Current as at 28 August 2023.
I love when you love my writing. And I love when my writing sticks in your head so strongly that you want to create something new based upon it.
I also believe firmly that, to some extent, our popular culture is a commons, and that the ability to engage with, develop, share and remix our common culture is an essential human right. I’m a supporter of fan fiction, and I believe that an author’s control over their ideas ceases being absolute the second that they share them with others.
However, I obviously also want to retain my right to make money from stories I’ve written, and prevent their cynical commercial exploitation by third parties, and I want to make sure that authentic ATR stories and fanfiction are clearly distinguished, and readers won’t be confused as to what I have and haven’t written. I also don’t want to be seen as endorsing works or viewpoints that I may find personally objectionable.
So to that end, here’s my policy on fanfiction. This policy is a living document, and I reserve the right to amend it without notice or consultation, and to retroactively withdraw some or all licence or permissions contained within.
Here’s what you can do without asking permission
You can create fan media, exclusively for non-commercial purposes, based on elements of my intellectual property, including:
- characters;
- settings;
- companies or products; and/or
- ideas or themes;
where those elements originate in a fictional story by me, published under the name “All These Roadworks”.
Fan media is permitted so long as it exclusively takes the form of:
- fictional text;
- fictional images; and/or
- videogames.
You may publish that fan art in any non-commercial manner, and share it with others. (See below for discussion of “commercial”.)
In order to qualify for the above permission, you MUST do all of the below:
(a) Clearly and prominently attribute me (All These Roadworks) as the original author of the work your fan media is based on.
(b) Make it clear, specifically or via context, that you, personally are NOT All These Roadworks, and All These Roadworks is not the author of your fan media.
(c) Make it clear, specifically or via context, that All These Roadworks is not associated with your work, and has not approved it or endorsed it.
Here’s additional things I’d PREFER you to do
It would be polite to include a hyperlink to AllTheseRoadworks.com where your work is published on any site that allows such links.
I would also strongly prefer that you not use my work to create fan media that includes:
- underage characters (plus it would be illegal in many countries);
- death / gore / mutilation;
- raceplay;
- actual serious non-kink misogyny or racism, or endorsements of misogynist or racist political candidates or viewpoints.
I say “prefer” because it’s my philosophical belief that, having endorsed your right to create derivative works, it’s undesirable to attempt to strictly limit the themes and content of such works. (I’m unimpressed, for example, by authors who get angry at queer fanfics, claiming they have the unilateral right to decide their characters’ sexuality…)
However, it is my strong personal preference, and failure to conform to these additional requests does not invalidate your fan media, but know that I will be frowning at you disapprovingly.
Here’s what you absolutely can’t do
You can’t claim to be me, or claim that something is written by me if it wasn’t.
You can’t use my branding, my trade dress, or my logo.
None of this policy extends to ATR Partnership Authors or other third-party content on this site, and nothing in this document gives you permission to use any IP that doesn’t exclusively belong to me (All These Roadworks).
You cannot make a profit, directly or indirectly, on anything based on my IP. That includes, but is not limited to:
- Selling it as a book or e-book;
- Publishing it alongside paid advertising that you derive a benefit from;
- Publishing it on a commercial site that you profit from;
- Selling merchandising in any form based on my work or your derivative work;
- Fundraising, whether charitable or otherwise, in connection with my work or your derivative work; or
- Offering it as an explicit reward to subscribers, members, Patreon supporters or suchlike (*).
(*) I don’t mind Patreon people giving out fanfic to supporters as an unadvertised freebie, subject to the other terms above, but it shouldn’t be what people are specifically paying to see.
You cannot purport to give anyone else a licence to your derivative work that allows them to do anything I have not allowed you to do yourself.
In addition, I specifically do NOT grant the right to make fan media or derivative works in the following forms:
- Photographic images, or images that are designed to look like real depictions of real people, places or things;
- Films of any sort (photographic or animated);
- Plays or performances;
- Audiobooks or readings;
- Scripts for films, plays or performances;
- Translations into other languages.
There are two reasons for these limitations.
The limitation on realistic images is because I do not want people to think, ever, that my stories are based on real people or real events, because even if it’s provably false, it could cause a lot of negative attention from dangerous people. I’m drawing that line for my personal safety, and the safety of my brand. ATR is about fiction, and I need that to be clear at all times.
The other limitations (performances, audiobooks, scripts, translations) are because these are areas where I can legitimately and realistically make money myself, and where a fan entering that market might reduce my personal ability to do so, rather than (as elsewhere) just enriching the range of total media for everyone.
(I have, in the past, given one specific site permission to do translations of some of my stories, so don’t assume any translation you see is necessarily piracy, but also don’t take that as implied permission to do it yourself.)
What if you want to do something I haven’t granted permission for?
Get in touch with me at all.these.roadworks@gmail.com.
If you want to make something commercial, we can talk money and rights.
If you want to do something charitable or fan-oriented, there’s a good chance we can sort something out.
But ultimately any such permission will need to take the form of a formal contract, so if you don’t have my permission on such a contract, you don’t have permission.
And what about generative AI?
Glad you asked.
The above rules apply regardless of how you create the media, and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve created the media by hand, or created it using generative AI, diffusion models, large language models, or any other software tool. If it’s otherwise okay, it’s okay with AI, and if it’s not, it’s not.
That said, I don’t consider AI-generated text to show the personal passion or effort of other kinds of fan media, nor is it often very sexy. Please feel free to create it for your own enjoyment, without judgement, but I won’t regard its creation as a compliment or an honour. (Though it’s certainly not an insult either.)
That said, I have no issue with using AI to enhance your spelling, structure, grammar, or clarity, or using it to edit your first draft. That’s a sensible and helpful use of the software.
In terms of other questions around AI:
- I do NOT give permission to use the name and brand All These Roadworks, or ATR, or any IP created by me, in connection with the creation, marketing and distribution of any AI tool, model, or training dataset, commercially or otherwise.
- I do NOT give permission for the creation of tools, models or training datasets that recognise “All These Roadworks” or ATR as a prompt or token, or any unique names or concepts derived from All These Roadworks IP, or any other symbol intended to stand in for such a name or concept, commercially or otherwise.
- I do NOT give permission for AI tools, models or datasets to be trained on material contained in my paid e-books or locked behind subscription plans.
Basically I support the ability to train AI on material freely available to the general public on the internet. Now that there are open-source versions of both diffusion and large-language AI, I think such freedom benefits everybody, and it represents a realistic understanding of how humans themselves acquire skills.
However, I do not allow such models to specifically advertise using my name or branding, or use my name and branding as an input or setting, or allow the creation of models specifically designed to imitate me, and nor do I grant any licence in relation to my paid e-books or other commercial content.
And I note that existing law, and the remainder of this policy, already prevents you from confusing people about whether the output of any AI model is created or endorsed by me, or making money based off the use of my name or branding. Go make your own new and exciting things with AI – not more of mine.
If you have questions…
… contact me. If you’re in any doubt whether something is allowed, contact me.
Despite the sometimes restrictive wording of this document, I want to support fans to create cool stuff in any way I can, so email me, and we’ll work it out.
With thanks,
All These Roadworks
August 2023