Dec. 11th, 2014

edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
December 11: remixing tips/process (for [livejournal.com profile] hungrytiger11) [Tumblr crosspost]

Uh. I am not the most qualified to talk about this, but I'll do my best.

I think the main thing is that you can't be scared to change stuff. Remix exchanges are only exchanges in the technical sense. What you produce isn't a gift in the same way as stories written for prompt-based exchanges. A remix should be tailored to what you like, not to what your remixee likes. I mean, this isn't carte blanche to do stuff you know the original writer will despise with every fiber of their being -- that is a jerk move; don't do that -- but when you sign up to be remixed... you pays your money, you takes your chances, you know?

Every remix is going to be different because every fandom, every story, and every writer is different, but the approach I've settled on is as follows. First, I find a story that has something in it that grabs me on a gut level, not just an intellectual one. Then I ask myself, "What is this story fundamentally about? What is its central idea/image/theme/arc/whatever?" And then I ask, "If I wanted to write a story about that idea, with these characters, how would I do it?"

I don't start thinking about how to incorporate specific scenes and lines of dialogue from the original until after I've done that basic structural work. It's easier to build from the skeleton out than to build from the drapery in... or at least it is for me. YMMV! I do try to echo stuff from the original whenever possible, though. I like to think of a fic and its remix as, oh, let's say frescoes on either side of a door. The more similarities they have in phrasing and word choice and scene structure, the more balanced and elegant the overall effect will be.

(Oh, also! Not all writers put pairings in their metadata, so if they include links to prompt sources, learn from my mistakes and follow them. This may prevent you from accidentally remixing a drabble that was intended as shippy slash fic into a gen fic that includes background het pairings for both members of their OTP. *wince*)

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Elizabeth Culmer

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