Exercise #8: Due Friday, January 30th, 2008

[Creole Ned]

Exercise #8:

Pick a favorite movie or book and, using original characters, write a story which recognizably occurs in parallel to the events in the film/book.

Due Friday, January 30th.

[Paladin]

Exercise #8:

Pick a favorite movie or book and, using original characters, write a story which recognizably occurs in parallel to the events in the film/book.

Due Friday, January 30th.

Plagerized!

As an aside, do we want to say up front what the basis is or do we want to see if people can identify the source from the story?

[Creole Ned]

No, identify it up front. The exercise is for the writer, not the reader. :)

[Arioch]

Can actual characters of the source material appear in the text, as long as they are not the main -gonists?

[Creole Ned]

My interpretation of the suggestion was that characters from the source material would not be in your story but could be referenced: "Bobbo the Hutt did not run a tight ship, unlike his uncle Jabba". I'm not fussy either way, though, as long as all of the central characters in the story are your own.

[Paladin]

What I was shooting for was preventing "fan fiction" involving the main (or even popular minor) characters for the book or movie. I don't see a problem with basing the story around someone who only had a line or two, even if they are a named character. For example, a story about Han Solo or Boba Fett wouldn't be acceptable, but if you want to write a story about how Lobot lost his hair, I'd say go for it. Call it the Greedo rule. If the character is in the film/book less than Greedo, it's ok. If the character has as much or more of a role than Greedo, don't base the story on it.

I'm being selfish in interpreting it that way, though, as the first draft of my story centers on an unnamed character in a movie who had one speaking line... a line I have based my entire story on. If that interpretation of the rule gets shot down by Ned and JR, I'll have to change everything. :p

[Tick]

I'm not writing anything, so take my input with that grain of salt, but my thought was writing a scene that was happening in a movie, but wasn't the focal point. To continue the star wars analogies, the story of two people at the bar who just happen to be there while Greedo gets shot, but are largely unaware of the events going on around them...the events of the movie would be some sort of background noise that is just a small distraction from whatever the conflict in their lives is.

[Creole Ned]

Just a reminder that anyone who can't host PDF versions of their stories can e-mail them to me for conversion/hosting at creolened@gmail.com.

[jackrabbit]

I probably fucked this up.

In my original writing, I only referenced the main character and his actions. The third rewrite pretty much ends up balls-out fanfic, and as soon as I realized it (when I had the characters interact instead of inferred interaction), I got really uncomfortable about the whole thing. I mean it to be more of a joke, with parody of the reference material, and it ended up not really going where I wanted, and about as far from my original concept as I could get.

In my original, the main character is hellbent on killing the reference material's main character. In the second writing, I tried to make him more sympathetic. By the third writing, he's "Ensign Smith" in every scene that moved the story.

Hints of my original concept can be found in the first and last paragraphs (sans the name), but everything in between is pretty much me in cosplay creeping myself out. I tried to wrap it up pretty quickly at that point, and so Ned will recognize my customary Sewer Cat Ending.

I think if I went back on my original plan and told the story as if the main character (Oscar) was trying to kill Jack for stealing the buxom blond, and ultimately intentionally causes the accident, it would be a much better, clearly mocking story.

You can disqualify me for breaking the rules, but it's done and I ain't rewriting it. I think the unsettling realization that I just wrote my first fanfic is penalty enough.

I didn't even like the source that much. :(

Unsinkable (http://write.jckrbbt.com/docs/unsinkable.pdf)

[Creole Ned]

I'll start a separate thread tomorrow and link all the submitted stories in the first post to keep feedback organized. I have had my own interesting problems to confront, not the least of which is being sick as a dog during the home stretch. Bleah. More tomorrow!