Walter Mitty Reimagined...

I just found a story - not familiar with the author or characters, but I believe it's fanfiction - which inserted part of one of my stories into it, only changing the POV so it was like Hannibal telling these other characters about it. Now, the author did credit both me and the story at the beginning of the chapter, but I found it disturbing that she took my work without at least asking me first.

Obviously, I can't lay claim to the guys, but just as obviously, I put a copyright on all my stories simply so people won't take those stories and claim to have written them. As far as someone "using" my stories (such as in this case), I don't have a problem with that per se, as long as they acknowledge my authorship, which this person did. It's more the idea that she didn't ask first. Had she emailed me, there's a 99% chance I would have said no problem. (The 1 percent chance being if it were a totally atrocious story that took *my* story totally out of its context.)

But it also raised some questions for me as a writer of fanfic. Because, after all, we're borrowing from someone else. And we don't exactly ask. So on the one hand, is this any different? On the other hand, fanfic writers are all a few steps down in the food chain from the people who actually own the shows/characters and make money from it, and being together in that spot kinda behooves a certain "code of conduct", ie, you don't poach from other authors without at least asking first. I mean, it's not like the author couldn't find a way to contact me. And her own website states,

However, [original character], her family, anything connected with her, and various other characters/things that dos not belong to someone else (but may be derived from someone else's ideas, which I'll credit) does belong to me. They will be so noted! Please ASK if you wish to use them!!

So I guess my main beef is that she should have asked me.

Well, things are going a bit better today. I've caught up with all my beta work - thank God! And I've gotten a lot of stuff transferred to the new computer, but still have a ton left. Maddening thing is I wanted to put stuff on DVDs for transfer but of course, that's too easy. Apparently DVDs are very picky about what files they'll take - or at least, the programs one has to have to burn DVDs are. Someone explain to me why DVDs should be any different than CDs in that respect? Like so many things having to do with computers - why make it simple when difficult will do?

Finally got the Christmas tree down the other day - with a lot of help from a certain kitten. I'll have some pictures up later. Suffice it to say, garlands, strings of lights, and tree branches in general make for great playthings :p  My brother had all his camera equipment up yesterday, experimenting with his newest camera - Fang considered all the tripods and other equipment his jungle gym. Good thing those things are very sturdy - and that my brother has lots of patience LOL

Okay - back to intermittently transferring stuff and hopefully getting back to my own writing. That took quite a hit the last few days, what with all these problems. Still haven't got my website back up but not for lack of trying. Soon - even if I have to find a pay-for host. Gawd...

Just updated my fanfic site, Shadowwalker's A-Team Fanfic.

Added the next chapter to Covenant, holidays pieces Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day, Tell A Fairy Tale Day, Bubble Bath Day - revised, and QPs Slash, Incendiary, Fire, and Drive, as well as updated my links page.

http://home.mchsi.com/~ostarella/home.html

Maybe it's being born in the *very* American Midwest, where plain speaking and independent thinking is a way of life. Or maybe it comes from being the last born of the family, a position where what one says is smiled at with indulgence and dismissed. Maybe it was being turned down for a job simply because "ladies" would be offended at the language used by the current workers.

Yeah.

So I have this thing about rights. I tend to get angry with people who try to curtail those rights, or intimidate others so they can't enjoy those rights. The right to associate with whomever they want. The right to voice their opinion, however unpopular. The right to be themselves.

Sometimes that anger works. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes people take on that anger for themselves and say, "Enough is enough!" And they state their opinions and they go where they want. They accept their right to be themselves.

Sometimes it doesn't work so well. Sometimes I find that anger oozes into the very thing that was the cause of the dispute. And something that I enjoyed becomes a constant reminder of the anger and frustrations.

And that makes me even angrier.

It's a vicious cycle that only I can stop.

I enjoy writing fictional stories. I enjoy writing them about a silly little TV show that had characters I liked. I enjoy taking those characters and "continuing" the show. I enjoy taking those characters and expanding my writing skills. Developing skills at dialogue, at developing a plot line, deepening a characterization. Even learning how to research - how to check facts, see if what I want to do could be done. And dreaming of the day when I could feel confident enough to take those skills and write something completely and uniquely my own.

It's fanfic. It's not going to change the world or earn a Pulitzer. But it brings enjoyment - to me, to those who read it. It gives me a challenge, and at the same time, a confirmation that there is indeed something I can do well. It's a hobby and more. No, it's not the do-all and end-all of my life.

But it's important to me.

And that's why I want others to be able to say what they think, and "gather" (as one does on the 'net anyway) with whomever they want. I want them to have those rights. It's important. But it's just as important to leave the anger and the frustration aside and get back to enjoying what it was that started the whole mess in the first place.

In the world of macrobiotics, a recurring theme is balance. Yin and yang. So I need to leave the anger and the frustration and say, "Okay. We've got a place where people can join in, and if they want to, welcome. If they aren't ready, feel intimidated, feel disloyal - well, when they are ready, no longer feel intimidated, realize that there can be more than one place to talk - welcome."

And in the meantime, I'm going to take a breath, and enjoy hearty discussions, and exchanging ideas, even if there are only a few who join me. I'm going to go back to my silly little TV show and have some smiles. But mostly, I'm going to sit at my pc and do the thing that was all I really wanted to do in the first place.

I'm going to write.

Has anyone else seen the ads for Frost/Nixon and wondered who is that guy pretending to be Nixon? I guess Frank Angella is supposed to be a really good actor (lots of awards, y'know ) but god - he sounds like a horrible parody of Nixon with a British tinge. That in itself would keep me from seeing the film - it would drive me nuts every time he opened his yap. Not that I go to movies anyway - most aren't worth the cost of a ticket. I'd rather wait and get the good ones on DVD so I can watch when I want, at home, on the couch, in comfortable clothes.

Still tearing the house apart - throwing so much junk! Argh. And rearranging things. Tomorrow (or maybe yet tonight) I'm tearing the island apart in the kitchen. Gently, though. My dad built it so I don't want to just trash it. But I can take it apart and reassemble it in the toolhouse where it will be put to good use. Then the table my computer is on will go in the kitchen, and I'll bring the desk (which my dad also built) out of storage. The old couch is getting tossed in the spring (the dogs have pretty well claimed that as their own so...) but for now I'm going to shove it out on the porch until I can haul it out. I'm going to make new cushions for the old futon frame to take its place. Then tearing out the old closet in the back bedroom (freestanding) and put that in the north end of the downstairs bathroom to hold the cleaning supplies and equipment. Then I can do an overall cleaning and finish painting downstairs.

Then I tackle the upstairs.

Probably be spring before I go after the attic and basement.

Writing-wise, have been doing a bunch of beta-ing for various people, and working slowly on Covenant. Hope to have the next chapter up for the MadBetas by the end of the week, and I really, really, really want to have that finished by the end of the year. Mainly because I've got some new ideas for the lost NaNo story, thanks to my working on my genealogy again. Some amazing stories come from seeing how various families change, move, grow and die off over the decades. And I can't forget Tess or Billy will kill me   And the next story of the Juggernaut series (Changeling, Mon Bell Ami) is starting to call. Add in the many Holiday and Quick Pick shorts I have stacked up... OY!

So I guess I have to get my butt in gear and make a really really serious effort to get these things scheduled and then KEEP TO IT! Quit letting little things like real life get in the way...

What do writers of fanfic like to do most? That should be obvious - take the characters they know and love from a television show, movie, or book and put them in new situations, or expand on canon experiences. What do readers of fanfic like most? To read about the characters they know and love in these new situations.

So why, in God's name, do so many writers completely ignore who the characters are?

I'm speaking, specifically, about A-Team fanfic, but this can be asked of any - Harry Potter, Buffy, Star Trek. The fandom doesn't matter. The genre - het, gen, or slash - doesn't matter. The story doesn't matter.

The characters do.

The CHARACTERS do.

We love our characters. We love the nuances, the experiences, the unanswered questions. We love how they react to circumstances. We love the interaction between them.

So why do so many authors completely ignore them when they write? And I do mean, ignore them. In TAT, the guys are Special Forces soldiers who have been through war, POW camps, being chased by the military for years - they face bullets, bombs and fists as if in a game of basketball. They thrive on living on the edge. So what do so many writers do to them?

They make them cry.

Now, crying isn't all bad. Given extreme enough circumstances, any man will break down. But a familiar scenario is that one of them gets the crap beaten out of them, and one of the others sits down and cries in anguish.

Who the hell is that guy?

This happens in all genres - het, gen, slash. ALL genres. The author wants to tell a story, and they use the characters in their fandom to tell it. Great. Fantastic. But suddenly the characters are doing things and saying things that they never, ever said on the show, in the movie, or on the pages of the book. Doing and saying things they would never dream of in canon.

These are not the characters we know and love and want to read about in new situations.

These are strangers.

These are OCs.

Of course, one has to make an allowance for slash. And I know - there are definitions of slash ad nauseum. For my purposes, we're talking about our characters having a sexual relationship with another character of the same sex. In slash, by this definition, the guys are acting out of character. We accept that, because of the genre. We accept that. But that doesn't mean that our Special Forces guys suddenly become stereotypical fairies. It means that *our* guys, the characters we know and love are having a homosexual relationship that needs to be explored - as *our* guys. (And for heaven's sake, admit that it *is* a homosexual relationship, and leave the homophobic "we're not gay, just having a same-sex relationship" at the door.)

What do writers of fanfic like to do most? Take the characters they know and love and put them in new situations. What do readers of fanfic like most? To read about the characters they know and love in these new situations.

If you can't stick with the characters, the canon characters, then write an original story. Don't call it fanfic. Don't use our guys' names. Because these *aren't* our guys. Okay? Just write the story with your own characters - because that's exactly what you're already doing.