I love Star Trek The Next Generation. I mean I really, really LOVE it! I started reading the ST:TNG novels because I had watched all the shows and I just wanted the story to go on forever. Unfortunately some of the books are not very engaging. Actually some of them are horrible! I was reading one of these terribly written novels when I decided to look around for fanfiction. It couldn't be any worse than what I was reading could it? I found out very quickly that there was plenty of talented writers out there. And these are people who love the characters they are writing about. They adore the world in which the stories take place. I haven't gone back to the novel since.
How do the creators of these characters feel about fanfiction? I found out that the answer to that question varies from writer to writer. The best examples would be Anne Rice and Gene Roddenberry, as they are polar opposites on this issue.
Anne Rice forbids the use of her characters in fanfiction. She says, "It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes."
"Sorry Louis, but I think we're already slashy."No playtime with Lestat and Louis! I bet that breaks some slash writers hearts! Many writers can not stand the idea of other people playing in their worlds. Some have the understandable concern that there is a money motive in fanfiction. They see copyright infringements and lawsuits. The concern seems valid, but I would like to believe that most fanfiction writers do it for rewards other than money.
At the other end of the spectrum is Gene Roddenberry. He wrote this in his introduction to his 1976 book, Star Trek: The New Voyages:
...Certainly the loveliest happening of all for us was the fact that so many others began to feel the same way [about Star Trek as we did]. Television viewers by the millions began to take Star Trek to heart as their own personal optimistic view of the Human condition and future. They fought for the show, honored it, cherished it, wrote about it--and have continued to do their level best to make certain that it will live again.
...We were particularly amazed when thousands, then tens of thousands of people began creating their own personal Star Trek adventures. Stories, and paintings, and sculptures, and cookbooks. And songs, and poems, and fashions. And more. The list is still growing. It took some time for us to fully understand and appreciate what these people were saying. Eventually we realized that there is no more profound way in which people could express what Star Trek has meant to them than by creating their own very personal Star Trek things.
Because I am a writer, it was their Star Trek stories that especially gratified me. I have seen these writings in dog-eared notebooks of fans who didn't look old enough to spell "cat." I have seen them in meticulously produced fanzines, complete with excellent artwork. Some of it has even been done by professional writers, and muchof it has come from those clearly on their way to becoming professional writers. Best of all, all of it was plainly done with love.
It is now a source of great joy for me to see their view of Star Trek, their new Star Trek stories, reaching professional publication here. I want to thank these writers, congratulate them on their efforts, and wish them good fortune on these and further of their voyages into other times and dimensions. Good writing is always a very personal thing and comes from the writer's deepest self. Star Trek was that kind of writing for me, and it moves me profoundly that it has also become so much a part of the inner self of so many other people.
Viewers like this have proved that there is a warm, loving, and intelligent lifeform out there--and that it may even be the dominant species on this planet.
That is the highest compliment and the greatest repayment that they could give us.
Data, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.
It is lovely to know that Gene approved!
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