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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.
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.