Textual poaching...

[fajrdrako]

Just read an interesting essay about fanfic and professional authors by ajhalluk:"We built spaceships for our Barbie dolls". Of couse, it's preaching to the converted where I am concerned; I think copyright laws are archaic and should be much looser. I don't think coyright should extend beyond a person's death, for example, though everyone seems to take it for granted that this should be the case.

There are other aspects besides the financial and the creative. I could imagine that I'd be horrified as an author if some fan took one of my beloved characters and did something ghastly with him, but so what? No one forces anyone to read a story. The original author's characters remain pristine in her mind and her works.