Because Erotica Readers Need More Twilight Fanfic?

[Windcutter]

Originally Posted by Amadan

I believe the link was previously posted in this thread: it's here.

Thanks. Oh what wank, what wank.

[Silver-Midnight]

Originally Posted by Pinguicha

I just remembered. There was another hugely popular Twilight fanfiction (by the girl from that link you posted nonetheless), in which orgasms were compared to unicorns.

I had never laughed so much in my life.

[muravyets]

Originally Posted by scarletpeaches

You just won the entire internets. No joke. I officially love the shit out of you right now. Well, if there's any left after your Inner Goddess's number two.The pleasure is...

...not all mine.

Especially as said mother is constantly referred to as 'the crack whore' and Ana bangs on about her resemblance to her, and Christian admits he likes to beat women who look like his mother THEN HAVE SEX WITH THEM.

THIS IS A TRUE THING. IN THIS BOOK. I HATE MY LIFE.

That's... yeah, that's... oh, gods, the hell... no. Just no.

[DarthPanda]

I just started part II of this big greasy abortion today.

This is my favorite part so far:

"Come cook me some food, wench. I’m famished,” he adds, sitting up suddenly and dragging me with him.
“Wench?” I giggle.
“Wench. Food, now, please.”
As I scramble out of bed, I dislodge my pillow, revealing the deflated helicopter balloon underneath.
Christian reaches for it and gazes up at me, puzzled.
“That’s my balloon,” I say, feeling proprietary as I reach for my robe and wrap it round myself. Oh jeez . . . why did he have to find that?
“In your bed?” he murmurs.
“Yes,” I flush. “It’s been keeping me company.”

and

He must have some feelings for me. He must. This iPad, these songs, these apps—he cares. He really cares!

Ooh! and

‘I’m a sadist, Ana. I like to whip little brown-haired girls like you because you all look like the crackwhore—my birth mother…” He runs a hand through his hair and almost smiles but instead sighs ruefully. ‘I’m talking about the heavy shit, Anastasia. You should see what I can do with a cane or a cat.’

There are just so many gems in here. God help me. I'm going to have to buy myself a (secondhand... no way in hell I'd buy this new) copy and put it on my Shit Shelf between the dvds of Sheena and Showgirls.

[Pinguicha]

Originally Posted by DarthPanda

He must have some feelings for me. He must. This iPad, these songs, these apps—he cares. He really cares!

Nothing says love like music, iPads and apps. I'm breaking up with my boyfriend because he has given me none of those things!

[muravyets]

On top of everything else the entire damned thing is in present tense???

Also, "helicopter balloon"?

Finally, on the basis of those three tiny quotes alone, I would be willing to die if I could drag that writer down to hell with me.

[third person]

Now I know what the old school painters of complicated works felt like when the new bucks rolled in and sold canvases with a single brush stroke or portraits of lopsided stick figures for millions of dollars.

[M.Macabre]

Originally Posted by DarthPanda

Just because Meyer hasn't decided to sue, does not mean a crime wasn't committed. If somebody robs a Wal-Mart and the owner doesn't press charges, it does not mean that the crime didn't take place.

Quoted for flawless truth, followed by a perfect example.

Originally Posted by DarthPanda

1. Fanfiction by its very nature is a non-profit activity. By engaging in FF writing, you acknowledge the fact that you are using another person's creation for personal enjoyment. Many authors allow FF of their characters because it is a given that no profit will made off their works. You can bet your ass this will start to change if FF publishing becomes a trend.

Yeah, that's one of my fears. Even though I'm not really engaged in fanning anymore, a part of me is just waiting for a series to come along for me to fanboy over, which would burst if fan culture was destroyed. Sure, there's a lot more to fanning like collecting, which was more my penchant, but ficers help the fan world go round.

Originally Posted by DarthPanda

3. A dangerous precedent has been set. Just because Meyer isn't suing, doesn't mean other authors are going to have the same attitude. This could potentially cause problems for other authors who want to prevent bastardizations of their own works from being published.

Yep, preeeeetty much.

[skylark]

Originally Posted by CQuinlan

If the only reason you made it a ff instead of an original piece was to attract someone else's readers, to me that was unethical of you.

This.

Thing is, and what I think most people here don't realise, is that in every fandom I know anything about except Twilight, one of these "I reused the names but nothing else" stories would be either ignored or pilloried. Fans expect fanfic to be about the fandom it's posted in.

I've seen stories in my fandoms which were "I reused the names but everything else is different." None of them survived, because the "this isn't ethical" reaction kicks in right there. On the fandom-only sites, they're deleted by admin as site abuse. On ff.net, they get "this isn't fanfic, go away" reviews of varying degrees of politeness, and nothing else.

I never have understood why the Twilight community tolerates fics where, if you changed the names, you'd never guess it was supposed to be Twilight fanfic. That's what surprises me here - not the fact that fanfic like that got published, but the fact that it had any success as fanfic in the first place.

[amrose]

Originally Posted by muravyets

Also, "helicopter balloon"?

Christian Grey pilots helicopters as a hobby. For his...birthday I think? Anna gets him a helicopter balloon. When they brake up, she keeps the deflated balloon under her pillow kinda like a security blanket thing.

Read the books. Agree that much of my enjoyment came from the trainwreck quality of the plot. Agree that the writing is not great; however, the work still made me feel something and entertained me.

Agree that publishing fanfic is unethical, but businesses doing unethical things for profit isn't news. Illegal and unethical are two different things.

I'm not outraged over either of these advances and I don't think they hurt SM (legally) as an author.

I think this is a personal writer call. You either would stoop to the unethical to get published or you wouldn't.

[Pinguicha]

This just reminds me... One of my friends said my cat Sushi always looks sad (she's a Persian -- she can't help it!) and told me to make a meme with FSoG. This was the result:



She's sad because the writing is awful and she's seen better sex scenes in a lot of books and doesn't get what all the fuss is about.

[RaidsWindmills]

When I heard about this, I felt like guzzling antifreeze. SEVEN FIGURES. I just.. I can't... How is this a real thing that happened? Ugh.

[Windcutter]

I don't get what the fuss is about, either. I don't have too much experience with romance/erotica, but a friend of mine reads lots in the genre, and she says it was very mediocre, unremarkable, stuff like that is published in heaps by every romance/erotica e-publisher.

So, it's the Twi-thing?
Then I bet someone somewhere is already converting their unpublished erotic romance novel into a Twi-fic. Kind of like the opposite process to filing the serial numbers off a fic.

[muravyets]

Counterfeit fanfic? I guess it's inevitable.

[Pinguicha]

Originally Posted by Windcutter

I don't get what the fuss is about, either. I don't have too much experience with romance/erotica, but a friend of mine reads lots in the genre, and she says it was very mediocre, unremarkable, stuff like that is published in heaps by every romance/erotica e-publisher.

That's not at all surprising. Everyone I know who reads a lot of erotica says the same.

You should hear what my submissive friend says about FSoG. Apparently, it's full of laughable atrocities when it comes to BDSM.

[scarletpeaches]

I don't care what anyone says; it's clear EL James did zero research into BDSM. Everyone's kink is different, but flat-out abuse is not kink.

[Windcutter]

Originally Posted by Pinguicha

You should hear what my submissive friend says about FSoG. Apparently, it's full of laughable atrocities when it comes to BDSM.

Originally Posted by scarletpeaches

I don't care what anyone says; it's clear EL James did zero research into BDSM. Everyone's kink is different, but flat-out abuse is not kink.

I think maybe in erotica people write not about real BDSM but about BDSM-related fantasies? Which might be totally different from real BDSM. But then it becomes misleading and confusing and those who know about the real deal end up tossing the book?

[scarletpeaches]

Originally Posted by Windcutter

I think maybe in erotica people write not about real BDSM but about BDSM-related fantasies? Which might be totally different from real BDSM. But then it becomes misleading and confusing and those who know about the real deal end up tossing the book?

There are plenty of erotica books which write about 'real' kink.

I don't mind books that feature abusive relationships (if you like the thought of your boyfriend only fucking you because you look like his crack-whore mother, EL James is for you!) but what I do mind is EL James saying "This is BDSM."

Hell, in book 1, Christian spanks her once, and she walks out. She doesn't even sign the D/s contract. There's one instance of fellatio...in which she says "He's like my own Christian Grey flavoured popsicle."

EL James seems to think that spanking and suxxor make for BDSM but these are just activities. Nowhere does she explore the intimacy and trust necessary between a Dom and his sub.

What I resent most about these books is the way Dominance is treated as a disease brought about as a result of an abusive childhood, something to be cured by twu wuv. The twu wuv only a heretofore virgin can offer a man, of course, because a woman who's been with someone else is a dirty, dirty slut.

[muravyets]

And don't forget, moms are crackwhores. Clearly twu wuv from a virgin who looks like one's crackwhore mom is the key to saving a man's soul. So virgin who looks like a crackwhore and will let you abuse her is the ideal woman.

Oh gods, I haven't even looked at these books and I want to wretch from them.

[CQuinlan]

Originally Posted by muravyets

And don't forget, moms are crackwhores. Clearly twu wuv from a virgin who looks like one's crackwhore mom is the key to saving a man's soul. So virgin who looks like a crackwhore and will let you abuse her is the ideal woman.

Oh gods, I haven't even looked at these books and I want to wretch from them.

You are not alone in that. There should be a warning on these books; puke-factor high.

[scarletpeaches]

There's got to be a tipping point or an event horizon or whatever you want to call it.

Eventually there won't be any original fiction to rip off, and writers will have to start, you know...making up their own stuff again.

[Kayley]

Originally Posted by scarletpeaches

There's got to be a tipping point or an event horizon or whatever you want to call it.

Eventually there won't be any original fiction to rip off, and writers will have to start, you know...making up their own stuff again.

Sorry, I deleted my post because I decided that it wasn't fully relevant to this thread (since it's not erotica.)

But for others reading: the above post is in reference to a fanfic I follow being published. I questioned whether this will become a trend and whether eventually there will be more fanfic-turned-novels than original fiction.

[amrose]

Originally Posted by Kayley

I questioned whether this will become a trend and whether eventually there will be more fanfic-turned-novels than original fiction.

I don't think that's a danger, but I think published fanfic will keep happening until someone takes someone else to court.

Here's a question: If you write fanfiction and you write original published fiction, would stating on a fanfic profile (or wherever you post it) that you have published original fic for sale be unethical?

What do you (general) think about directing a fanfic audience to your author website (while keeping the fanfic unpubbed and free)?

I do write fanfic, but I don't do the above because I get twitchy about future legal issues. I could see authors doing this as a way to build their personal platforms, though.

[Filigree]

I've been considering this as well. I have some followers of fanfic I wrote a decade ago. Some of them asked me to alert them when I published original fic, and I privately emailed them recently. But I haven't linked any of my fan work with my original work, and I write both under different names.

I'm not sure of the ethics involved. Naomi Novik didn't have a problem with it - but I'm nowhere near her class as a writer. Plus, though my fanfics were fun, challenging, and taught me a lot, they are not my best writing.

[Sheryl Nantus]

Almost no one from my fanfic audience followed me to buy my original fiction. And I, back in my day, was a darned popular fanfic author. Once I went to my own stuff they just left.

just fyi.