For my creative project I will be writing a piece of fan-fiction. One idea I currently enamored with is an alternate history set in the fictional world of Frankenstein, where Victor’s research on reanimating the living were not lost and there is a large population of the Creature’s ilk. But if it becomes obvious that I cannot produce anything worthwhile from said idea I might do a piece of fan-fiction on Interview with a Vampire, from the perspective of one of the vampires victims.
The passage that my idea about the Frankenstein fan-fiction came from is on page 98 of the novel and is written, “What I ask you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself; the gratification is small, but it is all that I can receive, and it shall content me. It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless, and free from the misery I now feel.”
Out of all the available creative project options a few stood out to me. If I were a talented artist I would definitely have enjoyed to create a piece of visual art concerning one of the novels. I thought that the psychoanalysis was very interesting as well, but I have no background in psychiatry, and would most likely botch the psychobabble. I’d be interested to know how any multimedia projects were done in the past, it seems to me like a difficult project to pull off.
As to the written component of the creative project I believe I will be trying to accomplish a passing grade as well as a chilling what-if style alternate past where the creatures have become slaves and beggars living underneath the modern society. I’ll focus on architecture, religion, the supernatural, and the sense of the uncanny those who encounter the Creatures will experience in an effort to make the piece sound gothic.
I can already tell you what I best like about this project and that is the idea. Sadly, once pulled out of its theoretical and hypothetical realm, this idea will become marred, tainted, and stained by the grim realities of my writing capability and inability to make any deadlines.
Speaking of, question five of the written component asks “How did you get your project done? Did you wait until almost the last minute and then create it all at once? Did you do extensive revising, or did you find that your first draft was fairly clear and complete already?” The initial two sentences scream to me the word ‘trap’. Although you could be subconsciously impressed by the quality of a work started and finished hours before it is due, some semblance of coherency while barely making it to the desired length would be the impressing features, I can’t help but feel as though you are looking for a specific answer to this question.
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I just have to say that I thought the same thing about the preperation question. I tend to procrastinate, but it can still turn out well.
ReplyDeleteI think that doing a piece of fan fiction could be really facinating. I especially like your idea with Frankenstein. It may be hard to pull off, but I think it would be worth while and it sounds like you would have fun with it. I personally cannot write so I am doing a paper, but I thought about doing a piece of fanfiction about Frankenstein as well, about what if the creature did not go off and die like he said he was going to at the end and he lived on. I think that would have alot of options. Do you plan on sticking with the same writing style as the authors or have your own? I think it would be much harder to try and copy the authors style because then that may take a part in your grade. If you tried to mimic them but did not. When you say the creatures would be beggars and live under the modern society, what do you mean by "under"? Like under in the sense of below socioeconomically or under in the sense of have their own kind of society literally under modern society or maybe they are behind the times and live in the past kind of under? How would othr creatures come to be formed? I am just throwing ideas out there I guess to maybe try and help.
I toyed with the idea of a fan fiction myself. I do think I could come up with something pretty 'out there' and right in line with the stuff we've been reading. However, as it seems you understand also, I realized that it would take a great amount of planning and energy to put together something cohesive to an entire novel. I think that exploring a continued existence for the monster certainly offers lots of possibilities. If you wanted to, you could still make the connection to Interview by exaggerating the longevity of the monster. After all, how can you kill something that's already been dead? One possible hitch I see is in finding a new narrator. Obviously, Victor can't continue to retell his story to the ship captain. So maybe another mortal individual can have an encounter with the monster, say 50 years later, and recount what they have learned. Or else, if the monster were to subsist in some kind pseudo-society, he could begin a diary (as the style of Dracula) or write letters to an intellectual of the time(i.e. philosopher, journalist, doctor, etc.). One thing to be careful about if you are writing a continuation of the Monster story of Frankenstein, is anachronisms. Writing retrospectively within a historical time period can be very difficult. You can either do the research to make it solidly accurate, or you can choose a setting (such as forest/wilderness) which doesn't have such strict boundaries for time period accuracy.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, I really thought about doing this myself, so I'm really interested to see your final result. I think it really can turn out great.
It IS a trap! Outsmarted me again, Mr. Cavendish...No, seriously, I'm just curious about students' revision process. The essay option has a de facto revision process embedded in it, but it worries me that the creative project may not push students to rethink and reevaluate their own ideas. I really like ander223's suggestions about how you would set up your narrative. I think a journal/letter sort of format would be an effective structure for this project and it would reflect the narrative structure of Frankenstein (i.e. Walton's letters to his sister).
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