Decani — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:31:03 -0800

I want to go to a Fifty Shades Sex Toy Party. With a camera, an oilskin and a sou'wester.

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:36:08 -0800

Plus, I'm still ironing out the rough edges of my latest work: Breaking Badder You'd better not tread too close to my profitable vampires-as-a-metaphor-for-meth-addiction franchise Breaking Vlad, buddy.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:36:53 -0800

OH SNAP SUPERMAN OH SNAP JUDGE OH SNAP MODERN MAN OH SNAP AH-HA-HAHAHAHAHA

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:48:23 -0800

The only thing that could make this better is Cassandra Clare weighing in. I am so fucking disappointed in fandom as a whole that no one has profited from the publication of shitty fanfic of her books. SO DISAPPOINTED.

By: kafziel

kafziel — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:56:13 -0800

God this is awesome. As someone who has written fanfics myself, I would be so honored if someone actually created a party theme based on my work that I would probably show up just to thank everyone personally. But I don't think my ego could handle it. Plus, I'm still ironing out the rough edges of my latest work: Breaking Badder. Have a free tip: you'll make a hundred times as much if it's Breaking Bladder.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:00:13 -0800

If this Breaking Bed's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'!

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:00:29 -0800

That's the theme of one of the later chapters, "Look At Me, Hector"

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:01:08 -0800

I'm writing "Metafilter: Fifty Shades of Grey posts" fanfic. Anastasia's fingers trembled over the keyboard, knowing that Christian saw her looking at the post on BoingBoing. "Go ahead, make a single link FPP out of it" he said. "But another Fifty Shades post will just deleted, and Cortex is so mean when he deletes them." He placed his hand over hers and guided the mouse pointer to "New Post". "You will learn to enjoy the bite of the snarky comment", Christian whispered in her ear. "But", she shyly admitted, vainly trying to pull the mouse away, "I've only ever lurked, I've...never made an FPP"

By: JustKeepSwimming

JustKeepSwimming — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:01:34 -0800

I am so fucking disappointed in fandom as a whole that no one has profited from the publication of shitty fanfic of her books. SO DISAPPOINTED. I'd give it some time. The first Twilight book came out in 2005. Fifty Shades was first published in 2011. City of Bones was first published in 2007. So on our Fifty Shades timeline, we could be right on track. (And it we aren't, well, we should start on this right now, shouldn't we?)

By: roboton666

roboton666 — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:07:20 -0800

QUICK SOMEBODY SHOW THIS POST TO ALANIS MORRISETTE!

By: bitdamaged

bitdamaged — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:29:23 -0800

I've been working on a piece of fanfic called Breaking Blood. Its about a down on his luck Vampire in Louisiana who just found out he's not going to die so he's got to find a way to take care of his family until the end of time, so he starts dealing Vampire blood to humans and shape shifters in the area. I think Starz might pick it up as as series.

By: epo

epo — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:38:10 -0800

It's an amusing story but this is from the Daily Mirror which, like all British red-tops, has an intermittent relationship with the truth.

By: Iosephus

Iosephus — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:04:32 -0800

50 Ha-ha's of Nelson Muntz.

By: mightygodking

mightygodking — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:12:02 -0800

Judging from his twitter feed, this thread full of O SNAP movie puns is exactly the response mightygodking was hoping for. well, that and people giving me bags of money for no reason metafilter is always sort of disappointing on that level

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:16:58 -0800

After seeing Cassandra Clare mentioned on every thread that vaguely touches on this subject, I finally looked up what she's supposed to have done. It appears that when she was a fan fiction author, she was found to be guilty of plagiarizing in the wrong way, so that it upset all the other plagiarizers, who perceived themselves to be plagiarizing only in acceptable ways? Maybe you all should just let this one go.

By: kmz

kmz — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:34:51 -0800

It appears that when she was a fan fiction author, she was found to be guilty of plagiarizing in the wrong way, so that it upset all the other plagiarizers, who perceived themselves to be plagiarizing only in acceptable ways? This only makes sense if you believe all fanfic is plagiarism, which is utterly false.

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:54:07 -0800

kmz - Fair enough. I would agree that fan fiction is not plagiarism if the author of the original work has stated that it is acceptable. Lawyers on behalf of J. K. Rowling have stated that she has "no complaint about innocent fan fiction written by genuine Harry Potter fans", and she has only explicitly objected to sexually explicit work. So it's certainly possible that Cassandra Clare's Harry Potter fan fiction, and the work of those in the fan fiction community who objected to it, was only plagiarism insofar as it lifted dialogue from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'll check to see if her work, and the community she was writing in, featured sexually explicit scenes, and if it didn't I withdraw my statement and apologize for making assumptions.

By: rewil

rewil — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:07:06 -0800

So it's certainly possible that Cassandra Clare's Harry Potter fan fiction, and the work of those in the fan fiction community who objected to it, was only plagiarism insofar as it lifted dialogue from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The lifting from Pamela Dean always seemed more egregious, TBH.

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:11:21 -0800

Haven't read it, and was just using Buffy as a shorthand example -- it sounds like it lifted from Dean, Buffy, Roger Zelasny, Tanith Lee, and a bunch of other sources.

By: kmz

kmz — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:18:13 -0800

Does Fifty Shade so Grey actually owe anything to Stephanie Meyer other than the names that got filed off? I guess you can't patent terrible writing, so not much then, I suppose. I would agree that fan fiction is not plagiarism if the author of the original work has stated that it is acceptable. That seems to be an extremely overreaching definition of plagiarism. What you're talking about might fall under copyright or trademark infringement, but those are different things from plagiarism. No fanfic author I know of claims ownership of the original work or their characters. (Actually, I have occasionally seen people try to claim their variation of a character or something, and then they're mercilessly mocked by the rest of the community, as they should be.) But anyway, if you can't see the difference between unattributed wholesale lifting of prose and fanfiction, this discussion (which has been going on for forever and a day) isn't going to go anywhere.

By: TrialByMedia

TrialByMedia — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:28:01 -0800

The next person to publish anything about 50 Shades of Grey is going to get strangled.

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:40:44 -0800

Of course I see the difference. And I do appear to have been using the term plagiarusm incorrectly. Sorry about that. I should have said "I would agree that fan fiction is not copyright infringement if the author of the original work has stated that it is acceptable," and used that term in several places in my initial post. But ... that doesn't mean I consider unapproved fan fiction to be either legal or particularly ethical. There's not really a "might" about the copyright infringement issue. Derivative work is specifically covered by copyright, with only narrow fair use exceptions that aren't considered to cover the vast majority of unapproved fan fiction. I guess what I'm trying to get at here is ... in a post where E. L. James is being called out for trying to shut down "hijacking" of her work, I'm a little amused by the approving references to Clare being called out by a group of which some of whom, I'm now pretty sure, were indulging in copyright infringement themselves. And believe me, I am well aware that my views on copyright are extremely unpopular here on Metafilter. So I'll drop the derail.

By: DoctorFedora

DoctorFedora — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:48:11 -0800

By: kmz

kmz — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:00:38 -0800

And don't even get me started on the lifting from Paula Dean. City of Butter? Mortal Instrument indeed.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:05:07 -0800

Coming soon to an Amazon delivery box near you: 50 Pictures of Dorian Gray. 50 Miles of James May. 50 Screens of Michael Bay. 50 Bags of Frito Lay.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:10:35 -0800

50 Pictures of Dorian Gray. Upon discovering Basil's power Dorian doesn't kill him, but rather uses him to cement his position by making select members of the English nobility (and a few boxers and actresses) immortal, allowing the class system to further entrench and enrich itself while Dorian keeps their paintings close at hand as insurance. Basil, still enraptured by Dorian, needs to be convinced by a now immortal-and-hating-it-Lord henry to do SOMETHING to stop that man before he takes down the whole Empire.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:10:51 -0800

(e-mails agent. No, literally.)

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:12:45 -0800

So...let me see if I understand what's going on here. A woman writes some popular fanfic, takes it offline, retools it a bit and sells it to a publisher and people get all butthurt. Big deal. Obviously her original fanfic wasn't that closely tied to Twilight if she could republish it without legal repercussion just by changing the character names.

By: immlass

immlass — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:34:04 -0800

So...let me see if I understand what's going on here. A woman writes some popular fanfic, takes it offline, retools it a bit and sells it to a publisher and people get all butthurt. The only person who seems to be butthurt is the sex toy party seller who got the C&D. The rest of us seem to be laughing.

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:23:55 -0800

Well, somebody associated with James clearly got butthurt enough to send the C&D, immlass.

By: immlass

immlass — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:57:44 -0800

True, but the lawyers/publisher's representatives are paid to be butthurt. It's in the job description.

By: ninjew

ninjew — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 17:04:27 -0800

50 Miles of James May. the written word cannot suitably convey the majesty of James May and his hair

By: xmutex

xmutex — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 17:11:43 -0800

This could all be solved by outlawing fanfic and killing anyone who engages in it on the spot. The world would be much better off.

By: aristan

aristan — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 17:33:40 -0800

I want to write a Fifty Shades of Grey fanfic that is more scat focused. Not because I'm into scat or anything... I just want an excuse to use the pen name E.L. Fudge.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 20:03:06 -0800

Morgan Freeman is alive, did not narrate '50 Shades of Grey' video

By: This, of course, alludes to you

This, of course, alludes to you — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 20:07:22 -0800

@xmutex ...what

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 20:42:15 -0800

The world awaits my erotic ST:TNG fanfic, 50 Cups of Earl Grey. Oh! I'm drinking Snapple and listening to Snap!

By: crossoverman

crossoverman — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 21:04:01 -0800

The world awaits my erotic ST:TNG fanfic, 50 Cups of Earl Grey. HOT!

By: crossoverman

crossoverman — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 21:06:57 -0800

50 Shades of Grape. The Grapist.

By: Philby

Philby — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 21:11:18 -0800

And also, my Song of Ice and Fire Fan-fic: 50 Grades of Shae

By: Mezentian

Mezentian — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 21:19:35 -0800

As far as I am aware every major sex toy retailer in Australia has been pushing 50 Shades sex toy stuff for the past few weeks. I have no idea if it's inspired by or 50 ShadesTM branded stuff or generic bondage, but ... I am withdrawing by Grey and Steele branded St Andrews crosses immediately.

By: immlass

immlass — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 22:30:34 -0800

As far as I am aware every major sex toy retailer in Australia has been pushing 50 Shades sex toy stuff for the past few weeks. There's a local sex toy shop here in Austin with a scrolling text banner by the side of the freeway on the way we went out to dinner tonight. I don't know what specifically they were advertising, but I caught the "... ades of Grey ..." scrolling by as we went past at high speed.

By: knile

knile — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 01:03:18 -0800

445supermag: I'm writing "Metafilter: Fifty Shades of Grey posts" fanfic. That's Fifty Shades of Blue. Fifty Shades of Grey is for MetaTalk fanfic.

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 01:34:35 -0800

MetaTalk is MetaFilter fanfic.

By: mccarty.tim

mccarty.tim — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 05:41:18 -0800

I should write a bible fanfic so that more of it happened in America. That sounds so great, I should sell it door to door.

By: mccarty.tim

mccarty.tim — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 05:42:30 -0800

Also, 50 Shades of Gray is the biggest case of false advertising ever. There was not a single pantone or HSV value in that book. I would have settled for hex, even. Would not recommend. 1 star.

By: mccarty.tim

mccarty.tim — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 05:45:11 -0800

Alternative version of previous joke: 50 Shades of Grey was disappointing, as it did not deliver on my paranormal romance fantasies of extraterrestrial sweet love.

By: epo

epo — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 06:50:46 -0800

Your bible fanfic idea is genius. It would make a tremendous starting point for an SF novel. Imagine the social impact of a nation of people (a) believing this, (b) concluding, perhaps, they were the chosen people.

By: Gordafarin

Gordafarin — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 06:55:28 -0800

mccarty.tim: "Also, 50 Shades of Gray is the biggest case of false advertising ever. There was not a single pantone or HSV value in that book. I would have settled for hex, even." I am angry at Ms James for ruining Jasper Fforde's book title forever.

By: jb

jb — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 07:00:56 -0800

Mummy porn writer EL James I don't think anything can count as "mummy porn" unless it a) is erotica about two people finding time to have sex when their kids are asleep or b) involves pyramids.

By: jb

jb — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 07:25:27 -0800

But ... that doesn't mean I consider unapproved fan fiction to be either legal or particularly ethical. Unless it's really well-written, in which case we just call it inter-textuality. (some bright literature-person can add a hell of a lot more examples, if they like). Seriously: riffing on other people's characters and stories is the backbone of literature, and not just about adding zombies. It's how we talk about our stories and expand them and question them and re-write them. Characters never have been copyrightable -- what is in copyright is the original WORDS. Yes, owners of major media franchises have chosen to TRADEMARK character names. But that doesn't mean that writers of parodies and other derviative works aren't allowed to publish. I was going to say that I will rue the day when inter-textuality is banned, but I'm afraid that it's already too late. And I'm sure our culture is going to fucked by this loss.

By: immlass

immlass — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 07:51:55 -0800

Unless it's really well-written, in which case we just call it inter-textuality. Yeah, there's a lot of snobbery around the use of "other people's ideas" by people who would never dream of criticizing everyone from Homer to Virgil to Mallory to Shakespeare and on down the line to the present day for doing exactly the same thing. And Jean Rhys notwithstanding, a lot of the modern criticism takes a distinctly anti-woman tone because the internet culture of fanfic is perceived, correctly or not, to be female dominated. (Jean Rhys gets off because she's academically-approved instead of writing on livejournal. As for publication, we can see what that got E.L. James.) Legal, which can only be determined by putting rubber to the road in a court, or not, making up more stories about characters you're interested in or telling different versions of the same old stories is pretty much what people do. So is tying in your own ideas to popular culture. What's so hilarious about this case is E.L. James is convinced that the process stops with her, and it just doesn't work that way.

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:21:27 -0800

jb and imlass, I would have no objection whatsoever to a copyright term much shorter than the one that currently exists, which would leave plenty of room for Rhys, Homer, Virgil, Mallory, and Shakespeare. And I already mentioned that fair use exemptions exist in current copyright law, which includes both parody and "vastly transformative" works. I also think that's great. I simply don't think that copyright should be thrown away entirely, and I don't think a good deal of fan fiction falls into either parody or the vastly transformative category. Which makes me a minority voice here, but such is life. As it stands, I think if a living author has given permission (as Stephanie Meyer has and as J. K. Rowling has for most fan fiction), awesome. If they haven't (as Anne Rice and George R. R. Martin have not), then except for a few fair use examples, I stand by what I said. There is a middle ground between no-derivative-works-ever and all-copyright-is-an-abomination. I suspect we both live in that middle ground, actually, just in different parts of it.

By: doctornemo

doctornemo — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:37:40 -0800

We found a 50 Shades of Gray magazine at the grocery store last night. Right between Men's Health and Cosmo.

By: fuse theorem

fuse theorem — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:55:57 -0800

I should write a bible fanfic so that more of it happened in America. That sounds so great, I should sell it door to door. Be sure to put in more dinosaurs.

By: jeather

jeather — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:08:14 -0800

I am angry at Ms James for ruining Jasper Fforde's book title forever. Yeah, I get a lot of comments when people see that book on my shelf. And then I explain (a) it's a different book and (b) it was promised as the beginning of a trilogy and he's never ever going to write the next books, just a prequel, and I'm upset, and then I start explaining how the plot was interesting and then they learn never to mock my bookshelf again, because I will bore them to death if they do.

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:20:59 -0800

JASPER FFORDE IS NEVER GOING TO WRITE THE SEQUELS TO SHADES OF GREY?!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIEEE I'M NEVER GOING TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS AAAAAAAIIIEEEE *weeps*

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:23:07 -0800

I don't think a good deal of fan fiction falls into either parody or the vastly transformative category I don't think it falls into copyright violation territory either unless the fic writers have actually lifted text from the original, which they typically don't. You believe that there should be a legal category of intellectual property rights which cover... um, whatever it is that fanfic writers duplicate. This is an arguable position (though I disagree with it), but as far as I know it'd be an extension to the laws we have.

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:41:55 -0800

I am withdrawing from this argument on the grounds that jeather's post has driven me into a state of hysterical madness. (I plan not to recover until I have acquired finished editions of Sanditon, The Love of the Last Tycoon, and the Mystery of Edwin Drood. In the meantime, any available copies of Singer Among the Nightingales, the final books of the War Against the Chtorr, or the conclusion of the Kencryrath series would be greatly appreciated if you could send them my way.)

By: jeather

jeather — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:10:27 -0800

A PREQUEL is coming out in 2015. I don't want a prequel! I mean, I do, but first I want to know what happens next. (Also, if the Thursday Next books aren't fanfiction, I don't know what is. Yes, it's only of out of copyright works, as far as I can recall. No doubt any in-copyright characters were approved by their authors.)

By: kyrademon

kyrademon — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 17:14:34 -0800

Interestingly, Jasper Fforde was opposed to fan fiction until someone pointed out to him that it's kind of a lot of what he does himself. Jasper Fforde at first: "... it seems strange to want to copy or 'augment' someone else's work ... [Any fan fiction] published in any form whatsoever - and that specifically includes the internet - I cannot encourage, nor approve of." After, one imagines, quite a lot of people noted that he had spent most of his career 'augmenting' other people's works in his own books, he said: "After speaking to many Fanfictioneers and understanding the genre a litttle better, I have modified my opinion ... [I] would regard it more as a celebration of writing rather than simple copying." So, to bring this full circle, I guess the logical solution is for someone to write Shades of Grey fanfic.

By: thivaia

thivaia — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:15:38 -0800

So much for the kinky Tudor shenanigans at my "50 Shades of (Lady Jane) Grey" potluck and beheading event.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 20:14:17 -0800

Oh don't lose your head over it.

By: jb

jb — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:17:11 -0800

There is a middle ground between no-derivative-works-ever and all-copyright-is-an-abomination. I suspect we both live in that middle ground, actually, just in different parts of it. As hattifattener, is copyright really at issue? Does it apply to anything other than the exact words? One maybe could talk about plagiarism for the uncited ideas, but that sort of plagiarism really is an academic offense and doesn't make sense outside of an academic context. By writing a new story, there is a new creation - one which talks to the original but doesn't copy it in any way. I have no idea how that ruling against 60 years later stood: it's a clearly transformative work, in a similar vein to Rhys, or Geoff Ryman's Was.

By: jb

jb — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:20:19 -0800

Of course, I have my own solution for all derivative works: there should just be a standard % of income that must go to the original creator. So if I make Doctor Who knitting patterns and sell them, I have to send the BBC like 10% of what I sell them for. And if I give them away for free, I have to send the BBC 10% of 0. It recognizes the contribution of the original authors/designers to the final product and protects their right to make money from their own creative work, while at the same time leaving a place for the creation of non-profit derivative art.

By: grubi

grubi — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:40:12 -0800

50 Shades of Grape. The Grapist. Is that legitimate grape? I'll show myself out.

By: Gordafarin

Gordafarin — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 04:10:54 -0800

JASPER FFORDE IS NEVER GOING TO WRITE THE SEQUELS TO SHADES OF GREY?!!! My heart has just broken into a million little pieces...

By: rewil

rewil — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:43:04 -0800

Is there an interview or something where he talks about there never being a sequel? I went looking for one, wanting to know why, and could only find bits about how we'll have to wait a while for a prequel, but nothing about plans beyond that.

By: jeather

jeather — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:46:51 -0800

I swear I read that he had no immediate plans to return to Shades of Grey in the next half dozen years (other than the prequel). I grant, that might mean he will eventually finish it, but his Nursery Crimes last book has been delayed forever, too, because he keeps going on the Thursday Next and Dragonslayer books.

By: Gordafarin

Gordafarin — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:51:05 -0800

Prequel to be written in 2014, no mention of sequel