Seems like everything coming out is either a reboot, reimagining, rewrite, or something that involves a pre-existing franchise. This isn’t about originality being dead and nobody wanting to take a risk on a new franchise. Instead, I’m thinking about how some people just grab these established stories solely for name recognition. They go on to do whatever they want with them and put very little effort into retaining the heart of the stories, which made them popular in the first place. I’m not naming names here, but we’ve all seen this happen and heard the excuses.
This is not to say that you can’t take a pre-existing franchise and reboot it in a successful way. It’s difficult, but not impossible. One of the key points is honoring the heart of the original story. This can be part of the lore, the way characters are handled, or anything at the core of its original success. After all, it isn’t the name that makes a series popular, but what happens inside it and how it makes the readers/viewers feel. Retain that even with some alteration and you can avoid a lot of grief.
Of course, it’s hard to agree on what the heart of a story is. Authors have their own definition for it, which varies among them. Fans have another and non-fans have either a third or don’t care about the heart in the first place. Then, you have the person coming in to do the rewrite who may have their own ‘heart’ in mind that doesn’t match with the original. Finally, you have those who simply want to make money at the cost of a franchise’s reputation and cohesive fandom. Again, I’m not naming names here, so let’s get to the questions.
What do you consider to be the ‘heart’ of a story?
Do you think a rewrite/reboot needs to honor the ‘heart’ of the original story?
How would you feel if your books were adapted with no concern for the ‘heart’ of the story?
(This poem is another easy one to figure it. Deals with a person who was bad in a past life and is routinely being punished whenever reincarnated. I always thought that would be a nightmare because the person would suffer without knowing why. They might never work off their spiritual debt and even make things worse.)
Welcome to our simple and reasonably priced shop. All of our gems have been magically imbued by the finest wizards this side of the Tappan Zee Bridge. Thankfully, that’s the good side. Now, here is a list of our categories. You are responsible for setting it in a piece since we only provide the gems. Enjoy.
Emeralds– This grant the wearer telepathy, which grows in power as you add gems. The downside is that you get very sleepy whenever you probe a mind. No coffee can undo this drowsiness.
Rubies– The wearer can conjure a shield of their own design on command. When activated, the gem will cause random people to fall in love with you.
Sapphires– The wearer is able to look into the future. The more stones, the further you can see. While using this, you will not be aware of your surroundings. It can also go off without warning if worn for too long.
Amethyst– The wearer can maintain a sense of calm for as long as they keep the gemstone pressed against their forehead. Works best in a crown, but overuse can create a sense of drunk-like euphoria.
Amazonite– Grants the wearer the ability to identify toxic individuals. Do with this information what you wish. Downside is that you can only get this information 2 days after the gem reads the person.
Jasper– The wearer gains unbreakable balance both physically, mentally, and emotionally. This also means that they will find it difficult to be sad in situations that require it. For example, mourning a loved one will be nearly impossible until the gem is removed and a backlash will occur.
Moonstone– Grants the wearer include luck when it comes to achieving their goals and gaining the basics for survival. This does cause at least one person around you to have bad luck because the universe needs to remain balanced.
Topaz– The wearer gains superhuman strength of body and mind. This does not give you any level of invulnerability. You also will have to learn to hold back, so expect to break many things until you gain control. (AVOID HANDSHAKES AND HUGS!)
Tiger’s Eye– Grants the wearer a sense of confidence and bravery whenever they feel stressed. Downside is that you will battle a tiger in your dreams every night and losing means the gem won’t work for the next day.
Peridot– The wearer gains moderate levels of healing of both themselves and others. It means cuts, broken bones, and common diseases, but not cancers, missing limbs, or other severe issues. The wearer will also become incapable of lying and occasionally have the urge to be a nudist.
Lapis Lazuli– The wearer gains a total awareness of their surroundings. This does not mean you will understand everything going on because it still takes the brain a bit to process. Can cause severe migraines and vertigo.
Fluorite– Increases the wearers ability to absorb, retain, and recall knowledge. Side power is the ability to read at superhuman speeds. Half of what is learned will be forgotten when gem is removed.
Citrine– The wearer gains the ability to find ways to make easy money. It is very similar to luck, but requires effort and decisions to be made. Downside is that the gem does NOT take the wearer’s safety into consideration.
Aquamarine– Grants the wearer the power of astral projection. The usual dangers of getting lost on the astral plane and your body not being protected apply. Also, you can be spotted in digital cameras and you will be in your underwear.
Diamonds– Grants the wearer the ability to steal and absorb the powers of other gems and magical beings. Downside is that you will go mad with power and start on the path of world domination. (Please sign waiver to assume all responsibility for supervillain actions.)
It’s tough being an author. You don’t always find the time you would like to write your stories and most people see it as a hobby. Ideas will turn on you too. The amount of pitfalls can be daunting and your average person doesn’t notice them. So, I decided to use the next couple of Tuesdays to open the floor to the ‘Four Horsemen of Writing’. They don’t have horses though.
Keep in mind that this is the list I came up with for myself, so the lineup could be different for every author. That works as a disclaimer, so let’s see the first one.
Procrastination
We do it to ourselves. Whether it be out of fear or being horribly unfocused, we do other things instead of writing. We may even do writing-like things without actually touching on the books or outlines. Research can lead to this because an author may spend an evening jumping down every rabbit hole they find. Before they know it, they have to get some sleep and came out of the evening with nothing to show for it. Not even a memory of what they were originally looking up.
Life tends to cause this as well. We have other tasks and chores, which we may gravitate towards even if we don’t like them. It delays the writing, which we both love and get nervous about. Not that we’re aware of it, but there could be a subconscious voice that isn’t reading for us to put our thoughts on paper. After all, writing does involve putting some of our soul into our work, which leaves us vulnerable. Procrastination can put off exposing one to that effect for just a little bit longer. Again, we might not even realize we’re doing it.
So, let’s just open the floor because everyone tackles this differently. I mean, my procrastination stems from anxiety and exhaustion. Life just wears me down and I lack the urge to write at times even though I plan out the time. Other people may have other triggers, so it’s best for everyone to give their opinion.
Are you a major or minor procrastinator?
What is something you do to prevent or minimize procrastination?
Do you think you do it without realizing that you do it?
I know this one is going to bite me in the ass. Just can’t stop myself because this has been bugging me for months. Pretty sure I’ll see some people pop up in the comments who I haven’t heard from in a long time too. Why? Because this is a topic that I’ve seen cause a lot of conflict and I’m stepping in it.
A while back, Amazon put out the ‘Rings of Power’ . . . I wasn’t done, so put away the pitchforks! I didn’t have any interest in this from the beginning because I didn’t trust Amazon. Got worse when I heard they only got rights to the ‘Return of the King’ appendices. That made me think they just wanted the name and were going to do whatever they felt like doing. I only paid attention enough to have conversations and heard a few episodes that my parents watched. Took a peek and just couldn’t garner much interest. Part of that stems from a phrase that popped up too.
Now, we all know the battle that took place over this series. Certain changes were made and certain groups got angry, which turned the whole debacle into a mess that Sauron would have been proud of. People wanted to see more diversity in LOTR, which is fine and they made it a focal point. Okay, that’s not a bad thing as long as you have it make sense and try to hold to the lore. I mean, this is a beloved franchise that has years of lore and thousands upon thousands of fans. Best to treat such changes with . . .
People started saying they were going to ‘fix’ the Lord of the Rings.
As an author, this made me see red because it shows a severe disrespect to the source material. It says that the source material is wrong and broken, which is different than saying you want to modernize it. Modernize means it’s old and should be altered for modern audiences. Fixed means it was always flawed and now it’s going to be turned into the story it should have always been. There’s just a level of arrogance, disrespect, and sneering disdain that stems from that phrase.
I really think this was a bad argument for Tolkien. He’s dead, so he can’t defend himself or comment on the changes. Amazon didn’t even get enough of the lore for them to ‘fix’ anything. It’s like rewriting one of Beethoven’s symphonies, but you only have a cymbal and a kazoo with gum stuck over one of the holes. You don’t have the tools to ‘fix’ the overall story. You can modernize and give your own version of it, but that’s really the limit.
‘Fix’ always gives the idea that this new version is going to replace the original. Again, we’re talking about a story whose author is deceased. Most of the people cheering for this never read the originals or know anything beyond the Jackson movies. So, they have no connection to the originals, which means this does become their version. ‘Fixing’ means there’s no reason to read ‘Lord of the Rings’ because you’ve noted it as flawed and inferior to ‘Rings of Power’. All this really does is create a schism in a franchise where people battle over their versions of a story. Not that we haven’t been seeing that go on for the past few years, but that’s another post that I’m not writing.
I know it’s one phrase that pissed me off and I can’t even remember if it was uttered by supporters or people involved. Yet, I saw it getting used in comment sections after it came about. I saw people saying that the source material isn’t important and there’s no reason to stay even remotely true to it. If the author is dead, they have no interest in preserving any of the original. Even though I doubt my stories will ever be adapted because I have no fan-base, it’s scary to think that what I put my heart and soul into would be treated with such callousness. Stories are the legacy of their authors and small pieces that they left behind. To say that they need to be ‘fixed’ just frustrates me.
Hopefully, I’m not going to walk into a fight in the comments. I know ‘Rings of Power’ was/is controversial. I really couldn’t care less about it. A key desire for me with any adaptation is that respect is shown to the source material both in the writing and the promotions. Don’t feel that was done with this phrase, so I needed to make some kind of rant.
I went to see if today was a special day for an animal to give me an idea of which one I should post from my list. I’d already done cheetah, but I saw National World Wildlife Conservation Day at the bottom of the list. That gave me an idea.
I always mention why species are in danger and that inevitably gets people commenting on how humans are monsters. While this can be true, you also have humans who are fighting to keep species alive. We are a species of individuals, which means we should honor the good while condemning the bad. So, I went looking for examples of conservation success stories. Some of these animals are in the clear while others are moving away from the brink thanks to heavy conservation efforts made by groups, individuals, and local governments.
The weather has been jumping around from 30’s to 50’s. We’ve had rainy days and the barometric pressure has been wonky. So, my sinuses have been brutalized and I’ve apparently got asthma. Walking into the chilly mornings was like my lungs abruptly decided to shrivel and leave me gasping for air. Not fun and it made getting through the day a challenge. Sleep was a problem too because I’d be anxious and the cold nights would set off more breathing issues.
Needless to say, I didn’t have a good week.
It wasn’t like I had any control over this either. Can’t control the weather or my body’s reaction to it. Had to put all of my energy and focus towards work and parenting, so there wasn’t much left by the time I had free time. My goals weren’t really met since I couldn’t do anything with my outlines, notebooks, or blogging. Every time I tried, I wore down within minutes and had to crawl to bed. It felt like I was sick, but it was just limited sleep and sinus issues. All I could do was work on my jigsaw puzzle and let episodes of an anime play. Pretty sad, huh?
I keep trying to think of any progress that I made, but there’s nothing. Haircut happened, but I only got on the exercise bike once. That’s pretty much the theme. I touched on one goal, but had to sacrifice another. Not because I didn’t have the time, but I simply didn’t have the energy. Even writing this is rather draining and I’m doing it Friday night before heading out for a friend’s birthday. It’s the third birthday celebration for me this week too, but this one will have some drinks.
Thanksgiving last Saturday went well. The food was good and there was plenty left over, which I didn’t bother with the next night. If I don’t like turkey fresh then I’m not going to like it from the microwave. The rest of the holiday and weekend was relaxing with family and trying not to think about how I have 4 weeks straight without a break. I know this is normal for people, but it feels crazier when you’re in a school. Everyone is scrambling to set up tests, finish assignments, and get stuff done before the holidays. It’s not as crazy as the 6.5 week period in March/April, but you can feel pressure and tension in the air that wasn’t there before.
Actually, I did manage to get some good Black Friday sales. Most were online, but I got my son an iPad. Of course, my credit card company got freaked out by the sudden spending and the iPad purchase wouldn’t go through. Of course, it was the one I was in a physical store for. Had to step out of line and get it settled, but the fix would take too long, so I had to pay with another card. Sounds like the system thought something suspicious was going on, but didn’t send me a verification text. Instead, it locked things down. Too bad machines don’t realize when a person is doing holiday shopping.
This weekend is going to be one of recovery, but also getting the Darwin & the Demon Game outline done. The older one is in decent shape, so I don’t have to change much. I managed to put a few notes on where to shore things up. Now, I only have to rewrite the outline and it will be ready for me when I hit the holiday break. If I finish that today then I’ll tinker with other stuff when I’m not resting up for another long week of wild temps and some rain. Maybe I’ll get some February blog posts done too since I still have 9-10 of those left.
Something else I’m going to do is watch ‘Wednesday’ on Netflix. I was going to put it off until I was finished with an anime I started last weekend. Then, I gave up on the anime when the main character (story is from a villain perspective) went to a level of evil that made no sense. It’s fantasy and he set up a fake lair where four groups of adventurers went in search of treasure. He even pretended to be a higher ranking adventurer who would protect the camp. Everyone was butchered and some were practically tortured before they died. Just couldn’t continue caring since I also knew that the story had it set up that nobody was stronger than the main character, so it wasn’t like he would pay for his actions. Heard that he crosses even more lines too, so I quit. I’ll start ‘Wednesday’ around lunch time if not early. That should be fun.
Legends of Windemere 