About writing in my universe

[taylorgibbs]

A few situations recently have spurred me to get some thoughts out here, in what amounts to an official policy, for what that is worth.

Please do not write unauthorized sequels in my universes. This infringes on ideas that I might have in mind, and while it is flattering that you liked my story enough to want to continue it, the choice of continuing or not is ultimately mine.

I do realize that waiting for updates, especially on WIPS, can be frustrating. However, we as fanfic authors own so very little of the work—only the plots and original characters. If other readers appropriate them, what is the point of writing fanfic? I’ve had several situations where people have written *my* sequels (as in, ideas I mentioned writing, setups I clearly defined in a universe I’d created) and that has made my work, sometimes thousands of words, invalid, never to be posted.

And this leads me to another request. Original characters like Julia, Alex, Connor, etc. are my original creations. Please don’t insert them in your stories without permission. Please don’t continue the Julia Knows Best series because you “know better” than I do. Please don’t make Alex Gibbs—an original character who appears in a few of my stories—a rapist or murderer.

As I said above, all we as fanfic authors own are our ideas and original characters. Since they are all I can hang my fanfiction-writing hat on, I’d like both to be left intact and the choice to do sequels and/or more stories in a universe left up to me.

Thanks, and happy reading!