dragonimp: (fanfic)
dragonimp ([personal profile] dragonimp) wrote2009-08-12 04:26 pm
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"plagiarism, or a good way to encourage young writers?"

I glanced at a copy of School Library Journal at work today and saw this cover blurb:
Fanfiction: plagiarism, or a good way to encourage young writers?

Okay, 1)by the definition of "using someone else's work or ideas," yes, of course it's plagiarism; by the definition of "passing someone else's work or ideas off as one's own," no, of course it isn't. That clears things up, right?

2)We're not all teenagers.

I skimmed the article, and it was pretty positive, and dispelled a lot of the myths like "fanfic is uncreative" and "fanfic is all crap," which was nice. And I realize this was School Library Journal, but still, I would have liked some acknowledgement that fanfic is about more than just teenyboppers just getting into writing.

Their hook into the article was something like "when Harry met Bella; remember that time Harry Potter took Bella Swann to the prom?" To which, all I can say is "Ack!!"

An outsider's view on fandom is always amusing, in a shake-your-head, they-just-don't-get-it kind of way.

[identity profile] dragonimp.livejournal.com 2009-08-13 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
SNL and MAD even make money off of it, too, unlike fanfic. The article also brought up things like the Pride and Prejudice "sequels" that have been popping up lately - just because it's professionally published doesn't mean it's not fanfic. As far as I'm concerned, writing is writing.