FWIW ... I don't much care for fanfiction, either. The reason being, that Discworld is written by a professional author with a great deal of experience built upon a training as a journalist. Fanfiction isn't and it shows.
You don't have to read too much DW to realise that the continuity is quite loose and quite a few elements are simply not consistent, although the individual books are internally consistent. The Patrick O'Brien books are like this, and so what?
Lookimg forward, I'd be quite interested to hear more about The Undertaking, and how Moist's putative career as Master of Taxes fits in with this. This is a classic A-M non-seqitur in itself, because I rather doubt that Vetinari would allow such a crucial function to run on as a neglected backwater, which appears to be the inference at the end of Making Money. However, I'd agree that MM is too much like a re-tread of Going Postal, the golems sub-plot is more wierd than useful, and Moist and Adora Belle seem to have progressed either quite a long way quite quickly, or stood still, depending on where you are in the book.
You don't have to read too much DW to realise that the continuity is quite loose and quite a few elements are simply not consistent, although the individual books are internally consistent. The Patrick O'Brien books are like this, and so what?
Lookimg forward, I'd be quite interested to hear more about The Undertaking, and how Moist's putative career as Master of Taxes fits in with this. This is a classic A-M non-seqitur in itself, because I rather doubt that Vetinari would allow such a crucial function to run on as a neglected backwater, which appears to be the inference at the end of Making Money. However, I'd agree that MM is too much like a re-tread of Going Postal, the golems sub-plot is more wierd than useful, and Moist and Adora Belle seem to have progressed either quite a long way quite quickly, or stood still, depending on where you are in the book.
A
Question here:
What if people use fanfictionwriting as training to improve their skills? Not everyone has the luck to get a job as a journalist or someting related.
There might be many fanfictionwriters out there trying too hard to copy a style.
I try telling a story in my own style and thereby improving it before I go and try to get my own stuff published.
What if people use fanfictionwriting as training to improve their skills? Not everyone has the luck to get a job as a journalist or someting related.
There might be many fanfictionwriters out there trying too hard to copy a style.
I try telling a story in my own style and thereby improving it before I go and try to get my own stuff published.
Journalism is not a pre-requisite for becoming a professional author (although it certainly can help in terms of developing good research habits, attention to deal, and an ability to publish prolifically). Most great fiction authors didn't start out as journalists, but it's probably safe to say that next to none of them started out as fanfiction writers. 80% of successful fiction writing is coming up with an idea that hasn't been done before--the rest is assembly line work. As someone who has had both fiction and nonfiction published over the years, I'd recommend to any aspiring fiction writer that the path to success rests more on developing originality that on developing a style. There are plenty of great stylistic writers out there who are absolute barren of original ideas. Whereas, it's the literary hacks who have 'novel' ideas that tend to get published more often (Dan Brown, anyone?).
Speaking as someone who spends much more time than he wants to reading technical reports and publications that have to be returned to the author for re-writing before they can be accepted, I'd say that the "assembly line work" is a large part of the whole. That said, having a publishable idea is also essential.
There's nothing new about writing with other people's characters and settings, or expanding them in new directions - the "Man-Kzin Wars" books are a case in point - but it's customary to do so with the permission, and generally with the invitation, of the original author.
I'd have to suspect that the chances of being published in Germany, or anywhere else where copyright law applies, without such approval was negligible.
There's nothing new about writing with other people's characters and settings, or expanding them in new directions - the "Man-Kzin Wars" books are a case in point - but it's customary to do so with the permission, and generally with the invitation, of the original author.
I'd have to suspect that the chances of being published in Germany, or anywhere else where copyright law applies, without such approval was negligible.
A
No,no, I'm of course NOT talking about publishing fanfiction (seriously, how stupid does one has to be to actually try THAT?!)
I'm talking about original stuff.
Various publishers I asked about the general way to hand a manuscript in etc told me if I have anything original published elsewhere my chances to get published professionally are below zero.
And they meant EVERYTHING original.
It wouldn't matter if the text online appears nowhere in the manuscript. Or if it is even related to the text one's trying to get printed.
It's ridiculous.
I'm talking about original stuff.
Various publishers I asked about the general way to hand a manuscript in etc told me if I have anything original published elsewhere my chances to get published professionally are below zero.
And they meant EVERYTHING original.
It wouldn't matter if the text online appears nowhere in the manuscript. Or if it is even related to the text one's trying to get printed.
It's ridiculous.
I'm afraid that I don't even begin to understand that last post, especially in context with some of your other posts.
If you go to a publisher with something that may result in a copyright infringement, no publisher will even look at it. If you go to a publisher in an attempt to circumvent a contract you have signed elsewhere, you are wasting your time. If you go to a publisher having been published elsewhere and failed to sell, that won't help you either.
Frankly, I'm completely unable to understand what you are attempting to do.
If you go to a publisher with something that may result in a copyright infringement, no publisher will even look at it. If you go to a publisher in an attempt to circumvent a contract you have signed elsewhere, you are wasting your time. If you go to a publisher having been published elsewhere and failed to sell, that won't help you either.
Frankly, I'm completely unable to understand what you are attempting to do.
A
Trying nothing of these.
But it's the following:
If I have a single original work on the net, for example on fictionpress or the like, aka somewhere where it is available for free, I won't be able to get published professional, aka, contract and all.
It doesn't matter if the work on the net is, for example, some romance short story, while what I try to get published is a alternate history-sci-fi novel. (Which is one of the things I'm working on, actually).
The laws here suck like that.
But it's the following:
If I have a single original work on the net, for example on fictionpress or the like, aka somewhere where it is available for free, I won't be able to get published professional, aka, contract and all.
It doesn't matter if the work on the net is, for example, some romance short story, while what I try to get published is a alternate history-sci-fi novel. (Which is one of the things I'm working on, actually).
The laws here suck like that.
A
Archaeologist said:
That's insane! Bonkers! 
And for self-publishing/print-on-demand I lack a trustworthy editor/money to buy the package from the services that include an editor.
(For those interested: I'm trying to get a fantasy novel and an alternate history novel published. Latter concerning a scientist traveling into the past in order to prevent the Hiroshima and Nakasaki bombing by preventing the WW2 from happening...)
I was finding this thread increasingly incomprehensible, but a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel appears.
French and German law differs significantly from English law in a number of respects. I assume that what our putative author is mistakenly referring to is summarised here http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/?p=3644
It would be correct to suggest that a work of fiction, once published, is irrevocably associated with that author. English, and American law allows the commercial and authorial rights to be sold as a complete and single transaction, German and French law don't. So, if a right of authorship could be demonstrated, a contract of the US type requiring a complete buy-out of all rights would be problematical in Germany.
However I'd also have to interpret that as meaning that writing fanfic was a similar infringement of TP's right of authorship in respect of those characters, although whether he is actually concerned about fanfic I have no idea. American SF authors tend to be fairly blase about it, on the basis that accepting the free publicity is a lesser evil than the main option of protracted and expensive legal proceedings to no ultimate useful end.
However, Conan Doyle's reply applies; to the effect that there is no conceivable incentive for the original, published author to collaborate with an unpublished newcomer, since the benefiots are entirely one-sided, as are the drawbacks.
As it happens, my wife has at times worked as a "reader" for a publishing house in the UK, and her view is that most of the work submitted to her is simply not good enough and rejected on that basis. If that's the case regarding the small percentage that gets through the initial selection, and given the sheer unreadability of a lot of the convoluted trilogies found on the "fantasy" shelves, then the quality of what ends up in the bin, or deleted unread must be pretty dire
French and German law differs significantly from English law in a number of respects. I assume that what our putative author is mistakenly referring to is summarised here http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/?p=3644
It would be correct to suggest that a work of fiction, once published, is irrevocably associated with that author. English, and American law allows the commercial and authorial rights to be sold as a complete and single transaction, German and French law don't. So, if a right of authorship could be demonstrated, a contract of the US type requiring a complete buy-out of all rights would be problematical in Germany.
However I'd also have to interpret that as meaning that writing fanfic was a similar infringement of TP's right of authorship in respect of those characters, although whether he is actually concerned about fanfic I have no idea. American SF authors tend to be fairly blase about it, on the basis that accepting the free publicity is a lesser evil than the main option of protracted and expensive legal proceedings to no ultimate useful end.
However, Conan Doyle's reply applies; to the effect that there is no conceivable incentive for the original, published author to collaborate with an unpublished newcomer, since the benefiots are entirely one-sided, as are the drawbacks.
As it happens, my wife has at times worked as a "reader" for a publishing house in the UK, and her view is that most of the work submitted to her is simply not good enough and rejected on that basis. If that's the case regarding the small percentage that gets through the initial selection, and given the sheer unreadability of a lot of the convoluted trilogies found on the "fantasy" shelves, then the quality of what ends up in the bin, or deleted unread must be pretty dire
A
I am refering to what publishers told me when I was mailing and calling them for further information of the -hand in manuscript- politics (they differ)
Almost each time I have been ask if I already published something (original of course) elsewhere.
When I answered, truthfully, that I have they usually asked where.
To which I would answer online.
To which they'd always inform me that they couldn't publish me then, even if what I want to get published isn't the same material as the one online.
Almost each time I have been ask if I already published something (original of course) elsewhere.
When I answered, truthfully, that I have they usually asked where.
To which I would answer online.
To which they'd always inform me that they couldn't publish me then, even if what I want to get published isn't the same material as the one online.
I don't understand that at all. You're saying that where you live if you ever have something published for free, legally you'll never ever ever have a chance to have a different work published in a book or paying magazine? That must mean that there's not a single paid writer in your country who has ever published in a small literary press, blogged, tweeted, or created a wen site for publishing stories.
This is completely opposite to the U.S., where most published fiction writers start out by publishing stories in small literary journals or on their blogs. Of course, here the odds of having a story actually read by a publisher are nigh on impossible--agents actually serve as the gatekeepers, and it's nearly impossible to get an agent to read a work of fiction unless you have a personal connection to one. But that's neither here nor there.
My advice for you is to not use your real name when putting free stuff online so it can never be connected back to you.
This is completely opposite to the U.S., where most published fiction writers start out by publishing stories in small literary journals or on their blogs. Of course, here the odds of having a story actually read by a publisher are nigh on impossible--agents actually serve as the gatekeepers, and it's nearly impossible to get an agent to read a work of fiction unless you have a personal connection to one. But that's neither here nor there.
My advice for you is to not use your real name when putting free stuff online so it can never be connected back to you.
Interesting article here (mainly concerning films but I thought it was relevant) stating that we now live in the agge of fanfiction.
It's a very interesting read.
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-...ts-avengers-and-life-in-the-age-of-fanfiction
It's a very interesting read.
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-...ts-avengers-and-life-in-the-age-of-fanfiction
