montanaharper: close-up of helena montana on a map (0)
Montana Harper ([personal profile] montanaharper) wrote in [personal profile] podcath 2012-11-29 01:29 am (UTC)

When I first got into fandom (c.1995), one of my primary mentors was [personal profile] the_shoshanna. When I asked her what the community expectation was wrt writing sequels to fanfic, she told me her own rule of thumb: It's polite to ask. It's polite to say yes when asked.

I've pretty much always stuck to that, though checking for blanket permissions has replaced asking at this point. I probably wouldn't go to the effort of hunting down an email address for someone, not unless the story was seriously hammering on the inside of my skull. Even then, I'd probably write it first. If they said no it'd end up as drawerfic, but at least it'd be drawerfic that was no longer driving me to distraction. (I wouldn't ask first because I don't finish everything most things I start, and I'd hate for them to be looking forward to something from me that never ends up coming. Writer's block from guilt over failure to meet fannish commitments is the main reason why I've written very little in the last 2-3 years.)

Personally, I've got blanket permissions posted everywhere. (I think. Def on my DW and no-longer-updated LJ, and I'm pretty sure on AO3, too.) If people want to do something with my fic, they're absolutely welcome to. I'm thrilled that anything I wrote would inspire another person to create.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting