[split] the fanfic discussion thread (NO fanfic please)

[Manephelien]

I'm sort of sitting on the fence here. Obviously I respect Robin's wish not to allow fanfic of her own stories; she owns the copyright, she makes the call. On the other hand, I've read some very good Pern fan fic that's certainly better than anything Todd McCaffrey ever produced, and better than much of Anne's own work after about 1995. Sadly, her writing's become so poor that if she wasn't already an established writer I very much doubt she'd get published in today's competitive market.

World-building is very hard work, as anyone who's ever attempted to do so can attest. I do write some fanfic, although I haven't published anything online yet, but I do have one rule: original characters. I will mention characters from stories in passing and for background, but I won't use them in my own writing. This because I doubt I'd be able to write the characters as believably as the original author.