Take a chance, make a mess, have a good time
So last year, I meant to talk about the Remix, and what I think a remix is, blah blah blah, and I never quite got around to it, being easily distracted by the shiny and new.
Vyola and Kest both discussed it last year, and really, what they were getting at is, What Is a Remix?
And I think it helps, obviously, to think of it in terms of music.
What we're doing is a remix, a remake, a cover version of a story.
I'm not into the genres of music where remixing is very popular, so I can't give you many examples, other than say, the NIN album "Fixed," which is remixes of various songs on the NIN album "Broken."
One of the remixes I recall best is the song "Missing" by Everything But the Girl, in which some famous DJ guy whose name is currently escaping me added some bass and a dance beat to a song that was more of a ballad. I *adore* that remixed version of "Missing."
The concept I'm - and most of you are - most familiar with is the remake or cover version.
Sticking with Nine Inch Nails - the Johnny Cash version of "Hurt" is powerful, dark and even more aching than the original.
Or take "Sweet Jane." Great song by Lou Reed, totally changed up by Cowboy Junkies - it's still the same song, but it's slowed down, stripped of the rock guitars, softened by the female voice, and missing a verse or two. I love both versions.
Or to go back even further - I own at least three versions of the song "At Last." The definitive, original Etta James, a lovely full-on bigband version with Stevie Nicks, and the new Cyndi Lauper version.
I like all three, and while they're the same song, the interpretations are different, the instrumentation is different, the singers' voices are very different, so they're also three different songs.
And that's what we're doing here.
I'm going to use my own stories as examples, simply because I'm most familiar with them, and also so I don't unwittingly insult somebody.
I *adore* what Ransom (aka, lilmissrrhood) did with "Best Laid Plans." BLP is told from a strict first person Rogue POV. We never find out what Logan is doing or thinking. Then Ransom came along and told us. And it's *wonderful*.
There are so many different approaches to take with remixing. POV change is the easiest and most obvious - if you got me, you could take, say, "Something Borrowed" and give the Remus POV. How did he and Lily hook up? How did they break up? What was he thinking when he borrowed the shirt? Did he know she took it? You can expand on the S/R flashbacks, or talk about Remus's feelings after the trick.
With "Always Something in Between," you could do a Grace POV, or you could do a Sirius - Sirius obviously sees/knows that Remus is sublimating; is that what gives him the idea that he has feelings for Remus? Did he already know and is upset by Gracie's presence? Was his whole point in being there that Christmas to do what he ended up doing?
Or you could take "Mother Knows Best" and rewrite it, again, from Remus's POV. What was the conversation with Molly like? What is he thinking when he comes back into the kitchen and hears Sirius and Molly yelling at each other?
Or you can play with structure and POV and tense. "Crush" is written in present tense second person, Hermione POV. So. Does Remus know? You could write it backwards - "Afterward, Remus realized when it had started. She showed up early for class every session. It had never occurred to him that a student might develop a crush -- none of his own professors had been under the age of fifty..." etc.
You can take a story that appears to be all wrapped up in one or two characters and write it from an outside POV. What does James see in "Something Borrowed?" Or Dean Thomas in "Trinity?"
You can take a drabble and expand it out - in "Etude," Lily sneaks away to play the piano; Snape comes and listens. There's so much going on there - they never speak of it, but what is Snape thinking/feeling/hoping? Why do they never speak of it? Did they try and it just ended badly? Were there kisses and then recriminations?
See, the idea isn't to write somebody else's story as they would have - or actually *did* - write it. And it's not about "fixing" things.
It's to take someone else's story and put your own stamp on it. To tell the same basic story -- Lily plays the piano, Snape listens -- in a different way.
You may love what someone else does with your story, or you may not. I love the remake of "Sweet Jane" and can't stand the remake of "Behind Blue Eyes." That's a matter of taste. But the techniques are many and varied, and if you think about it, I think you'll find that remixing is, at base, very much what writing fanfic is about -- teasing out hidden meanings from the interstices, the word left unsaid, the meaningful glance...
I mean, come on, sometimes, in a story that's a tight third person, don't you want to know what the other person is thinking and why they're acting the way they are? This is your chance to find out. *g*
Take a chance, make a mess. Tell the story backwards, tell it from the POV of an inanimate object. Tell it in future tense or past tense or second person (gah, I can't believe I just recommended that *g*). Rewrite it in the style of Dickens or Hemingway or Woolf.
Mostly, have a good time, and remember, even if you don't like what's done to your story, your story is still *yours* and no one can take it from you. Someone else playing with it doesn't change the original text.
Vyola and Kest both discussed it last year, and really, what they were getting at is, What Is a Remix?
And I think it helps, obviously, to think of it in terms of music.
What we're doing is a remix, a remake, a cover version of a story.
I'm not into the genres of music where remixing is very popular, so I can't give you many examples, other than say, the NIN album "Fixed," which is remixes of various songs on the NIN album "Broken."
One of the remixes I recall best is the song "Missing" by Everything But the Girl, in which some famous DJ guy whose name is currently escaping me added some bass and a dance beat to a song that was more of a ballad. I *adore* that remixed version of "Missing."
The concept I'm - and most of you are - most familiar with is the remake or cover version.
Sticking with Nine Inch Nails - the Johnny Cash version of "Hurt" is powerful, dark and even more aching than the original.
Or take "Sweet Jane." Great song by Lou Reed, totally changed up by Cowboy Junkies - it's still the same song, but it's slowed down, stripped of the rock guitars, softened by the female voice, and missing a verse or two. I love both versions.
Or to go back even further - I own at least three versions of the song "At Last." The definitive, original Etta James, a lovely full-on bigband version with Stevie Nicks, and the new Cyndi Lauper version.
I like all three, and while they're the same song, the interpretations are different, the instrumentation is different, the singers' voices are very different, so they're also three different songs.
And that's what we're doing here.
I'm going to use my own stories as examples, simply because I'm most familiar with them, and also so I don't unwittingly insult somebody.
I *adore* what Ransom (aka, lilmissrrhood) did with "Best Laid Plans." BLP is told from a strict first person Rogue POV. We never find out what Logan is doing or thinking. Then Ransom came along and told us. And it's *wonderful*.
There are so many different approaches to take with remixing. POV change is the easiest and most obvious - if you got me, you could take, say, "Something Borrowed" and give the Remus POV. How did he and Lily hook up? How did they break up? What was he thinking when he borrowed the shirt? Did he know she took it? You can expand on the S/R flashbacks, or talk about Remus's feelings after the trick.
With "Always Something in Between," you could do a Grace POV, or you could do a Sirius - Sirius obviously sees/knows that Remus is sublimating; is that what gives him the idea that he has feelings for Remus? Did he already know and is upset by Gracie's presence? Was his whole point in being there that Christmas to do what he ended up doing?
Or you could take "Mother Knows Best" and rewrite it, again, from Remus's POV. What was the conversation with Molly like? What is he thinking when he comes back into the kitchen and hears Sirius and Molly yelling at each other?
Or you can play with structure and POV and tense. "Crush" is written in present tense second person, Hermione POV. So. Does Remus know? You could write it backwards - "Afterward, Remus realized when it had started. She showed up early for class every session. It had never occurred to him that a student might develop a crush -- none of his own professors had been under the age of fifty..." etc.
You can take a story that appears to be all wrapped up in one or two characters and write it from an outside POV. What does James see in "Something Borrowed?" Or Dean Thomas in "Trinity?"
You can take a drabble and expand it out - in "Etude," Lily sneaks away to play the piano; Snape comes and listens. There's so much going on there - they never speak of it, but what is Snape thinking/feeling/hoping? Why do they never speak of it? Did they try and it just ended badly? Were there kisses and then recriminations?
See, the idea isn't to write somebody else's story as they would have - or actually *did* - write it. And it's not about "fixing" things.
It's to take someone else's story and put your own stamp on it. To tell the same basic story -- Lily plays the piano, Snape listens -- in a different way.
You may love what someone else does with your story, or you may not. I love the remake of "Sweet Jane" and can't stand the remake of "Behind Blue Eyes." That's a matter of taste. But the techniques are many and varied, and if you think about it, I think you'll find that remixing is, at base, very much what writing fanfic is about -- teasing out hidden meanings from the interstices, the word left unsaid, the meaningful glance...
I mean, come on, sometimes, in a story that's a tight third person, don't you want to know what the other person is thinking and why they're acting the way they are? This is your chance to find out. *g*
Take a chance, make a mess. Tell the story backwards, tell it from the POV of an inanimate object. Tell it in future tense or past tense or second person (gah, I can't believe I just recommended that *g*). Rewrite it in the style of Dickens or Hemingway or Woolf.
Mostly, have a good time, and remember, even if you don't like what's done to your story, your story is still *yours* and no one can take it from you. Someone else playing with it doesn't change the original text.