There seems to be some confusion about the terms, "Real Person Fiction", "Fan Fiction", and what we accept for publication on the site.
Real person fiction (RPF) is a genre of writing similar to fan fiction, but featuring celebrities or other real people.
Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic or fic) is fiction about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator.
Real Person Fiction
"The morality of Real Person Fiction is debated. Most RPF authors state that they have no intent to claim these fictional portrayals reflect the real activities of the 'source figure' in any way.
Some authors of traditional fan fiction view real person fiction with suspicion, disdain, or outright disgust. Some feel that fanfic based on fictional characters is on shaky enough legal ground, barely tolerated by the authors, producers, copyright owners of the original works and that RPF, especially real person slash, may turn corporate and public opinion against fan fiction as a whole.
The often included disclaimer in story headers, stating that the work is pure fiction, has so far protected Real Person Fiction from slander and libel. To date, unlike traditional fan fiction, only one cease and desist letter is known to have been issued against RPF."
This last part shows the lack of knowledge on the subject, and is in fact, false:
"Scarlett Johansson won a defamation suit against a French writer for creating a promiscuous character who happened to look like the movie star. A Georgia jury awarded $100,000 to a woman who claimed a character in The Red Hat Club falsely portrayed her as an 'alcoholic s**t.'"
(Source and useful link: http://helensedwick.com/how-to-use-real-people-in-your-writing/)
With that in mind, and to help protect our authors, our policy on lushstories.com is to allow Real Person Fiction, provided the person has been dead 100+ years. Anything which is totally tasteless, denigrates religious iconic figures etc, would be unacceptable.
Fan Fiction
Everybody involved in fan fiction seems to be convinced that that the two rules for staying out of trouble are publishing a disclaimer and not charging for your work. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. No author is required to allow others to publish stories set in the fictional world they created, or use characters they created.
There is no exception in copyright law for fan fiction, disclaimer or not. No exception for kids. No exception for writers who don’t get paid. The fan fiction phenomena exists because the rights holders allow it to exist, and any rights holder can change his or her mind at any time and force the removal of infringing content.
It’s not a bad idea to publish a disclaimer that says that you have no intention of committing copyright infringement. Such a disclaimer might help to mitigate any damages — especially if you’re a minor under 15 who might reasonably be expected not to know the law. But a disclaimer offers zero protection from a DMCA takedown notice or lawsuit.
(Source link: http://debmcalister.com/2013/04/28/copyright-myths-from-the-world-of-fan-fiction/)
Due to the legal minefield involved with the publication of Fan Fiction, we do not publish it here.
Matriarch
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