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01-28-2008, 03:39 PM
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#1
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Scribe
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: New Jersey
Gender: Male
Posts: 83
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Question about "Variation"
I know all about plagiarism and copyright issues; but, I was wondering if it is o.k. for an author to write a "variation" on a classic work. I was thinking about doing this for Kafka's Metamorphosis, but then it would be considered plagiarism and copyright fraudulence. David Thomas did it for Jekyll and Hyde (Jekyll, Alias Hyde: A Variation); would it be considered parody? Just wondering. I may ditch the idea all together.
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01-28-2008, 07:17 PM
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#2
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Aug 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 436
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I would think it would depend on the age of the piece. Jekyll and Hyde has been in public domain for some time.
__________________
I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: "No good in a bed, but fine against a wall." --- Eleanor Roosevelt
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01-28-2008, 08:21 PM
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#3
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Banned
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,414
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Write your own stories, your own plot, and your own original work.
How hard is that?
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01-28-2008, 08:29 PM
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#4
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,865
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Pay no attention to the man behind the veil of idiocy.
"Classic" is a lose category. "In public domain" is more specific and up for grabs. It's hard to say what you are planning, but I know you have seen the mass of vampire and Frankenstein stories, the dozens of Robin Hood and Tarzan and Zorro books and films.
If it's in public domain...well, you're the public, huh? If not, it all starts depending on just how close your variation runs.
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01-29-2008, 03:14 AM
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#5
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,478
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lin
Pay no attention to the man behind the veil of idiocy.
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Indeed. Many stories are variations of older ones. Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now, for example.
If you're taking the basic theme, or an approximation of the plot, all well and good. Just don't rip off the actual telling. If it's going to be an homage, or a parody, be up front and say so at the outset, so nobody feels cheated. |
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02-01-2008, 05:50 AM
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#6
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 288
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hmm, this is a grey area. I guess parodies can be appealing, I think there has been many versions of "A Christmas Carol", but your chances of being published etc are unlikely. Who would take the risk?
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02-01-2008, 10:33 AM
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#7
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,478
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Bored of the Rings? That got published. All of Pratchet's work parodies fantasy. No problems getting published there.
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02-01-2008, 01:51 PM
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#8
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,810
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Yeah, it just matters how you do it. To add to the book/movie remake thing, I'll throw out O Brother Where Art Thou?
__________________
There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed
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02-01-2008, 04:40 PM
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#9
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,478
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And Romeo & Juliet/West Side Story. Then there's the whole Hamlet/Rosenkrantz & Gildenstern thing.
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02-06-2008, 01:25 AM
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#10
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Scribe
Join Date: Jan 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 51
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A few more that I know to be actually good. Lord knows Love Story "inspired" legions of crap. And so did LOTR, of course.
Mrs. Dalloway/The Hours (Michael Cunningham)
Leaves of Grass/Specimen days (same)
Cupid and Psyche/Till We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis)
the Gospels/The Chronicles of Narnia (same)
Pyramus and Thisbe/Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)
Prometheus/everything by Lord Byron
Wicked/the Wizard of Oz (Gregory Maguire)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (same)
Grendel (John Gardner)
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02-06-2008, 04:55 AM
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#11
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Mentor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,565
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Back to the original question. You can do anything you like, the question is will someone be willing to sell it. On the examples you've mentioned I'd stay away fro Metamorphosis.
I once thought about doing a narrative re-telling of The Illiad. I was intending to title it "A Narrative Retelling of Homer's The Iliad". Then they made the movie, and that sort of stole my thunder, but it does indicate there's a market for it.
A lot of the aged classics tend to be written in language that is difficult to digest, and can be unappealing to the reader. That doesn't mean the story is no good, or can't be told now, using modern story-telling techniques.
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Originally Posted by Gohn
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