Letting others use your characters and plot lines
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| Title: | Letting others use your characters and plot lines |
| Creator: | Flamingo |
| Date(s): | December 25, 1999 |
| Medium: | post to a mailing list |
| Fandom: | has a focus of Starsky & Hutch |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Letting others use your characters and plot lines is a 1999 essay by Flamingo.
It was posted to ThePits, a Starsky & Hutch mailing list on December 25, 1999 and is quoted here on Fanlore with Flamingo's permission.
In 2002, Flamingo wrote a related essay in response to another fan's question about using another fan's story (with or without permission) as a springboard for an entirely new fic. See Taking a concept from another fanwriter and writing your own story.
Some Topics Discussed
- author collaborations
- authorized sequels
- playing in other fans' sandboxes
The Essay
Since ThePitsFic is a writer's workshop in progress, this is the perfect medium to discuss issues surrounding the writing process. This discussion may seem to have evolved from the situation surrounding the sequel to Thousandth Man, but actually that's not the case. Lately, I've had several private emails from listmembers and other fans asking me advice regarding granting permission to others to use their characters or story lines. I thought it might be a good idea to discuss this issue in general (at least from my point of view). Certainly, others may see this subject differently than I do. However, I've been a professional writing collaborator for over 15 years and have produced 5 books and a number of short stories (professionally) while writing with others. I've also been around fandom since God was a little girl ;-) and I've witnessed plenty of collaborations and co-operative writing ventures in various fandoms.
I know my good friend Tammy <waves> has successfully collaborated with other fan writers, and I know some other fans in SH who have collaborated together on different stories. I also know fans who have successfully written good stories using other fans' characters and settings. I've done it myself, working with my friend Glow on stories in her "Talk Dirty" universe and writing one story with her in collaboration. These are all successful stories with good working relationships between one writer and another.
However, when fan writers write to me privately to ask me, as one friend did recently, "Another writer loved my story posted on the list and wants to take my plot line and continue it," or as another asked, "a writer loves my original character of the butler Beetlebum and wants to use him in her story," and asks me, "What should I say?" My answer is unequivocal, and always the same. Say no. You'll be happier in the long run.
While I have mentioned very successful collaborations, I have seen this same situation fail so frequently with very hard feelings on all sides, that the odds are way against you. It is extremely rare that anyone else will see your characters or your plot lines the way you see them. The first time I wrote a sequel to another fan's story, (Glow's "Talk Dirty to Me." My sequel was titled, "Talk Dirty to Me Some More.") Glow got to read it before anyone else did and had the right to say no, this is not what I wanted. In fact, she loved most of it, except for a significant plot conflict that really upset her. I listened to her objection, rewrote the part to her satisfaction, and that was that. I did not agree with her objection, but that didn't matter. It was *her* universe -- I made the change. If she'd hated the whole story, it would've never seen the light of day. In our collaboration, "Talkin' Dirty Pool," she had the last word on every single word, plot turn, event, etc. It was hers. That's the way it goes. Glow and I are close friends. And we're both really experienced writers and more importantly, I'm an experienced collaborator and am used to compromising with another writer. I have seen more good friendships ended over writing collaborations than I have seen successful collaborations.
Writing is perhaps the most personal form of expression there is. When someone takes something you've created and labored over and turns it into something you could've never imagined, it is not surprising that you will get upset. And I will tell you now that no one will ever see your characters the way you see them. Generally speaking, when people want to use your plot lines, it's to change it to *their* vision -- after all, why else do we write fanfic but to change the Spelling universe to suit our vision? This may not be a *bad* thing, but if it isn't to your liking, you won't be happy.
And don't think you can grant someone "limited" permission -- "you can use my character or plot line, but first I have to read it and approve it before you can publish it." Yes, that is what Glow and I did, but that was *my* decision. She didn't put that restriction on me, she didn't put any restrictions on me. I didn't *have* to let her read and approve of it, I *wanted* to, I wanted her to like the story, I wanted her to approve of it, even if it was different from what I envisioned -- because I respected the fact that it was her creation. For one writer to give such limited approval to another writer is basically assigning them to write what the original writer wants to see -- not what the second writer envisions. It would be more honest to just say no. So, say yes and walk away, or say no and stick to it. If you say yes, you'd be smarter to not read the fiction with your elements in it. The chances are far greater that you will not like it. Say yes, and separate yourself from it, because once you say yes it is not *yours* anymore. It is now the new writer's possession.
I send a hearty congratulations to anyone who successfully collaborates with another and ends up with a story that satisfies the original creator and the new writer, and better yet who are still friends at the end of the process. That is not to be taken for granted! It's quite an accomplishment.
You will note that when I am involved in collaboration it's over someone else's creation -- not my own. I know myself well enough to know that I am way too involved with my own writing to let anyone else tamper with it. I just couldn't do it. But I recognize that limitation in myself and can admit to it. There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep your vision pure to yourself, to keep your option open for your own plot sequels. So, feel comfortable politely turning someone else down -- they can create their own characters and their own plots, they really don't need yours. And then they will find how personal they feel about what *they've* created.