Fanfiction, Stephen King, and the Rules

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Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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Hmmm.... Well, then, I guess the question might be asked this way: "I wonder how Stephen King feels about homages being written to him?"

I'm not sure I know the nuanced differences between an homage and fanfiction, and someone writing the next chapter of The Stand doesn't really feel like an homage, but maybe it absolutely is.

I think homage is an appreciation, a nod from one autonomous artist to another. Fanfiction is someone taking over somebody else's creation completely and doing their own thing with it.
It's not like he constantly writes Sherlock Holmes stories, it was a one time thing only, next to his own stuff. It would be fanfiction if it was all that he did.
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
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NJ
...if you could see your way clear Tom, could you let us in on how you feel about fan fiction...I think you may be hiding something....
Yes, I hold back too much. :frog:
I think the ultimate blasphemy for me would be fan fiction that...
took up where Revival left off and explored the life of those damn ants!!!
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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Wasn't The Doctor's Case also something he was asked to do? A contribution to a book of Holmes stories by different authors?

Actually Throttle also falls into the 'homage category' (to Duel by Matheson). And Jerusalem's Lot is far closer to an actual Lovecraft story than Crouch End.
Also I felt that the ending to Quitter's inc.
where someone's finger has been cut off
is a homage to Dahl's Man from the South.

Actually I doubt he is against someone writing something based on something by him, since he did that himself too when he was young. I think he is against sharing this on internet, or continuing doing only this. Eventually he moved on from his own fanfiction to his own stories.
 
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Mr Nobody

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Jul 9, 2008
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Walsall, England
Hm...well, fan fiction does have its place. I think every newly-hatched writer has produced some of it at some point in their development. It's just a way of cutting your teeth: you have the template, you know the restrictions, you have pre-drawn characters that you know and understand, it's only up to you to produce the scenario. As a kid I came up with Star Trek fics (not slash, I hasten to add; a) I was a kid, b) that stuff is nasty), Star Wars stories, stuff based around old shows that the BBC dug up like The Invaders. I've even produced some stuff as an adult based on Stargate SG-1, mostly because I was asked to by my now-gf for her reading pleasure, but partly for the exercise. And I've written stories (one becoming a novel) based in the STALKER game series universe (said novel very nearly became an official tie-in, too, until the whole publication project was scrapped).

However (and this is a big catch), you have to have permission if you want to share a piece of writing with the world. The ST, SW and other stuff I wrote as a kid was only read by two people - me and my (then) best friend. That was it.
MGM allowed SG-1 fanfic to be written and shared. GSC Game World did the same with the STALKER series (and as I say, looked to cash in on the better stuff, but only in a half-hearted way, and gave up when they realised that book publishing was beyond their scope of expertise).
SK has never and most likely will never give his blessing to fanfics based on his work (and his own Sherlock Holmes piece was, as already said, commissioned/permitted by the Conan Doyle estate).

Of course, that's not to say that you can't base a story on, say, Cell or The Mist and hammer away at the keys like someone possessed. It just means that you can't share that work online, even for free. Nor can you make duplicate print copies and hand them out. Technically you shouldn't even allow anyone else to read the 'original' copy. (Hyper-technically, of course, you shouldn't even write it.)
But it can be good practice, even though nothing - and I mean nothing - beats creating a world and characters that are entirely your own, because then you're free to do whatever you like. No restrictions.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
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Yes, I hold back too much. :frog:
I think the ultimate blasphemy for me would be fan fiction that...
took up where Revival left off and explored the life of those damn ants!!!
Ant-with-Bottle-of-Whiskey--61767.jpg
 

jackysawyer

Member
Apr 5, 2014
23
111
49
Thanks for all the thoughts. Hopefully I didn't rub anyone too hard.

I have the basic idea of a novel (or group, or canon, or something) that I will almost surely never write. I won't tell you that there is a young family based on on Stu and Frannie and their baby, because maybe that would get me in trouble, but there is a lovely couple, living in Maine, with a newish baby.

I think the line between homage and fanfiction is pretty fine. Certainly when an author is asked, and when an author is dead, it changes things up. But I think many would agree that one could easily argue that when an author says they are writing an homage, you could say it's certainly a form of fanfiction. However, it would be a pretty good argument.
 

staropeace

Richard Bachman's love child
Nov 28, 2006
15,210
48,848
Alberta,Canada
Thanks for all the thoughts. Hopefully I didn't rub anyone too hard.

I have the basic idea of a novel (or group, or canon, or something) that I will almost surely never write. I won't tell you that there is a young family based on on Stu and Frannie and their baby, because maybe that would get me in trouble, but there is a lovely couple, living in Maine, with a newish baby.

I think the line between homage and fanfiction is pretty fine. Certainly when an author is asked, and when an author is dead, it changes things up. But I think many would agree that one could easily argue that when an author says they are writing an homage, you could say it's certainly a form of fanfiction. However, it would be a pretty good argument.
I want Fran to die of dippydoodlitis
 

staropeace

Richard Bachman's love child
Nov 28, 2006
15,210
48,848
Alberta,Canada
I guess you were happy when Susan became a vampire? Lol, at least she was more interesting at that point...until the stake through the heart. I actually liked Fran. I'm in the minority it seems.
No clue how others feel. I think Steve's early works lacked strong females. He changed that pretty quick with Delores.
 

Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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No clue how others feel. I think Steve's early works lacked strong females. He changed that pretty quick with Delores.
Yeah, some critics have pointed out his shrill or whiny female leading characters. Rachel Creed and Wendy Torrance were mentioned. I see your point and I do agree he's made progress over the last 20 years. Dolores Claiborne was a fantastic character.