right?? there’s a complete disconnect between “this thing is a derivative work based on a copyrighted source material, but the fan made their own thing with their creative skills and therefore it is fine for them to sell because they made it themselves” vs. “AAH THEY’RE STEALING OUR CHARACTERS AND OUR MONEY”
i.e. handmade cosplays sold on etsy / covers of copyrighted songs supported by and sold on patreon / fanart made into keyrings and sold at a convention / a compilation of original fanart made into a slideshow video and monetised on youtube / led zeppelin’s songs about the lord of the rings / literally SO MANY DERIVATIVE WORKS
but if it’s written work (even if the source material is a TV show or movie and not a book???) and even if the writing is wildly out of character, is set in an alternate universe that changes everything about the source material, and has zero obvious connection or reference to the source material, if you use the characters’ names it’s ILLEGAL and STEALING and you CANNOT MAKE ANY PROFIT
which
makes
no
logical
sense
because if you know anything about fanfic writers, they are just wRITERS. on occasion their work can be as original (or more original, sic) as published novels.
personal storytime: due to ongoing sickness and inability to work, i myself dedicate all my time to writing. i have done since 2012, and i make zero income. i’m currently only able to eat because the government is providing financial support to my family. i’m only able to keep my depression at bay because i spend my time writing. despite my illnesses being long-term, my current situation is in no way a long-term solution. if i cannot eventually make some kind of profit from my fanfic work, i will need to write something else that makes money. and although i’m sure a portion of my readership would follow me to original work, i will undoubtedly lose a massive percentage of the folks who follow me for my fanfic. my only current solution (since i’m not currently able to write original work, the process is too different to what i need right now) is to somehow monetise what i am currently able to do (and do well, for the record. i’m not playing around). for me that means patreon (or >>>paypal or ko-fi<<< *cough cough*). but the social and legal situation is arranged to make that as hard as possible. and things are that way, for no reason that makes sense to me, given my above examples of what is A-Okay in the monetising world.
my feelings about this, summed up in a gif:
[edit to add: some follow-up info]