Revisiting and refreshing other author's work.

A word from our sponsor:

The Breast Form Store Little Imperfections Big Rewards Sale Banner Ad (Save up to 50% off)

Submitted by on

Printer-friendly version

Author: 

Blog About: 

Twenty-five years ago I read a story on another website and the story of a TG romance has never entirely left me. I decide to look up the story again and it is still listed on a small TG part of a story site for gay men. It is a story that has nothing to do with being gay and there are no characters in the book that are gay.

I read the story again and it still appeals to me. It is called Skin-deep. It is really a novella, and although the author says that it was edited. I see very little sign of any active editing.

Not unreasonably, the author claims copyright. It appears to be his only published work on any searches I can do.

I would like to edit and refresh the story, but the email listed by the author in 1999 no longer works and the only person on Big Closet with a similar name says that he is not the author. A search on Amazon, Abebooks etc brings up an author with the same name, but all the books listed are non-fiction.

The alterations I envisage would be sufficiently major to avoid any legal breach of copyright.

I would welcome the opinions of other authors and readers over the idea of refreshing another author's work with a proper acknowledgement of the original idea.

Comments please.

Regards

Columbine

Click Like or Love to appropriately show your appreciation for this post:

Comments

Disclaimer

Submitted by on

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

Unless the author specifically said that the work may not be reposted elsewhere without permission, I'd say that there are ways that you could do that.

The criteria that I would follow is:

  1. The current author be listed as the author of the book.
  2. That you put a disclaimer at the beginning stating that it an unauthorized edit of the original work and that the storyline and characters belong to the original author; that it is intended as a fan fiction
  3. You may list your name as an "Edited by" tag to the author's name
  4. That you provide a link to the original work

Here's how I handled it when I finished Jeremy Chandler's "My Summer in Pantyhose"

Forward

This is an unauthorized continuation of Jeremy Chandler’s, “My Summer in Pantyhose,” last added to by Jeremy 04/07/2023. The story line and characters belong to Jeremy Chandler and are used without express permission. What follows is intended as fan fiction with the greatest of admiration for Jeremy and appreciation for the original work.

   My Summer in Pantyhose Epilogue
Continued by Patricia Marie Allen

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann

Nothing New Under the Sun

Submitted by on

If you're changing it enough to make it your own -- more than just names, but decent parts of it -- then it becomes your story inspired by theirs. Giving them credit as the inspiration for your story would be the right thing to do, especially if you would like their story to be better known, but let's be honest: you could look through our own archives and find thousands of arguably completely original stories that, plot-wise, are almost beat-for-beat recreations of one another. The trans fiction space is already rife with borrowing, copying, and inspiration. The more you make your version of the plot your own the better, though.

Simply re-posting or editing and reposting theirs without permission is on much more shaky ground. It sounds like you've done due diligence trying to contact them, and I feel like the statute of limitations on abandoned internet media is worth discussing as it pertains to archiving content from one place to another.

For now, what if you shared a link to the story you're talking about so others can enjoy it too?

Melanie E.

If this is

Submitted by on

The same story I'm thinking of , I seem to recall a few stories in this line-up. Now all I need is to figure out where i might have seen it in recent memory.

Thanks for the link!

Submitted by on

I'll have to check this out! I never visited Nifty much back in the day -- I got my start reading TG fic on Crystal's.

Melanie E.

More like this