Copyright

Some of my stories are licensed for noncommercial sharing and noncommercial adaptation; see the copyright notice of those stories for information on the license. Otherwise, contact me for permission to share or adapt my stories. Regardless of the license, I always welcome noncommercial fanworks of my stories; you don't need to ask my permission to create and share those.

AI policy

A human (me) wrote my stories. My beta readers are also human. My editing software is AI-powered.

Here are the details of how I use the software. In all cases, I've made the final decision about any changes that need to be made to my story, in the same fashion as I do with beta reports. I never use rewording suggestions from the software, except when correcting typos, and then I always check a dictionary if I'm not sure of the correct spelling.

I began using the software in 2014. Any of my stories released on or after that date may (or may not) have been edited with the assistance of AI-powered software.

I do not knowingly use AI-generated artwork for my covers.

Fanworks

There are no restrictions on what sort of changes you may make to the original work in your fanwork. AU my works, slash 'em, het 'em, gen 'em, slice and dice 'em however you want. Just be sure to credit me for the original story.

If you have any questions about my stories ("Does this world you've created have this particular custom?"), feel free to e-mail me.

If you create a fanwork, I'll be glad to consider listing it on my Shared Universes page. E-mail me to let me know.

Shared universe disclaimer

My stories are shared universes: anyone is free to create noncommercial works inspired by them. (For commercial works, you'll need to contact me for permission.) Works by other creators that are set in my shared universes are produced without my help (except insofar as other creators sometimes ask me, "Does such-and-such occur in the society you've written about?"). My series are plotted out by the time I begin publishing them, so any coincidences between other creators' works and my later works in the same series just go to show that (1) any plot in the world that has ever been written, has been written more than once, and (2) my readers are really, really good at picking up on foreshadowing by me. So I'm not feeding them storylines, and they're not feeding me storylines. (Believe me, my Muse keeps me busy enough as it is.)

By the same token, I reserve the right to totally mess up my readers' expectations of what's going to happen next.

"[Fanfiction writers] don't have my characters. They have their own versions of my characters. And they're not in my world; they're in their own simulacrum . . .

"Fanfiction doesn't affect canon because . . . well, because it isn't canon, because I didn't write it. If somebody writes a fic where Lee goes into a homicidal rage and kills Bran's grandfather, it doesn't affect my story any more than someone leaving a comment on my work saying, 'I wish Lee would go into a homicidal rage and kill Bran's grandfather!' . . .

"The way I see it, fanfic is just another expression of what people who enjoy my work wish they could see happen, and as such, no, I'm not bothered. . . . Thank you so much for your kind words about my writing, and I'm thrilled to hear I may have inspired you to write some of your own."

—Maculategiraffe (who, as always, puts the matter so well).