Openness, Freedom, Sharing, “Stealing”, Remixing
PrevNode LinkNextIt is hard to avoid the trend of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), open/free content, sharing digital (and often tangible) works with the world, making derivative works, and even remixing / mashing-up works:
( Pagan-za about not reinventing the wheel )I thought using loops was cheating so I programmed my own samples. Then I thought using samples was cheating so I recorded real drums.
I then thought that programming it was cheating so I learnt to play drums for real. I then thought using bought drums was cheating so I learnt to make my own.
I then thought that using premade skins was cheating so I killed a goat and skinned it. I then thought that that was cheating too, so I grew my own goat from a baby goat. I also think that is cheating but I'm not sure where to go from here. I haven't made any music lately, what with the goat farming and all.
While not all digital works are explicitly licensed under licences that allow building derivatives, or remixes/crossovers/mashups, in practice, most talented independent remixers will have no qualms about reusing other people's "proprietary" (= restricted, "All rights reserved", "copyrighted") work, at least after paying for a licence.
In my FAQ I explain why I, as a geeky hacker-king, who was influenced by the "open" / "remix" movement, find it necessary to do crossovers, Real Person Fiction Works ( RPFs ) and parodies in my writing:
Why do you write mostly fan-fiction and crossovers?
Lawrence Lessig gives many good reasons for remixing in his book Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, which I have read and enjoyed. Writing fan-fiction and crossovers, whether in fiction or in non-fiction (see some of my crossover essays), is the writing equivalent of what he describes being primarily done with music and videos.
Our aversion towards fan fiction and an insistence on "originality" is mostly a 20th century fad, that is slowly (for some values of "slowly") diminishing.
Anyway, the various fiction franchises and idea systems that influenced me are a large part of me, and I cannot throw them away when writing my own works. I don’t have a lot of control of the ideas I come up with, but I know I must materialise them eventually.
What about your real person fiction?
I feature or reference several celebrities in my stories (whether past or present) as a way of Real person fiction. According to the wikipedia page, such fiction is likely to be legal if it is done in mostly good taste, which I believe and hope is the case for me.
The general consensus is that a celebrity generally allows himself or herself to be a subject of reuse in literature, and that includes me, Shlomi Fish.
Update (02 November 2019): I have now written a more comprehensive essay about why writing real person fan fiction is good.
Update (26 November 2019): I now realise that fan fiction and especially real person fiction can be used to help combat the flood of new characters and names that plagues many more-"original" stories. People generally have a rough concept of what characters such as Chuck Norris, Emma Watson, Richard Stallman, Moses, or Miss Piggy, are like and generally can better remember them because they thought about them a lot.
Update (06 September 2022): commercial real person fiction is common and encouraged:
Cookie monster agrees with me: