Hi Everyone, I'm still newish to fanfiction and this just came up as a reply to one of my stories, so I thought I'd move it here for broader feedback. My problem is that I come from academia. I just can't reconcile myself to the idea of plagiarizing another author's words without some way of distinguishing them in-line (even in a derivative work whose original source is in the public domain). I played with several methods available via html and settled on having quotes from Austen in purple because I thought that this was the least jarring. I would like feedback though if readers prefer other methods. Here are some options I found: Footnotes: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.1 Bold: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. Italics (If I do this, I can't use italics to indicate writing, thoughts, or emphasis which would take away some nuance): I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. Small caps: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. Different font: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. One of the reasons I liked the color option is that it allows me to distinguish between sources (I'm currently working on a crossover, for example). I could also try darker colors. Darker Purple: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. Darker Blue: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. Darker Green: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. Darker Red: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness. 1. Jane Austen. Persuasion, Chapter 23↩https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126579#msg-126579Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:00:32 +0100 Phorum 5.2.22 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126710#msg-126710 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126710#msg-126710 Tobe Tea RoomMon, 30 Oct 2017 02:16:28 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126635#msg-126635 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126635#msg-126635 Agnes Beatrix Tea RoomFri, 20 Oct 2017 10:16:24 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126609#msg-126609 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126609#msg-126609
Given your feedback, I think what I'll do is add an author's note at the beginning along the lines of: "Based on characters and plot from Persuasion by Jane Austen and North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, with influences from the BBC miniseries of North and South. Text from Jane Austen is in purple. Text from Elizabeth Gaskell is in blue. Text from the miniseries is in green. The tense, pronouns, or wording of these quotes may be slightly modified to fit the scene."

That way the new font color will be darker, more subtle, easier to read, and the colored portions won't be broken up for slight modifications of tense or pronouns (which is just as obnoxious to do html tags for as it is to read).

I'm almost done with the Persuasion/N&S crossover. I've just got to finish the last chapter (or two?) and epilogue.]]> MorganA Tea RoomSun, 15 Oct 2017 21:47:09 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126605#msg-126605 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126605#msg-126605I find it jarring if the different font colors draw attention to the quotes, especially if (very correctly) the pronouns modified to fit the situation stand out as non-quote color. (It would be especially difficult to follow three different font types (if, as I hope, you refer to the N&S crossover you mentioned before)
How about making an author's note at each chapter to indicate where one could find the source material, without highlighting it directly in the text with different fonts? E. g. at the end of the chapter you might list, Pride&Prejudice, Ch. ---, Presuasiojn, Ch. ---, maybe if you want to be very exact, you could add an upper index number to the part you quoted in the text (example¹, example²). This way, anyone who wishes to look up the exact source material will be able to do so.

¹Persuasion, Ch. 1, ²Pride and Prejudice, Ch. 39]]> Agnes Beatrix Tea RoomSun, 15 Oct 2017 13:59:05 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126590#msg-126590 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126590#msg-126590 Alida Tea RoomFri, 13 Oct 2017 07:14:02 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126589#msg-126589 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126589#msg-126589 Harvey S. Tea RoomFri, 13 Oct 2017 02:09:42 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126581#msg-126581 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126581#msg-126581 Brigid Tea RoomThu, 12 Oct 2017 00:36:10 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126580#msg-126580 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126580#msg-126580red text because that could serve as a Redline insertion.

As to footnotes, see my "Author's Note" at the top of my Jane and Elizabeth’s Paranormal Journey in: https://www.dwiggie.com/derby/raeelaine1.htm Footnotes in web pages appear like end notes, and deserve the same disgust. My in-line markup serve well.

Welcome to fan fictions, MorganA. I have dabbled in quite a few, but my favorites use... Teazer Alert...]]> Rae Elaine Tea RoomThu, 12 Oct 2017 00:20:08 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126579#msg-126579 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,126579,126579#msg-126579
I'm still newish to fanfiction and this just came up as a reply to one of my stories, so I thought I'd move it here for broader feedback. My problem is that I come from academia. I just can't reconcile myself to the idea of plagiarizing another author's words without some way of distinguishing them in-line (even in a derivative work whose original source is in the public domain). I played with several methods available via html and settled on having quotes from Austen in purple because I thought that this was the least jarring. I would like feedback though if readers prefer other methods.

Here are some options I found:

Footnotes: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.¹

Bold: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

Italics (If I do this, I can't use italics to indicate writing, thoughts, or emphasis which would take away some nuance): I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

Small caps: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

Different font: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

One of the reasons I liked the color option is that it allows me to distinguish between sources (I'm currently working on a crossover, for example). I could also try darker colors.

Darker Purple: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

Darker Blue: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

Darker Green: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

Darker Red: I have been utterly unable to find a single moment alone with you and so I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall wait for you in the same location I posed this same question to you all those years ago. A word, a look, will be enough to decide my future happiness.

^{1. Jane Austen. Persuasion, Chapter 23↩}]]> MorganA Tea RoomWed, 11 Oct 2017 22:02:29 +0100