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Alright. This post offended me enough to draw me out of hiding. (Despite the
fact that I've been here all along...)
We really need to agree on some sort of time-limit for "lack of updates"
so other people can seize control of abandoned fics and finish them.
I cannot believe the audacity and gall of this suggestion.
Fanfic authors are not machines. They are people. They are not here to serve
you. They are here to enjoy themselves.
When I started writing fanfic, I was having a lot of fun doing it. Then I
hit bad periods of writer's block, while people kept screaming at me for
updates.
Eventually, it got to the point where it stopped being fun for me, which is
when I basically went into a long period of writer's hibernation. I was
simply too frustrated at all the thoughtless nagging to WANT to write.
Now....those of us who put a lot of time and effort into our fics are proud
of our work. We sat down, we spent hours of our lives crafting something of
ourselves, our ideas, thoughts, and feelings, and transferring them into
words, weaving in our favorite characters from our favorite series. Those of
us most confident in our work put it out on display for all to see, and
hopefully appreciate along with.
Fanfics aren't mass-produced, sterilized, homogenized pulp novels. They're
pieces of the writer's soul.
Now, if I saw someone come along and suddenly "seize" Onna: Red Side or
Suiseiki and start continuing it without even so much as a word to me, or if
someone even came to me and asked if they could continue it in my stead, I
would be HIGHLY insulted. It's *my* work, not *their* work. It's *my* right
to continue it or abandon it as I please. Nobody but me has any right to say
what should and should not be done with my work.
I'm fairly certain that other fanfic writers, such as the esteemed RpM, feel
the same way.
My fanfics are MINE. His fanfics are his. That guy over there...well, he
sucks, but even his crap is still HIS crap. The very IDEA of what you are
proposing is worse than plagiarism. It's soul rape.
You have absolutely no right to come along and suggest that statutes should
be imposed on abandoned fanfics. Nobody writes for YOU. Everyone who writes,
writes because THEY WANT TO.
The Eternal Lost Lurker is back, ladies and gentlemen. And he is not happy
at the moment.