How to Write a Good Fanfic

2.2 - Copyright vs. Plagiarism

Eva spent a lot of time writing her fanfic. Not only did she spend hours plotting out the story before writing, but she also spent hours writing each chapter. She felt her time was well worth it as she ended up gaining quite a few followers, and even created friendships within the fanfiction community.

"Did you know Garish-Grrrl stole your story?" One of her followers sent her a PM, and Eva decided to check out the story. She felt her throat tighten when she saw her story was taken word for word from the original except for a few changes. These changes included changing the names of the characters as well as the way the characters physically looked.

She also took a look at the comments, and saw that the person in question was receiving praise for all of her hard work as well as coming up with the story. She felt her stomach lurch, and she wrote a calm PM to the person asking them to remove their story.

"I don't know what you're so upset with. All fanfiction is plagiarism, so I've done nothing wrong. Plus, I spent a lot of time on this."

Eva felt her stomach lurch at the persons response, and she didn't know what to do about the situation.

...

A few things happened recently.

First, someone asked me a couple of questions regarding the subject of plagiarism. The first question was whether or not all fanfiction was plagiarism, and the second question was what amounted as to much plagiarism. Second, on another site I post my stories to I came across a serial plagiarism who didn't think they were doing anything wrong. Third, I've come across a few cases where writers thought their plagiarism cases were ignored. Thus I will be addressing each issue.

Is all fanfiction plagiarism?

The idea all fanfiction is plagiarism is a myth. The myth that all plagiarism started when popular fanfic writer was caught plagiarizing from a published writer. During this time frame a lot of writers would hide lines in their stories as cookies for their readers to find, and they would have their readers guess what the line was as well as where said line came from. One of the excuses made by the plagiarists supporters was that the writer simply didn't give due credit, but later on people found her story was filled with whole paragraphs where the writer edited parts of the story.

Even if the writer had given due credit the fact remained to much of what she posted for some of the chapters was mostly another persons work. She claimed she wrote down passages she liked, and forgot where they came from. Eventually some of her supporters who knew what she was doing wrong began to throw around the myth that all fanfic was plagiarism. This tactic was used as an attempt to make those pointing out the plagiarism feel guilty as well, but this only worked in cases where the writers believed what was said.

This myth was then picked up by fanfic naysayers as a reason why fanfiction wasn't a legit form of writing. Some published writers believed this myth, and thus banned people from writing fanfiction for their fandoms. There are also a ton of essays out there focused on debunking this particular myth. Why then does the myth persist like it does?

I think the reason the myth persists is because people think copyright infringement and plagiarism are the same thing. Copyright infringement is using a work without someones permission, and plagiarism is the act of stealing another persons work and passing it off as your own. It's possible to have a case of copyright infringement without plagiarism being involved, and it's possible to have a plagiarism case without having a case of copyright infringement.

When we use the canon characters and places, and we give the original creator due credit in some manner we are not committing an act of plagiarism, but an act of copyright infringement. If one were to take one of Shakespere's plays and change the names of the characters then one would be committing plagiarism, but not copyright infringement. How though does one know the difference? The major question is whether or not the piece is your own work or not. This isn't to say some quoting if properly cited is wrong, but most of the work needs to be your own.