: Re: Is it a good idea to post a story in a fanfiction website, and then seek to have it published later on? Is there any complication that can ensue when you seek to have a story you've published

@Jamie945

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It depends on what you write. On many fanfiction websites you can write your own storys, based on your own ideas, not basing on any franchise. In this case, you are the creator and you have all rights to the story. The most any publisher could demand is that your story shouldn't be available on free websites. Any other things depends on the contract between publisher and you, and what you signed to aggreed on.

The other thing is a work, based on an existing franchise. In this case, you own the story, but setting, some names, places and many other things could be licensed, stand under copyright protection and other things. If you find a publisher who publishes this kind of story unchanged, I can gurantee problems with the law. A friend of mine is in exact this position now. He wrote a story as kind of "fanfiction", based on an existing work, but derived it into his own. What I advised him is the work, that E.L. James had to do. She wrote her book "50 Shades of grey" (poorly the only famous example I know) originally as a fanfiction to "Twilight". But if you read the story now, you don't see any elements of this.

That is the difference: If you publish your own work for free, it is a matter between you and the publisher, if this is alright. But if you base your work on an existing work, you need to remove every influence and basis from the original. So no Aragon or Legolas to help your character to win against evil. And you need to carefully research which parts you can use and what not. A Tolkien don't monopolize mythological figures like Trolls or creatures like Orcs and Elves.

So long story short: It always depends on the basis and kind of your story if you want to publish

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