And one day, the girl with the books, became the woman writing them
I have been wracking my brain on what to write for a newsletter for the last few weeks and after one too many glasses of wine, I settled on addressing the proverbial elephant in the room. If you’re anything like me, then you’ll be aware of the discourse online surrounding content and intellectual property, especially with the recent growth in popularity where A.I. is concerned. As someone who has grown up with an unregulated internet, it’s been an interesting, if not stressful, experiment on what exactly quantifies ownership of a thought, or an idea. Where does the distinction lie between transformative work and plagiarism?
Like any creative person, the internet is and continues to be, a beautiful playground to foster ideas and meet like-minded people. I, being the perpetual geek that I am, have found many homes in the fandom of my hyper-fixation at the time. Within these communities, works like fan fiction, fan art, and fan edits, thrive, becoming a creative outlet for people to express their love of the story and delve just a little further into the fantasy world that they love. I myself, am one of these individuals.
It’s only in recent years that fan fiction has been seen in a different light. Certainly, when I was a youngling going through high school, it was a taboo secret that I couldn’t possibly tell anyone lest I be shunned for…reading? That isn’t to say the old reputation still exists; it was only the other day that my brother made some passing quip about the fanfiction community being nothing more than a community of thirsty women. To which I replied that it was ‘a bit rich coming from a gamer’. He smiled brazenly, doubled down, and thus the argument devolved into quintessential sibling bickering, but I digress. Fandom across the board, no matter the media, is a place that breeds creativity and community, all centred around the shared love for a story.
For me, writing fanfiction was a place to hone my craft. A safe sandbox to play in. When I started looking into the writing community at large, I became aware of the very loud silence on the topic of fanfiction.
As part of the internet age, I have seen where traditionally published authors have gone against fanfiction writers, such as Anne Rice and her never-ending pursuit of vengeance against fanfiction, and G.R.R Martin, who famously said that fan fiction was not a good exercise for aspiring authors. On the other hand, you have Neil Gaiman soundly concluding: if people enjoy it, let them be. But the bottom line to all of the above, for and against, is that you cannot monetize another person’s work.
N.B. The argument for the monetization of fanart could fall under the distinction of unofficial merchandise, though it’s only a matter of time before a large merchandise company changes its mind on that one (see G.R.R. Martin clip).
But let me get back to the point – the elephant is my friend.
The eponymous elephant in the room is that my main work in progress is adapted from fanfiction. I am not the first author to have dabbled in both fanfiction and original work, and I am not the first to have adapted fanfiction into original work and I most certainly won’t be the last.
And so I feel the need to discuss the essence of an idea, to acknowledge my elephant friend.
Let’s begin with tropes. Tropes are well-established archetypal storylines and scenarios: only one bed; mentor/student relationship; star-crossed lovers, to name a couple. If you are even remotely aware of the now infamous Booktok, you will see how hundreds of new releases are characterized by the tropes they contain, meaning you will have twenty-plus books, all containing the same archetypal enemies-to-lovers relationship, for example.
(The same system works for fan fiction recommendations, given Archive of Our Own’s wonderful tag system).
Where the question of intellectual property and plagiarism comes in, is the details. The essence of the idea pads out the trope. It’s the proverbial dressing on the cake that makes a standard chocolate gateau differ from a Choccywoccydoodah masterpiece. Sure, there are many talking cats across the fantasy genre, but if you have a smiling pink Cheshire Cat who speaks in riddles and has a proclivity for turning invisible at inopportune times, one may say you’re too close to Wonderland.
Back to the elephant – my current project. The fantasy genre is full of tropes, just cross-reference a Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Manual with all of Tolkien’s work, and you’ll begin to have an idea of the colourful kaleidoscope there is to play with. The fanfiction I wrote is heavily entrenched in fantasy tropes, with a sprinkling of mythos here and there. But the foundation, the core, was another person’s sandbox, which I am now removing piece by piece, and building my own skeleton in its place. Grey’s Anatomy hails me an expert surgeon for the way I have taken a scalpel to this manuscript.
This letter is by no way advocating for the monetization of fan work in its rawest form (in fact my views are far more stringent on this across all media, not just fanfiction). This letter is to say that I fundamentally disagree with any notion that fanfiction cannot be a good access point for anyone who wants to become a writer, per G. R. R. Martin’s stipulation. Through this hobby, I have come to have a deeper sense of appreciation for other writers. For how they world-build, how they craft their narratives. I am in awe generally. Fandom has been a safe space to find like-minded people, create lasting friendships, to celebrate creativity and talent, all brought under the community inspired by another person’s talent.
The demonization of fanfiction and the refusal to acknowledge it as a valid form of literature only seeks to marginalize budding writers. Practising with beloved tropes in cherished sandboxes is the perfect safe space for any new creator to stretch their creative muscles and make mistakes, knowing there’s a no-consequence safety net to catch them. And to tar every fanfiction writer with the same brush as ‘lacking imagination’ or ‘integrity’ discredits the countless individuals who respect a creator’s individuality and authenticity. The distinction between tropes and an author’s worldbuilding is a point often exercised and debated amongst fanfiction authors, all of whom are well aware of the dubious boundaries of the transformative sandbox.
Hence I couldn’t start this newsletter series about writing craft or any other topic, without first acknowledging the origins of my work in progress. Now that I am working on adapting to an original work, I cannot turn my back on the elephant that gave me the confidence and skills to do so in the first place.
Podcast of the week
The focus of this week’s writing bane has been tone. The chapter just wasn’t hitting the way I wanted it to. Writing Excuses has done a short mini-lecture series on juxtaposition. Turning up the Contrast on Juxtaposition goes through different genres and how juxtaposition is a strong tool that adapts to any given scenario, turning up the stakes when needed (and it actually helped sort out my thoughts about my chapter).
Regan Atlas 
One response to “The Elephant in the Room is my Friend – 2nd April 2023”
Thank you for addressing this topic (and in a lively, witty way, too). I’ve often thought about the silence of fanfic in contemporary media. When does fanfic become an adaptation? When Tim Burton’s name is added to the project? Is The Aeneid a comissioned AU fanfic of The Iliad? Hell even Lancelot, such a stalwart of an Arthurian tale now, was originally an OC in the sea of historical Arthurian fanfic. (Thank you Overly Sarcastic Productions for that illumination.)
Wonderful newsletter, looking forward to the next!
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