Monday, March 1, 2010

Glimpse of Snippet

I'd had a novel in mind that I wanted to begin working on later in life. I had filed away the idea with the notion that it would take a lot of research to make it work. Then, my creative writing instructor asked that we compile a short story of fiction. I decided that I'd take my novel, tentatively called "Snippet," and just turn it into a short story for the class assignment.

Here's the premise of the short story.

A budding young author finds himself being sued by a host of angry literary professors, due to a possible plagiarism & copy write infringement. His novel, called "Snippet," comes under fire as it becomes a best seller, yet none of the story itself was written by the author. Instead, the author decided to take sections of some of the best literary masterpieces in history and fit them together to create an altogether new story. These snippets, while unrelated, come together in a literary puzzle of sorts and create an epic tale which captures the hearts and minds of readers around the world. The problem arises when an Ivy League university professor questions the legal validity of the novel. Though the author cites each snippet, he may need to justify the overwhelming magnitude of his bibliography and the impact it had on his novel's success.

14 comments:

Lydia Sharp said...

Sounds interesting. :)
Coincidentally, I blogged today about how writing short fiction can benefit novelists...

Voidwalker said...

Hah, very cool. I'll be stopping by to read in a bit. :)

Jonathon Arntson said...

I love how your glimpse is almost like a 'I have a friend who needs some advice' story.

Voidwalker said...

After I write this as a short story, I'll shelve it again with hopes to turn it into a full fledged novel later. I just know how difficult and time consuming it will be for me to do well and I do want to do it well. So, I'll come back later to it.

Charles Gramlich said...

Sounds interesting, and sounds a bit like the stuff that's being done now of the zombie mashups. Like sense and sensibility and sea monsters, or the zombie one. I forget the title.

Voidwalker said...

Charles: Yes, although there will not be any zombies in my stuff lol.

Voidwalker said...

And technically, I won't be altering any classic literature. I'll just be quoting it on a MASSIVE scale from many different works.

DL Hammons said...

It really does sound more like something more fitted to a novel, but the proof is in the pudding. Very interesting concept though.

Taylor Mathews said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/europe/12germany.html?scp=1&sq=not%20plagiarism%20but%20mixing%20and%20matching&st=cse

Your post made me think of this article I read in the NYTimes.

Voidwalker said...

DL: Thanks. I thought I could turn it into a pretty viable novel. I still think I can. For now though, I'm going to cut it down and change it to fit short fiction, then I'll play with the idea of novelizing it later.

Taylor: Wow, that sucks for her. It sounds like she really did commit plagiarism. I think I'd be safe though, because my novel itself would be about an author caught up in a plagiarism scandal, though he'd be in a very gray area of legality.

JournoMich said...

Yes, she really DID commit plagiarism, but you are writing on a very interesting and timely concept here. While it won't go out of style, it might be something you'd consider starting on soon. I would imagine laws in this area will start to change at some point...

It will be interesting to see where this story takes you--into what genre, around what plot twists, etc. Thanks for sharing!

Michele
SouthernCityMysteries

kah said...

I like the premise of a story about someone who created a novel like that, rather than reading a novel created that way. Would love to hear how it pans out.
Fun idea!

Diana Paz said...

Interesting, I especially like the "literary puzzle" aspect of it. Perfect title, too!

Stephanie Thornton said...

Interesting premise! There could be a ton of great characters and plots that crop up.

I haven't read it yet, but I think The Thirteenth Tale might have a similar premise. A friend recommended it to me, but my TBR is simply monstrous!