Beg, borrow, steal. It’s a phrase we’ve all heard a hundred times when it comes to art, but what separates the truly innovative from the simple fan fiction? How can we take what is already canon and give it firepower again?
Most of us are familiar with works that have done this. They take stories and characters we know well, archetypes and plot lines we’ve all seen before, and make them fresh and new. Wicked by Gregory Maguire is a prime example: he took the characters from the Wizard of Oz and turned them on their head, producing an entirely new story that became a Broadway sensation. What separates Maguire from the legions of fan fiction authors, however, is his dedication to the craft and imaginative power.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of how to steal with finesse, we need to talk about what is fair game. Obviously, characters and worlds from things published and produced in the last couple years are under copyright and will get you into serious legal trouble, but how do you know if something is out of copyright? Google is your best friend on this front. Ask, “Has copyright expired on <insert title here>?” and you’ll find the answer. Generally, if it has been 70 years since the author died, it’s probably fair game. There are some exceptions, however, so make sure to do your research. Of course, if you don’t plan on publishing your work for proceeds, start writing about whatever you want! If you want to try and sell your work down the line, make sure to stick to the stories that won’t get you sued. I try not to mess with anything that was published after the turn of last century, just for good measure. Fairy tales are fantastic that way; they’re so old, no one is sure just where they originated or who even wrote them anymore. New research even suggests there are stories that are (several thousand years old)[http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/8240/20160121/fairy-tales-more-thousand-years-old-study-claims.htm]. Let’s take one of these to use as our example: Beauty and the Beast.
The goal here is to create something new. Something different. We all know the plot line—at least a Disney-fied version—and it goes something like this:
Father gets caught by Beast, Daughter takes his place, Daughter falls in love with Beast and breaks the enchantment he was under.
Surprised I didn’t include Gaston? That’s because he’s not in the ‘original’ as told by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. See? The details change, but the basic plot remains the same, across tellings, and across cultures. Now how do we write something new? Think about it the way no one has before, and in a way that is unique to you as a writer. Think it’s all been done? Then this isn’t the right story for you to be working with. Keep reading your fairy tales and 19th century books until you find a story that has you saying, “I wonder…” This is the story you should be working on.
“I wonder what this would have been like in the future.”
“I wonder what this would look like from the perspective of the beast.”
“I wonder what would have happened if Belle were a complete idiot.”
“I wonder what would happen if this took place in India instead of France.”
“I wonder what would happen if these characters were actually alive in another world…”
Once you’ve got your “I wonder…” in place, you’re ready to start writing. In my most recent novel, Less Than Charming, that last question is what I explored. What happens when all the characters we create in this world are born into a parallel world, which is dependent on human imagination to survive?
Some people think that this kind of borrowing would make your writing easier, but I can tell you that is far from the truth. It is no easier, or harder, than starting from scratch. You still have to ask yourself what the rules of your world are, what your characters want, what does their subconscious want, and how do they get it? In my case, I ended up reading absolutely every rendition of the characters’ fairy tales that I could find because each and every one affects the character. I had to watch Barbie movies and horror movies, read unedited fan fiction blogs, watch cheesy TV shows, and, yes, even acknowledge that there are some porn versions out there. I can usually get away with not ACTUALLY watching those, thankfully. However, I have to be conscious of the world from which they come from, and how I can use and alter that to fit my own story’s needs.
While in Less Than Charming I am taking characters and transplanting them into my own world, the reverse can also work well. I have a series of novellas called The Ozite Cycle that takes place in the land of Oz, of Dorothy fame. In this case, I read every Oz novel (there are 14) and studied the rules and characters and geography, then created my own characters and inserted them into that world, creating a whole new story that way. What’s nice about the Oz world, is the fact that even Frank L. Baum couldn’t keep the rules straight about the world. Things constantly changed from book to book, so writers who are using that ‘verse today get to pick and choose what works best for them, and what they can take advantage of.
All this is well and good, but the question becomes, what separates this kind of writing from fan fiction? The answer is, not much. To be honest, a lot of writing that sells well was started because somebody loved a certain set of stories so much that they were drawn to create their own versions; Wicked, Lord of the Rings, and Cinder all started as writing using various stories (Oz, old world tales of dwarves and dragons, and Cinderella respectively) but grew into their own. While they reference and are based on these other stories, they stand on their own two feet and manage to be engaging and thrilling stories of their own. If someone had never read or seen The Wizard of Oz, Wicked would still be an amazing story. This is what takes a fan fiction story and elevates it to the status of original storytelling. That and editing; would it kill you guys to spell check your slash fiction? Please, I’m begging you, for the sake of the children, please edit.
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Rebecca A. Demarest is an author, award-winning book designer, and technical illustrator living in Seattle, WA with her husband, Jason, and their dog-like cat named Cat. When she isn’t writing or making books and flowcharts pretty, Rebecca can be found crafting, working on her indoor forest, climbing, hiking, and generally loving being back in her native Pacific Northwest. Rebecca graduated from Willamette University Cum Laude in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology and English, and from Emerson College in 2011 with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing. She has worked on a variety of journals, and is currently the Senior Technical Illustrator at O’Reilly Media and the house designer for the Seattle Play Series.
http://igg.me/at/less-than-
Website: http://rebeccademarest.com
Wonderful information. Thanks for sharing!