Writer’s Note: This is Thursday’s article…yes I am behind…
Admittedly, I enjoyed the recent movie that made Abe Lincoln a zombie hunter. I also thought the Jane Austin books melding historical fiction and zombies were hilarious. But now….it’s going too far. Writers everywhere are taking historically good fiction and mucking it up with zombies, aliens and the like.
There are all kinds of writers and I bow to each and every one of them except for one particular kind…the lazy writer. In my humble opinion, (and it is my opinion) if you are thinking of rewriting a loved piece of fiction only throwing in a zombie or a vampire…unless you have a very different spin on it…DON’T DO IT! You are just being lazy.
I have a friend (and I use that term loosely in this case) who wants to rewrite the “To Kill a Mockingbird” making the main character a wizard. When he told me that over coffee one afternoon all I could think to say was, “That’s retarded”. He went away mad that I couldn’t see his vision and I went home to mull over the fact that, as writers, we have gotten lazy about finding the story.
While it can be tough finding a new way to spin a subject, if you discover yourself looking for an easy way out…you need to rethink your career choices. Writing is tough but coming up with new ideas for stories can be even tougher over time. The true meddle of a writer is sometimes found in the fact that they can see story where ever they go. I never look at an already written piece and say, how can I muck that up with something bizarre. We have to, at some point, have more respect for the original piece.
So take those old standards and throw in a demon or vampire if you must but know that we all realize that this isn’t your story. It’s the same as sewing a cuff on a shirt and calling it your design….ummmm…not really.
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