I've been in a bit of a writing frenzy of late, which has left the blog without a new post in a few days. Besides the writing there have been waves of thunderstorms rolling through that makes using the computer a hit or miss proposition and the hits are usually devoted to writing stories.
In all of this writing I pulled out an old story that was published in MuzzleFlash and decided to lengthen it. Those 625 words turned into 3000. The original story was in first person and the new one, third. What I also discovered in rewriting the new story was that only one paragraph and the core idea of the story survived the rewrite. So, here's my question - is the rewrite a new story or do I need to credit the original publication?
7 comments:
Sandra, it sounds to me like a new story. In order to feel absolutely comfortable pitching it as such, you might play around with that remaining paragraph. Also, you could mention in your query letter that it was inspired by a published flash story.
When you read a collection of stories by an author like Raymond Carver, you see the same ideas being reworked in multiple stories. The names of the characters are different, so they seem to be discreet works of fiction. I'd feel free to follow suit.
Thanks, by the way, for posting openings for submissions. You've got me writing fiction again after a long time doing nonfiction.
Yeah, that sounds like a new story to me. It's a good idea--I should try that with some of my flash pieces.
I second Ron's sentiment--thank you for posting market listings. Always very helpful.
Thanks, Anita.
Glad to hear you're writing fiction, Ron!
I've found that a lot of my flash pieces work like outlines for longer stories, Chris. It's just a matter of deciding which ones would work on a larger canvas.
And I'm so glad all the markets are helpful to everyone.
It's a new story.
New story. Like Ron said. A few words here and there isn't a new story, but a new character, an expanded ending... many times stories change from their magazine publication to when they are anthologized, and new title gets slapped on.
Thanks, guys! New story, it is.
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