I wanted to host a fanfiction writing contest for my teen department, as we have a lot of teens who enjoy writing fanfiction about their favorite characters and fandom. However, I know fanfiction is always a little tricky.
The idea was to set rules and guidelines, such as:
The member posing the question is 100% right: the copyright considerations of fanfiction are “tricky.”
I am in the stages of planning a library one-time-only event aimed at getting college students interested in writing their own works of fiction. There are no class credits involved. My premise is “Where do ideas come from?”
For this question, the Law Office of Stephanie Adams, PLLC used a ringer--experienced publishing law and published author Sallie Randolph, who works in our office, advising authors on publishing contracts. We asked Sallie for her take--as both a copyright attorney and an author--on this intriguing question. Here is her reply:
