#orphan works

[couldntbedamned]

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Hello! I have a bit of an embarrassing question to ask you, and you don't have to respond if it's too uncomfortable a topic to discuss. I've been struggling with my family's annual re-watch of Harry Potter this year (something I can’t avoid without upsetting and/or offending my parents), and it's made me think a lot about fandom and my place in it, though I haven’t been active with HP for many years. I had, recently, and briefly, considered doing a podfic of one of the fics I most loved when I was still in fandom, and have since concluded that no matter how far removed from the source material (as an early Marauders fic with M/M and significant deviations from the source material) it just isn’t appropriate anymore.

As to the other fics (written, not pod’ed) still existent on my account, I haven’t quite decided what to do about them yet. I guess my question is: how did you come to the decision to orphan your HP fics, rather than delete them; and would you still make the same decision now, as her tailspin into fascism has worsened?

I'd orphan again, no question.

We are deeply fucking unfortunate that the Rowling situation is one of the worst cases of "I don't think death of the author (the concept, not actual death) will fix this for me."

And, so, I had to decide for myself how I felt about being connected even tangentially to that fucking asshole. And I realized I wanted no connection at all.

But.

And this is the important part.

But. There are people who find comfort and enjoyment in MY stories from HER book series. Yeah, I'm using characters she created, but I'm putting them into different stories than she ever did. I wrote a series about Percy during the war where he was running a safehouse, and I wrote it because I was mad at how little actual war made it into the final book. And people like it BECAUSE it's a much more honest look at war (and that it's Percy/Oliver, but duh).

It turned out, for me, that the answer wasn't to delete everything I'd written and take stories away from people because the originator is a fucking asshole. The answer was to complete the death of the author. Me. By taking my name off my stories.

I assume my stories are still getting read and enjoyed. I hope so, at least. But more importantly to me, I didn't take away something I created to be shared because the original creator is a bad person.

I can't control what Rowling does. I can't control all the people who continue to justify why they continue to give her money while saying out of the other side of their mouth that they know she's a bad person, but Harry Potter means sooooo much to them, so they're just sort of stuck (no, you just want official merch).

I can control my own decision and be happy with it. If someone finds comfort in those stories I wrote, they'll be on AO3 whenever they need them. And setting them free from me and my complicated feelings on all of it was the right decision. I hope they're enjoyed, and I'm glad I left them to be found.

[returnsnull7404]

How to orphan fics on Ao3

Got a fic you don't want anything to do with but don't want to destroy in case there are people who still feel a connection to it? Good news! Ao3 has an option for that specifically! It's called orpahning.

Here's how you do it if you're interested in this option.

1) log into your account and find the work you would like to orphan

2) click the button to Edit. This should be located at the top of the page, next to the button to add a chapter

3) click "orphan work" this button will be at the top of the page again, by the add chapter button

4) this will take you to a page that explains orphaning a fic and asks you to confirm. It also asks you if you would like your psude removed, essentially if you still want your name on it while not getting notified about it, choose whichever option you prefer.

5) enjoy the lack of connection to the old work.

Orphaning is a great option that allows people who may have found a lot of value in your art still access it while allowing you to wash your hands of it. I would definitely recommend considering this option if you want to be rid of your old work.

[artinclined-jointheartside]

Ao3 Orphan Stories

Some are already aware that there has been a rush of Orphaned stories on Ao3 that are of a more explicit nature. Without going into detail, the primary theme is Terra Snapdragon in sexual situations that range from curious to morbid. While I wholeheartedly stand by the right we all have as authors and fans to write what we please, it is very clear many of these works take direct inspiration from MY works.

Now, I have no issue with someone seeing what I do and getting ideas and writing them out. By all means, let the creative juices flow. It’s not necessarily all to my taste, and it doesn’t have to be - as the author, while orphaning the stories, is writing them for themselves. And I am NOT bashing on that.

However, the latest story "For Paradise" (I won't link it here, you can search it via the Terra Snapdragon tag – mind the tags, it is Explicit and highly sexual) took a direct creation of mine to play a front and center role in the story.

To clarify, I am NOT the author of any of these orphaned works. I have nothing to hide. I will show you my morbid and tag it accordingly. Hence, I wanted to address the usage of my created race, the Dratanae, in that latest work.

The very first mention of the Dratanae is seen in my Faust/Terra story "A Discussion Between Business Associates." Principal Faust, known as Faust of the clan Drikhartae in my fancanon, is one of these demons.

In canon, we know next to nothing about Faust's actual race or its extra characteristics or if it has an outside culture and so on. So I took liberties since there was very little development of his character. I've spoken about his race in my fancanon frequently here on tumblr; you can find these posts by just searching "Faust." Hettie is also included as she is a Dratanae/Witch hybrid and there is a whole post going over her as well. That said, I've not given a full and complete rundown of Faust's culture or the Dratanae's biology - which is to say the author of this most recent orphan story has taken liberties of their own that are NOT accurate to my creation. And this is true both in the Dratanae's culture and their biological functions.

Again, not bashing the author, we all have a right to write what we please, but since they pulled a specific race of my creation into their writing, I wanted to make this known.

Let me know if you have any questions about the Dratanae, whether that be of their biology or their culture and lifestyle.

And to the author of "For Paradise": I'm assuming you didn't realize Dratanae weren't canon to the series. However, in the future, when taking inspiration from my work, I'd appreciate a more thorough dive into at least the Owl House Wiki to clarify whether it's actual canon or original content I've created. And if it's clearly not canon, and to play a central role in your work, such as with "For Paradise," either a request for permission or a quick citation would also be appreciated.

[christinesficrecs]

Hello Christine!! Hope youre doing well and thanks for everything you do for this fandomm !! I was wondering if you or anyone else has fics from sterekism, they wrote Bruises and Bitemarks and its pretty good so farr and i wanted to know if anybody saved their works

Hey! ❤️ Oh, those orphaned fics can be a bear to track down! Hopefully someone remembers the names of other fics!!!

Bruises and Bitemarks | 121.5K

Biologically, Stiles is weak. When he presented as an omega, he knew that to be the truth but that never stopped him from running his mouth as a defense mechanism. However, it could only save him so many times before he ended up pissing off the wrong person. After he's attacked in the parking lot outside of school, Stiles realizes he can no longer protect himself with just pure wit and sarcasm. When the attack lands him in the hospital, his dad forces him to pick between two options, report the alphas who attacked him or join a kickboxing gym run by omega rights activist and alpha, Derek Hale, a man Stiles has been in love with for many years.

[the-starryknight]

hi!! i love you blog firstly, and your works are amazing and one of my favorites ever. but i just saw your post about your ficbinding and i've been looking into it recently for obvious reasons, but i have one teensy tiny question i want to ask to someone who has experience in this area. that's you of course, and the question is do i have to ask permission to make a ficbinding out of their story? because i have set my eyes on this one particular fic i want to do but the author has orphaned it and i don't want to violate any rules they had by printing it without their consent. thank you and have a wonderful day/night!!

Hi Anon,

Thank you for this message and for this lovely compliment! I really appreciate it. And so exciting to hear you're interested in fanbinding, it's a beautiful craft!!

Firstly, I want to direct you to those far more experienced with this than me -- check out armoredsuperheavy and renegadepublishing and some of their linked members too. They certainly have more experience to answer this question.

As for my own opinion: I always get the consent of the author before printing the book, and the consent of any fanartists I want to include in the book.

I think printing an orphaned work is tricky! I just want to link my more general thoughts on what orphan works are here, written in the context of podficcing but translatable as my answer wasn't really about podfics but about orphan works in general.

Essentially, I believe that orphan works aren't 'fair game' for anything we want to do with them. There's an author, we just can't contact them. Thus, I'd hesitate to share a PDF of their work or reproduce their words in a podfic or a translation without their consent.

But while a fanbind is directly reproducing an author's words, it isn't sharing them much further than your own bookshelf. It's a grey area: I don't think there's a definitive answer one way or the other, and I'm certainly not qualified to give permission for it!

On the "go ahead and print it side," it's essentially a fancier way of printing your own PDF for yourself. It's not sharing the text online or in a mass-distributable format. It's for personal use, even if I share a few photos of it online.

And while I lean towards the "it's okay" side, I still have reservations, because I wouldn't print something (without consent) when I could contact the author, and not being able to contact the author/no answer doesn't mean consent.

Another piece of this to consider is: do you need to share it? If the fanbind is only for you, since you can't send a copy to the author if you can't contact them, do you need to publish photos of it, or announce that you've done it?

This answer's getting long so I'll leave it at that -- something I've grappled with is that one of the tenets of fanbinding is getting to share the published version with the author in some format. Since I'm not comfortable sending them off to every author I meet (or most. or just about any, honestly!), it's doubly important to me to get consent from the author first to bind the book and to share that I've done it, since I'm the only one who will get to enjoy the printed book and not the author.

Here's one answer from armoredsuperheavy about printing orphan and anon works.

Good luck with your binding!! I forgot to say this on the last ask -- but I'd love to see what you make if you'll tag me if/when you post!

[meeedeee]

"An author choosing to delete is the community destroying its own history, which for me feeds into the idea that fandom isn't important enough to be preserved. I disagree strongly, which is why I have strong feelings about deleting fic.....All of that said, you're right that it should be a choice left to the writer, and shouldn't be taken away. The fact that I'll most likely always disagree with the choice shouldn't keep anyone from choosing what's right for them." From this Twitter thread discussing the impact that deleting fanfiction has on our community

[vintagetails]

Found photos of dog sitting on hood of car with 1933 license plate. No IDs.