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May. 4th, 2010

  • 10:03 PM
pepper: Woman writing (Writing)
I haven't much to add to today's histrionics, except that a) everyone should just link to this on the next iteration of this argument, and b) many years ago, I read a story that made a great impression on me, in a book of Sherlock Holmes parodies and pastiches. This was 'The Adventure of the Two Collaborators', by J.M. Barrie.

Barrie was a good friend of Conan Doyle, and they tried to write an operetta together - sadly for them, the thing was a flop. A little later, Barrie wrote 'The Adventure...' in the flyleaf of a book, which he presented to Conan Doyle. I have no doubt that Conan Doyle found it hilarious. It's very brief, and I highly recommend it as both a good Holmes parody and a brief insight into the Victorian literary world.

In bringing to a close the adventures of my friend Sherlock Holmes I am perforce reminded that he never, save on the occasion which, as you will now hear, brought his singular career to an end, consented to act in any mystery which was concerned with persons who made a livelihood by their pen.

"I am not particular about the people I mix among for business purposes," he would say, "but at literary characters I draw the line."


There is also a valuable lesson to be learned about gunning for the golden goose in the last, wise words of Mr Sherlock Holmes.

Comments

ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Zip)
[personal profile] ziparumpazoo wrote:
May. 5th, 2010 02:01 pm (UTC)
Excellent list! Thanks. Whenever the 'fanfic is not legit' argument comes up, I usually argue that both William Gibson and Stephen King have written episodes of the X-Files, and not as hired script writers, but I had no idea how often this actually happens throughout the literary world.
pepper: Pile of old books (Books)
[personal profile] pepper wrote:
May. 5th, 2010 02:36 pm (UTC)
I think it's a natural part of writing. While I perfectly understand why a writer might want to steer clear of the fanfic based on their own work, I think this one is putting a fairly arbitrary line between 'stuff I like' and 'stuff I don't like and therefore am going to say is EVIL and WRONG'. I'd argue that there's not a great deal of difference in the basic creativity of being a fan of a show and expanding on that universe, and being a history buff and expanding on historical fact. It's what you do with that basis that counts.

I wrote a story when I was a kid which was basically a self-insert Mary Sue ripoff of Lord of the Rings. I also wrote a thing where I was a stowaway on a ship bound for the Americas in the Middle Ages. Neither was particularly original, but they helped me learn how to write.

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