seaboe_muffinchucker

I was in a discussion on Gateworld this week about where the line gets drawn between original fiction and fan fiction (well, that's what I was discussing, anyway). I never quite seemed to be able to make my point, which is this: at some point, the author will have changed so many things that hir story no longer fits into the Stargate universe. So why call it fan fiction? Why not admit that it is original fiction?

A good example of this is one I recently read, and even recommended over on SG1genrecs: For More than Country, by Regency. This isn't, really, a Stargate fic. There is no gate in it. If you changed the names of the characters, you'd never even know it was inspired by Stargate. This doesn't make it less good, or less worthy of recommendation.

At some point, you're no longer "exploring the Gateverse" if you're taking nothing from the original series or movie. So are people slapping the label of fanfiction on this because it's easy? Because they think they can't use a character with the traits of Jack O'Neill or Daniel Jackson without calling him Jack or Daniel?

I'll admit it can be difficult to draw the line between original and fanfic. Is it enough to include the 'gate? How many of the alien species are necessary? What about personnel? It's the ubiquitous slippery slope.

What I found interesting about the original discussion was that no one picked up on, or commented on, the why aspect. They just harped on what constituted the Gateverse and the legalities (if you have a stargate, you have to call it fanfiction or you're going to get in trouble for trademark and/or copyright infringement).

I still what to know, though: WHY is it so important to these authors to call what they write fanfiction, when they've taken out almost everything connected to the fandom? Are they afraid? What?