Writing fanfiction vs. Plagarism Where

[n30]

So, I was starting to write some fanfiction when I realized something...

Technically fanfiction is copying another person's work and then modifying it to create a new work. Depending on the differences with the original, one could argue that they are exactly the same work and you plagiarizing the author or stealing the orginal author's work.

Naturally as authors fanfiction is expression of love for the work, so stealing or hurting the author goes against the spirit of writing itself. Some of you out there might even agree that one should attempt to contact the author if they have an easy online means of contact (which these days is easy because almost everyone is online)

So then how to do you give credit to the author without plagiarizing them? Were do you draw the line between a complete copy of the work or a modification of an original story?

P.S. Does anyone has experience with writing fanfiction of an orginal Adult-fanfiction.com work OR have experience with one of there own works having a fanfiction done of it (where the person asked permission of course). If so, your insight would be valuable.

Edit: BronxWench shared the link below. Still I am curious of your guys opinion:

http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/15097-when-do-i-need-citations-and-footnoting/

Updated post to reflect this link

Edited May 15, 2016 by n30

[BronxWench]

Actually, the point of a disclaimer when writing a fan fiction of a published work is to establish clearly that you are not attempting to infringe on the copyright of that material. You're not claiming the authorship of the fandom, or its unique characteristics, or its canon characters, nor are you making any profit from your fan fiction.

Should a published author decide they don't want fan fictions of their work out there, they have pretty clear cut avenues to follow. A published author will file a cease and desist order requiring the archive to remove ALL fan fictions of their works, or will have their legal people contact an archive looking for contact information and identification of the author(s) who've used their intellectual property.

Now, when you turn your sights to an original work published here on AFF, you're entering a new arena. Original works published here are presumed to be the copyrighted property of the author. However, unlike a well known fandom, you need to actually have permission in writing prior to embarking on your fan fiction. Otherwise, it is impossible for you to defend yourself against an accusation of plagiarism from the author of the original work, should they take umbrage. And without any written permission from the author allowing you to use their work, we will wind up deleting your fan fiction, and your account. We are adamantly opposed to plagiarism.

As far as the actual mechanics, it's the same thing you've done in high school, in college, in university. You cite your source. We don't require a specific format, but what we do want is the author and title of the work used, and where applicable, a page where the quote can be found.

[CloverReef]

^ This. 100% what BronxWench said.

I'd save MLA and APA for essays and articles. When it comes to fan fiction of the typical things like anime, games, TV series, movies, if you give due credit and have no intention of profiting from another person's/company's/group's ideas, I think you're good to go. There was actually a really good seminar on fan art copyright law a few years back... For a DeviantArt convention, I believe. It was very informative. I'll see if I can find it. And there's all kinds of essays about this very issue if you want to look into it further.

Edit: I think this is the one. Clickity Click! (It's a Youtube vid)

Edited May 15, 2016 by CloverReef

[ChrissyQuinn]

I think it would be a little jarring to see a certain styles of citation in a story. Especially MLA or APA, those are REALLY intrusive means of citation. If I recall APA you have to cite the entire source the first time you use it, which is (Author, title, Publisher, location, year, medium, page number).

I personally think you're going to cite a source in a work of fiction should use Chicago Style (CMS for short) as it's less jarring to look at. Take for instance the one time I used a Shakespeare direct quote in one of my stories I used Chicago style/Turubian/Humanities, which is just a little super script number and an end note and not (Shakespeare XI.vi.270-22) next to the text which would have disrupted flow.

But beyond that this is a common sense issue, I believe the disclaimers handle most things beyond direct quotes etc.