Dickensblog

Contact

The first Dickens fanfiction challenge

Categories:

By Nibs, guest blogger

Why here I am again with another guest post! (Thanks, Gina! <3)

It has recently occurred to me that there's a surprising dearth of Dickens-related pastiche or fanfiction — it doesn't seem quite right that video game characters have greater fan followings than Dickens, does it?  Well, inspired by Dickens' manuscript of A Christmas Carol and the fact that Dickens himself wrote fanfiction, I think it would be a wonderful idea for viewers of this blog to participate in a Dickens fanfiction challenge!  After consulting with Gina, here's what we were thinking for the specifications:

  •  Your story should take place in winter ('tis the season…)
  •  Your story should center around a New-Year's style "resolution" of some sort — this could be serious or comic
  •  Your story should be about one of your top 5 favorite characters

Starting now, the challenge will run until December 30, when an announcement will be posted and we'll all give links to our finished stories. Your story doesn't have to be epic, but a few pages would be nice, and you don't have to match Boz himself. But we all have some literary genius, so don't be shy — join in!

Responses

  1. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Hmm, interesting requirements. They’ll fit nicely into my story, though.

    Reply
  2. Nibs Avatar
    Nibs

    I just remembered that I ought to also mention that your story should be no higher than PG, in case that wasn’t a given. 😉

    Reply
  3. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Good idea. Though most of Dickens’ stuff was PG-13 or higher.

    Reply
  4. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Do you think so? He dealt with some pretty heavy stuff, I know, but he handled it fairly delicately.
    As for the requirements, I think I can make them fit — if I fudge the definition of “resolution” just a little . . . 😉

    Reply
  5. Nibs Avatar
    Nibs

    I think that the *concepts* presented in Dickens’ stories are mature, but they are presented in a usually family-friendly way; that’s why they were family reading at the time. 🙂 Even most of his miniseries are only PG. We’ll rate it PG just to be on the safe side, since were no Dickens!

    Reply
  6. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Hmm, maybe I’m mostly talking about his themes. The death of Mr. Carker was pretty horrible, though, and what about the murder of Nancy? It’s been long enough since I’ve read it that I can’t remember any of the wording.
    Anyway, I completely agree about the rating for us.

    Reply
  7. Marian Avatar
    Marian

    This sounds cool! I’ll try to come up with something; if I don’t, it will still be really fun to read what everyone else has done. 🙂

    Reply
  8. Nibs Avatar
    Nibs

    I hope you do come up with something, Marian! I love hearing about your Victorian novel and I’d like to read your writing! 🙂

    Reply
  9. Nibs Avatar
    Nibs

    Just checking in to see if anyone else has started their story. 🙂 I’m about 3/4 done with the first draft!

    Reply
  10. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    I’m done with mine. It’s a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be.

    Reply
  11. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    I haven’t even started!!

    Reply
  12. Marian Avatar
    Marian

    Me neither…I’m still trying to decide on a plot. 😉

    Reply
  13. Nibs Avatar
    Nibs

    I say that we do this for the group FF – say I write the first chapter, and leave a cliffhanger. Then Christy comes in to finish the cliffhanger, write a chapter, and leave a cliffhanger until someone ends the story?
    Because I’m really bad at RPG too!

    Reply
  14. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    I don’t know the slightest thing about role playing, so I guess I didn’t know what I was proposing was role playing. Anyway, chapter-by-chapter sounds good to me. What was your story idea, Nibs?

    Reply
  15. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    You see it on fansites for movies and shows — at least, that’s where I’ve seen it. Each person takes on a character from the movie or show and then they write scenes where each person writes for his or her own character. It can go on for pages and pages and pages. Is that what you’ve seen at your forum, Christy?

    Reply
  16. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Gina: Yes, it is. I never connected it to role playing. I just thought of it as fun writing. 😀
    Nibs: Well, why not go ahead? But what’s the format we’re going to do this in? Where will we post the chapters, and will they all be posted together?

    Reply
  17. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Oh, it can be fun, and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. It just takes so much more time than I’ve got, that’s all. 🙂

    Reply
  18. medieval clothing Avatar
    medieval clothing

    I say that we do this for the group FF – say I write the first chapter, and leave a cliffhanger. Then Christy comes in to finish the cliffhanger, write a chapter, and leave a cliffhanger until someone ends the story?

    Reply
  19. Nina Avatar
    Nina

    We had kind of abandoned this, unfortunately, but I still think it would be a fun idea. And we haven’t had a FF challenge for about two months now…

    Reply
  20. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Would you guys like me to put this in a post as our next fanfiction challenge?

    Reply
  21. Marian Avatar
    Marian

    Sounds fun! I like the idea of ending each part with a cliffhanger.

    Reply
  22. Nina Avatar
    Nina

    I already pretty much had the first chapter done (still needs some revisions, though), so yeah – sounds fun!

    Reply
  23. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    I’ll get something up later today, then.
    Medieval clothing — do you have another nickname we can use for you? “Medieval clothing” is a bit awkward as a handle. 🙂 We could call you MC if you like, or you could provide something else. Just let us know. Thanks!

    Reply
  24. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Bring it on. I had completely forgotten about this. Now I’m working on my Dickens/Nutcracker/science fiction book, which is rapidly incorporating bits of “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “The Secret Garden.”

    Reply
  25. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Wow, Christy, it sounds amazing! 🙂

    Reply
  26. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Forgot to mention it also has bits of Ivanhoe in it…

    Reply
  27. Nina Avatar
    Nina

    HAHA! I just realized that Medieval Clothing didn’t actually want to start the fic, she spammed the comments – her April 14th comment (which revived our whole groupfic idea) was copied from MY December 15th comment! Oh well, I guess it was the push we needed to go ahead and start it. Funny…

    Reply
  28. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Yes, isn’t it weird? That hit me a little while back (which is why I did that post about spamming). Maybe our spammer was a gift from God! 🙂

    Reply
  29. Sean Phillips Avatar
    Sean Phillips

    I have a Dickens pastiche I am writing. Does anybody know how I can get people to take an interest in it. This is difficult, becuase i posted it on fanfiction.net, and almost nobody takes an interest, while the other Dickens pastiches are well-read on that site. I know there are some DIckens pastiches that are published novels. I want to find out just what I am doing wrong.Please, somebody, answer.

    Reply
  30. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Ah, Sean, if only I knew how to get people to take more interest in a given work, I’d be famous. 🙂 That’s what nearly all writers are trying to figure out. But in any event, you’re welcome to post a link to your work here, and give people a chance to check it out and comment on it if they’re so inclined.

    Reply
  31. Sean Phillips Avatar
    Sean Phillips

    Thank you for responding. It’s been diffcult even getting people to respond, and I’m talking about people have gotten pastiches published (lucky them). here are the links.
    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9088905/1/Oliver-Twist-and-the-Revenge-of-Zebedias-Quigsnip
    The first chapter is here:
    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9089203/1/Oliver-Twist-and-the-Revenge-of-Zebedias-Quigsnip-Prologue-and-Chapter
    Since it didn’t get posted the first time. There are still one typos in this thing, especially the last part but they’ll be corrected. It rather long, and still not finished. You or someone miight skim over it,or just part of it, if you don’t wish to read it in detail. I know almost nothing about the actual layout of London at that time,so writing it has been difficult. PLease let me know.

    Reply
  32. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Sean, I’ve just been looking at your story. It’s a fun and interesting concept, but I wonder if perhaps FF.net isn’t the best place for it, since you mention real people like Dickens and Poe along with the fictional characters. Just a thought.
    Your writing style is good, but I would suggest paring the story down. For instance, it felt like hardly anything actually happened during Oliver’s section of Chapter 1 (if I’m remembering the chapter numbers correctly). And it seemed like there was a lot of repetition of ideas. If you want to hold readers’ attention, you have to create a sense of movement and make them eager to know what’s coming next.
    Hope this helps.

    Reply
  33. Sean Phillips Avatar
    Sean Phillips

    Thanks for the comments. Yes, it does help.
    I just plan on having it on FF.net temporarily. No, not a lot happened in the first couple of chapters. It’s so true that you need to keep your readers in suspence, though I’m not sure what you mean by repetition of ideas. What ideas did I repeat?

    Reply
  34. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    For example, at the beginning of the Oliver section, you tell us all about Nancy’s sacrifice. Then you go on to something else for a while. Then you tell us all about Nancy’s sacrifice again.
    Now, I realize just how important Nancy and her sacrifice are, but you don’t drive that home by repeating the same thing you just said a few paragraphs ago. All that does is make the reader feel as if you’re going backwards, not progressing.

    Reply
  35. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Mind you, I’m not saying repetition is always bad. Dickens himself used it a lot. But there’s a way to do it that drives the narrative forward instead of holding it back. (See for example the part of “A Tale of Two Cities” where the sentence “Look back, look back, and see if we are pursued” is used over and over again, but it’s used while the story keeps going forward, and actually seems like it’s HELPING the story to move forward.)

    Reply
  36. Sean Phillips Avatar
    Sean Phillips

    Yes, I remember that during Darnay’s escape. It WAS very moving!

    Reply
  37. Sean Phillips Avatar
    Sean Phillips

    I just finished the story and posted the final few chapters over on ff.net. It’s crazy over there, and I know one of my chapters posted twice a while back, and I hope that nothing got left out.

    Reply
  38. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    Thank you for the update, Sean! Glad to hear you’re still writing!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to NibsCancel reply

Search
Latest Posts
Latest Comments
Post Categories

Discover more from Dickensblog

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading