Creating Fan Fiction Responsibly

Fan fiction is exploding and is only going to get more popular in the future. Fans of different franchises love to write about their favorite characters and give them stories and adventures that the creator is unaware of. We support and encourage the creation of fan fiction and think that it is a great way to further explore your own love for a brand and share with other fans. There are a few things that you need to keep in mind when creating fan fiction and we will explore some of these within this post.

First of all and probably most obvious, you are drawing from someone else's work when creating such writing. They deserve to be credited and you should feel no ill will on doing this as a lover of their characters and brand they have built. Putting a disclaimer when making any work you have created public utilizing anyone else's trademarked characters or property is important. You can do this in your own way and be somewhat witty about it but please do it, it avoids any legal issues and also gives the creator the credit they deserve.

An example of a disclaimer you could use for your work could be something like this; "This is a work of fan fiction drawing on characters and themes from J.K Rowling. These are trademarked and I respect and adore her for bringing these into the world. This is in no way related or intended to be taken as a part of the Harry Potter universe. This is my own fan fiction and original constructs of J.K. Rowling's work. This is for enjoyment purposes only."

Can I sell fan fiction?

The problem with fan fiction usually comes when you try to monetize it. If you are sharing it with other fans on forums or different community groups, authors and creators tend to not have a problem with it and are happy for you to do so. The issue with fan fiction can come if you are trying to make money from it. Do this and chances are you will find yourself with a letter from a lawyer pretty quickly.

Fan fiction is all about sharing with your peers, getting excited about the universe and talking about the possibilities of how a story taken in this direction could impact the characters. Everything you create through Talk Dirty is yours. We don't claim any right to ownership of it but we encourage you to keep these points in mind to avoid any issues you may face. Make content responsibly and always credit those who you are borrowing from.‍

“Fan fiction stories are mostly fine and shareable on fan forums and community sites. The issues tend to come when you try to monetize your writing.”

What if I have doubts?

If you are having doubts about the work that you want to create related to a specific character or universe then the best thing you can do is use a search engine like Google and find other works. Chances are if there is a popular fan fiction community site up with lots of different writings then you won't have a problem. If you are unable to find any fan fiction in the niche, you may find that the rights holder is aggressively preventing such work being created.

Ultimately, fan fiction is good for an author or creator as it helps their most fanatic fans stay loyal to the brand and keep others interested. Chances are they are just massive fans and want to share their joy and excitement of the characters with others. Here at Talk Dirty, we are very much into giving people the choice of expressing and experimenting with creating content in a variety of ways. We understand the responsibilities and explain these to our users but it is really up to you what you do with your content.