What Do the Books Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey Have
in Common? Alot, Thanks to
Fanfic.
There is a new game in the literary
circle and it is called Fan-Fiction, aka fanfic, where characters from popular
books, television shows and hit movies are rewritten into new storylines by
amature writers and authors and then published into ebooks. There is only one tricky rule: Anything goes except stepping over the thin copyright line. If you win at the game,
there is big money to be made—just ask E.L. James, author of the blockbuster-bestseller
book, 50 Shades of Grey.
“This is like reading a very kinky
adult version of the Twilight Saga with Bella and Edward,” I
said to my husband after finishing another chapter of Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James. That’s because it is a fan fiction
revamp of Twilight.
Fan-fiction is the rewrite of characters
from hit movies, books and computer games into new literary product. A perfect example would be taking the Harry
Potter series, resetting it in the New England state of Maine with all the
young wizard’s adult friends renamed and working as teachers at a local High
School,. But no they are out to save the world from author Steven King’s
characters in The Stand. Next, mix that with more obvious similarities to some spooky characters
from other authors and you could have
a new literary hit scouted out and published by a big publishing company.
Sound unlikely? Not in the shadow
world of fan-fiction, where no character is safe from a makeover and rewrite by
amature authors bent on taking popular books, movies, television shows and even
video games to new hights and in unlikely and sometimes disturbing directions;
hence Fifty Shades of Grey—Twilight with
an adult S&M twist.
Fanfic is a way for fans to continue
the stories they love, and the genre is exploding with millions of free works
based on:
·
The Lord of the Rings
·
Buffy the Vampire slayer
·
Glee
·
Charlott’s Web
·
Star Treck
·
Shakespere, to name just a few.
So what is fanfic, how does it work, where is it, and who are the people behind it?
Check back tomorrow for part two of this 4-part series on Fan-fiction,
the New/Old Trend in Ideas, Creative Ideas and Publishing.
Part II of Fifty
Shades of Grey vs Twilight
Fan fiction vocabulary, people and places:
- Fanfic—fan-fiction; the
rewrite of characters in hit movies, books and computer
games to
create an extensive of the old ended series or game.
- Drabble—short story in the
fan fic realm
- The Writer’s Coffee Shop-
published 32 e-books in 2011—mostly from writers
who got their start in the fan-fic world.
- Omnific— publishes writers
who have received significant numbes of
reviews from satisfied readers on its fan-fic site and pays them a
percentage of of sales as opposed to a traditional advance.
- Elizabeth Harper, founder
of the e-book publisher Omnific Publishing.
- Twilighted.net—created by
Elizabeth Harper and devoted to the fanfic vampire genre with more than
2000,000 postings about the Twilight
Series.
Recient Top Successful Works from Fan-fic
- 50 Shades of Grey
- Gabriel’s Inferno
How are Twilight and Shades of Grey similar? Oh,
let me count the obvious ways:
I.)
Plot
1.
Preditor vs prey
2.
The love tringle
3.
Obsession with food
4.
“Shocking” first touch
5.
Stalker & Stalkee: Like Edward and Bella, Mr. Grey
always knows where Ana is, appears unexpectedly to “save her,” then guards her
throughout the night without sexually touching her, because like Edward, he
doesn’t like to be touched. This
closeness in proximity but not physicality establishes a bond between them and
sets the stage for their relationship.
6.
Bella/Ana is isolated from her family and friends by
Edward’s/Grey’s secet dangerously demented life.
Tomorrow in Part III I will cover Juxtapisitions and similarities
between the main characters of 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight Saga.
Part III of Fifty
Shades of Grey vs Twilight
The juxtaposition and
similarities between the main chracters.
1.
The comparisons below are interchangeable between
Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey.
2.
Like Edward Collins, Chrstian Grey and his two siblings
are adopted by a physician, his family is a pillar of society, he lives in the lap of luxury and no one has a
clue as to his true self.
3.
Like Bella, Ana comes from a working class/broken home
where the mother is passive/submissive to a new husband and she is making her
way through life a bit lost.
4.
Mr. Handsome-moody-control-freak vs Miss
not-a-clue-until-it’s-too-late despite many verbal warnings.
5.
Grey/Edward: Mr Confident-Blond-Hair and Perfect-Body Grey loves (in his own special/twisted
way) Ana/Bella: Miss Skinny Brunette who
doubts her self worth.
6.
Mr. Worldly Wealthy Most-elegable-Batchelor
Perfectionist who loves classical music and excels at the piano vs Miss Klutzy
Small-town Virgin-Next-Door instrumentally challenged but loves his choices
of music.
7.
Mr. Only-the-best-in-conservative-cars-and-clothes vs
Miss Jeans-and-no-make-up, who drives a hand-me-down beat-up old car that she
loves.
8.
Secrets: Teenage Edward swears Bella to silence, while Businessman
Grey wants a signed nondisclosure agreement/contract.
9.
And finially, rather than throwing Anastasi (Ana) on
his back like Edward (never Eddie) does Bella, to fly through the local
treetops, Christian, (never Chris) throws her into his helicopter and flies
through the city highrises.
And the list goes on….
How can Fanfic be done without copywrite
issues? Very carefully according to the Fanfic website.
Fanfiction.net is the largest website devoted to the fanfic vampire
genre with more than 2000,000 postings about the Twilight Series including Twilighted.net—created by Elizabeth
Harper, founder of the e-book publisher Omnific Publishing. Twilighted was
created to give Twilight fan writers a larger audience and that brings us back
to Fifty Shades of Grey and
copywright issues.
The
Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy grew out of a Twilight fanfic piece written by E.L. James origionlly titled Master of the Universey. It was first published as an ebook by the Writer’s
Coffee Shop. Fifty Shades was later
acquired by Vintage, a Random House imprint, sold more than 30 million copies
worldwide, and the rest is history.
In part IV, I will address the serious issues to consider when
writing fanfic for publication.
Part IV of Fifty
Shades of Grey vs Twilight
Here are 3 serious issues to consider when writing fanfic
for publication:
·
Editing a story that origionated as a fanfic
posting poses new copywright challenges that requires close attention given to
the fan-fiction elements.
·
When it comes to copyrighted issues, there is
very fine but defined line that must not be crossed. It is illegal to profit
from copyrighted literary works. However, there is a loophole.
·
The mjoriety of unpublished fan fiction is posted
free of chrge nd qualifies as fair use under copyright law, providing the
creator does not try to profit from it.
How are Fanfics edited to void copyright issues?
·
Anything that could be seen as a characteristic
of the work from which it originated must be removed.
·
direct
quotes and obvious physical atributes
like Edward’s signature messy hair in Twilight. Mr. Grey’s hair is almost never out of place
and although his warnings concerning friendships with his victims are much like
Edward’s, they are not direct quotes.
E.L. James has not been slapped
with a copyright lawsuite despite obvious
similarities to Twilight so she must
have a fantastic fan-fic editor who know is aware of the copyright fine line.
Literary Work Knock-offs: How to stay legally safe while
walking the “fine” line.
FinFic e-books appear to be to
literary work what knock-offs are to the fashion industry—close but within the 20%
mark of being different enough to still be legal. The idea itself is as old as
the hills. Pair a successful pattern with new material and fasten shinier
buttons. The only thing missing is the original spark of imagination. It is a concept
used by many companies in the business industry
and exemplified by a TV comercial that
states, “We don’t make your cars. We make your cars run better.” Fan-fic on
wheels.
Anyone with a drop of artstic and
sewing skill could sketch a designer dress from a fashion magazine, sew it and
wear it. Yet, they could could not sell it without making obvious changes such as removing trademark
symbols like the double intertwined Cs for Chanel or the LV of Louis Vuitton.
WalMart has jeans that are very
similar in color, style and stitching to
expensive designer jean labels, but they don’t cross that “within 20%
similarity copyright line.” However, street venders carrying Louis Vuitton and Chanel “hard to distinguish copies” could be closed
down, their products confiscated and face a heafty fine. They crossed the fine line. The same rules hold
true in the literary world.
Fanfic may or may not be ethical,(another
fine line) but it is legal. That may a difficult fact to swallow if your original
idea is being simulated and sold by others. Perhaps it will help to remember an
old saying that states; emulation is the height of being complimented.
What are the advantages to this new
twist in publishing that thumbs its nose at the traditional indestry where great
but unsolicited manuscripts rarely make it through the door? It cuts out the middleman
like agents and…
Fan-fic democratizes the literary process and lets the
reader decide.
Bio: Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos is an author, radio host &
Patheos blogger. To learn more, follow her @
https://www.facebook.com/pages/SURVIVING-CANCERLAND-The-Psychic-Aspects-of-Healing/142803307934?ref=hl&
listen to her 4 radio shows from her
website @ www.survivingcancerland.com
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