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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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 Posted: 26-Jul-2007 14:01 Post subject: J.K. Rowling and the Annoying Writer |
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Okay, first. I have not read any of the Harry Potter books. I don't intend to, but I probably will after tackling some of the other dozen or so books I have collecting dust.
Y'all will have to excuse me for this...but I cannot stand this lady's attitude about her books.
In interviews she constantly states she doesn't want more people to write about her characters, add things to her stories and generally build off of her creation.
Why release it to the public then? Why did she just not sit up in her flat and horde the entire series. Part of me (The writer) understands that "Yes, its her stories, her creation." But the rest of me (Again, the Writer...but then the realist, the cynic and the sociologist) understands that by releasing a public work, you're losing your own hold over it.
She's making her rabid fanbase somewhat ashamed of writing fan-fics. I hate fan-fics...at least he ones that are actually taking the existing characters and making them do A, B and C. Other fanfics, where only the barest minimum of an existing setting is used over, are acceptable. Isn't that what the Star Wars books are all about? I mean...there are 40+ books in the Star Wars series. Most of which not written by George Lucas (thank God(s)). But she's really telling millions of amateur writers, which is what she was not all that long ago...that she doesn't want them to come close to her stuff. Last time I checked...these amateurs are the ones that usually end up being the next generation of great writers.
I know she more or less means she doesn't want other books published about her characters and her settings. Why not? If she has created such a great universe with its rules and settings, why NOT allow people to play in it?
Pull a George Lucas and create levels of canon. Approve novels. Proofread the first few of them. SUPPORT THE BLOODY ART FORM! SUPPORT THE ARTISTS! I mean...you have enough money to hire a team of consultants so that your "vision" can be upheld...or whatever it is you want to do.
I think that Harry Potter is a cultural epic. No other single series of books has ever grabbed the population such. Its a rare thing for the creator of the public adoration to still be alive, so watching her deal with it is interesting. But I feel she does a discredit to authors, artists and her fans.
Without having read the books I can only make a final general statement here. Is she creating art? Is J.K. Rowling going to go down in history next to J.R.R. Tolkien? Isaac Asimov? Virgil? Dante? Creator of Epics?
Michael Jackson outsells Beethoven. Is he better? Or is all Harry Potter just Pop-Fantasy? Easily digestible.
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Mordel
Mordel.Net
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Joined: 03-Feb-2002 00:00
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 26-Jul-2007 17:50 Post subject: |
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I think it has a mass appeal because it dealt with children using magic. What kid doesn't love that. Then once the children got involved, parents found it pretty entertaining as well.
Who has the rights to do spin-off stories, her publisher? I think once she's done (and she is with her last book, isn't she?) there is no reason a series can't be created to recant stories of other children and their time at Hogwart's. I mean, there are so many stories that were touched upon that could be revisited to flush out.
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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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| Posted: 27-Jul-2007 00:59 Post subject: |
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In her negotiations with her publisher she might have stipulated that no books in that universe get made.
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"Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well." - Leto II
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chihawk
Clan Blood Spirit
Master Bartender
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 28-Jul-2007 06:11 Post subject: |
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Many authors have exclusive rights to the characters/worlds of their books, and I see nothing wrong with that.
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chihawk
Clan Blood Spirit
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Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 28-Jul-2007 06:14 Post subject: |
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Moved from the Saloon to General Off Topic
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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 28-Jul-2007 16:08 Post subject: |
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It is annoying and she wants her pie and cake and all to eat at the same time.
Yes she has the right to not want folks to 'add' to or take away from, but then again look at all the books, both sci-fi and fanasty out there that spin off of major theme books.
Farmer does it with a lot of his Tarzan related books, De Spargue does it with Conan, hell the Conan books are huge and they don't always make sense but they still add to the mystic of Conan. Same as you said of the SW stuff, Lucas sets rules and then writers write and he owns the end results and all is good for them and him.
She seems to want to stop with the 7th book and that be that. Burroughs tried that with Tarzan, 5 books and he died. But the demand of the fans bombarding the editor who published Burroughs' work convinced him to publish more.
I have a feeling that no matter what she will do something down the road once she get's over her 'ego' and the feeling of demi-godhood.
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Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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SaberDance
Federated Suns
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Joined: 07-May-2004 00:00
Posts: 837
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| Posted: 04-Aug-2007 01:52 Post subject: |
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There's a few issues, and part of it depends on the Copyright lawyer.
The characters, places, and universe belong to J.K. Rowling until she dies and then for another 70 years or so (they keep moving the number, but I think 70 is current). During that time, her estate can maintain the copyright and extend it through various acts. Releasing another book would do it.
The publisher has no say in the matter unless they have a signed contract with Rowling saying differently.
After 70 years, it enters into the Public Domain and can be stolen from at will. Prior to that point, authors have to find some form of fair use, of which Fan-Fiction is a gray -but currently accepted -form.
That's the textbook explanation. Some copyright lawyers I've read (Justine Levine of SoCal Law, mainly) argue that copyright only extends to full and complete works. Under that reading, the current 7 books will lose their copyrights 70 years after Rowling dies. However, anyone can use her characters, her universe, or her rules of magic at will in a different work. Or even write a new book expanding on the existing ones.
It screws up Canon. But the Library of Congress doesn't really care. Anyway, you can maintain Canon by getting Rowling to bless specific books.
Now, that view has a long and distinguished pedigree going back to before Intellectual Property Law was a glimmer in Blackstone's eye. But it isn't the view used by the courts.
On the purely moral and artistic issues: I don't really like Fan Fiction, but I'm a big proponent of stealing good ideas where you can find them.
And yeah, Rowling's interview style annoys me too. If it was so darn important, put it in the book. And when people ask about it, tell them to use their imagination. Serious criticism is hard enough to do from the book and the biography without having to dig up a bunch of extra material which may bear on the work being critiqued.
It's like judging a painting while the artist tells you what's just outside the frame.
And I utterly refuse to spend money on the Harry Potter Encyclopedia.
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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4120
Location: United States
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| Posted: 04-Aug-2007 18:06 Post subject: |
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One thing I heard from my wife, is the Rowlings is working on or is planning a who's who kind of thing and/or encyclopedia that covers everything about her worlds and the folks in it...this may be the real reason she doesn't want anything done by others.
But then again, she knows she has fans, and she has to know they want more of and about Harry and his buddies. And stating that she doesn't want those same fans to add to the worlds she came up with isn't a very good way of keeping those fans who pay big bucks for her stuff...
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Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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Kraken
Federated Suns
Marshal
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 2755
Location: United States
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| Posted: 04-Aug-2007 22:39 Post subject: |
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| Karagin wrote: | | But then again, she knows she has fans, and she has to know they want more of and about Harry and his buddies. And stating that she doesn't want those same fans to add to the worlds she came up with isn't a very good way of keeping those fans who pay big bucks for her stuff... |
I know that Hasbro's learned that lesson.
Unless a fan directly does something to challenge Hasbro's intellectual property rights, trademarks, and property rights, Hasbro really doesn't care what the fans do.
So unless a fan does something like trying to sell bootlegs at a convention (happened a few years ago) or taking someone to court over ownership of a fan character (nearly happened in '96) then Hasbro really doesn't care.
The trade-off, however, is that Hasbro also refuses to accept fan-based characters or plotlines. In fact, due to an incident which took place a bit back Hasbro has also instituted a policy stating that any Hasbro employee who posts on Hasbro-themed message boards is prohibited from saying who they work for.
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