Different authors have different attitudes towards fan writing and have had different experiences. MZB began with a very welcoming approach, starting with sponsoring a fanzine that included fan fiction, and even putting out a series of anthologies of Darkover fiction by both professional and fan writers. But then she got burned by having a fan writer come up with a story element that was coincidentally similar to something MZB was working on and demanding to be given author credit for the concept. After that she wouldn't even read fan fiction, much less be involved in publishing it.
Some authors are simply deeply uncomfortable with other people "playing house" with their characters and worlds (even aside from the subset of fanfic that's erotic in nature). For some, they'll actively ask people not to write it, others are content to pretend it doesn't exist.
My attitude is that I would be immensely flattered to have people want to write in my world -- there are plenty of stories that I'm not going to write that have threads hanging off them to be picked up -- but if they do, I want to allow elbow room for them to have fun and not feel like I'm watching and judging. And there are potential legal issues with giving official "approval", especially if it involves elements I'm going to be working with myself in the future.
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Date: 2017-10-19 09:40 pm (UTC)Some authors are simply deeply uncomfortable with other people "playing house" with their characters and worlds (even aside from the subset of fanfic that's erotic in nature). For some, they'll actively ask people not to write it, others are content to pretend it doesn't exist.
My attitude is that I would be immensely flattered to have people want to write in my world -- there are plenty of stories that I'm not going to write that have threads hanging off them to be picked up -- but if they do, I want to allow elbow room for them to have fun and not feel like I'm watching and judging. And there are potential legal issues with giving official "approval", especially if it involves elements I'm going to be working with myself in the future.