Movie Fanfictions

10Feb13

Let’s talk about movie fanfictions. And the most common form of them—inserting your new character into the movie. There’s nothing wrong with the idea. It’s usually in the execution and I tend to see the same one over and over. New characters gets inserted into movie and author transcribes the film.

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Sorry, where was I? Oh, right, new characters inserted into movie fics. Yes, most times they are boring. If I wanted to watch the movie, I’d watch the movie.

Here’s the thing: You’re not being creative. And don’t tell me “But I created this new character!” Let me guess: The character is a young female who is incredibly beautiful. Maybe she has red hair, maybe not. Maybe she has green eyes or perhaps some other exotic color. And you probably describe it with two words. Jade green (which is redundant). Ice blue. Chocolate brown. She’s probably very buxom yet very skinny. Probably dresses in a way you wish you could, whether or not it’s practical or appropriate for her class or the setting. And she’s probably outspoken and “witty.” Probably very talented too. She might sing. She might fight. She might be a healer. She might have magical abilities. Or all of the above.

I probably hit your character, didn’t I? So sit back down and listen up.

Let’s go back to how you’re not being creative. Here’s the thing about transcribing movies: you can’t just write down what’s on screen. Now one might argue about movie novelizations. Have you read one? They are written by people who understand that they have to take the movie’s visuals and audios and use their words to achieve the same effect. The authors also give readers a deeper insight into characters’ thoughts and motivations.

But here’s the thing: They aren’t making up a new character and dropping them into the action. And that’s what happens more often than not in these fanfictions. Which adds more problems inexperienced authors don’t think about. How adding someone upsets the balance in canon. I know. I have a stalled Doctor Who fic which got pushed aside for my original works. I worked in flashbacks of my original character in episodes of the new series. Which was difficult because some of these episodes are so well woven together, it’s hard to change something.

If you want to insert a new character, you have to think things through. How does their presence change the story? For example, how would having a tenth walker affect the Fellowship? How about the outcome of certain battles? Does it affect Boromir’s death? And so many more questions to answer.

You may not want to change the movie, but you are going to have to embellish it. It’ll be far more interesting than a flat recreation of a movie scene.

Though you don’t have to copy the movie scene-by-scene. For example, many Lord of the Ring fanfics include the drinking game scene from “Return of the King.” Here’s the thing about that scene: It’s not important to the film. You could take it out and nothing would be lost. So why did PJ include it? Because “The Return of the King” is a dark and intense film for the first two acts. So you need to insert some humorous moments to allow the audience to take a breather from the darkness and intensity. That’s what the drinking game scene is. It does little to move the plot forward nor does it supply character development. You don’t have to include it in your fanfic.

I challenge you to work within the party scene to create something that either moves the plot forward and/or supplies character development. You want to have your character bond with Legolas? Well, come up with another way because I don’t think Legolas is going to find the ability to down lots of beer an attractive quality in a wife. Have them share a dance or a quiet moment instead.

Onto the dialogue…Copying the movie script is plagiarism. If you go back to
the novelization, forget it. The authors of those have permission to use the script. You don’t. So yes, you are plagiarizing. Be creative! Especially with your character. Don’t use another character’s dialogue. Remember my review of “Estel and Meleth”? I mentioned that at one point Guin steals Eowyn’s “I fear a cage” line and gave it to Solly. It made no sense given what we knew about Solly. Eowyn feared a cage because she saw her life heading that way—as a woman, she was destined to become a wife and mother, to sit on the sidelines while the men went out and sought glory. This made no sense for Solly, a character we were told had met Haldir while traveling around Middle earth. She was able to fight, even after getting married and while pregnant (!), so she was never caged in.

This is why cribbed dialogue hardly works. So think of your character and how he or she would react. Then write it accordingly.

So, in conclusion: It’s okay to be inspired by a movie and to try an add your own character. Just be original!

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Tags: characters, dialogue, movies