That new chapter in my latest Doctor Who fanfic saga I promised? It’s posted now. Enjoy. (I think you’ll recognize the little bit of dialogue echoed in “Planet of the Dead,” and why it works too well as I used it — long before I ever heard of “Planet of the Dead” — to alter it. I hope so, anyway.)
I promise more soon. Real soon. And I expect you to bug me if I fail to deliver.
As always, I plead hopeless dorkiness.
OK, I’m totally not getting this. In a previous post you wrote:
“I saw the new episode, “Planet of the Dead,” and spent a long moment screaming because there’s a little exchange of dialogue in the episode that is almost exactly like something I’d written for the latest, not-yet-finished installment of my little fan fiction saga “Tristan’s Father.””
And:
“and that was after skating over moments, early in the new episode, when it looked like the story was going to ape a fanfic story I wrote back in 1991-2. It turned out that it didn’t, much to my relief… except that my story was better.”
I can understand feeling some ownership of an idea that is based on original characters that you’ve created, but when you’re writing fan fiction, you have no intellectual property rights to the characters or what comes out of their mouths or even what happens in the story.
I’m not trying to make a legal argument, but rather, it’s strange to me that people feel ownership for ideas and characters that are not their own.
Why not go the “Faction Paradox” route and use Doctor Who as a seed to create your own universe and characters?
That being said writing fan fiction is fine, I’m just mystified by the claims of ownership.
I make no claims of ownership to anything I did not create — like the Doctor, the TARDIS, Time Lords, etc — but I feel entirely justified in claiming ownership of ideas that are original, even if I happened to use them in a fan fiction story. The BBC, for instance, would have no legal claim against me if I took one of my *Doctor Who* fan fiction stories, removed the *DW* elements, published it, and made a fortune off it.
The bit of dialogue I referred to, for one, espoused an idea that has never been expressed on the show before, and would work very well in another, non-*DW* science fiction story. And the older fanfic story I referred to would work perfectly well, at its root, as the plot for a non-*DW* story. It’s *that plot* I thought I was going to see in “Planet of the Dead,” not anything specific to *Doctor Who.*
Still, I would *never* claim any legal wrongdoing in a situation like this. It intrigues me, though, because it’s an indication of how similarly Russell Davies and I think about *Doctor Who.*
MaryAnn – Where’s my spoilers? =0)
OK. I’ve read all of it. Now, how come there’s such a long break since the last installment being put up, eh?
Nag, nag, nag, nag.
And since LaSargenta commented, this got bumped up into the Recent Comments box and I got all excited thinking it was new. *sigh*
bug bug bug bug bug (as requested above)
Yeah, I’m tricky that way, eh?
I finally sat down with some time to read and do her justice and THEN she leaves us ALL JUST HANGING!
And, check out those dates! I mean, how can she let so many months go by?!
So, maybe I’ll just be a real pill and post something to this thread every week until out of desperation to get me to shaddup she writes. Wanna help?
*sob*
I know! I know!
I need more hours in the day. And more days in the week.
So that’s how the whole Muse* thing works…
* That’s Muse as in the Greek Muses, the supernatural beings who made a guest appearance in Xanadu, not the music group of the same name that Stephanie Meyer likes so much…
So, Tonio, you going to be Calliope, Clio, or Polyhymnia? (The way DocWho geek fandom is, I think we need to include Polyhymnia on this difficult case of ‘inspiration’.)
When I heard that about Meyer, I thought she meant the Throwing Muses.
I was wrong.
:-)
Quoting LaSargenta: “So, maybe I’ll just be a real pill and post something to this thread every week until out of desperation to get me to shaddup she writes. Wanna help?”
Sure!
Hmm, Polyhymnia. Didn’t she travel with the 2nd Doctor? ;)
NAG
NAG
NAG
NAG
NAG
NAG
NAG
NAG
NAG – NAG – NAG
NAGHAMADI
NAGASAKI
NAG CHAMPA
NAGRA
NAG’S HEAD
NAG
NAG
NAG
It seems obvious that I would take after the legendary Tenth Muse Sappho since we both seem to have the same taste in women…
uh, ooooohhhhhkaaaay.
Ya know, she was mortal, right?
But that’s a great idea. Sappho could be a companion of the Doctor! That might be an interesting dynamic.
Now that I put a link to someone else’s fanfiction — albeit fanfic for Iron Man — on this site (see bumped Iron Man review), maybe MaryAnn will deign to post Part 8.
MAJ, would it help to have some kind of a paypal based tip jar?
I’d happily buy a short story collection with that in it. ‘Kay?
Hey, if she doesn’t have time to write more, come read my fanfiction. Click on my username and it will take you to it! :)
Still dorky after all these years….
I do read your’s. But, YOU don’t need nagging!
:-) I’m not always good about commenting.
Aww, thanks, LaSargenta! :) Made my day!
You’re welcome, Weimlady. My pleasure. And, I noticed that you added Chapter 13…see? I told you that you don’t need reminders!
*cough*
Now, on the other hand, MaryAnn last posted a chapter of Tristan’s Father almost a year ago.
I am sympathetic to not having enough time in the day for everything; but, it is a really good story so far and I’d love to know how it turns out.
…not expecting anything new to be added ’til after Tax Day, but just wanted to bump this thread.
*goes away whistling*
Yes. Though I must confess I got most of my info about her from historian Will Durant.
For some reason, that story idea won’t go away. MaryAnn may never use it but I might. But not necessarily for a straight fanfic piece. And I’m not sure I trust myself with the ideas that keep accompanying it.
For that matter, your last few posts did make me wonder: What would a male muse look like? I suspect Barbara Cartland’s would look like Fabio, but what would, say, MaryAnn’s muse look like? Bruce Campbell? Loren Dean? David Tennant? David Duchovny? A young Harrison Ford?
Inquiring minds want to know.;-)
“‘Tax Day came early this year,’ thought MaryAnn as she braved the last showers of March to run to the local post office…”
Heh. Sorry for the double post but I couldn’t resist.;-)
Tonio,
Mine would look like Liev Schreiber in Defiance. Considering the huge number of projects I’ve got, I’d need someone like that to hassle me about working on them. In fact, he probably would be carrying that Soviet PPD-40 it looked like they had for the partisans. Then, when I actually got something finished, he’d be fantastic to take to my local for a celebration.
I suspect MaryAnn’s might look like David Tennant. I can see him perching on a pile of books next to her desk as I write.