At what point, fanon?

[thrihyrne]

My friend snottygrrl asked me a thoughtful question in an email this morning, essentially asking: At what point does an original idea (or even plot device) become fanon? We were talking in particular about a charmed snake/bracelet being used as a betrothal band. I could have sworn that I'd read something prior that had that concept. I suspect that it's different from author to author at what point you know you are using someone else's idea (and hopefully credit them in Author's Notes somewhere- and hopefully the other author is flattered and doesn't feel plagerized, but that's a whole different post) and one that you've seen a few times, but it's not source!canon. How many times does something have to appear before it's commonly accepted as "public domain?" Thoughts?

Comments

[fileg.livejournal.com]

Like "when do people you meet become friends" I don't think the answer has anything to do with lenght of time.

Some ideas get passed around, often in a particular small but vocal circle, until repetition makes them familiar. This seems especially true in fandoms where there are conflicting canon sources (not all tv shows, for example, had Captain Continuity's full attention, or Tolkien of course where there are actual contradictory notes)

But some ideas seem to be riding the tip of the collective unconscious, and become accepted the minute they hit the page (or pixel). For example, I just spoke to Stulti about this happening in her Song Of Salt - the conclusion she draws about the Ulmo/Tuor connection left me feeling that I should have known that all along. I will never be able to write Tuor again without having that knowledge in the back of the brain. And it actually happened to me in my very first stoy, when I dared to call Boromir The Blade Of Gondor out loud for the first time.

my personal experience - In fanfiction, even when I have ocasonally feet violated, it was impossible for me to feel justified about feeling that way in the long run. Not surprisingly, I am flattered when friends, or people whose work I admire pick up the idea, (especially when they ask or cite me. does the happy dance) and crushed when something that feels to me (justifiably or not) like it is my intellectual property gets used in a way that is 180 degrees from what I wrote it for. The brain and the heart do not always agree.

[edrys.livejournal.com]

The brain and the heart do not always agree.

Amen.

There are stories that I could tell you about what some try to claim as plagiarism. As our friend avon7 often reminds us, in writing fanfiction, we are all playing in someone else's sandbox. *Look - I even cited my source.* ;-)

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Look at you, quoting your source!! :)

It is true, and there's always that "collective unconscious" line of thought as well. It is interesting to try and figure out when an idea/concept in fanfiction morphs into commonly-held fanon. There is no hard and fast rule, I'm sure. It does intrigue me, though.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

my personal experience - In fanfiction, even when I have ocasonally feet violated, it was impossible for me to feel justified about feeling that way in the long run.

I was even thinking about you in particular, and some comments you had made about feeling violated. Thank you for your thoughts.