According to the people who voted in our poll, yes. Yes it is.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that answer to come out on top. This is a thorny issue and it’s easy to see where people on all sides of the debate are coming from, but I expected voters to be a little more sympathetic to the fanfiction authors’ point of view. Instead, most agreed with Martin and took a fairly hard line on the question of fanfiction: if he, as the author, doesn’t want anyone else to write in his world, his wishes should be respected. Here’s how commenter Shady_Grady put it:
His work. His rules. Authors are always influenced by those who came before them though. I don’t [think] he should have a problem with a younger writer who uses his style while finding their own voice. But someone using his characters and storylines is a completely different thing. I think he’s justified in drawing the line there.
As a refresher, the reasons Martin is against fanfiction are summarized in his blog post on the topic: he thinks it opens the doors to potential legal and financial problems and he finds it uncomfortable when people make his characters do and say things they wouldn’t do or say. According to the prevailing view (at least insofar as those who voted in our poll are concerned), that’s enough to justify his anti-fanfiction stance.
Hands off, please.
However, as several other commenters noted, just because he doesn’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. I think the acknowledgement of that fact is part of the reason why a lot of people went with option #2: fanfiction should be allowed so long as the author is okay with it and/or it doesn’t make any money. My own thought is that if it’s going to happen anyway, there might as well be a few rules in place to keep it from getting out of hand. As commenter Mr. Tim put it, “I agree that fanfic writers should not profit from it. But you can’t legislate what people write about for innocent pleasure.”
But on the other hand, taking anything less than a hard-line position on fanfiction may leave the door open for problems down the road. Along these lines, commenter RumusLupin brought up a point I hadn’t considered: the lengthier and more complicated a piece of fanfiction is, the more likely the person who wrote it may try to profit off of it—after all, they put in all that work. Or if the author doesn’t act, an unscrupulous third party might. That’s why RemusLupin prefers esoteric fanfic that couldn’t be taken seriously as an extension of the original work—there’s less risk of danger.
But back on the first hand, is it fair to proscribe the activities of all fanfiction authors who want to write seriously in someone else’s world, even those who don’t intend to profit off it, just because of the possibility that they might get taken advantage of? A couple commenters mentioned an ambitious fanfic entitled “The North Remembers” by SilverRavenStar. That story is reportedly very long and complex, but so far as I know SilverRavenStar has made no move to make money off her work. Should she still be sanctioned?
That leads to another issue: beyond fans writing unauthorized spinoffs of Martin’s work while it’s still in progress, would the author also not approve of other people finishing his work should he die before completing it? His comments imply that he wouldn’t, and while it’s a morbid topic, that could leave fans eager to see his story through to the end disappointed should the worst happen. Commenter Gaia suggests that Martin could take steps to plan for that eventuality while still maintaining a level of control. “He could appoint the writer. Leave detailed notes.”
Would Martin be justified in choosing to leave his story unfinished should this come to pass? That leads to yet more issues about whether fans have an ownership stake in a beloved work, issues that are beyond the purview of this post. That’s why fanfiction is such a rich topic: it almost always leads to more topics, which then lead to others which lead to others. We can expect it to recur as Martin nears completion of A Song of Ice and Fire, and afterward, when the series enters its afterlife and unauthorized spinoffs may be the only way to revisit it.
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