on serial numbers, and the fine art of filing

[lagilman]

This is not a rant, or a lecture, or anything other than me, thinking out loud. Except with fewer parenthetical asides than I usually use when thinking out loud (yes, I really do asides to myself, doesn't everyone?)


The manuscript I am currently editing is a perfectly workable book. It is well-written, if not brilliant, with a sense of verve and joy that is essential (to me) in genre work, no matter what the genre (this happens to be romantic suspense).

What it also has, I regret to say, is obvious roots, in the "you weren't always a blonde, were you?" way.

In fact, without much thought or effort, I was able to determine exactly what media basis the characters and plot-line were lifted from inspired by (and no, I'm not going to tell you.).

Now, there is no shame in filing off serial numbers and reusing something. Shakespeare did it, fer chrissake. I bet the second storyteller in the world did it. Hell, we all do it on a daily basis, when we retell something that we heard from someone else, if we put our own spin on it (instead of Jews, the punchline becomes Baptists, etc). And gods above, below and the devils in Hollywood know that media tie-in writers do it all the time, when a proposal is rejected for one show or another.

But there is a fine art to filing. You can't just scratch a quarter inch off the surface and assume everything's hunky dory. It may be enough to keep you from being sued, but it doesn't make the story yours.

And really, if the story's not yours, why are you telling it?

Example. I had a proposal in for the now deader-than-dead "Serenity" books. It was a good, fun proposal, tailored specifically for Jayne and Kaylee to have their chance in the spotlight.

It will never, now, see the light of day. Starring Jayne and Kaylee and the rest of the crew, anyway.

But the main story? The caper itself, featuring a wide-eyed naif and a crook with a heart of tin and the morals of a sieve? The planet, with its particular alien life forms and criminal code? That's still got a chance. Someday. If I can find not only the right file to remove all traces of Joss Whedon from the characters, but the right enamel and paint to redress the new vehicle in.

Because 'filing' isn't just about taking away. It's about adding something special, something distinctly your own, to the material. Enough so that nobody except those who are looking really hard can see those roots showing through.


Interestingly enough, this is something that often trips up fanficcers when they try to go pro: they're so used to mimicking an existing voice (and doing it damned well, oftimes) that they never learn how to create their own characters (the reason why OCs are so reviled in fanfic. Not because the idea is a bad one, but because it's not done well, see: 'Mary Sue'). Anyone reading this who wants to go pro from fan, LEARN WHO IS IN YOUR OWN HEAD, and how to let them out. Essential. Yes.


That's all I got.

Comments

on serial numbers, and the fine art of filing

[spiziks.livejournal.com]

I see this in a lot of the fiction my (high school) students generate, and it's to be expected--you imitate until you figure out how to do it on your own.

Adults, on the other hand, should know better.

Re: on serial numbers, and the fine art of filing

[lagilman]

Exactly.

And hey, welcome to the 'official' world of LJ!

Re: on serial numbers, and the fine art of filing

[debg.livejournal.com]

Yep. For me, it's rather analogous to that recent remake of The Lion in Winter, with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close.

Um, guys - why? Did you think you could bring something new to it, that the essentially perfect original didn't have? Did you think there was something new to say? If not, why bother?

OK, maybe not analogous, but related (I'm under-caffeinated). The plagarism suit against Daphne du Maurier is probably a better analogy. Someone claimed a tiny little novel they'd written twenty years earlier had been the basis for Rebecca. The judge, IIRC, asked the jury if they could recite a single line from this earlier books; no luck. He then asked that about Rebecca and about half them immediately said "Last night, I dreamed I went to Manderley again..."

If you can't do it new, at least do it better. Because what's the old saw, about there being seven original plots on earth, and no more than that?

[windrose.livejournal.com]

My current WiP began life as crackfic fan fiction. I'm not sure it will ever be anything other than a trunk novel because (IMO) the serial numbers are etched too deep. OTOH, I've gotten a handful of new characters that I reallyreally like that I think have a future elsewhere, if I can figure out what to do with them.

The problem is what to do with the current WiP. Should I just finish writing the thing out of sheer stubbornness, even though I know it has no future? Or should I abandon it and try to come up with something else to do with the new characters?

[blazedglory.livejournal.com]

Are you learning anything from writing it? I've got most of a novel that's technically fanfic--half of it's in someone else's back yard and there are someone else's toys all over the place--but it's really about my characters. I started writing it just to write something, recovering from a nasty story. Then I figured out I was learning things about the way I write and the way I think about writing. The serial numbers are etched pretty deeply, but I may finish it anyway, just to see what else I can learn. I know it's completely unpublishable--and ought not to ever see the light of day, though the bits with my own characters and not the other person's might be acceptable for public viewing.

[windrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm definitely learning things. And I hate to just up and abandon a project, especially one I've put this much work into. I will finish it, and then most likely cannibalize it for spare parts to use in something that has a hope in hell of being published.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

If it sticks around long enough, if it keeps bugging you for days, even weeks on end, then it's probably Yours.

At least, that's my theory. If it doesn't pan out, then I need to start over. OTOH, I didn't start out as a fanficcer, so maybe that sort of puts me at the Theory Probably Correct side.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I was told, if the average reader (hunh? define average, but whatever) can look at your work and say, "hey, this reminds me of..." then the numbers aren't filed off quite enough. Take it back and work a little harder.

A'course, I found this is definitely in the eye of the beholder, when I posted a first chapter draft on a crit board and someone replied, "oh, that character is so obviously So-and-so, with that hair and those eyes and that street-smart attitude." ...Except that I had no bloody idea who that character was, and still don't.

Sometimes I feel like I should get cable to watch tv just so I have a better idea of who I'm going to be accused of having stolen/filed-off.

[equesgal.livejournal.com]

That Jayne/Kaylee idea sounds to shiny. ;-(

[david-chunn.livejournal.com]

I can't do anything and not make it my own. Sometimes to the point where it becomes problematic. And I could never write fanfic. I really can't even understand it, despite having read several eloquent explanations/defenses. Of course, I also avoid most sci-fi/fantasy media productions outside of novels, especially tv shows. I was dragged kicking and screaming into Firefly/Serenity. Loved it, but hate most things like that that people drag me into.