Character stories, and publishing?

ArchivedUser

Hello
I sometimes like to write about my characters in the games I play especially if the game world is inspiring enough for me to put pen to paper. In the past people have commented on my stories as being worthy of publication, it wasn't until recently though that I have given this some serious thought.

Where would I stand if I self published on Kindle with a story set in the world of Ashes of Creation based on my own characters and locations that I make up?

ArchivedUser

You could start your story in your profile, as i did

ArchivedUser

Emailing the team will probably get you the best chance of an official response, but from a community perspective I'd say it's risky...

The team have already mentioned franchises, and books are a very simple / popular route to go down.

Given the success of the kickstarter, the cost of a book franchise should be at least the same price as a starter home, and when you've invested that much money, you don't want folks stepping on your toes.

Having said that... plenty of people do what you're suggesting and get away with it. Our just simply change the names of things a little, or say 'unofficial'. 

Doubt this is any help what so ever, hope it all goes well

ArchivedUser

I think fan fiction is fine as long as you don't make money of it unless the devs say other wise 

ArchivedUser

Hey Mungo,

Depends what sort of person you are really. If you want to do this legitimately then I'm assuming there'll be some Intrepid hoops you may need to jump through, but if you don't care about their views on your work then there are plenty of examples of this being done on the web with other games.   

ArchivedUser

As mentioned earlier, fan fiction is okay, as long as it's low key. While still technically not legal, very rarely do companies go after people who write fan fiction -- unless those people are monetizing.

If you want to go anything beyond that, consult an entertainment lawyer.

ArchivedUser

I know the law on fan fiction has changed and some companies don't mind people writing fan fiction to publish and make money from, as long as the writer doesn't use any already official characters.

It all depends on the company though. Thank you for the feedback I will ask the development team via email.

I don't want to step on peoples toes when the IP belongs to them.

ArchivedUser

Mungo said:

I know the law on fan fiction has changed and some companies don't mind people writing fan fiction to publish and make money from, as long as the writer doesn't use any already official characters.

Indeed. I sat under a seminar of fan art legality once, and there were some interesting things in that lecture. One key point I took away was that companies are generally okay with Fan made work, because those companies realize that artists/writers need to use copyrighted material to create their personal work portfolio. This is why there is a general unspoken "code" of not going after fan made work, as long as it's not used to monetization.

ArchivedUser

I'm not quite sure on who my characters is, but I imagine her as a vaelune spellsword, very sexual and flexible, she loves to dance and move her body. When the time comes to it though, she will be very mature and has leadership qualities, perhaps she's similar to Cleopatra. Very persuasive and attractive in mind.

ArchivedUser

I don't think there's really enough in game lore available to do any AoC fan fiction justice yet, but that certainly works in your favor right now if publishing is your goal. 

You can simply use the game as a muse to create your story, set in a world just enough different for it to be it's own.

And even if you did make your story after the game was out, and it did feature more in-game references, you could take the premise out of the world of fan-fiction and rewrite it enough for your own self publishing needs.

It worked for Fifty Shades of Grey, you know.  That actually started out as Twilight fan fiction, and readers told the author it was so good that she should get the story published.  (I suppose that sentiment is debatable, but that's how that whole ball got rolling.)