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Why I *don't* want people sending me ideas.
8 years ago
Once in a while someone who enjoys my work here will drop me a note or pop up in my comments saying they've got some story ideas for this or that character or setting I present here. Please, do not do that. I will not even look at them. I will delete any files without even opening them, and then politely ask the sender to desist. I hate to hurt someone's feelings that way, especially since they enjoy my stories, but it is quite necessary.
The thing creatively inspired fans NEED to understand is that although you may love this or that story or franchise or character or whatever, the creators who produce them cannot... CAN NOT... accept unsolicited ideas, because to do so muddies the provenance of their own ideas, and subjects them to potential accusations of intellectual property theft and lawsuits. This is why the creators of this or that show will absolutely NOT read your fan fiction, and why unsolicited suggestions or concepts will go right in the trash unopened and unread. They mean you no ill will and they appreciate that you love their work, but they just can't take the risk.
This applies to big media megacorporations and one man bands (like me) putting their stuff out on the internet. Someday, if the stars align and the circumstances allow, maybe I'd want to pitch some of my characters and stories up the media chain. (Unlikely for mostly furry cheesecake/porn, I know, but you never know what direction your work can take you.) I can't do that if someone can claim, even spuriously, that I stole their ideas from them.
While I myself am known for MLP FiM fanfiction, understand that I only post it in publicly accessible fan fiction venues, and never would dream of sending it directly to the show runners or Hasbro or Lauren Faust or any other stakeholders in that particular Intellectual Property. Said creators of MLP stay well away from FimFiction and DeviantArt. They are legally bound to do so. So it's essentially like small fish swimming in their own tank separate from the big fish. Or playing a pickup game of softball with friends in the park, never expecting to take the field in a major league game in your home team's stadium.
Unless a collaboration is agreed on, unless they ASK for submissions, keep your ideas for other people's characters to yourself, or turn them into your own thing.
This post was inspired by running across this post on tumblr:
http://freifraufischer.tumblr.com/p.....ow-writers-and
as well as this response to it:
http://jenniferrpovey.tumblr.com/po.....om-history-why
CLARIFICATION!:
This post is not about fan art! I love fan art of my characters. This is not about other artists wanting to try their hand at rendering one or more of my characters. This is about people trying to insert their ideas into the stories I am writing and drawing.
It's not entirely simple or clear cut, but there is a difference between the two concepts. With fan art the fan artist is putting some work into expressing the inspiration that the original source has given them. Unsolicited story ideas are more like trying to hijack the author's creative process. It's like backseat driving. It's not generally malicious, but it is insensitive. Like I said before, if you think you have some good ideas, then do the work and realize them yourself.
The thing creatively inspired fans NEED to understand is that although you may love this or that story or franchise or character or whatever, the creators who produce them cannot... CAN NOT... accept unsolicited ideas, because to do so muddies the provenance of their own ideas, and subjects them to potential accusations of intellectual property theft and lawsuits. This is why the creators of this or that show will absolutely NOT read your fan fiction, and why unsolicited suggestions or concepts will go right in the trash unopened and unread. They mean you no ill will and they appreciate that you love their work, but they just can't take the risk.
This applies to big media megacorporations and one man bands (like me) putting their stuff out on the internet. Someday, if the stars align and the circumstances allow, maybe I'd want to pitch some of my characters and stories up the media chain. (Unlikely for mostly furry cheesecake/porn, I know, but you never know what direction your work can take you.) I can't do that if someone can claim, even spuriously, that I stole their ideas from them.
While I myself am known for MLP FiM fanfiction, understand that I only post it in publicly accessible fan fiction venues, and never would dream of sending it directly to the show runners or Hasbro or Lauren Faust or any other stakeholders in that particular Intellectual Property. Said creators of MLP stay well away from FimFiction and DeviantArt. They are legally bound to do so. So it's essentially like small fish swimming in their own tank separate from the big fish. Or playing a pickup game of softball with friends in the park, never expecting to take the field in a major league game in your home team's stadium.
Unless a collaboration is agreed on, unless they ASK for submissions, keep your ideas for other people's characters to yourself, or turn them into your own thing.
This post was inspired by running across this post on tumblr:
http://freifraufischer.tumblr.com/p.....ow-writers-and
as well as this response to it:
http://jenniferrpovey.tumblr.com/po.....om-history-why
CLARIFICATION!:
This post is not about fan art! I love fan art of my characters. This is not about other artists wanting to try their hand at rendering one or more of my characters. This is about people trying to insert their ideas into the stories I am writing and drawing.
It's not entirely simple or clear cut, but there is a difference between the two concepts. With fan art the fan artist is putting some work into expressing the inspiration that the original source has given them. Unsolicited story ideas are more like trying to hijack the author's creative process. It's like backseat driving. It's not generally malicious, but it is insensitive. Like I said before, if you think you have some good ideas, then do the work and realize them yourself.
Mostly the former cause I'm constantly drunk.
And I'm flattered that you find my stuff inspiring, so thank you!
Putting your own ideas out in public spaces for folks to see is better for everyone involved, because folks get to enjoy and be inspired by them, and it has the added benefit of establishing the provenance of those ideas. People know you're the author because they can see your signature on 'em. (Or if somebody is ripping you off, they can get called out on it 'cos more people know where the originals came from.) Nobody, large or small, is gonna have legal issues if you're inspired by something. We all consume waves of media in this modern life and ideas don't just drop out of the ether.
It's the under the table, person to person "Enclosed in this envelope are several script ideas I had for your series." type transactions that cause trouble.
And I understand. You don't know how many times I've read your stuff, or other comics on the web or some gubbins, and it's like- "Man I have such an idea for that..."
But it's their baby; that's their universe, their sandbox. I can have my own sandbox to play in. Granted it's full of rumbottles and shattered dreams, but its' fun to play in!
Say I want to submit a comic book to a publisher or pitch a concept for a script to Hollywood. The company I'd be dealing with would want to be sure that I had sole ownership of the ideas I was trying to sell them. If a bunch of informal collaborators are involved that means they're legally compelled to negotiate with them as well, or like in the Star Trek the Animated Series story I linked to someone might come around with lawyers and lawsuits, and in most cases that means the big company would say "Thanks, but no thanks." and drop it like a rock.
So it's a protective measure for one's I.P. It's nothing personal.
It's when people try to influence the direction of the stories I'm telling that I have a problem. Especially if it's behind the scenes.
Say I was planning on doing a story with Kim Nekogawa going kayaking. Then somebody sends me a note saying "I think you should do a story about Kim Nekogawa in a rowboat."
Now if I put the kayaking story out, that person can make the claim that I took their idea and didn't give them credit, even though I didn't. Just like in the example I linked with Marion Zimmer Bradley.
It kinda ruins the fun if people are calling out your moves before you make them.
It's story suggestions that I don't want. "Your character should do this next." or "Add this kind of character to your story." or "I wrote a story with your characters."
I got plenty of my own ideas, I don't want or need suggestions.
When my friends offered me a place in a superhero pen and paper game. CK was top of the list (Cus i had no other ideas at the time). i revised his lore. he turned out to be a huge hit with the group and i kept add more lore. Now his has his own backstory, Canon and Team/rouges gallery. Even got a love interest in the form a another player's heroine.
Now i can't see my hero not standing on his own but i thank Warren for giving me inspiration and look back at those "Fan arts" as fun what ifs or crossovers. he no longer a attempt to get noticed but a fully flush out Super Hero. None of it possible without Warren and his comics. thank you.
(Fun fact: While most in Warren's world lose their attire more, CK done a U-tune. if nothing he's armored up rather then striped down. )
I would like to thank you for taking the time to explain this to us, and for creating such wonderful characters and stories for us to enjoy.
I would also like to thank you for inspiring me to pursue and develop my own ideas. Thank you.
As long as you're not trying to horn in on their activities, they won't pursue it too hard unless you get up in their face.
Take, for example, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The amount of fanfiction written about that property could probably fill a couple of large libraries, but since Hasbro and Studio B stay well clear of fan sites like FiMFiction and others it's a live & let live situation. Whereas when a group of artists and coders were producing a fighting game with the characters, Hasbro's lawyers had to step in, because an independently produced game where the ponies were kicking the crap out of each other was counter to what the owners of the brand wanted to do with it. So they got shut down. (Although the project lives on with original characters as the game "Them's Fightin' Herds", complete with character designs from Lauren Faust, even.
So the moral of the story is if you have good ideas, develop them yourself and do your own thing. Don't hitch your wagon to someone else's star. It's safer legally and benefits everyone in the long run.
This is about people trying to write my scripts for me or trying to insert their ideas into my creative process, not about people doing fan art.
So yes, this.
Lie everyone else. I'm glad that you can accept fanart with your characters. I don't mint if someone did works with my characters, though as long as they have my permission and it fits the spirit of what the characters and their world are like.
I might also like to have something big done with my characters as well, in perhaps the form of an animated movie or webseries. though I would have them hand-drawn animated like 1980s-90s cartoons.