What I find utterly unbelievable in this whole story is that these authors want to have the illusion of control. What a big fucking delusion. Going against fanfiction is akin religious fanatics who poke you and say you can’t, absolutely can’t have naughty thoughts, or a woman who pretends you do not look at her and imagine her naked. You can’t!
Imho, this is more a product of a writer’s hysteria than anything that makes sense.
Sure, you can go against someone who uses your characters and stories and tries to make money on them. “Making money” is for me the line not to cross when it comes to freedom of speech in all forms. Culture is universal, and it’s not universal because the law or another single individual decides so. Culture IS UNIVERSAL. It’s a fact that defies all challenges. It’s not an opinion.
So, the real point is that it’s PATHETIC that these writers believe that it’s enough to post a “FAN-FICTION POLICY” on their blogs to stop fan-fiction. This happening means that they have some huge delusion of control and the problem is their own.
You can’t control what other people think, say or write. And thanks god you can’t, even if it’s about your dear characters.
You say: if you want to write fan fiction then make your own characters.
I say: if you are so jealous of your characters then keep them for yourself.
Don’t publish them and you can be TOTALLY SURE no one will ever get them into tentacle rape without your permission.
What happens when someone makes a parody? I guess parodies exist even in commercial products. What if to make a parody one had to be authorized? It defies its purpose, like asking a politician if he would like satire being created about him.
Claims such as: When you mess with my stuff, you’re not messing with my characters—you’re messing with _me_. Are utterly ridiculous. Look somewhere else if you are so emotional. Claiming that fan fiction confuses readers and messes with your characters is disrespectful of your readers and pathetic. It’s not your choice, it’s the choice of those who decide to read it. Sure, you can suggest not to read it, but that’s the whole range of your power. The fact that people read your books doesn’t mean that now you have ownership on some of their thoughts.
What’s next? Marvel suing a kid because he drew spider-man on his diary?
Coming soon: the Bill of Rights of Fictional Characters, and a reader suing the writer because of a rape scene that was messing with _him_.
P.S.
About Martin: I will continue to read your books and recommend them in the case I think they are good recommendations.