The only 'hopping’ I’ve actually tried was moving the setting of a story. I moved one from a High School setting somewhere in NW England to a hotel setting in New York, and another from a college in Virginia to a college in the UK. The first one is buried somewhere at the bottom of a box (might resurrect it one day), the second is one I continue to struggle with. I might end up re-setting it yet again.
However, the only genre I would consider (in addition to contemporary romance) is historical. I have no interest at all in anything sci-fi, paranormal or fantasy, and am a loss to understand the current fascination with vampires. These genres do absolutely nothing for me and I wouldn’t have a clue how to write any of them.
Re-writing a modern story as historical (or vice versa) is fraught with problems though. If it was just a case of (as Ana said), ‘boy meets girl, obstacles arise, love wins in the end’, then it’s probably true that a story could be put into any historical period. But transposing an already written story into a different era would need a major re-think.
If I moved my ‘modern’ story, for example, to Medieval times, I would have to take into account different attitudes, mores, conventions and values and, more practically, transport and communication differences.
I have a strong suspicion that even the bare outline of a plot would change if the characters were dumped in a different era – if the characters in a modern story no longer had access to a phone and took days/weeks to travel from one place to another or, at the other extreme (as in a sci-fi story), had access to instant ‘beam me up, Scottie’ technology and had developed the skill of telepathy!
I think I’ll stick with contemporary romance.
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ReplyDeleteAwwww, c'mon Paula, a few writing mountains to climb is good for author tune-up! ;) What I love about historicals is the writing of letters involved, and actually having to think how people expressed themselves per era.
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Historicals per se are fine (except those which are overloaded with prithee, forsooth and verily), but I was thinking more of how to adapt a modern story into a historical setting. The whole pace of life was slower (letters, as you say, and not a quick call on a cellphone) which must inevitably change a lot of the story from its original modern setting. Might be fun to try it, though, just to see how much actually could be adapted.
ReplyDeleteI can see possibly moving a story from a historical to a contemporary, especially if after writing it you feel like something didn't work. That might make things easier. But I really think it would be difficult to go the other way.
ReplyDeleteSo true about moving from contemporary to historical. I've even had old manuscripts that I've pulled out from under the bed so to speak and had to look for out of date things like VCRs, cassette tapes/records, types of telephones, even clothing and language choices. I can't imagine moving a story to an entirely different era.
ReplyDeletePaula: that's why I like the 1700s, because although Tudor/Elizabethan (Shakespeare's) influence still prevailed in literary terms the language had moved on quite a bit. By then verily, prithee and forsooth tended to remain in the more religious minded sector: bawdy language and less flowery tongue common among the [how shall we say] Cavalier elements at that time within the elite as well as ordinary soldiers etc. Letters and diaries from that period are fabulous to read, and very enlightning.
ReplyDeleteJennifer: coming from historical to contemporary it would be a case of adding requisites for modern living and working, so easy in that respect. Vice versa requires dumping technology etc., and going back to basics. I'm not sure which would be worse: writing things in or throwing in the bin! The bin appeals along with the thought of slower pace of life. ;)
Ha ha, fun discussion.
Debra: think, in fifty years time we (humans) may end up going backwards as finite resources run out and technology fails to provide for the common man re cars etc., which means only the wealthy will have the wherewithall to motor around and purchase luxury goods. Historical novels may well feel familiar, whereas techno minded modern novels will read like fantasy: grandparents saying "I remember when everybody had a car and a washing machine, dish-washers, too". :o
On that happy note . . .
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Sticking with an original setting would require less scouring for time-sensitive details.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest challenges I faced when coming back to fiction writing was realising that my characters now had modern communication methods at their disposal - and that's only after a 20+ year gap. In the 60's and 70's, characters couldn't have immediate access through email or cell-phones, and if one of them went overseas, they were virtually incommunicado for the duration. Not any more, of course - which can often be used to advantage, but sometimes works against you, when you want the characters NOT able to contact each other!
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