Am I crazy, or could this work?

Charlie Horse · Apr 17, 2008

So I got all excited this morning when I woke up with this idea on what to do with my brand new WIP.

What I had was about 20 pages of a fairy tale/fantasy type thing where the hero is searching for his true love, takes on an angry witch, picks up some enchanted creatures to travel with, yada, yada. In the natrual progression of things he gets in a jam traveling through a bewitched forest and then, voila...

He dies.

So now in the third chapter I bring him back to life as a baby being born in what I think will probably be more modern times. It's like I'm starting the book all over, except in the course of things I'll have to tie it all together.

Is this wrong? Has it been done? Do I need therapy?

ToddWBush · Apr 17, 2008

Everything has been done before. Write it anyway. Perhaps your take on it will be new. But write it anyway.

Good luck!

Elliot Cowan · Apr 17, 2008

I don't think you're crazy.
The theme certainly has been explored before in one form or another - Orlando or The Stolen Child, Gandalf in LOTR for example, but could easily wear another revision if it's fresh.
I would think that chapter 03 may be a little soon to do such a thing to your main character unless the reader is being told what has already happened in the past and is reading to catch up with the current story (like Q. Tarantino's Pulp Fiction).
When your hero dies and is reborn you want it to be a meaningful moment and I would have thought that it should wait until towards the end for such a thing to happen.
Could be completely wrong however - it all depends on how you write it.

Constantine K · Apr 17, 2008

Interesting idea, but I don't think I would enjoy reading it.

There's a certain build up I experience when I read books. Slowly (or quickly) the wheels start spinning and I become engrossed in the book world. I learn more about the situation and characters with every page . . .

And then to start over somewhere and somewhen else? It would feel like a false start to me.

But try it, by all means. Maybe you can make it work, and I don't count myself as the average reader.

Charlie Horse · Apr 17, 2008

Elliot Cowan said:
I don't think you're crazy.
The theme certainly has been explored before in one form or another - Orlando or The Stolen Child for example, but could easily wear another revision if it's fresh.
I would think that chapter 03 may be a little soon to do such a thing to your main character unless the reader is being told what has already happened in the past and is reading to catch up with the current story (like Q. Tarantino's Pulp Fiction).
When your hero dies and is reborn you want it to be a meaningful moment and I would have thought that it should wait until towards the end for such a thing to happen.
Could be completely wrong however - it all depends on how you write it.

The direction I'm thinking of going is that the bulk of the book will be the reborn soul of the hero growing up and discovering what has gone on in his past life, eventually returning to the scene of his death and retrieving what he left behind, thus completing his quest. But then I never know where my stories are going to take me.

Elliot Cowan · Apr 17, 2008

That is very good I think.
Very nice idea, much better than my suggestions.

alvin123 · Apr 17, 2008

Everything has been done before. Write it anyway. Perhaps your take on it will be new. But write it anyway. Good luck!

why am i'm not surprised to hear this from someone, wait.. it's because you're right, it HAS been done before, and i would want to see the repeation of the same thing

Interesting idea, but I don't think I would enjoy reading it.

basically he's just trying to tell you to maybe try something new,

The Lady · Apr 17, 2008

The Years Of Rice And Salt dealt with a group of characters constantly reincarnating together trying to work out their "stuff." In that book they had no access to memories of their past lives while alive, if I'm remembering correctly.

Constantine K · Apr 17, 2008

alvin123 said:
why am i'm not surprised to hear this from someone, wait.. it's because you're right, it HAS been done before, and i would want to see the repeation of the same thing

basically he's just trying to tell you to maybe try something new,

What? I was telling him that it sounded unique, and that he's on the right path creatively, but that I wouldn't enjoy a book that was formatted that way. That is all.

Aegwynn · Apr 17, 2008

Your tale reminds me of a fairy-tale frame narrative. Similar to El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - hero dies, is reborn, either has or has not recollection of his/her previous life, must undergo trials... a particularly interesting premise.

It is perfectly possible to take an old, well-used trope or what-have-you, and turn it into something fabulous. The best writers have taken old cliches and put a unique spin on them in such a way that their work seems more memorable.

Fairy-tales are classics, and they tend to follow a familiar formula and involve familiar devices, etc. JK Rowling took very familiar fairy-tale aspects and wove them together into the most successful children's series of all time. JRR Tolkien scoured medieval romance and created his Lord of the Rings. There are a reason that certain stories feel comfortable and wonderful. They're all familiar!

CDarklock · Apr 17, 2008

Charlie Horse said:
So now in the third chapter I bring him back to life as a baby being born in what I think will probably be more modern times.

Hey! I have an idea like that. Except it's an evil sorceror who gets away from the pursuing mob by making a deal with demonic powers that he'll be "reborn" a thousand years hence, and it turns out to be more literal than he expects, so then you have this unsuspecting family that adopts this cute little baby who's got the brain of an evil demon-worshiping wizard... and as he gets older, one of the parents figures it out, and has to kill the kid to save the world.

Oh, but yours is cool, too.

Everything has been done. Do it again; somebody liked it.

Charlie Horse · Apr 18, 2008

Thanks for all your reassurances. I'm quite excited about the concept, which I did start out calling a fairy tale (in fact that's what the filename in my writing folder is called), but now it seems I've got some new direction that will allow me to do more than just rewrite from the classic fairy tale formula.

Polenth · Apr 18, 2008

Katherine Kerr wrote about a series of characters who lived in different times as different people. She mixed the different stories together, rather than finishing one and starting the next. It meant you didn't have the thing where the hero suddenly died. You got to see the main storyline first, then flashbacks to the stories of the past lives.

Might be worth a read if you want to see another way of handling it.

C.bronco · Apr 18, 2008

Cool! Give it a try. In a thousand different hands, that could be a thousand different stories.

I can't answer the therapy question for you.

pilot27407 · Apr 18, 2008

If YOU believe in it, you can make it work, just need to invest, time and energy.

shelboselby · Apr 19, 2008

I actually think it's a very interesting concept for the whole "back from the dead" thing. I think the one important thing would be to make absolutely CERTAIN your readers don't think those first twenty pages were for naught. Make sure they know, as soon as possible, that those pages, all that time they spent getting invested, is still important.

I don't know...have a conversation between the parents discussing how they KNOW this kid is special. Maybe show the witch, if she survived, or a lackey apprentice or hers that we saw in the beginning, watching the birth somehow, and make sure we know the SHE knows who the baby is.

Whatever it is, you have to tie in that previous world as fast as possible. Even with something small, you have to let us know it's still going to matter.

mikeland · Apr 19, 2008

Charlie Horse said:
Do I need therapy?

We all need therapy.

Birol · Apr 19, 2008

Madison · Apr 19, 2008

go for it.

i think it sounds cool. it has good comedy potential. i for one couldn't think of an instance in which it's been done before. i would definately read a book like that - it's a nice twist. i reminds me of Enchanted, sort of, but in a different way

Penguin Queen · Apr 19, 2008

Everything's been done before. Who said there were only five (seven?) basic plots? It's not just the what, it's the how. Do it well, you get away with almost everything.

Anyway, I like the sound of it, esp. the hero returning to his first world at a later stage. The only possible problem I can see is what someone else already mentoined, that your readers gets all engrossed in the first fantasy-type world & will then have to get used all over again to a new one.
Mebbe start with a prologue in the world where the majority of your tale is set, then do the fantasy thing etc.

But yeah - go for it.

HeronW · Apr 19, 2008

Gwion, tending Cerridwyn's cauldron felt a drop that fell on his hand. He licked it off and instantly had knowledge and knew that C. would try to stop and slay him. They dueled as different animal shapes. G. turned into a seed, C. as a bird ate him (G. died) and C. became pregnant. She gave birth to Taliesin, the greatest of all bards.

That's the synopsis, there's several versions in many different lengths, all are valid. Write the best you can, and go with the tale.

Am I crazy, or could this work?

Charlie Horse

Speaking in metaphors

ToddWBush

Elliot Cowan

Publish Me

Constantine K

Charlie Horse

Speaking in metaphors

Elliot Cowan

Publish Me

alvin123

Author of Hell to Pay (Blood for S)

The Lady

Critical Member

Constantine K

Aegwynn

CDarklock

Yes!

Charlie Horse

Speaking in metaphors

Polenth

Mushroom

C.bronco

I have plans...

pilot27407

shelboselby

One Girl Mediocrity Machine

mikeland

Call me Pookie

Birol

Around and About

Madison

summertime...

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.

HeronW

Down Under Fan