Life Updates & Ridiculous Fic Ideas

[ermingarden]

I finished my internship on Friday; it was an amazing couple of months! I was lucky enough to be given more responsibility than is typical for law student internships, and I learned so much from the experience. Looking back to my first day, I was terrified to stand on an arraignment, even one where we weren't asking for bail; just a few weeks later, I conducted an entire Sex Offender Registration Act hearing myself!

The internship was wonderful, but I'm going to enjoy having a little more free time between now and the start of school at the end of the month. It won't be 100% vacation – it's job application season, and I also have work to do for the journal I'm on – but compared to 40+ hours/week, it feels like I have buckets of time to relax. I'm also tremendously excited because my best friend is coming to visit me in just a couple of days! The biggest downside of living in NYC is that I miss my West Coast friends like crazy, so I've been desperately looking forward to this.

I'm also so excited to have more time for fic! First things first, I have to kick things into gear for tolkienrsb. I also have a couple of other ideas I'm hoping to work on this month, including a fairly ridiculous MDZS fic about copyright law:

I saw this prompt over at mdzskinkmeme exactly one week after my copyright exam, and I pretty much have no choice but to fill it! I've been doing some thinking about what common law copyright principles would develop in ancient fantasy China, and also how I could make it funny. I'm thinking copyright for talismans and arrays would be fairly similar to how copyright in software is treated under U.S. law – which also gives me a great chance to make a pun about Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc., 516 U.S. 233 (1996), which is a landmark software copyright case. (Admittedly, the pun would probably only be funny to me.)

It should surprise no one that "Crack Treated Seriously" is one of my favorite tags!

Comments

[shirebound]

Congratulations, and it's wonderful that the internship was such a positive and growthful experience for you.

[ermingarden]

Thank you!

[atamascolily]

This fic sounds awesome, I would love to read it!

[ermingarden]

Well, now I have to write it! *g*

[hhimring]

Glad the life updates all sound so positive!

The copyright idea sounds like great fun and I look forward to see what you make of it.
Also: good luck with TRSB!

[ermingarden]

Thank you! Great to hear another person would be interested in talisman copyright shenanigans!

[eller]

I kind of want to read the MDZS copyright case fic now. O_O

[ermingarden]

Well, with another person interested, now I have to write it!

[independence1776]

Congratulations on finishing your internship!

I hope you have tons of fun with your friend and good luck with the writing.

[ermingarden]

Thank you!!

[elwendell]

That sounds like a great internship, which fulfilled its brief perfectly, allowing you to decide where you want to take your career.

The fic idea does sound fun, particularly as those sects are very, very protective of their techniques.

[ermingarden]

I am delighted at how many people are up to read a fic about copyright!

Agreed; the system we see in the novel is (somewhat) analogous to trade secrets when it comes to proprietary sect techniques. The downsides to that are that (a) benefit accrues entirely on a sect level, so rogue cultivators essentially can't profit from anything they develop, and (b) fewer people are able to make use of the techniques; a copyright system, on the other hand, allows licensing, which would ameliorate both issues.

(I'm focusing exclusively on talismans, because the analogy to software copyright is fairly straightforward; techniques would be a little different.)

[anerea]

It's marvelous to hear that you've enjoyed your internship so much, and gained so much confidence! That's a great feeling! And that you'll have a bit more time to relax pack other stuff in for a while.

And, add me to list of people who are keen for Wei Ying to invent copyright! (As a freelance photographer, I relate to people freely using his work while he didn't get paid for it, and I simultaneously relate also to the sense that I got from canon that he didn't really mind that others benefited from it — except for those who greedily ripped off the poorer folk!) So yes, you're really going to have to write that MDZS fic now!

[ermingarden]

I am bemused but delighted by how many people want to read about copyright law in Ancient Fantasy China! That's such an interesting perspective, too, about the parallels to your experience as a photographer. And I 100% agree with your analysis re: WWX's reaction!

[anerea]

For me, copyright is a tricksy one... on the one hand I feel uncomfortable charging for something, over and over, for its use, but on the other hand I also need to survive and thrive.

Personally, I'd love to offer my work for free to any one who wants it but can't afford it (and often do — I have a little note on my website suggesting that people may be pleasantly surprised if they just ask rather than steal (which is rude and just pisses me off)) and would do it more if my needs were somehow supported in kind, just not necessarily in a two way exchange but from a wider circle.

And yes, that's ostensibly what money does, but in practice it somehow often limits the flow of generosity instead. And while things like copyright ensure creators receive any incoming benefit for their work, it also limits those who can use their creations/work to people with means — who are too often not the people who need (or, sometimes, deserve) it the most.

Eish, I've gone off on a tangent here and I'm not sure how coherent it is, but nevertheless, this is all to say that I'm very interested to read your ideas and experience expressed through your fic... so: may the words flow wild and free through your mind to your quill. (Well, keyboard, I guess.)

[ermingarden]

Oh, I love this!!!

Copyright – and the degree to which copyright incentivizes creativity – is such an interesting topic! Fandom itself actually provides a counter to the utilitarian theory of copyright, in that there's this tremendous amount of creativity w/o any monetary gain – though you could argue, e.g., posting fic is motivated at least in part by reputational benefits.

In terms of the fic, I intend to focus chiefly on issues of resale – i.e., the whole thing gets started in response to folks selling copies of WWX's talismans.

[chestnut_pod]

Mazel tov! I am happy it was such a good experience :)

I also will be there with bells on to read any copyright-related fics you choose to write.

[ermingarden]

Thank you!

And I am blown away by the apparently widespread interest in copyright fic! (Well...widespread in my f-list, at least! Clearly I'm hanging out with the right people.)

[troisoiseaux]

I finished my internship on Friday; it was an amazing couple of months!

Congrats!! It sounds like such a cool experience.

(I thought I'd replied to this sooner, but it turns out I hadn't because I read job application season and my brain shut down in sheer panic. WHOOPS.)

[ermingarden]

Thank you! It really was amazing – I totally lucked out.

Good luck with your applications!!!!!! You got this!!!!!!!!!! *\o/*