Lit Drift

Writing

litdrift — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:21:24 +0000

Recently, The Economist outlined How to Make a Good Biopic in light of the slew of biographical and semi-biographical films being released in the coming weeks.? The article wrote, ?Oscar voters love them because the ?based on a true story? tag gives them a veneer of seriousness?? The article goes on to discuss a number of critically-acclaimed films from the biopic and partial-biopic subgenre, all which certainly fit the ?seriousness? that is applauded by The Academy year after year.? But just last year, the Oscar-nabbing film The Social Network stirred up controversy when its portrayal of its subjects was called ?a complete work of fiction? by, well, its subjects.? Since the people portrayed in the film were all public figures, it was technically fair game to not bother with changing character names despite a good chunk of the movie being largely fictionalized.

Of course, this particular case is a little more interesting since the people portrayed are not yet dead or even far removed enough from the news item that is now being packaged for the big screen.?? Moviegoers saw this happen yet again with Moneyball although Paul DePodesta did request that his name be changed (Peter Brand played by Jonah Hill) after finding the script to be more ?Inspired by Real Events? than ?Based on a True Story.?? These labels are like the film industry equivalent of FDA regulations regarding our country?s love for Frankenfood (as demonstrated by Taco Bell?s beef vs. meat vs. meat product vs. not-meat-at-all fiasco earlier this year) and with technology allowing a quicker turnover between conception of an idea and its accessibility to an audience, it may not be too surprising if the litigious ultimately push for stricter terms of use for these labels.

Law and Order and its many spinoffs boast that their stories are ?Ripped From the Headlines,? and rip they do.? Their most popular spinoff, SVU, has covered pretty much any and every special victims news headline from the last three or four decades (and considering most of the series takes place in present-day Manhattan, those who don?t reside here are left to believe it?s easily the most dangerous place in the world).? There are times they do little in changing the original news story with episodes parading characters like Billy Tripley, a shameless rip of Michael Jackson with the only differentiations being in name and career (Tripley is a toy company CEO).? In their Domnique Strauss-Kahn episode (announced just two months after the incident), they pretty much ripped the headline when the headline was hot off the press and even had one of the detectives call it ?another Dominique Strauss-Kahn situation? (like some sort of self-loving nod to the fortune of receiving this headline right before the new season).

So for lack of better exclamations, what?s up with that? It?s one thing to change names to protect the parties involved (or protect one?s own ass), but what?s the deal with being a clear rip of a story but also acknowledging the actual events within the storyline?

And how about the opposite of this occurrence of not changing characters/real people?s names and placing them in original/fictional/offbeat/obsessive situations? Once upon a time, FanFiction (or for those opposed to the extra syllable, ?FanFic?) was contained within the science-fiction community in hopes of extending the lives of their favorite fictional characters.? Eventually, this broke beyond sci-fi and into mainstream/more popular television shows and many took it upon themselves to create the storyline they wanted but were never given.

A visit to sites like WattPad and one will see that FanFic is no longer exclusive to fictional characters (preteen girls seem to find it cathartic to write and read about average suburban girls somehow ending up with Justin Bieber).? Most are far from great literary works (hell, most can?t be called literary) but a surprising amount of these pieces have legitimately interesting plotlines and are well-written (take it from a person who knows not of Justin Bieber but somehow read a couple stories? in the name of research).? The stories are free and available on the site with no need for download but the concept is reminiscent of the free-for-all self-publishing world that Amazon introduced with Kindle Direct Publishing years ago.? Anyone can publish just about anything which means anyone who writes or blogs about anything remotely literary (as I occasionally do) now have inboxes/mailboxes full of ARCs and free books.? One that recently crossed my path appeared particularly relevant to today?s discussion.? If you thumb through the indie-published Hidden Gem books by India Lee, you?ll find it peppered with ?articles? and ?blog posts? by fictional entertainment magazines and bloggers.? If you are well-versed in celebrity gossip, you?ll find these ?fictional? bloggers are clear rips of the popular ONTD, Perez Hilton, JustJared, among others, using similar memes and vernacular as the individual bloggers do.? But just as SVU did with the whole ?referring to the thing we?re totally ripping from,? Lee refers to D-Listed and ONTD as competitors in searching for the Lady Gaga-esque protagonist?s true identity (the plotline, from what I gather, is pretty much Hannah Montana for the Gossip Girl crowd) and the tweeny, celebrity-laden story refers to real celebrities as well as what I believe are fictional ones (there?s just no way to tell anymore, I?m not hip and I?ve come to terms with that).? And as Gaga has her Little Monsters and Justin Bieber has his Beliebers, a character by the name of Tyler Chase (undoubtedly based on Bieber) has his ?Tyler Chasers.?? The books are not free like the FanFic on WattPad (unless you?re on the Lit Drift staff, in which case you can find the ARCs on my desk) but considering it?s subject and publication method, is that pretty much the only thing that sets it apart?

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Video games

litdrift — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:20:49 +0000

I still remember sitting on my little brother’s bed when we were kids and playing the old Nintendo version of “Rampage.” The game gave two players the chance to work together to destroy a city….or the temptation to destroy each other. Each time we sat down to play, we would vow to each other that THIS time would be the time when we would work together to destroy the city. And each time we would descend into a pit of base human rage, ultimately culminating in a physical altercation that could only be ended by adult intervention.

Commercial video games have only been around for about 30 years, but their impact on our society is indisputable. And they don’t just tell a story…they put you IN the story. And like novels and films and theatre and television shows, video games offer the opportunity to escape from the tedium and occasional agony of daily life. But does that make them art? In a recent article in the New Statesman, Tom Chatfield argues that video games are indeed a form of artistic expression, and a unique one at that. But there is one major, inherent limitation that prevents video games from joining the ranks of other storytelling mediums: their lack of inevitability.

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Recommendations

litdrift — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:19:56 +0000

In this amazing short by UK filmmaker Tom Jenkins, a lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can ? using a toy car and Google Maps Street View. This is stunning. Watch:… Continue Reading Recommendations

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Inspiration

litdrift — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:18:51 +0000

So tell me ? ?Based On a True Story? vs. ?Inspired By Real Events? vs. ?Ripped From the Headlines? vs. ?Fan Fiction? ? where do you draw the line?

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Graphic novels

litdrift — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:17:31 +0000

To commemorate the recent four-year anniversary of?Hurricane Katrina, Neufeld?released A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, a graphic novel that details one of the worlds worst disasters through the stories of seven real survivors. ?Neufeld himself volunteered with the Red Cross in the Gulf Coast after the storm and chronicled his experiences on a blog. ?A few years ago, a commenter on the blog wrote: Do a comic. Please. Readers were already familiar with Neufelds work on Harvey Pekars American Splendor so they knew that his storytelling comics had the power to convey the intensity of the disaster.

Neufeld began by writing a serialized webcomic that also included links to archival footage and other materials documenting what actually happened in the Gulf. Through multiple installments of the comic, he followed the lives of real people dealing with the aftermath of the storm. Now the comic has just been released as a book with some new additions

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Free

litdrift — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:16:14 +0000

Deckfight also has this thing called ?Deckfight Press,? which is a literary e-chap press. We find some writers, turn out some short books by them, in PDF form & digital formats. Our new one is by Mel Bosworth & Christy Crutchfield called The Five Lost Senses of Carl.

Deckfight has this thing called Deckfight Press, a literary e-chapbook press. They churn out really good material, by really good writers, for free. Their latest is The Five Lost Senses of Carl by Mel Bosworth & Christy Crutchfield.

Download the free PDF with awesome art.
Download the free epub/other digital editions.
Buy it for the Kindle just because whatever.

Also, if you missed it: its free. We like free stuff.

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Books

litdrift — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 20:30:23 +0000

So tell me ? ?Based On a True Story? vs. ?Inspired By Real Events? vs. ?Ripped From the Headlines? vs. ?Fan Fiction? ? where do you draw the line?

More: Books, Creative Process, Inspiration, Writing

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