Fan Fiction gets published: Brookelockart breaks it down

Hey LTTers.. this week some gossip was released about a fan fic that was popular. And since the last fan fic I read (and never finished) had something to do with cookies, I brought in the big guns for their expertise:

Dear Twilight Fandom,

The twitters were a buzz on Monday with the news of former fandom “author,” SnowQueens IceDragon E.L. James  getting a possible Hollywood development deal for her Fan fiction, Master of the Universe Fifty Shades of Grey.

According the the article posted on Publishers Weekly:

“One of the things Hollywood scouts are buzzing about coming off the holidays is, surprisingly, an erotica series by a British TV executive which  has garnered strong word-of-mouth via GoodReads and other fan sites. An insider said the series, called Fifty Shades of Grey (which is also the title of the first book), is “being compared to Nine and a Half Weeks” and is making the rounds among producers in Los Angeles. Author E.L. James published the books without an agent through a small former writers community called The Writer’s Coffee Shop, and told PW she has sold approximately 30,000 copies since releasing the first book in May, 2011.

James is represented by film British film and TV agent Valerie Hoskins and, still, does not have a literary agent. Hoskins confirmed that there is “huge buzz” on the books, largely from American producers and, now, from a few larger American publishers. The books are out in trade paper and e-book, and available through a number of outlets, including the Kindle store. The series, which is set in the U.S., follows a woman named Anastasia Steele, who is studying literature, and who becomes romantically (and sexually) entangled with an entrepreneur named Christian Grey.”

While I wish Publishers Weekly would do a little more than just publish a Press Release without doing any due diligence to insider sources, there are still some highly disturbing facts. How is it possible that James is publishing FAN FICTION? Now, I never read MotU for my own reasons (I heard it sucked), but I wanted to understand the background of the story and the similarities between James’ Bella Ana and Edward Christian.

I gathered @pinkFluffgirl and @allryans to chat about this fandom drama.

Sam gets his own movie on Lifetime

Brooke: I’d like to start off by saying that i have New Moon on in the back ground. So if I occasionally space out, I’m swooning over the stache

Fluff: lol

Allryans: Not the stache. The SamFlab

Fluff: samflab. they should write fic about sam, then sell it to lifetime. that’d make for some compelling shit

Brooke: I’m sure in person, it’s just a little bloaty, but then you have Alex there with his washboard glory

Fluff: Getting Rid of The Bloat: Sam’s Story

Allryans: How Emily came to love Sam’ Spare Tire, a haiku by Leah Clearwater

Brooke: diuretics of death, the Sam Story

Allryans IS nice.

Fluff: Can I also say the next person who calls me “mean” is gonna GET mean. I swear to God. I want to bitchslap these delusional idiots

Allryans: I saw the word “vicious” today. WAH WAA

Brooke: hahah, I either ignored all that or was in a meeting. I think no one calls me mean to my face anymore

Fluff: [name deleted] tweeted “my mama said if you don’t have something nice to say, shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you.” LMAO REally? Bring it bitch.

Allryans: Mockery is not meanness. It’s flattery, dontchaknow

Fluff: This whole thing is like the David Koresh of the fic world

Brooke: *heartichoke* Bella just told Edward he won’t stay with her any other way. Why does that get me, EVERY TIME?

Fluff: You wanted me to be human OMG sad

Allryans: Cause KStew actually did super well right then. SEE? I CAN BE NICE

Fluff: she will ROCK IT as Fifty’s Bella

Allryans: ANASTASIA. Get it right

Fluff: I mean OMG. And when I think crazy, sexually abused crackbaby Dominant I think ROBERT PATTINSON

Crazy fans always ruin it for the rest of us

Here’s what we could look “forward” to (if it were up to her fans)

Brooke: so have either of you read Masters of the Universe?

Fluff: yes

Allryans: I actually saw a thread on Goodreads today asking about casting for the book. They all wanted Wetworth Miller for 50

Fluff: LMFAO hahahahahahahha. This isn’t Prison Break. God bless that cult.

Brooke: so, i suppose this story came out and I was too loyal to the sub, or was in my Vamp fan fic only phase

Allryans: I’ve read BOTH MoTU and 50 Shades of Grey (but not the sequels, I have standards)

Fluff: To be perfectly honest, I LOVED MotU at first.

Allryans: Me too.

Brooke: but then i heard the author of MOTU was a piece of work and I couldn’t start it

Fluff: It was great. Then she just couldnt let Edward be fucked up. He had to be F U C K E D UP.

Allryans: I started it pretty early on, before she had a persona at all. I think it was about 25 chapters in, and updating really regularly when I started it.  Suddenly the thread on Twilighted got out of control with theories and followers and talking ALL DAY long. That’s where the Bunker Babes and the Cult of Icy began. And I started slowly backing away.

Brooke: so, was it the author, the story, or her cult fans?

Fluff: and her bella had shit for a backbone. And her wording KILLED me. I’m not into BDSM much but I think it’s disgusting to call spanking ‘beating ass’, Where I’m from beating ass means getting your ass whooped because you are fighting. NOT some love taps in bed.

Brooke: I’ve heard from others that the writing was crappy.

Fluff: the author was FINE until she gained a following.

Brooke: they all played into her evil plan

Allryans: Icy was probably overwhelmed with the attention in the beginning. Then her ego inflated.

Edward’s Mom is a crackwhore

Fluff: My biggest thing was the British-isms when Edward and Bella lived in the PNW. Like it’s not hard to know a billionaire WOULDN’T drink BudLight. Shit, in my teen days where we drank what we got our hands on, we still had better taste.

Allryans: It’s fic. We don’t read it because it’s renewing our minds with it’s literary breakthroughs. Of course it’s got …. problems … like a million … ellipses … for instance. And Bella is the most indecisive, spineless, insecure version of herself that I’ve ever seen.

Fluff: Bella wore ‘vests’ and dressing gowns. The story was compelling until she just kept throwing HORRIBLE things at the characters. I mean Edward’s mom? She was a crackwhore. And it came out that he liked to ‘beat Bella’s ass’ because Bella looked like his birth mother. I mean WHAT THE WHAT?

Allryans: But it was intriguing, we were all talking about it together (which is the main reason why fic is fun for me) and to be honest, there were aspects of her Edward that were beyond awesome. I can’t remember what they are right now, but that’s because she ruined him in the end.

Allryans: While there are fics out there that are very well written, fics I”m proud to have read and reviewed, this one was PURE ENTERTAINMENT.

Brooke: nothing wrong with that!

Allryans: I ignored all the things that annoyed me, and read it for the story. THEN THE STORY GOT WHACK YO. AND THEN ICY AND HER FOLLOWERS GOT WHACK.

Allryans: I mean, she threw every single villain from the Twiverse out there. There was Mrs Robinson, Lauren, James, Jacob.  I remember when the “ghost girl” showed up it was one of the first times I said – wtf is she doing with this story? How much can happen to one couple in a two week time period? Her friend is still in the goddamned Bahamas for chrissake.

Brooke: Dear lord, sounds like they were whipping the shark in every chapter

Brooke: GET IT? WHIPPING – S&M

Allryans: JOKE LANDED!

Brooke: (<—dork)

Allryans: There was something every chapter. Usually it was Bella and Edward start to argue and Edward stops her complaining with sex.

Much MUCH More after the jump!

Tampon

Allryans: At first, I even applauded Icy’s smut writing, not because it got me hot, but because she wasn’t pandering to the usual terminology and dirty talking. There weren’t even any anatomical words being used – other than the simplest ones.

Fluff: but then she ruined that with the tampon.

Brooke: ok, explain the tampon

Allryans: It was kind of cool to read a porn story where he wasn’t saying, “Your pussy is so tight” ALL THE TIME

Brooke: someone commented today that she’d love to see them with the tampon on the screen

Fluff: edward basically removes bella’s tampon FOR HER so he can fuck her.

Allryans: They are fooling around (after an argument – big surprise) and she mentions that she started her period, he ignores it, takes her in the bathroom, starts to bend her over, yanks the tampon out, chunks it in the toilet and DOES HER.

Fluff: and so matter of factly like hold still, you have an eyelash, let me get that.

Allryans: It wasn’t slow motion, it wasn’t like he got off on the tampon. And to be honest, it wasn’t that big of a deal, except everyone MADE IT HUGE DEAL. Now, it’s just a “thing” with regard to the story. Like the marinara cock is for The Dom.

Brooke: let’s take a minute to realize tampon and marinara cock were used in the same paragraph. I’m dying

Allryans: Ew.

Fluff: omg that could be like similiar names for 400 Alex!

Allryans: “You got marinara on my cock.” “You got blood clots on my erection.” SAME

Fluff: OMG Allryans. BARF. PUKE. HURL.

Brooke: except, I’d throw my computer if she licked it off

Allryans: Yes, not sexy.

FULL DISCLOSURES

Brooke: i just saw for the first time today how much ICY is charging for her books

Brooke: like FULL PRICE.

Fluff: my issues aren’t as much with the story as her followers

Fluff: they are straight CRAYCRAY and they think her shit is the Hemmingway of our generation

Allryans: The price for her self pubbed paperback book was sheer greed and robbery. NO question about it.

Brooke: I guess you have to give her some credit, besides stealing characters and all. She worked social media to her advantage and created a cult who will pay $9.99 for an e-book of her poorly written, crackbaby S&M fic

Allryans: Trade paperbacks in the store are never even close to $20 unless they are special editions. With shipping, her book was $27.

Fluff: and this bullshit about it being original…is BULLSHIT. NO ONE would have read it had it not been meek Bella with brown eyes and hair and OH SO PLAIN BUT OH SO BEAUTIFUL and His Copperheaded, lean, sea glass green eyes Majesty.

Allryans: Time for some full disclosure: I BOUGHT FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. Of course, before you lynch me, or I start cutting myself, I did it bc A. I buy almost everything I read. I like books. and most importantly, I bought it because I really really wanted to see what she changed and how she did it. The mocking on twitter was really my main motivation.

Fluff: oh she’s a smart, business oriented hustler. But so is Kim Kardashian.

Allryans: And GOD HELP ME, but I had fun with the Dios Mio on twitter.

Brooke: I don’t even know how to respond to that Allryans

Allryans: I honestly purchased it out of sheer morbid curiosity. And I didn’t read it. Just skimmed it. But with all that has come to light since then, I’m sick that I did. SICK.

Brooke: FULL DISCLOSURE: I bought LA CANDY and the two sequels

Fluff: I think she’s delusional if she thinks someone will pick this up and not trace it back to fanfic. And Stephenie doesn’t fuck around. She’ll nip it in the bud fast like.

Allryans: LMAO B. I cannot know you now.

Fluff: Whatever, y’all read that Cassie Clare shit, too. And she’s batshit INSANE.

Brooke: I HAVE NOT

Fluff: OMG yes! I thought I was the only one

Allryans: Don’t knock down my Will Herondale. I love him. CClare is a ficwriting giant monster, and her fans are craycray, BUT I WILL NOT BE DETERRED. Again, in my defense, I read everything.

The Future of the Fandom?

Brooke: I cannot take fandom Wankery. and perhaps someday, people why call me a hypocrite, but i stand by the author. i won’t read published fan fic passing as original.

Fluff: well if Icy, wtf kind of name is that ANYWAY, fucks up my fanfic and the way I read it, I’mma cut someone.

Brooke: I mean…she sets the example, right?

Allryans: The material point here is PUBLISHED FANFICTION is and can only be an exercise in greed.

Brooke: if she is making money, won’t more try to come in and follow the same model?

Fluff: of course. it’s why I don’t kiss authors asses even when I LOVE their fic.

Brooke: what should be a fun fandom thing is gone

Fluff: I will let them know I like it but cult I am not.

Allryans: You have lost perspective on who you are and why you have fans in the first place if you think that a slipshod job of publishing your work and using the fanbase that gave you your ego is an ethical and legit and legal way of making a buck.

Fluff: because it feeds the ego and then once that gets big, they believe their own hype. and then people just keep pumping it up and you end up with Icy,

Allryans: Many more authors HAVE been doing it.

Fluff: I’d read ORIGINAL published works of an author I really liked. I will NOT read nor pay for a twific story with names and descriptions changed.

Brooke: AGREED x100

Allryans: I know of one instance when a fic author pulled her story, edited it, and tried to shop it out and kept getting rejection after rejection. She eventually self pubbed BUT USED HER FANDOM cred to get reviews on reputable sites. That’s UNETHICAL.

Brooke: that’s what SQID did. used her followers to give her good reviews. I mean, THAT GOT VOTED #2 romantic story on goodreads? What the WHAT?

Fluff: i feel like it’s a slap in the face to the readers. like haha, here let me tweak this and you’re too stupid to know the difference but please BUY THIS STORY (that you’ve already read)

Allryans: But she didn’t even TRY to shop it out. She didn’t even attempt at going the publishing house route. She wanted the most amount of $ and the fastest rate, and she struck while her story was still hot.

Fluff: because she’s a greedy whore. ANd I enjoy how she’s not saying a WORD about this, letting her lemmings do it for her

Brooke: i loved the comments on the article and people actually posting with their real names

Allryans: I don’t understand the readers that buy into it. Like that one mutual follower we have who fully supports all of them. WHY. WHY are you wasting your very hard earned money on an author who might talk to you on twitter, but in reality is taking your money for something she already offered you for free?

Fluff: and sadly, she’d NOT do that same for her “friends” bc little do they know, she is her only friend.

Allryans: It’s this insane cycle of ego stroking that is so ridiculous when you look at it WITH ANY COMMON SENSE

Fluff: yes. it’s why i am so blunt. I’d rather be upfront than clit lick

Allryans: I have a friend who is “friends” with Icy. She is just “happy for her” that she can make money off of it.

Fluff: lol well then you are so dumb, for real and you deserve to have your cash taken out from under you

Allryans: I’m sorry, I love you both, but if either one of you made me PAY to chat with you online like we do for free, I’d drop your asses.

Fluff: exactly, but she’s a big author so omgomgomg I wanna be her frrrriend!

Allryans: I have so much more to say. I could rant MOTU for days.

WE ARE NOT BRITISH

Coming (hopefully never)

Fluff: and yes, I could go on about motu for days

Allryans: I know.

Fluff: so many little things that annoyed me…annoy me, still.

Allryans: Edward in jorts over his swim trunks.

Fluff: fucking icy and her fair point well made bullshit.

Allryans: Edward tracking her cell phone when he barely knew her.

Allryans: FAIR POINT WELL MADE. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN WE AREN’T BRITISH

Fluff: the concealed weapons permit lauren got in like 12 hours

Fluff: BECAUSE THAT HAPPENS

Allryans: James’ ponytail.

Allryans: Bella having tea cups. WE AREN’T BRITISH OMG

Fluff: the entire story was one big british tinged thing

Fluff: and in the PNW

Allryans: The way Bella drinks her tea. She dunks it in for ONE SECOND and that’s it?!??!! “I take it black and weak.” JUST DRINK HOT WATER, YOU CUNT.

Fan Fiction is NOT original fiction

NSFW– And the ORIGINAL Motu Fan Fic vid:

Brooke: here’s the thing. we read fan fics with the assumption that Edward and Bella are going to have this amazing instant connection, but he’ll have a dark past

Brooke: and she’s unsure of herself

Allryans: Yes, Brooke. True.

Fluff: yeah but I feel Icy exploited that. She made it too much. Like Whert fic. It was like OMG STOP THE FUCKING BLEEDING already

Fluff: Like NO MORE. My heart is battered and Jesus CHRIST you have a fucked up brain to think this up!

Brooke: people claim it’s original, but she took story and character points from Twilight

Allryans: But THAT is the point as well to publishing your fic. Those characters are recognizable because of those things. You couldn’t insert Ron and Hermoine into Fifty Shades of Grey bc they would be totally OOC and unrecognizable. But they are prototypes of Edward and Bella and always will be – because that is what they started out as.

Fluff: which is why I hate fic being published. It’s ripping off characters already. Write your own compelling characters and a new world.

Allryans: Yes, I could name 25 character traits of Meyer’s Bella Swan and Anastasia Steel that are identical. Not just physical traits, although those are there as well, but who they both are as women. Same for Edward and Christian Grey (eyeroll). But I couldn’t name THREE character traits that are the same for Jamie Fraser or Ron Weasley or Humbert Humbert and Christian Grey. BECAUSE THEY AREN’T THE SAME.

Brooke: in fic land, people just accept certain things about the story, because it is understood about the characters

Allryans: NO matter how she changed his hair color or his eye color or his name, Christian is Edward in the ways that matter. MEYER’s Edward. Not just MOTU Edward. And Ana is Bella. Meyer’s Bella. That was why people understood and accepted them when her story was online, and while it might not be WHY they stuck with it and championed it, it is still the reason they were drawn to them in the first place, even if it’s subconciously.

Allryans: We just said the exact same thing, excpet you were far more succinct. 🙂

Brooke: it’s a gift.

Allryans: It’s just such a sad way to manipulate a fandom that is bigger than your corner of it. It makes me mad that people are snowed by this kind of thing. And it’s highly embarrassing to the non-fandom world.

Brooke: It just doesn’t compute for me that it was shown she hates her fandom and yet people still buy it

Allryans: I read some of her followers reactions to AG’s tweets and posts, and they defended her blindly – that it was out of context. People see what they want to see.

Allryans: I had no agenda or beef w Icy when I was just reading her story. Didn’t know her, love her or hate her. Until she pulled to publish.

To prove the point of the similarities in the story, I was going to upload the PDF of MOTU. I decided against it as I am WAY scared of the die-hard Icy fans. Did you know her cult tracked down AngstGoddess’ (from the widely popular Wide Awake Fan Fic) work info and called her boss? It’s all detailed here. You can also read how James (Icy) has said in chats that she hates the fandom and  basically used everyone. Don’t you just feel the love?

It wasn’t all bad on Monday. Our friends on twitter do not disappoint. Here are some of the highlights:

@allryans: Putting on my resume and head shot: Special Skills- bruises easily. #MOTUAuditions

@pinkfluffgirl: I can see it now. Behr will put out a RedRoomofPain paint shade. Jos. A Banks, a line of Fifty suits, Budweiser, commemorative bottles!!

@allryans: MAC, a Bruising Bella eyeshadow set

@takemetobliss: Seattle should also cash in on a 50 Shades tour. “this is the parking garage bella almost died in”

@greenleafgirl: I truly hope Rob is cast for MOTU. I would love to see his herp derp self try to be all Dommy. Wonky legs for wonky positions.

@TxLiLi: people. relax. this will get made. and it will be AMAZING. anything with Jennifer Love Hewitt on Lifetime will be BRILL.

And the clear winner of the Internet on Monday:

@DerdriuF Now we can all write lots of fanfiction for 50 Shades! How bout an AU in which Christian is a 17-yr-old vampire

And there’s your sign, fandom. I look forward to all of this coming full circle and reading the Fan fiction of Fifty Shades that sounds a lot like a book we all know.

Love,
Brookelockart

Do you think Fan Fiction authors should be able to publish their fan fics? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section!

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