I disagree with what Le Guin says, but I do understand where she's coming from. In Real LifeTM, I'm always hounding on my students to avoid plagiarism, and as a deterrent, I am excessively harsh in my punishment of plagiarists. So I understand an author saying "these are my creations, go make your own unique works."
But I'm also the product of internet, and I'm quite comfortable with characters and settings being appropriated and used in other stories, because in my mind appropriation doesn't necessarily entail plagiarism. Furthermore, I personally believe that fan fiction does more good than harm to a writing career, be that good and harm measured economically or otherwise; a well-managed and engaging internet presence can (seemingly) go a long way toward helping make a professional work of fiction a success.
I also I think that some authors really ascribe to the Geek Hierarchy—"I am a professional, and I cannot brook that non-professionals are sullying my creations." I think that position has embedded in it a purposeful blindness; what author has genuinely never been inspired by or drawn inspiration from another literary work?
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Date: 2011-07-08 05:38 pm (UTC)But I'm also the product of internet, and I'm quite comfortable with characters and settings being appropriated and used in other stories, because in my mind appropriation doesn't necessarily entail plagiarism. Furthermore, I personally believe that fan fiction does more good than harm to a writing career, be that good and harm measured economically or otherwise; a well-managed and engaging internet presence can (seemingly) go a long way toward helping make a professional work of fiction a success.
I also I think that some authors really ascribe to the Geek Hierarchy—"I am a professional, and I cannot brook that non-professionals are sullying my creations." I think that position has embedded in it a purposeful blindness; what author has genuinely never been inspired by or drawn inspiration from another literary work?
So, I understand—but I disagree.