Story Adaptions from Music and other Media · 1:11am Feb 24th, 2014
One thing I've realized I do quite a lot is getting inspired by certain songs, videos, comics, etc. and writing stories based on them. If I look through my story folders on Google Drive I can at least spot four where this is at leasr partially the case. My most-recent example is Last Night, Pinkie Pie Exploded, which actually started off with me translating the lyrics and playing with them and expanding upon them.
My question is, is this cheap?
I obviously try to spice things a little up, but if one would compare the two works the similarities would jump into their eyes. I don't know when inspiration goes too far and makes it look like the same thing just with ponies.
(I'm aware this isn't directly related to LNPPE, but please try to answer this question. I'm in a serious debate with myself here.)
Well, I think inspiration comes from what it comes from, and that's that.
Read Here I Am (it's only 1600 words), and see what you think -- looking at it from the other end of the computer screen might influence your opinion.
Personally, I was impressed that you managed to tell a coherent story without using anything but dialogue. That's not easy at all.
I have no idea what does 'Last night...' reference, or from what it has evolved. So it doesn't ruin anything for me just because that.
In general, ponyfying certain things is fun; I don't see anything wrong with it, so long as people don't try to write ponies as humans (not humanised, that could be fun, but pony with human psychology. Greedy, sad and miserable things, ew.), and your case is completely different. Carry on, I'd say.
I think it's fine. Every writer has their own for of inspiration, I suppose.
Not at all. This one believes that this is simply a method of inspiration.
~Am_Z
Depends. It CAN be cheap. Really, if putting on music gets the ideas flowing, then it's all good. Though, I've seen more than a few writers sit down and try to take their favorite song and translate it into a story.
That's not a good idea.
Reason being, the art form of the song and the emotions that are conveyed can't always get translated the same in a story. It's like the swap between book to movie and vice versa. Both have their strengths and weaknesses that need to be understood so the creator can work around them. A song can carry a lot of emotion without saying a single word. In contrast, writing has to work a little harder, but it can be so much more accurate and articulate with what it wants to convey.
It's also important to understand that songs can have great concepts, but they only go on for a while, repeat, and the result leaves the listener with not a lot of words to chew on. The rest generally comes with reading into it all and feeling the melody. If you can take a song and expand it into a world, I think that's pretty cool (I do it), but make sure to not limit yourself to working within those boundaries, and never work within lyrics. Use a song concept as a starting point and go from there. Take whatever turns and changes you feel you creatively need, even if that lands you somewhere completely new.
Music can be a great tool, but make sure to never let it become a writing cage.
Two of my stories are directly inspired by the general feeling a song gave me, or by a particular set of images that they brought to my head. My most popular story was partially inspired by a hilarious blog involving the gayest show I ever saw, and my pet project is literally nothing but me trying to emulate a certain storytelling technique that I've always enjoyed, albeit giving it a somewhat more sexual humor, and taking some of the slapstick away.
Humans are by nature prone to take certain themes, feelings and images from their everyday life when they write a story. In your case, that happens to music. I used to write short stories entirely based on songs when I was younger, and I don't see why that would be a bad thing.
Hell, some songs are definitely asking for it.
Not at all. Music can sometimes inspire a scene in your head without you even realizing it was doable, just like any other kind of media.
What is important is that you did it well, so it's fine. And even if it wasn't, you introduced me to Die Ärtzte, so all your sins are absolved!
I am actually seriously considering writing and putting up a story that is, at its core, unashamedly "Star Wars With Ponies".
So, while it may be cheap, I don't think it's unreasonably so (and it would be hypocritical of me to claim otherwise); as long as the source is suitably acknowledged, which it seems you have done in your story.