We’ve really gotta stop giving folks a hard time about using the term “fanfic” to describe certain types of derivative works of public domain source material.
Like, yes, it’s important to recognise that works in the public domain afford a whole range of transformative freedoms that works presently under copyright don’t, but the fact of the matter is that the term “fanfic” is pulling double duty to describe both a particular legal relationship with the source material, and a particular creative stance toward the source material, and you can totally do the second one even in the absence of the first – and many folks do.
All of which is a long-winded way to say that when someone says they’re writing fanfic about Les Misérables or Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the fact that these works have been in the public domain for the better part of a century doesn’t mean they’re wrong.
