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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 werelifted 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.
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
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.
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