I grew up on a steady diet of fantasy, science fiction and classic literature. I can remember telling kids at school about reading Moby Dick, Journey to the Center of The Earth, The Invisible Man – and it used to astound me that none of them were reading it. I remember telling kids about the Scarlet Pumpernickel and The Great Impersonation, and they’d never heard of either novel.
Today, there’s been some modern reworking of classic novels, from the viewpoint of other characters in the story. Mary Reilly was apparently Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde written from the viewpoint of the maid. If I’d known that, I might have watched it! Alas, I didn’t find this out until two years ago.
I think this is a marvelous (you can tell I read a lot of classics) tool to learn writing and structure with, and every novelist should give it a try, at least once!
The question is, what novel? That’s the first to know. Once you have that nailed down, decide – are you going to keep it to that period, retaining the atmosphere? Or move it to modern times? To what extent are you going to extend that? I’m picturing Squire Trelawney of Treasure Island putting an ad on Craig’s List for a crew to take the cruise to find treasure. Updating the Hispaniola to being a yacht, which would cut down on the pirate crew. You just have to keep the active participants on the story.
Or you could keep it to the 18th century, and make mention of the problems of the
Now, who’s story to tell? There’s a lot. Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, Redruth, Captain Smollet… or even perhaps Long John Silver.
I knew that would get your attention.
Here’s the tricky part. Treasure Island is a rollicky fast paced book, moving quickly. So, you’ll need to keep that pace going, and build tension. Not too hard – it’s a pirate story. Silver shoots two of his own crew early on – make it so that every pirate is out for itself. Silver has to constantly keep foiling plots to kill him, because the pirates know that if they kill him, it’s every man for himself. Remember the refrain from the story?
“But one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with seventy‐five.”
Why?
They killed each other for the treasure. There’s a hint of that in Treasure Island. You could build on that. International troubles plagued England in that time, so you could mention that. Start the book with Silver as a pirate, or leaving Kidd’s ship, or perhaps the initial seizing of the treasure, and the falling out with Billy Bones.
There’s any number of ways to pitch this. I’m seeing drama in it, and I’m going to try this myself as a summer NaNoWriMo – because let me tell you, I haven’t written anything new in 2019! I’ve been editing and rewriting and editing and rewriting and editing and AAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!
Perhaps Hunchback of Notre Dame from Esmerelda’s point of view. Or her mother. Or Quasimodo himself.
Mutiny On The Bounty, rewritten as sci-fi.
Really, the sky’s the limit. If you’re new to writing, or if you want to stretch your horizons a little, this might be the way to do it!
War of the worlds, Invisible Man, Time Machine… the sky’s the limit! And if you do sci-fi, not even the sky limits you!
Conclusion
Reworking a classic is a great way to learn from the masters. Often in art school, artists are required to paint in the style of a particular era, or repaint a masterpiece to learn from Picasso or Rembrandt. Musicians in conservatories are required to learn pieces by Bach and Mendelssohn. This is the writer’s way to learn from the masters – take one of their classics and see how all the plot elements, setting, point of view and the characters themselves built together a tapestry of words, pictures and feelings that have lasted the test of time.
