Ellphant
asked
Kevin Sands:
Have you ever read any of the TBK fanfiction? If so, which one(s) did you like the most?
Kevin Sands
I avoid reading fanfiction for the same reason I avoid reading books that readers tell me are similar to mine: I don't want to be influenced in any way by something someone else has written.
It's natural that fanfiction writers and canon writers will naturally stumble upon similar ideas; the more writers, the more inevitable it will be. And I never want to feel like I should toss a good one because someone else had the same idea as me.
Legally, BTW, this isn't the issue that a lot of people think it is. There's no point in claiming your idea got stolen, since ideas aren't copyrightable. Only the expression of the idea is copyrightable: worlds, characters, words, etc. If you want to publish a book about a boy who goes to wizard school, for example, go right ahead. But if you try setting it at Hogwarts you'll have lawyers crawling up your colon. Which is why I insist that fanfiction only be written for personal enjoyment and not money—the unfortunate truth of copyright is that it needs to be protected or you can lose rights.
Nonetheless, I don't want to have those kinds of arguments. I avoid unpublished manuscripts for the same reason.
It's natural that fanfiction writers and canon writers will naturally stumble upon similar ideas; the more writers, the more inevitable it will be. And I never want to feel like I should toss a good one because someone else had the same idea as me.
Legally, BTW, this isn't the issue that a lot of people think it is. There's no point in claiming your idea got stolen, since ideas aren't copyrightable. Only the expression of the idea is copyrightable: worlds, characters, words, etc. If you want to publish a book about a boy who goes to wizard school, for example, go right ahead. But if you try setting it at Hogwarts you'll have lawyers crawling up your colon. Which is why I insist that fanfiction only be written for personal enjoyment and not money—the unfortunate truth of copyright is that it needs to be protected or you can lose rights.
Nonetheless, I don't want to have those kinds of arguments. I avoid unpublished manuscripts for the same reason.
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