Instead of just talking ......

Iā€™m reading ā€œThe Mists of Avalonā€ by the late Marion Zimmer Bradly, which is a retelling of the legend of King Arthur from the point of view of the women. Iā€™m thinking that I can develop my writing skills by retelling the stories that are well known (and public domain), so here are some thoughts.


King Arthur

I can retell the legend of King Arthur, from various points of view. Avalon dealt with the tension between Celtic paganism and Christianity, and also from the views of the women. I am not sure how I would approach the story, but, after some research and writing, Iā€™m sure I would figure out something.


The Monkey King

And I have figured out my initial approach to the retelling of the Monkey King. That was one of my favorite childhood stories, which is based on the true story of the Chinese monk who did travel to India to collect the scriptures of Buddhism, which would be used to promote enlightenment in China. In my version, China would be in great turmoil, and, despite its progress as a civilization, it lacks proper values. The goal, then, is to get those scriptures, so the Chinese can learn the ways of enlightenment.


Asimovā€™s Foundation series

I havenā€™t seen the current series, which is being streamed, but I read somewhere that itā€™s a plodding drama, with the writers trying to stretch things out, when the original trilogy is really a bunch of short stories. I have also read of how many writers have tried to adapt it to film and TV, but they havenā€™t been able to do it properly.

As I would do it, I would tell the story from the point of R. Daniel Olivaw ā€“ Asimov tried to integrate his robot and foundation series, so it turned out that the foundation and development of psychohistory was started by the robot, who stood around all these eons to ensure that humanity was protected. To me, the dystopian future of Earth, when he was created, would be a mixture of Fritz Langā€™s Metropolis and the movie, Bladerunner, and a similar feel would be true in the waning days of the Galactic Empire, when the psychohistorian, Salvor Hardin, set out to create the Foundations that would preserve the Empire.
 
I wrote that post above on Sunday, when I had a few moments to myself. And I felt good all day Monday and even today. Writing is my creative expression then, not film, though I still hope to be an EP-writer.

Anyway, to elaborate on the post above, Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Mist of Avalon" has been hailed as having believable characters, but the story, so far, can be slow moving and, somehow, the characters speak perfect modern English. Instead of "Mists ......", I would recommend Vonda McIntyre's "Enterprise: The First Adventure", which deals with very believable depictions of the main Star Trek characters, as well as a few others not in the canon - this book truly, was about people living their lives in the space age. in a similar vein, her novelizations of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek III: The Return of Spock" also have beelievable depictions of the characters. I would use McIntyre's books as models.

Speaking of "Mists ...... " the elephant in the room are the allegations by her daughter of sexual abuse. These accusations came out after MZB died, and, since there was no trial, I don't know what evidence there was, but, as a lawyer, sexual abuse is always tragic.

Thanks for letting me write my blog post.
 
I'm almost halfway through "The Mists of Avalon", and, while it's very well written, at over 800 pages, it's pretty slow moving. I know about the love affairs in the Arthurian legend, and the late author has included some love scenes between women - this is, after all, the tale told from the point of view of the women. I may have been a divorce lawyer for too long, but I've no patience for romantic troubles, so, as I plot my version, I'm thinking of leaving those out entirely.

I'm also thinking of re-writing an alternate history, because I don't like being bound by history. As I now realize, I also don't like being bound by romantic troubles - I wonder how I'm going to re write the Trojan War, then.
 
Serious question: what's the appeal (for you) in re-telling a story that's already been written, rather than writing your own from scratch? While I can see creative value in looking at a familiar tale from a new perspective*, do you think you'll achieve much satisfaction re-writing an existing drama simply to improve its pacing if you haven't been employed to do that by a studio?

* For the week that's in it: I've long thought there must be a story in telling the events of Easter Week from the perspective of Pontius Pilate. I visited his "retirement home" in Italy a few years ago and often wonder whether that fatal Friday was just another day for him, or did it mess with his head for ever after ...
 
@CelticRambler, I'm a pantser, which means I write by the seat of my pants, according to my whims and fancies. It just made me feel good to do that. As for my original work, I have been working on my magnus opus, which has gone through some major revisions in the story I've been wanting to tell.

I will post more about this later - as I said, enough talking about doing something, so I will write about doing something. And thanks for encouraging me to do so.
 
One thing I notice, AP: you say you want to work with public-domain material, but most of the material you cite is not in the public domain. Are you writing these things just for your own entertainment? Nothing wrong with that, of course.
 
The Lone Banana said:
One thing I notice, AP: you say you want to work with public-domain material, but most of the material you cite is not in the public domain. Are you writing these things just for your own entertainment? Nothing wrong with that, of course.
Click to expand...
I'm talking of King Arthur and the Monkey King; not the modern copyrighted versions.
 
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