Is It Fan Fiction, Or Something Else

[Louis_Ellenwood_Barlowe]

Jul 29, 2020 17:40:03 GMT -5 linefacedscrivener said:

Great thread! Thanks for asking the question Louis.

Okay, so I have a question and it will be interesting to see the responses.

First, I have to give a little background. T.S. Eliot is one of my favorite poets. His signature poem (unless you're a "Cats" fan) is The Waste Land. When it came out, no one doubted that Eliot had created something entirely new. However, he did so by drawing upon the writing of past poets, providing hundreds of allusions and quotations from other texts. His famous opening line "April is the cruelest month" was an allusion to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. 

Now, Eliot said he was paying homage (like has been mentioned in this thread) to past authors, drawing upon the old to create something new. It was a way of honoring the great poets (and some not so great), by blending them into an entirely new, and incredibly fascinating poem. While The Waste Land reads well on its own, it is equally interesting to read an annotated version to trace how he created the poem.

Is Eliot's style about homage, tradition, and honoring past poets?  Or is it about plagiarism, stealing the words of others, their voice, and their style, thus making it dishonorable?  

So, if someone used Howard's words to create something new, would that be acceptable?

[this discounts the issue of copyright, which, as long as someone used his published tales from the 1920s and 1930s it would be legally okay]

I, too, am a HUGE fan of T.S. Eliot, ever since high school. I think what he did is even more profound that merely writing or fan fiction. He extended, expanded, and brought new insight to those source works, all while creating something completely new and profound. In a way, all the best authors do that. How many great writers were merely following in the footsteps of Poe (and not necessarily copying or plagiarizing him) when they, too, decided to write mystery, horror, and detective stories? If their work were to be considered 'fan fiction', then Sherlock Holmes (and his creator, S.A.D.) are just another form of fan fiction.

[Char-Vell]

Fanfic or pastiche, I still want to write something that evokes the feelings I get when I read Beyond the Black River.

[themirrorthief]

NICE POST CHV

[Jason Aiken]

Aug 4, 2020 15:43:28 GMT -5 Char-Vell said:

Fanfic or pastiche, I still want to write something that evokes the feelings I get when I read Beyond the Black River.

I think that when you're writing your own characters, in your own setting, and everything is original, it isn't fanfiction. Whether it's slightly inspired by or heavily inspired by another author or authors doesn't make a difference, it's not fanfiction. You're writing your own fiction, it belongs to you.