Snowflake Challenge #7

[kate]

In your own space, create your own challenge.

Oooooooh I love this one! I would love to do something fun, like give prompts, but I'm a) at work and b) my brain is very full just lately. Instead I'm going to challenge fanwork creators to consider putting up a blanket statement on transformative works of their transformative works on their profiles/masterlists/other places where people who find your work might see it.

Most commonly, this tends to be useful to podficcers. There's an interesting conversation that's been happening for a decade about requesting permission to podfic, and a lot of podficcers, when considering what to podfic, will look at a story from someone with a blanket permission statement the easiest to deal with.

I have a lot of feelings about this, but as I've said, this conversation has been happening for a decade and I don't think I have much to add to it, so I'm just gonna say: a blanket permission statement (or blanket no permission statement! or specific permission statement!) makes your feelings on the matter clear for anyone who might be considering making podfic, art, a translation, or whatever from one of your fanworks.

Honestly, I believe every fanwork creator should have one of these. There's sort of an expected permission between fanart and fanfic; no one seems to think it untoward if an artist creates art for a story, or if an author writes a story based on a fanart. A blanket statement would just codify these relationships and desires and make it easier for everyone involved.

Comments

[analise010]

Thank you for posting this! I will also say - if anyone needs resources about blanket permission or what kinds of statements they can make or if they even have anything to transform, they can start here.

[kate]

Oh, thank you very much for that! I recently changed mine, because I hate the idea of giving permission on transformative works. I mean, I created mine without any permission (excepting podfics - which makes me a little crazy anyway), so why should I expect others to seek my permission? But having a blanket statement (of ~whatever a person's policy might be) just seems like a smart way to have that information available to people who might be interested.

[lilly_c]

I have a transformative works policy that covers most things although it's not quite blanket permission. https://alittleimprobable.dreamwidth.org/188111.html it's also copy/paste onto my ao3 too.

[analise010]

I love this and it's exactly why I stopped using the term 'blanket permission' a few years ago. Many of us have limits and there's nothing wrong with stating them.

[kate]

Yeah, I tried to leave off the "permission" part - it was more about a blanket statement about your fanworks, not always permission for anything.

[kate]

Awesome! Yes, this is exactly what I think everyone should have. Just state your preferences, and put it somewhere people can find it! That is brilliant, thanks for having one!

[tsuki_no_bara]

i have the most basic of permission statements on lj, dw, and ao3 - basically "go for it, have fun, let me know what you did" - altho as far as i know the only transformation anyone has done of any of my fics is to translate one of my bigbangs into russian. how detailed should they be?

edited to add, as someone who used to podfic, i really appreciate when writers add permission statements where people can find them.

[kate]

That's great - if you're happy for anyone to do anything to any of your fanworks, you're set. Unfortunately while blanket statements are useful, they don't, in and of themselves, mean that more people will discover your work and want to make transformative works of it. That's a bit of a crapshoot. The blanket statement just allows anyone who finds your work to know how you feel about it, should the opportunity or interest arise.

[tsuki_no_bara]

oh, absolutely. i don't expect more people to suddenly start finding my fic or wanting to riff off it. my point was probably just that i have a transformative works policy even tho so far i haven't really needed it. it's still a good thing to have.

[kate]

Yes, exactly! And I bet one day it will be super helpful.

[spikedluv]

I put one up several Snowflakes ago because of *coff* people mentioning it there. *g*

[kate]

Ahahahah. Hmmmmmmm. Yeah, I may have put this up a few times for the challenge. It's a handy go-to. :)

[grammarwoman]

Apropos of nothing, but it is so lovely to see you posting around these parts! *HUGS*

[kate]

Ah, bb! <3333

This gave me such a great idea though. Like, I tend to come back in January because I LOVE FANDOM SNOWFLAKE but without that schedule, things tend to fall off. What if we did fandom snowflake every month? Simple challenges, no pressure, just... something to do that's fun and easy? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Also: HI HI HI! *hugs*

[isabellerecs]

Thanks for this! :D I know, as a recent podficcer, I appreciate having that permission, or disallowance, as something that is easy to find and clear about the creators comfort level.

[kate]

Of course! I've definitely run into difficulties with permissions before, having a statement of ~whatever is so so so helpful.

[dreamersdare]

I have one of those! But I am like Lovecraft; I like to view my fanworks premises as open source. People should feel welcome to play in my sandbox :)

[kate]

Excellent! And I am the same! My blanket statement is: you don't need my permission. It's out there, have at!

[silveradept]

I have such a thing already, even if it was only last year where someone took advantage of it and made a podfic of a short work that I created.

[kate]

Yayyyyy! Both of those things are excellent! :D

Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Mine is here.

Re: Done!

[mekare]

Yup some snowflake challenges ago I made one.

Re: Done!

[kate]

Yayyy! I am always happy to hear that people have done this is response to the snowflake challenge. One of many reasons I love it so much. :D

Re: Done!

[kate]

Oooh, that's awesome and so comprehensive!

[cmk418]

Thank you for this. It hadn't really occurred to me that this was something that needed to be done, but I've updated my Ao3 account with the information.

[kate]

Yay, I'm so glad! Thank you for doing it! :D