[From the Archive] Of Deadlines and Parodies
This week’s column is early. Mostly because I have a deadline looming, and right now, I have an idea. So yay. It’s Monday, I’m taking what I can get. This week we’re talking about parodies and farces.
April 2009 saw a huge cafuffle (that’s a technical term, you know) over a “tribute” sequel novel to the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series done by a “fan” named Lady Sybilla (which always makes me think of the STD that took down the Tudors). If you were blissfully unaware of the bruhaha (yet another technical term), you can read about it on The Fan History Wiki.
The nutshell is that this “person” doesn’t understand copyright. Fails to learn about copyright. Gives genuine fans a bad name. Etc., etc., etc. I’m not going to get into the legal and ethical issues of fan fiction. I started out in fan fiction. I take a “don’t ask/don’t tell” stance on fan fiction. I have a problem with people trying to make MONEY off fan fiction – except as licensed and hired Media Tie-In writers. Lady Sybilla isn’t one of those.
To make matters… hysterical. Peter David took an electronic whack at her. In this post, he put out an all call to whoever wanted to play to take part in a farcical writing party to make fun of this insanity. And being that I’m always ready to poke fun at something insane, and it’s an opportunity to play with Peter David, I signed up.
I don’t know if it’s a blessing or curse that my time came up right smack dab in the middle of my busiest time of the year when I’m also at my most brain dead. Because my assignment day came up yesterday. I wrote my 500 word section today (Monday, May 18, 2009) over my first cup of Starbucks Cafe Estima coffee.
It will, hopefully, go live later today, May 18, 2009, on www.peterdavid.net. I have the distinct honor and pleasure to be following Keith R. A. DeCandido. I hope I did his section some justice.
Should we be giving this woman (or Stephanie Meyer) any more publicity than they already have? That’s been a huge debate. Is it a smart idea to poke the insane person with the stick? Probably not. Is it too much fun? Oh, heck yeah. I haven’t gone through the whole manuscript yet, but just for the chance to play online with Peter David and Keith R. A. DeCandido alone was worth it.
My section is #30. I don’t know how many participants there are, but it’s an entirely improved piece so it’s only getting stranger and stranger as the piece progresses. Considering I wrote mine before coffee, on a Monday, after working 7 days a week for 7 weeks straight… you should get the idea of just how “serious” this isn’t. Go forth and have some fun.
2 Comments
I’d recommend the Fandom Wank recaps of the debacle over Fan History, much more entertaining, especially when Sybilla starts her personal attacks on Caito, the person posting all this.
It seems since then, Sybilla has faded back into the obscurity she never really emerged from. Her website is dead, and her Youtube account is gone (which is kind of sad, her last video on their was quite flouncy and Gothicly pretensious)
There were links in the original post. I didn’t recreate them. I think I did – at the time – have it leaked to FandomWank.