Here's something I've been wondering. Let's say you wrote a book and you were asked to change something about the protagonist.
Perhaps he was straight and you were asked to make him gay. Or white and you were asked to make him black.
Or maybe she was a vampire and you were asked to make her a zombie. Or she was a fae and you were asked to make her a witch.
Could you? Would you?
I can't wrap my brain around writing a book, for instance, with a vampire MC and then rewriting that same book with the MC as a zombie. Maybe it's just me, but like zombies are so not attractive. I don't think I'd be able to make a zombie sexy. Maybe that just means I stink as a writer. But I have to feel it, you know. I have to feel that passion and cuddling up to a zombie, who by the way isn't even a live being, makes me want to puke not purr.
I will go to the ends of the earth to make my novel the best it can be. I'll rewrite the entire novel if I have to. But I'm not sure I can change something so vital to the story that it, well, changes the entire story.
Have you ever been asked to do this? Have you been successful? Thoughts from my writerly friends?
Also, my other blog, Buffy's World, was part of a big award win for York Daily Record/Sunday News. YAY for my world!
Wow - have YOU been asked to make such a change?
ReplyDeleteI've been asked to reduce word count, change from 1st person to 3rd person POV, change the order of events, and "up the stakes" for the protagonist.
I've never been asked to change a fundamental aspect of my main characters. (Point of view was a biggie, but in the end it was the right thing to do for that manuscript.)
Every change I've ever been asked to make by an agent or editor improved my story tremendously.
But the changes you're talking about mean transforming your story into a DIFFERENT story entirely. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that.
An agent suggested I change the POV on my chapter book. I was nervous at first, but it made the story a lot better.
ReplyDeleteChanging your story may feel uncomfortable, but if it makes it more marketable and doesn't compromise your ethics in some way...I say go for it. :D
Hey ladies, this didn't happen to me. Thank gawd. But someone I met mentioned that this happened to her and I just wondered what your thoughts would be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dianne. It seems as if it would be a different story entirely. I always remember something I read about writing the story you must write, the one that lives inside you. Don't write for the market, write for yourself. And I truly believe this. I write because I have a story to tell and I hope that others will read my story and enjoy it. It's not about the money, it's about telling the story. Period.
Anyway, thanks for visiting. Hope all is well where you are.
Catch ya later, Buffy