Interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Author of the Saint-Germain Series

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Author of the Saint-Germain Series
Interviewer:	Vyrdolak
Interviewee:	Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Date(s):	May 22, 2008
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):
External Links:	Interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Author of the Saint-Germain Series
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Interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Author of the Saint-Germain Series is an interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro conducted by Vyrdolak on May 22, 2008 at "Blog Critics."

This interview took place as wider discussions of fanworks and their acceptance and legality were taking place, one of those being the formation of Archive of Our Own the same month this interview was conducted. This meant that Yarbro was likely pushing back against these conversations.

Yarbro's dislike of fanworks was longstanding. See the 1992 controversies at A Matter Of Willful Copyright Infringement.

Excerpts Regarding the Topics of Fanworks

You are known to have strong objections to fanfic, which you have described as stealing ideas, "copyright infringement, misappropriation, and a federal crime." While I totally agree, the legal definition of "copyright" is arbitrary.

Actually, no, it's not; it is defined in federal statutes for the purpose of reserving the claim on intellectual property to its creator.

Derivative fiction is derivative fiction whether the source is "public domain" or not. When I wrote the submission guidelines for my small press, I stated that I would only consider original work. I instantly alienated about half of my friends because they are writing, and publishing, stories based on Dracula and Phantom of the Opera. Fanfic writing, and publishing it online, has become a hugely popular recreational activity. Amateur fanfic writers feel that they're doing nothing wrong, and they even get profiled by reporters.

It is still theft, and actionable if the creator decides to act.

How can fanfic writers learn to respect intellectual property when they see fine authors like P.N. Elrod, Fred Saberhagen and Jeanne Kalodogris publishing derivative Dracula spin-offs, and authors such as Christopher Golden writing tie-in novels based on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Tie-ins are not copyright infringement because they are done with the license of the copyright holder. Dracula is a special case, due to Florence Stoker's actions after Bram's death. Had she not chosen the course of action she did, anyone using Dracula today as a character would have to have the written permission from, and appropriate acknowledgement and payment to Stoker's heirs, because although the novel Dracula is in public domain and may be reprinted as written without permission, the characters remains the property of the heirs as long as there are heirs to claim them. When Bill Fawcett and I did the Mycroft Holmes mysteries for Tor, we had the permission of the Doyle estate, with appropriate acknowledgment and payment to Dame Jean Doyle. The alternative would have been a lawsuit for infringement.

Should we set much higher standards for originality and respecting the integrity of all existing work?

Absolutely. On those unhappy occasion when a fan sends me his or her suggestion for a Saint-Germain story, I always tell them that now I can't use that period in that context ever, since the claim could be made that the idea was not original with me.

I have not met a writer who permitted derivative fiction who didn't in time have significant difficulties because of it.

Do the fanfic writers have a point when they argue that even Shakespeare's plays are derivative?

And there were no copyright laws in Elizabethan England.

Where do we draw the line, and how can we encourage young authors to use their own imaginations?

I wish I knew.

Cory Doctorow is one of a group of writers who argue that fiction should be "open source," and even given away wholly free of charge to readers. What is your response to this idea?

In this culture, we value what we pay for, and that which is free is also generally perceived as worthless. There was a time when a storyteller would be given lodging and food for telling stories for nothing (although tips were always a possibility), but that was in a largely barter economy. Today, like it or not, we use money to show value, and this is true for telling stories, too. I, like all writers, have bills to pay, and AT&T won't take a novelette for my DSL bill. My grocery store doesn't accept novellas for a week's worth of food. Therefore, as a full-time professional who is self-supporting, a job I've had for forty years, I'm not in a position to give my work away gratis, and I think it unreasonable to expect me to do so.

Interviewer's Later Comments

Three days after this interview, the interviewer (Vyrdolak) fielded fan comments at The Official Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Group.

One excerpt:

Quinn makes a point that her characters all have their own lives and she merely records them. I can absolutely relate, because that's exactly how my characters work. I've heard authors proudly proclaim, "my characters do what I tell them." Not mine, by the gods. I have one who was supposed to be killed off in my forthcoming book, and he refuses to die. He literally refuses to let me kill him! I've had to change the whole book! And I am not joking when I say that I did not know how *Mortal Touch* would end until I was writing the ending. Those characters more or less told me what they were going to do as the words were flowing out of my head.

But this is precisely the kind of relationship with one's characters that make authors unhappy about fanfic. These are, to us, *real people,* and we as authors know about ten thousand things about those characters that never make it into the final book, but all contribute to the character's reactions, actions and story (and may get worked into later books). No one but the author and the character can possibly know these things, and it's painful to see characters dragged off to do things that are totally out of character by other writers--especially when that tends to involve little more than sex fantasies. Not only are fanfic writers stealing, they also are cheating themselves of this kind of relationship with their own original characters. I probably am even more intolerant of fanfic than Quinn--I don't like *any* derivative fiction.