ADMIN POST: The Mission Report Challenge

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Okay, this comes from an idea by nudaydreamer and it's like, three--three!--cool challenges in one! As she puts it:

I'd love to see a Mission Report Challenge. We all know some crazy shit happens on those other worlds, and authors could choose to a) write a (pornalicious?) Report That Will Never Actually Be Filed Because Elizabeth Would Freak Out And Such, b) write a euphemistically suggestive report that leaves those of us with dirty minds quite clear on what happened, without being explicit, or possibly c) take another author's story and write a report of type a or b for it.

Everybody got that? See, it's kind of a Document Challenge and it's kind of a Remix and it's kind of Classified and Porny--or not; it's a festival, really. Now to clarify about option c)--if you choose to write a mission report of somebody else's story, we'll ask you to credit them, but we won't require you to ask their permission Edited to add: and get their permission, or check the links below. HOWEVER, if you want to opt OUT of option c)--i.e. tell people that they can't write a mission report of your story or stories, even with credit--please leave a comment in this post ASAP. Edited to add: link to new opt-out post below! We WILL ask challenge respondents to check before posting that the writer hasn't opted out of the challenge. Edited to add: Merryish reminds me to say that it is, of course, perfectly acceptable to write a mission report on one of your own stories!

It's August 21st; stories will be due on Monday, September 4th, Labor Day, at midnight.


Edited to add: Freezing comments here: click here for a policy clarification, opt-in, and opt-out posts are above.

Comments

(frozen comment)

[kyrdwyn.livejournal.com]

Well, then, why bother to check with anyone at all in this challenge? Why bother to have an opt out procedure? Every writer for him/herself and to hell with the consequences!

Look, I'm just saying that those of us in the community have fair warning of this challenge, and the chance to opt out if we are being sensitive about our own fics. Outsiders don't. And I know there are writers who will go ballistic if someone takes their gen story and puts a McShep spin on it because they absolutely *hate* the idea of McShep. You really want someone to re-work Alpha Centauri into a character triad other than Sheppard/Dex/McKay?

We've all got our pairing squicks, and pairings we just prefer not to read, much less have someone put into one of our own fics.

(As for the SGA/SG-1 writers - they knew what they were getting into - how long has fanfiction been around? Hell, how many of them have admitted to knowing of it/reading it?)

(frozen comment)

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

You really want someone to re-work Alpha Centauri into a character triad other than Sheppard/Dex/McKay?

The mind wobbles. I'd like to see somebody try.

(Yeah, I know, none of my business...)

(frozen comment)

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

We've all got our pairing squicks, and pairings we just prefer not to read, much less have someone put into one of our own fics.


They're not putting anything "into" your fic. Your fic is still your fic no matter what sequels, revisions, or reworkings anyone else writes. If you're deeply concerned about unauthorized interpretations of your work, I'd recommend not posting it at all--every reader is going to make her own meaning out of each story, and it may be something very different from what you would authorize.

(frozen comment)

[rosewildeirish.livejournal.com]

You're missing the point. Anyone can read into a story what they'd like. Posting a sequel or a remix version of it is different. It's one thing if you've signed up for a remix challenge - and you're still taking chances, there - it's another to have no idea that your fic is being redone or reinvisioned.

(frozen comment)

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

You're missing the point. Anyone can read into a story what they'd like. Posting a sequel or a remix version of it is different.

No, I don't think I'm missing the point. Someone could take my darkest, creepiest, saddest story and write a "mission report" that represents it as light, fluffy, silly, and featuring a pairing I find loathsome. That doesn't change my story one bit. It's still there. The words haven't changed one iota. No one's forcing a meaning on the story, and if they already took that meaning from the story, then whether they write it down and post it or not doesn't change a thing.

I find this position particularly baffling in that 95% of fanfic is nothing but reenvisioning someone else's work. And, no, they didn't give you permission, especially not to turn their space adventurer show into a Big Gay Romantic Comedy. I can't possibly claim more rights in my vision of John than I grant to the people who actually came up with him.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

How is their concern differnt from companies that are known to send cease adn desist letters to fanficcers?

Yeah, someone could turn a creppy story into a happy fluffy report. yeah, original story still htere - but doens't that change teh perception of the orignal story, especially if someone hadn't read it before and thinks 'cool, i need a happy fic, i'll read the original' only to find out its not as advertized, 'cause the original author killed off almost everyone and marryed Elizabeth to Kolya?

hell, since sg-1 on friday made freaking mention of the Big Gay jack/daniel lurve, they practically gave us permission to wrte it.

(frozen comment)

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

but doens't that change teh perception of the orignal story

If my story can't stand on its own, the problem is mine, not anyone else's. I'd find it more humorous than anything else if I suddenly acquired a reputation as a shiny happy McShep shipper.

only to find out its not as advertized,

I imagine they'll manage to keep on living somehow!

(frozen comment)

[nel-ani.livejournal.com]

How is their concern differnt from companies that are known to send cease adn desist letters to fanficcers?

They don't make money of fanfic. At least, I hope not. ;)

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

i hope someone remixes one of your fics so rodney kills teyla.

(frozen comment)

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

I'd find that amusing as well, though I suspect not for the same reasons as you would.

(frozen comment)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Well, then, why bother to check with anyone at all in this challenge?

Because Ces says so.

You really want someone to re-work Alpha Centauri into a character triad other than Sheppard/Dex/McKay?

I really don't give a damn. Either it'd be a good story, in which case I'd enjoy reading it, or it would suck, in which case I'd laugh at it in the privacy of my own home.

As for the SGA/SG-1 writers - they knew what they were getting into - how long has fanfiction been around?

And if it were up to me, that's what I'd say to fandom as well. This is what we do: we play with texts. Sometimes you may think the way we play with yours is cool, sometimes it may squick you or bore your or strike you as dumb beyond belief. Que sera sera. This is what we do.

By tradition, fandom treats fanfiction as the inviolable expression of one's innermost soul and pro fiction as meat for the grinder. It's not logical, but it's tradition. And in the case of this challenge in particular, the rules aren't mine to set, nor did I suggest they should be changed, so relax. You've got your exemption.

(frozen comment)

[phiremangston.livejournal.com]

Because Ces says so.

Sorry, but that's honestly the worst argument I've heard all day.

(frozen comment)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Really? The owner of a community sets the rules, I would think. It seems like a perfectly sensible argument to me.

(frozen comment)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Because Ces says so.

I'm still debating how I feel about an opt-out instead of an opt-in here--but seriously, that's not a great precedent to set. No one can give permission to remix another person's story; only the author can do that.

We can come down to a simple, does the fandom author have control of their work in fandom OR the writer does not and the work is fair game at any time. Either way, Ces doesn't have the authority to open season on anyone's fic. Honestly, depending on which of the above is correct or accepted, it's either the author only or no permission required.

(frozen comment)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Either way, Ces doesn't have the authority to open season on anyone's fic.

No, but she has the absolute authority to decide what may and may not be posted on sga_flashfic Whether or not people have a moral and ethical right to tinker with someone else's story, the simple truth is there isn't actually a fandom police and we can't stop them. What we can do, if we wish, is bar them from publishing it in certain venues to show our disapproval. That's at the discretion of community/list/archive moderators.

(frozen comment)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

That's true. The only point being made was permission to remix can't be given by any but the author in question as the only one with any actual--ownership is not the right word here. Signficiant interest? I agree, the community manager can only give permission to post the fic in the community. That's the objection, I suppose, in a nutshell. Fanpersons can't necessarily be stopped, but whether or not it's condoned.

(frozen comment)

[miera-c.livejournal.com]

No, but she has the absolute authority to decide what may and may not be posted on sga_flashfic

Yes, she does. I'm curious why the mods didn't confine the available pool for this challenge to the fic from this community only. I have a strong suspicion that had the challenge been confined only to either previously published fic from this community or from authors who are members here, at least some of the stress going on might have been avoided. Authors who are members here would have gotten a heads up and authors who are not would not need to feel any concern.

(frozen comment)

[callmeri]

No one can give permission to remix another person's story; only the author can do that.

But how does this differ from we (meaning, fanfiction writers) remixing canon without permission from the show's writers?

I'm not trying to be contrary here, truly, I'm just genuinely curious about this distinction.

(frozen comment)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure there is a real one, other than a fandom precedent set that usually, in most fandoms, in most communities, it's heavily frowned upon to rewrite someone else's story. There's this very nice point in slodwick's lj made that since we don't get paid, our only currency *is* that work itself, but while I like how it reads, I'm not sure of that either.

I mean, this isn't terribly logical; it feels genuinely wrong *to me* to remix a story without permission, but that's the fandom--um, scruples? rules?--that I absorbed early on in my fannish career. But at least a part of it is that whether or not it's technically a wrong act, in fandom are my friends, my community, and people I genuinely like and respect, screwing around with people's fic--or artwork or vids--feels like a violation of the community.

Again, I must point out, this is specific to *me* here, not a generalized statement of how other people *should* feel.

(frozen comment)

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Maybe this (http://www.whoosh.org/issue25/lee1.html) article will help clear some things up.
Also, the one that should be well-known in most fandoms by now: Rebecca Tushnet's article Legal fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction and a New Common Law (http://www.tushnet.com/law/fanficarticle.html)".

(frozen comment)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Change that to, a point made in someone's lj that slodwick made, not in slodwick's lj.

(frozen comment)

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

I just want to point out that the challenge is not to actually remix a story, but to write a mission report for that story. So, for example, I'd write John trying (and failing) to explain how Rodney got turned into a dinosaur without saying, "Rodney got turned into a dinosaur" no an official military report. I wouldn't, however, write a whole different story about how Rodney got turned into a bunny, because that's not the challenge.