Short Story To Novel Question

ElaineA

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I'm within a few days of completing the first draft of my novel, but I have a hefty revision job ahead. Long story long (sorry, it's complicated in my brain), I started writing the novel based on a shiny "idea," but hit a roadblock when I hadn't plotted it out well enough to know what was supposed to happen or who these characters really were. Then a short story call came along, and these characters--and the story I had so far--were perfect for it. So I stole them, made some small changes to the characters to fit the call, fully developed their backstories and wrote the short, not thinking I'd get the thing published.

But I did. In an anthology.

Fully developing the characters made the entire plot of the novel come clear, so I went on with writing the novel. At the last minute (in line edits for the short, as if that would help my "I'm using these characters again" problem) I changed the names of the characters in the short, thinking I'll just leave them alone and start a different place for the novel. But there's so much important backstory to them in the short, I can't really *not* use it in the novel. To start where the short ends would be confusing for anyone who hasn't read the short (which would be a WHOLE lot of people).

The real question is, how much can I plagiarize myself and get away with it? The antho did not ask for exclusive rights, and I've talked to the editor about using these characters in a novel. She's fine with it. But can I use some scenes/sentences wholesale (or close enough to be considered plagiarism) from my own work? Or should I be looking for an entirely new set-up? (Which would change the character dynamic all the way downstream through the novel.)

I'm curious about this from an editorial perspective, since I know for certain I'm not the first author who has recycled characters. There must be some accepted wisdom about it.
 

Ari Meermans

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Did you make the main character name changes to the novel? If not, that's problem number one. Wrt authors who have written "companion" shorts to their novels, Tess Gerritsen comes to mind with Freaks and John Doe, featuring her MCs Rizzoli and Isles. She makes allusions and references to their backstories with the same phrases and character descriptions used in her novels and, if memory serves, a reference to the plot of one of the novels—a sort of "remember that case from last year" sort of thing. Lifting scenes wholesale, I'd think, is a whole 'nother thing, though.
 

ElaineA

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Yes, this is definitely not a "companion" short...or it's not as the novel is *currently* constructed. I made changes to the characters for the short story that are not, nor do I want to be, in the novel. Even if I wanted to eventually release the short as a companion, I couldn't. The characters are that different.
 

Anna Iguana

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Some authors publish a chapter or two from their novels as standalone stories before the novels are published, because some literary magazines accept chapters. I understand this doesn't exactly apply, because here the order is reversed (your story wasn't published *as a novel preview*), but I wonder if the crediting conventions might be some guide. I've definitely read books with end notes that say things like "a version of this chapter previously appeared in ________." Hopefully others here can offer more guidance.
 

ElaineA

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Thank you for popping in, Anna. Very interesting consideration, there. I hadn't really thought of end-noting. Hmm...

I think the bottom line is I'll try to revamp the first 60-70 pages to avoid trouble, and keep the problem opening in its own folder for later consideration. Or in dog terms, I'll bury my bones in several locations! :D