From Fanfic to Original...

[kanshu]

From fanfic to original...
.... or: Rewriting a fanfic into an original story.

I think that most of us are working on becoming an original author at one point or another. Fanfic are a great way to test out ideas and see what works with an audience, and what not. It also helps to get your name known and to build up a potential buyer contingent for possible books.

I don't know if you've ever written a fanfic that you think would make a great original story as well?

If yes...

- How do you "bring the theme/narrative/dialogues it across to the new world"?

- How much do you change the universe (surroundings) from the fanfic one into an original one?

- Characters: Apart from any existing OCs in your fanfic, you'll have to create new main characters. New and different leadOCs characters have different reactions than the canon characters of a show/manga/anime/book. How does that influence your original story, and the characters you create as new leads? How different from the canon characters of the fanfic are your lead-OCs?

- Do you treat your own lead-OCs different than the canon-characters someone else created? If yes, why, and how do you treat them differently?

[kitsuneoni]

Actually, although I aim to become an original author (and would love to publish) many times I have a great idea for an original plot and then I transfer it to fanfic world, because they're just so much easier to write. (Yes, I'm lazy). However when a plot really inspires me I try write it out.

Sometimes however the opposite happens, as in when the plot is too difficult to apply to another manga I end up writing an original.

Most of the time I change it from fanfic to original by creating characters, first of all. Since I decide to write original stories because the plot doesn't apply or fit that well to the anime I had in mind, the characters can be different and therefore react differently, and it's okay with me. Normally though this makes the ending change as opposed to what I'd originally planned.

Normally my OCs are very different from the manga characters because... I think it's silly to write an original and not be able to shape my own character. They might have a couple of similar characteristics, or general temperament, but overall they're different people.

So, I obviously treat them differently. No one can tell me that my OC is out of character so I'm more free with them, able to make them act as I want (as long as I have a plausible reason, of course).

The universe... I change quite a lot, normally. Sometimes I go from the Saiyuki universe to a futuristic world. It depends on how specific the plot idea is, what elements are needed for it to develop... etc

[kanshu]

Maybe this story originally was a bit fanfic-ish, too.

Author, 21, Enjoys Otherworldly Success

<....snip...>
Not bad for a project Paolini began when he was just 15.

Paolini was homeschooled in Montana for most of his life by his parents, although he earned his diploma at age 15 from a correspondence high school. His parents thought he was too young to start college, and so he took up a hobby — writing "Eragon," the story of a boy and a dragon.

Paolini's family self-published "Eragon" in 2002 before it captivated a young stepson of author Carl Hiassen, who brought the book to the attention of his publisher. "Eragon" was republished in 2003 by Random House's Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, which also acquired the rights to the rest of the series.
<...end snip...>

Read the full article at:
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050918/ap_en_ot/books_christopher_paolini;_ylt= AieNVMV._E77f7nX4P0JsxpX24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[narrizan]

hiya!

I actually have the book, it has been sitting on my shelf now for perhaps a year ...and no; I have not read it! I would like to say I actually have not the time to sit down to read it, which is only partly true.

So I can't review it here just at the moment.

I did buy it because it had a dragon in it, and the cover that Doubleday ( which is the British arm of Random House) is quite a lovely one. I know marketing sometimes work doesn't it?
But I do aim to read it to the children at night soon. when they are old enough to sit still beyond "the three billy goats gruff"

Having a film made of it with Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich....well I guess I had better go read it then!!! amongst all the other stuff I still have to read!



- zan