Jean Johnson
| Name: | Jean Johnson |
| Also Known As: | ladyofthemasque[1] |
| Occupation: | Author |
| Medium: | Novels, short stories |
| Works: | Sons of Destiny series (2007–2011), Theirs Not to Reason Why series (2011–2014), Flame Sea series (2014–2017), others |
| Official Website(s): | https://jeanjohnson.net/ jeanjauthor on Tumblr JeanJAuthor on Twitter |
| Fan Website(s): | |
| On Fanlore: | Related pages |
Jean Johnson is a professional author and ex-fanfiction writer.
Her first book, part of the fantasy romance series Sons of Destiny, was published in February 2007. She was nominated for a 2011 Philip K. Dick Award for A Soldier's Duty, the first of her military science fiction series Theirs Not to Reason Why.
Fanwork Policy
See Jean’s Policy on Fanfiction & Fanart.
Johnson developed her policy after receiving interest from fellow fanfic writers before her book was even officially released.[2] She writes in her FAQ:
First, I actually got interested in being a writer because I didn’t like the ending to a story, and sat down and wrote what I thought should have happened back when I was a young girl. This was long before “fanfic” became a word, let alone one that I knew. I’ve practiced writing in other author’s universes in order to develop my abilities in different styles of writing, setting description, characterization and so forth, so to me, fanfics are an important source of practice material. By writing in different authors’ styles, I was able to develop my own style.Second, I also got noticed for publication because of my current fanfics…so it would be doubly hypocritical of me to say, “No, you can’t write fanfics in my universe!” I’d rather encourage it than discourage it. If someone else plays around in my universe, developing their own writing talents and polishing their skills, maybe they’ll get noticed for publication, too. This isn’t a competetive business, after all. Even if they don’t get noticed through fanfics, at least they’ll have practiced and hopefully polished their writing skills, so that if and when they submit a manuscript, it’ll be in a better shape than it would have been before.
Third…it’s going to happen, regardless. If I put out a list of reasonable rules for people to follow, most of them will respect that. They’ll follow them, and they’ll censure those that don’t. I think the rules I came up with are reasonable enough, since they’re mostly about legal matters–no descriptions of sex with underage characters, no trying to make money off fanfics set in my universe, common sense stuff like that. At least, if I were the one looking at these rules before writing a fanfic in these universes, I think I’d be able to follow them easily enough. (Alas, I cannot write fanfic in my own universes. If word got out, people would take what I’d written for canon, and if I were trying to spoof myself at the time–eek! Nope, big headachy mess, so I’ll just stick to writing official canon stuff. *sigh*)[3]
Fanfiction Based on Johnson's Works
- Sons of Destiny - Jean Johnson at Archive of Our Own
- Sons of Destiny, Jean Johnson at FanFiction.Net
References
- ^ Publicly linked on LiveJournal and other sites: See ladyofthemasque's profile (accessed 05 February 2012) and Closing the LJ, posted 03 April 2019.
- ^ ladyofthemasque on LiveJournal. Policy on Fanfics & Fanart, posted 01 February 2007.
- ^ Frequently Asked Questions – Jean Johnson Author, accessed 05 February 2021.