I’ve been itching to discuss this for a few days now and it donned on me this is the perfect place to!

I was at the salon getting my unnatural blonde hair touched up and overheard a small group of women discussing a new book series (a trilogy).

I’m an avid reader (books & fanfiction) so I wormed myself into the conversation.

I asked what books they were referring to and they most anxiously informed me that the title of the 1st book is 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James. They described it as an erotic-romance.

Right up my alley!

I buy the book and after 2 months finally get to read it. This is where it gets crazy. ½ through the book a get this feeling, I know this style of writing. I’ve been reading fanfiction for over 8 years now and I KNOW my fics.

What’s even odder is, I KNOW what fandom these characters resemble! Holy moly!
So I do what any dork would do, I googled the author.

I was sooooo RIGHT. The book was originally a fanfic, Master of the Universe in the Twilight fandom. Now it’s a New York Times bestselling trilogy.

Question, would any of you authors here on Dokuga, do that? Publish 1 of your fanfics? Just change the names and some other minor details.

Is publishing a fanfic like against some unwritten code? Like, would you being going against your own kind? Would it make you a sell-out, or extremely fortunate?

I really don’t know how I feel about this, and I don’t know many “real-life” people who write fanfiction to discuss this with. I really welcome opinions!

It’s insane how popular these books are! I’m talking on the news, in the paper, and of course word-of-mouth!

It’s amazing of many people responded to a good, hot serving of MA fanfiction!

(BTW if this has already been discussed, sorry!)

This is the cover of the 1st book!


This is the banner for the fanfic. (The fic was removed from Fanfiction.net)

I've heard of this sort of thing, and I know that some fanfic authors, obviously, do this...but I would be leery. Taking an entire fanfic, changing a few things around, and then publishing it completely under my name just doesn't seem right. The reason I say that is because of where the original inspiration came from. If I'm writing a fanfic, I'm using someone else's characters and world. When I write that story, I'm disclaiming any ownership on what I'm writing. The author is already being very nice in allowing fanfics to be written and shared (Anne Rice, Nora Roberts, etc. don't allow such things). I suppose I personally feel as though I'm crossing a line.

With that being said, will I ever make use of a scene idea or words from one of my fanfics in an original story? Probably. Fanfics are a great way to practice writing and get immediate feedback. I don't put much of my original writing online for one very important reason: theft. However, that also means I'm not able to get feedback on it. So, if I'm interested in playing around with a scene or a scenario, I might write it as a sequence in a fanfic I'm working on. That's a bit more acceptable for me.

Perhaps I'm just a little paranoid, what with copyright laws and infringement issues...Or maybe I'm just offering the same sort of literary respect that I would like as a novelist someday. When you spend a great deal of time coming up with original characters and a world which has never been seen before, you don't really want people coming along and claiming part of it for themselves. In fanfics, you know they're just honoring you by playing with your characters...in original work, you aren't sure if they're stealing or piggybacking. Neither of those two things gives you a very nice feeling.

I don't intend to pick any fights or start anything over this issue, because there are some fanfics which are completely AU, and whose characters are purposefully made a bit OOC... Just like in everything else, there's a band of gray strung between the black and the white. Will this issue ever be fully resolved? Doubt it. The rights and the wrongs of it will be different for each person, depending on their own ideas and sensibilities.

Thanks so much for bringing up this issue! More than likely, we have people with opposing views on the site, and I would also be interested in hearing what others have to say ^-^

Clio

(This is a bit wordy, but I would like to state beforehand that this is not a gripe or rant, nor is is intended to turn this thread into such. I would also like to state that the book mentioned in the thread is not for YIMS, equivalent rating would be MA.)

I've heard about this non-stop for the past few weeks. It seems that the fic became popular as a fanwork, so she changed the names and produced it as a self-pubbed work and then it was picked up by a publisher. However, by accounts from readers who's opinions I trust, it isn't worth the read. It was viewed as "bad Twilight bondage porn."

Now, it's not against anything to switch around a fanfiction and make it an original work- other authors have done it, and I'm planning to do it with my own fic Stealing Heaven . . . however (yes, another however) these are usually AU fics with which an author will do this. I know that my fic, honestly, it's so far removed from the universe set forth in Takahashi Rumiko's original work that if it were not for the character names & the always very unique physical description of Sesshomaru, you wouldn't be able to place it as a fanfiction at all- and most of the others this has been tried with have the same thing.

And it's not just the readers I trust- I've also read the reviews. The complaints of the work are the same, kind of across the board. I would have to say this gives the impression that the reason this is so wildly popular is because it was a Twilight fiction and that fandom (in all it's nutter-abundant glory) is very, very vast. I know that there are many readers of my story that are aware of my plans to turn it into a novel and have told me they can't wait, they'll be first in line- such like that- and I have to think that this is how the particular work has so much fuel.

Let's face a very real fact. You would not be able to take a canon universe Inuyasha fanfic and switch the names and just a few key factors around and have it be a completely 'new and different' work, it would be like 'huh, this reminds me so much of Inuyasha'. I don't think the same can be said for alternate universe because often when we change the enviroment in which the characters are living we also change their personality so to the point that really the only thing holding it to the form of being a 'fan fiction' is the names and the physical appearances.

For a lot of new writers, creating fanfiction is like those art classes in which the students are asked to duplicate a work by one of the masters. It's a great way to focus on building your plot because you don't have to worry about introducing the reader to the characters or the universe in which the story takes place. From there, once the confidence is built and the skills have become sharper, we move onto AU fanfictions in which we move these familiar characters into a world of our own design- it also allows us to toy with their personal backgrounds and see how their personal history in this 'new setting' has changed them from the character they started out as- and usually, from there original fiction is now an easier feat to take on.

However- there are lines that can be crossed and shouldn't. If it is a case where it seems like all they did was change the characters names while relying too closely on the formula & setting of the original author's work then that line has been crossed.

My dream is to be great;

I plan on writing novels for the rest of my life. Done deal. I'm one of those people that pretty much decides it's going to happen so it will. There are no ands, ifs, or buts about it. This is happening. Now - personally I could not write a fic and then publish it as a book tweaking only a few things. Their personalities will forever be Kagome and Sesshoumaru. Nothing will change their personalities if I did that - because if I did change it I would have to rewrite everything.

A lot of planning and love goes into my own characters. Their personalities and traits are of my own making. I could not and would not be able to do it to my stories. Could I turn some of my stuff into a book? Yes, they can definitely go down that route. Would I want to? No. I would feel as such:

I wrote a story with the intention of using Kagome and Sesshoumaru's personalities, however I decide to change the names and tweak things here and there. It doesn't make them any less Sesshoumaru and Kagome. I would then feel like a thief.

Well, this is definitely an interesting topic.

I, too, am an avid reader of both fanfiction and published works, and I also saw this series on Amazon's best-seller list. Unfortunately, since I tend to stick to free and cheaply priced books considering my meager book allowance, I wasn't going to shell out the money to buy the first of the series. And, after looking at the reviews and finding out that it was originally a Twilight fanfiction, I didn't want to read it.

Of course, my dislike of the Twilight series aside, I don't think that publishing something that was originally a fanfiction is a bad thing, but I also think that it has to be done correctly. For instance, if I were to publish The Twelfth Concubine, I would feel that more than just character names and minor details would have to be changed. Since the Inuyasha fandom generally deals with Japanese people and customs, I would have to change the setting as well as the race of my characters in order for it to be seen as more than just a lazily done rendition of my fanfiction.

Like Freya (who, by the way, has written a wonderful novel that's available on Amazon), I do agree that writing fanfiction is more of a way to get used to working a plot and getting used to portraying characters, and once a new writer feels confident enough in their skills, then writing an original work should be a little easier.

As for your original question, I would consider publishing a fanfiction, but like Freya mentioned with Stealing Heaven, it would have to be so completely AU that reworking it would be fairly easy. And even then, knowing my tendencies for over-correction, I'd likely change the entire story completely before I was comfortable with publishing it.

::shrug::

Hmmm seeing as i only write AU chapter stories my short answer is yes I would. If I found that I wrote something that I really truly felt was a masterpiece plot wise then I could see myself reworking that plot. I would change the characters dramatically though, there would not just be a changing of names or something minimal of that sort. If it is a world that I've created and is so far removed from whatever world of the fandom I'm writing for, I don't think that it would be a problem. However, I can't see someone writing a canon story and managing to rework that easily. If someone could, without feeling like they've borrowed highly from someone else's vision though, I wouldn't judge them for it. I might not buy it but I don't buy a lot of things lol.

Aubrey Simone wrote:
Well, this is definitely an interesting topic.

Of course, my dislike of the Twilight series aside, I don't think that publishing something that was originally a fanfiction is a bad thing, but I also think that it has to be done correctly. For instance, if I were to publish The Twelfth Concubine, I would feel that more than just character names and minor details would have to be changed. Since the Inuyasha fandom generally deals with Japanese people and customs, I would have to change the setting as well as the race of my characters in order for it to be seen as more than just a lazily done rendition of my fanfiction.

Like Freya (who, by the way, has written a wonderful novel that's available on Amazon), I do agree that writing fanfiction is more of a way to get used to working a plot and getting used to portraying characters, and once a new writer feels confident enough in their skills, then writing an original work should be a little easier.

As for your original question, I would consider publishing a fanfiction, but like Freya mentioned with Stealing Heaven, it would have to be so completely AU that reworking it would be fairly easy. And even then, knowing my tendencies for over-correction, I'd likely change the entire story completely before I was comfortable with publishing it.

::shrug::

Ditto on the 'don't want to read it 'cause it's Twilight' thing, lol- not just because I didn't enjoy, 'cause I'm sure that like any fandom it probably has some good writers, but because it was stated to mirror Meyer's original formula too clolsely, and that being the case . . . if I had to force myself to muck through the first Twilight novel, why would I be interested in reading something that is it's mature-audience-geared twin?

But Kagome is right, as well. For the most part, it wouldn't feel right to just swap a few things around and have it suddenly stand on its own as a novel. I have to be completely honest on this point, though- SH began as an AU fic that I didn't think would get past the first few chapters and would suffer a lonely an miserable death in my folder of 'incomplete fanfictions'- the place where half-formed plunnies go to die. But . . . somewhere in the crafting of that story they stopped being just Sesshomaru and Kagome and became their own people. There was no way to tell the story without breaking away from them being those original characters. And, just like Aubrey's example with The Twelfth Concubine, some scenes and aspects would have to be rewritten entirely because it is a story that's set in Japan, and while I do want to keep that particular ethnicity for some of the characters, I usually have multi-racial casts, unless the story setting calls for it to be otherwise.

Aubrey is right- it can be done, but there is a right way, and a wrong way, to go about it and it feels like perhaps this writer went the wrong way in not putting enough effort into breaking away and making the story something entirely of their own design. I think to say that it's wrong to make an original work based off a fanfiction you wrote would be a kin to saying someone is wrong for writing a story they only had the inspiration for after reading a particular book, or watching a particular movie. Said inspiration could push us to write something that has nothing to do with the piece that put the idea in our head, but it's still what made us think of it in the first place.

And, on a completely separate note- Awwwww, thank you for the mention, Aubrey!! *hugs*

(Sorry in advance for the Wall'o'Text)

Wellll I think this is a funny line to be dancing on... The original story I'm working on started out-- months and months ago-- as an idea for a very AU fanfiction about Egypt. I realized how good the idea was, and decided to use it for "real writing" as my mother calls it, and now-- multiple versions later-- it's unrecognizable as having anything to do with Inuyasha or Egypt. (well, there is sort of an Egypt-ish thing going on, but not really)

So, in that sense, I think that ideas that would be good fanfics would likely also be good novels, and so there is something there.

As far as the Twilight thing goes, I spent many many years in the Twilight fandom and have read all the books. I'm better now, but as far as I'm concerned, Twilight basically a giant, shameless fanfiction with it's own cannon, so anything spun off of it is probably equally as shameless and crack-like.

I did actually read MotU when it was a fanfiction. I didn't think it was terrible-- it was pretty standard fanfiction fare; strong, handsome, mysterious, somewhat aloof male character (who, of course is all dark and hurt and cuddly on the inside) falling hard for the goofy, seductive, usually confused female lead who has just enough of a "making this up as I go" attitude to be funny and sympathetic, throw in plenty of angst and lots of lemons, and bada-bing, bada-boom, you have a hit!

What this author did was pretty genius, an amazingly simple; she made the connection that if people like reading lemons on line so much that she's getting 1000's of hits, they'll probably shell out ten bucks for it, too. Is the story amazing? Heck no! But neither is a LOT of literature-- including Twilight-- and that dosen't stop those authors from raking in the big bucks.

Once again, popular fanfiction makes for popular story ideas.

Having said all that, for me personally there isn't a way to take a written fanfiction and change it enough to make it original. I have read a couple attempts, and it seems that the fanfiction taste, if you will, is never quite gone. Personally, I fear that taking a written fic and changing it puts you in danger of winding up like Twilight-- a story that reads like a fanfiction, but with an original cast.

Sp@ace, you're absolutely correct- unfortunately quality of a written work and marketability aren't always things that go hand-in-hand, even though they certainly should. It's this very reason that the title 'Best Seller' no longer carries the weight with readers that it used to, and this is not my personal opinion, so much as it is what I've read from TONS of readers on the amazon forums.

I'm going to stop this response there,though, because I veered off-topic just to say that.

Actually, several Inuyasha authors have gone on to publish some of their works as originals, myself included. I have two out right now through Whiskey Creek Press that were, originally, Inuyasha fanfics (they are MA ONLY so no YIMs need bother to go looking for them ). One was a Sesshomaru/Kagome (done, originally, for r0o's first GM challenge years ago) and one was an Inupapa/Kagome threeshot. Both were AU based, something that has been mentioned by others as workable. And, another, is actually based on the fable of Little Red Riding Hood that follows, in a strange way, the whole story line of that fable. This is something that can be done, and done well.

I'm acquainted with the book everyone is talking about and, like them, I haven't read it. It's not my 'thing' to start with nor have I heard good things about it so I just stay away, just my opinion on that tome is all. That being said, I known authors from other genre's of fanfic that have published works that were also fanfics, be it canon or not.

This is where I'm going to disagree with everyone on the topic... I do believe canon Inuyasha can work as an original. You just have to change some things. And I do know of at least one purely canon Inuyasha that has been published (though the name escapes me at the moment). It just takes some creativity to do so is all. No, I don't think something that follows the exact story line of Inuyasha, the way RT laid it out, can be done but there are plenty of canon setting stories out there that diverge enough from the plot that can be made into something original if you work at it. In fact, one of mine (I'm not telling you which one though only a very few select beings know which I'm working on) is in the process of being converted into an original work. It's one that diverges enough from RT's work that with some changes, in some areas, major ones, that it won't resemble what it started out as. I've also seen one on AFF that did that (with a slash story). It's the same fic, i know that, but it's so different that unless you knew what the original one was, you wouldn't guess it started out as fanfiction.

Look at your reading list of canon-based fanfics, here or elsewhere... How many of those are so creative and different from RT's work that they are wonderful but Inuyasha all the same? There are plenty of those out there and many of those can be made to work as something original because the storyline is so unique that they can be applied to other areas though they easily fit into the Inuyasha fandom. Those are the ones I'm talking about. There are romances, tragedies, mysteries, you name it. They can work as something else. It just takes your own creativity and talent to do so, something many authors have.

A lot of this, also, depends on how much you make the characters 'your own' as you write. If you stick just to canon and only write them that way, rather than branching out and developing the personalities more, it's not going to work well. It is, once more, dependent on you and what you do with the base given to you to build on. But I, personally, do think it's possible. Nor does it have to, in the end, read like a fanfic in any way. That is all dependent on YOU and how YOU do it.

Again, just my opinion on the topic is all...

I have to agree with Danyealle-sama as well as Sp@ce - a canon Inuyasha piece can be made into an original, especially considering the variations an author can put on the Inuyasha canon universe, and fanfic pieces that start out AU can most definitely be changed into an original piece.

I think the real thing about turning a fanfiction into an original just takes a fair amount of creativity, as Danyealle-sama mentioned. There's also the work you put into making characters resemble real people, and not just the characters of someone else's work. Of course, that in and of itself is always hard, because no matter how much you change a character's personality, they might always resemble another character from something else - it's just the way writing works, that you pick up bits and pieces of your favorite characters and add those pieces to your own characters.

Like I said - it can be done. But it most definitely wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world; especially since writing is hard in the first place.

Also, you're very welcome, Freya! I was happy to support someone whose work I read here, so .99 cents was easy enough to give up! Lol I hope to be like you someday, with something published and well-received! Congratulations, too!

I agree with everyone on this topic >_> You can do it if you can do it in the right way. I personally haven't read 50 Shades of Grey yet, but it seems interesting and I'm a fan of smut, but I don't know if I myself will like it. Not because it was one a twilight fanfic, but because the kind of smut they write in it doesn't really do it for me.

If you're into it cool, just not my thing.

I've had plans to turn fanfics into original works as well. Heck, I roleplay and if I wanted to I could take a whole spin on something I roleplay with the characters I create. Its just a matter of how you do things and how you rework the plot and make it your own.

I appreciate the opinions and great points made. I still feel confused about how I feel about the issue.

I'm 1/2 through the second book. Reading it is becoming a chore. But this fanfic is most certainly AU. I think the reason I'm not loving the story is because of the lack of character development and lack of any plot, it's becoming redundant.

Sorry I didn't mention that the book is a MA rating (eek!)

But this BDSM romance has very little BDSM in it.

I can not relate to the characters, and some scenes are just plain dumb (nobody talks like that in 2011!)

Sorry, off topic. Now I mentioned earlier that the fic was completely AU, but as I said in the beginning of this thread, I did not know when I first started reading 50 shades, that it was originally a Twilight fanfic, but I figured it out. Is it because I've been reading fanfiction for nearly a decade and know my fics? Or because the author didn't exactly make it her own? IDK.