What if your book was rewritten?

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Bunny

Marketing Team

6,253 Posts
Karma: +94/-1

10:55pm Sat, Oct 3, 2009

I didnt know how to put the title....but what if your story turned out to be one of those stories that everyone has a take on?

How many Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stories have their been?
How many re-do's of The Amittyville Horror?

That's just two examples. There's hundreds more. If that sort of thing happened to your story how would you react or feel?

I think it depends. I can see myself getting pissed and pressing charges for plagiarism or some crap if they destroyed it...but if they did a decent job I think I'd find it amusing, and possibly inspiring.

Andre Vienne

Furry Young Bunny

666 Posts
Karma: +2/-0

Stories are meant to be retold. Certain stories are meant to be retold more often.

Honestly, I wouldn't care as long as it didn't suck ass.

Kimberley

Furry Young Bunny

843 Posts
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I probably wouldnt be too happy about it at first and kind of upset that they stole my ideas or characters and used them for their "own stories".

Ellie Insanity

Fluffy Toddler Bunny

247 Posts
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Although it would kind of suck, I'd like to see someone else try and come up with psychoctics for Adam's Peace

Bunny

Marketing Team

6,253 Posts
Karma: +94/-1

Andre Vienne (11:15pm Sat, Oct 3, 2009)
Stories are meant to be retold.

Classic stories. Not new novels surely?

Ellie Insanity

Fluffy Toddler Bunny

247 Posts
Karma: +1/-0

Bunny (03:41pm Fri, Jan 8, 2010)
Andre Vienne (11:15pm Sat, Oct 3, 2009)
Stories are meant to be retold.

Classic stories. Not new novels surely?

It makes no sense to rewrite a new novel. That's plagerism in itself

Lunar

Furrless Old Bunny

1,215 Posts
Karma: +1/-0

I think if spin-off type things of my story would be awesome - like the same characters in different/new situations? Much like the Angel series that started after Buffy, that's what I am thinking along the lines of.
If my story became as big and well known as the Amittyville Horror, so long as I got money for it I wouldn't be too fussed

So long as it was good, like Andre suggested.

Ellie Insanity (11:40am Sat, Jan 9, 2010)
Bunny (03:41pm Fri, Jan 8, 2010)
Andre Vienne (11:15pm Sat, Oct 3, 2009)
Stories are meant to be retold.

Classic stories. Not new novels surely?

It makes no sense to rewrite a new novel. That's plagerism in itself

I think it's not the word "classic" you need to use here, but instead great, loved or famous... If that makes sense? Amittyville (I realise I am using the same example again

) was once a new novel, and because everyone loved it, and it was great, it became famous and therefore people make new versions of it. If my story went through this process and it was famous enough/great enough/loved enough, then I don't think I would mind at all people making their own versions of it

Bunny

Marketing Team

6,253 Posts
Karma: +94/-1

Then we have to ask: Harry Potter and Twilight are loved.....can they be re-written?

OR is it limited to one title series?

Lunar

Furrless Old Bunny

1,215 Posts
Karma: +1/-0

Hmmmm Interesting question.... I suppose that a spin off type thing (Buffy/Angel) Could definitely be inetersting. But the difference (among others) between Amittyville and Twilight is that Twilight is based on the characters so a re-write wont do it justice in the eyes of the fans. Whereas Amittyville is about the story line and the main theme of a haunted house, the characters are disposable, so it doesn't matter how many different one you make, it is still loved for the same reasons people loved the first one - the story line. People love Twlight for the characters, so making them the same would be a lot more difficult.

Bunny

Marketing Team

6,253 Posts
Karma: +94/-1

Nice take!!! You're absolutely right

Lunar

Furrless Old Bunny

1,215 Posts
Karma: +1/-0

Thank you

I was thinking about this for ages

lol

Bunny

Marketing Team

6,253 Posts
Karma: +94/-1

Well you cracked the code.

Personally, considering my own writing.....if I could write a story that could be retold I would be pretty fucking proud of myself. My stories are usually revolving around how entwined the characters are.....my stories are usually heavily wrapped, there's never a lose end.

I'd still be pissy someone retold it though. Specially if it were better lol.

Kimberley

Furry Young Bunny

843 Posts
Karma: +9/-0

I don't think my stories could be retold....they're my life - it's not like you can change events for entertainment then it's not an autobiography.

LtStorm

Fuzzy Teenage Bunny

577 Posts
Karma: +0/-1

I'm all for re-telling stories. I'm all for doing it with recently published works as long as you don't run into an ethical conflict over it. I.E. you're trying to turn a profit off of retelling a story someone else is trying to turn a profit off of. You want to re-write their story and release it for free as your own interpretation, I think you should have carte blanche to do so.

It's hard to tell an entirely original story anyway. Most fall into archetypes and tropes that are reused in the author's own way for a story. Even the Bible got this in Ecclesiastes when its commented that there is nothing new under the sun (ironic that Christians claim their religion is original when their holy book explicitly states that nothing is).

Dragom

Growing Baby Bunny
Regular Member

27 Posts
Karma: +0/-0

I recall that the year Dragon Slayer came out Short Story publicists where inundated with highly similar "save the sacrificial princess/virgin from the dragon" stories. Mostly variating from each other in only very small ways.

I guess you can only get out of a writer what you first put in.

If I found myself submitting one of the twenty "Jack the Dragon Slayer" stories in which the protagonist sold his soul to various dark powers for a magically endowed spear (Swords being placed in a different stack of submissions) with which to slay the beast and save his true love...

I'd go out and buy a ton of novels, of all levels of popularity and genre, and read them till my style of writing incorporated enough sources of inspiration that no-one could tell I wasn't being original.

And of course I'd be embarrassed too.

[1]

More on the Author

Membership Info
Jade Elizabeth (Bunny) is a Poet who has made 6253 posts since joining Creative Burrow on 12:15am Sun, Nov 2, 2008. Bunny was invited by No one (creator of this site).

About Bunny
Jade Elizabeth is an eccentric young woman who enjoys writing stories and poems with hidden deeper meanings. She is quoted saying “Writing to me is not a hobby. It's a passion. It's something that lets my thoughts expose themselves, and my heart shine through where other art could not.”

Commonly her poems are inspired by love or depression, and are dedicated to the people who encouraged the emotion. Given the chance she will readily pull her poems apart, exposing the deeper and hidden meanings behind her words.

Her stories are usually unspoken messages to those close to her – giving every story a hidden meaning. Some things are better left unsaid, or in her case, expressed indirectly through stories.

Jade used to write Documentation for Simple Machines in her free time, but has since begun studying and working, which takes up most of her free time now.

Writing Style
Romance, Fantasy, and Sad Stories and Poems.

Other Works by this Author
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