Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

I'm still almost too tired to write anything up and I'm riding the buzz of a very frustrating day. And I nearly fell. If there wasn't a shower bench in the tub I would have. I am not a happy person.

Anyhow let's talk a little bit about adapting fan fiction to original. It's probably going to really be fandom dependent. For example I couldn't adapt my Prodigal Son stuff without massive changes. Yeah serial killers helping the police is a thing, hell it's a real thing starting as far back as Bundy but having that killer be the dad of the profiler, not so much. That said a quick change would be having a parent mess the kid up independent of the serial killer helper or have the SK without a familial relationship.

Buffy on the other hand would relative simple to do. Just chuck the 'only girl in the world nonsense' (and let's be honest wtf good was that? ooo one city in the world is safe) and you'd have any other demon fighting team which are pretty common (How many times have I sold this myself?)

So how different do you make it? You can't see much of Twilight in 50 Shades of Grey (or so I've heard I didn't like either). THe one I'm reading now The Angel of the Crows is very obviously Sherlock wingfic (and the author admits it) She even retains the name Lestrade for some reason. Obviously there is going to be a sliding scale of success for this (as much as I don't like Grey don't I wish I sold that well)

What are your thoughts about it? Would it bother you to know something you paid for started as fanfic? It doesn't bother me for the most part.

How about those links?

From around the web (I don't have many)

Holiday Book Sales, Part II: Finding Your Readers

What To Include In Your Memoir To Create A Powerful Reading Experience

From Betty

A Complete Guide to Designing Fan-Favorite Book Covers

Simple And Effective Book Ads Using Animation

Need Help Writing Your Pitch?

7 Important Sensory Elements That Writers Ignore

The Main Reason Your Story’s Premise Is Important

ONE Tool That Transforms Your Writing

The Flash Fiction Approach to Writer’s Block

Using Taboos in a Culture


Five Rules for Retelling Old Stories. (am I the only one tired of fairy tell retellings?

A Complete Guide to Beta Reading I need find a way to get some

Storytelling’s Terminology Problem

Use Trauma Strategically To Create An Emotional Arc

How to Nail the Purpose of Your Novel’s Scenes

Relationship Thesaurus Entry: Therapist and Patient

How interviews can help a book project

The “voice of god” from movie trailers is killing your query letter

Comments

[goddess47]

When re-purposing fan fiction to 'original' it's probably easier to start with something that's pretty AU-ish to start with. So for Prodigal Son, taking a fic that's not set in a police setting would be easier. If the PS cast was in... a small mid-west town where Malcolm is a psychologist working in the County Asylum, Gil could be the local Sheriff and Edrisa the local coroner, but the others were social workers or inmates or just town folk. Dad is an inmate, of course, which is why Malcolm went to school to be a psychologist (Psychiatrist would have taken too long!). There's an element of corruption/coverup, some inmates shouldn't be there, so it's Malcolm's (undercover) job to figure it out. You can keep the personalities, just in a totally different setting. But then it would be easier to file off the serial numbers, so to speak, and easier to then peddle it as original.

Phew...

Hope you have a good week this week! Good luck with those classes!

[cornerofmadness]

Ooo that's actually a good idea for adapting Pson. I will say m ysteries are HARD to write (which is weird as they're my favorite genre)

[goddess47]

In any case, you're welcome to the idea, if you need one... not that you don't have anything else to do in your non-existent free time! ;-)

I can do the outline but I suspect you're better at the personalities than I ever would be... keep it, pass, share it on...

[cornerofmadness]

THanks I appreciate that. I enter it into the potential files which are big.

I haven't forgotten your Prodigal Son story either. I'm still dithering around with that

[spikedluv]

I'm glad you managed to catch yourself!

[cornerofmadness]

I did the same damn thing today