Comments | writeandgripe: making a fic an original

kdbleu in writeandgripe

making a fic an original

Aug 27, 2014 18:43

So in an attempt to find something more 'simple' to work on while I take my mystery to the level I have decided to adapt a 5k into an original piece. The fic also happens to align with an idea I've been mulling for a post-apocalypse story so I'm pretty excited ( Read more... )

fanfic writing, original fic, world building, wip, advice, writing

Comments 8

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kdbleu August 28 2014, 03:06:53 UTC

I am firmly in the 'nothing new under the sun' camp. It's another thing that comes from the theatre. Where play are produced over and over as a sign of success and the most revered play write ever! only wrote one original plot (I love you Shakespeare). So the idea that anything is truly original is absolutely crazy to me.

I am also well aware that I am attracted to certain stock characters as has been discussed here before. And those character show up in the media I consume as much as the media I create. Almost all my characters are in some way my version of another character, but it's unlikely anyone would ever know, really, without me saying, because right off I usually change something pretty substantial in the backstory.

What's interesting about the fic I'm using is that it's not near as AU as it could be. Or as the ones you used, but it does deviate from the source before the action actually begins so while it stays in universe in some ways it's a wholly different action from the start ( ... )

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kdbleu August 29 2014, 00:04:57 UTC

That's a great quote and very much what I believe about the world. Brilliant!

spikesgirl58 August 28 2014, 11:22:52 UTC

Never tried that route. Everything I wrote was original, but I'm a short story girl myself.

Sorry I'm not much help here.

kdbleu August 28 2014, 15:41:55 UTC

I do miss short stories. Just discussing that with a friend a couple weeks ago.

spikesgirl58 August 28 2014, 16:45:50 UTC

I love the challenge of having to deliver everything from a novel in a fraction of the page count. That's always been a HUGE attraction for me.

sevanatwonights August 28 2014, 13:16:16 UTC

When I think of doing this to one of my 'stories' my head hurts. I like it just like it is and changing it makes me cringe (it's 40k as it sits and not finished). Now if I could duplicate the basis of the story and the process that I went through when I wrote it; it would be great but there is too many elements that make it not so original that in its current form, that changing names wouldn't do it justice. That is what I look at when thinking on doing this.

So ask yourself these questions:

*Would I have an audience if I had to change around major elements that would make this an 'original' work?
*Would I have a story if I had to change around the major elements?
*Would you as a reader buy into the changed story?

kdbleu August 28 2014, 15:40:59 UTC

Oh, I have a story. This story. Which is ultimately the story of a man looking for the woman he was once in love with in a post-apocalyptic war-zone and finding out why she left him all those years ago. The only shared element at this point is the post-apocalyptic setting. And I love the story, the fic I wrote and the expansion. I have to or I wouldn't be writing it. :)

Now, I do understand that this isn't something that would appeal to everyone. Fanfic is not natural for me. I have a very hard time playing within the bounds of someone else's sandbox. hee.

sevanatwonights August 28 2014, 20:49:26 UTC

Oh I do too. I suppose that's why I'm not a fanfiction-favorite author because I enjoy twisting and turning plots that may never happen in someone else's sandbox. It's because I don't ever follow the crowd of other 'writers' (and very proud I don't:D). And your idea does sound good :D. Good Luck!