[AlexG]

Last week in Inside the Writer's Studio we covered Story Requests – If asked, would you write one? and established that some will, others won't.

(Probably more then a few of the regulars held back rather then publicly committing themselves one way or the other.  Which, if that's the case for the lower turnout of responses, I understand.)

Now we move on to part two, an adjunct question – the subject of unfinished stories.  We've all experianced it – just when one really got interesting the author, for whatever reason(s), simply stopped cold and never came back to it to give us any closure to his tale.  At the same time, over the course of time, inevitable thoughts have come to us as to what might have happened next.

Now I'm assuming, of course, that you've sought out and been given permission by the original author to complete their work.

Remember, it's not just enough to finish their story – most importantly, do you have the ablity to suppress your initiate writing style and replicate the sense and flavor of theirs?

(I only know of one instance that this has successfully occurred on the forums: Whoopy's Hiccups – continued by Whoopy's Stand-In, who was later revealed to be Hi-Standard.  So well done was it, that unless you have both copies its hard to see where one left off and the other began.)

So, given the stated parameters about Unfinished Stories – Could you complete one?

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[Seldom]

Nope! Copying another author's style is very hard, and I applaud those who can do so.

That said, I don't mind re-envisioning and re-interpreting when a new author comes to a story.  There is not so much good work in this genre that I can be picky.  If a story is good but different from the original, I welcome it.

Tangential but still related, I have been toying with the Creative Commons copyrights.  One of them provides a way for us free authors to allow free extensions (with attribution to us, of course), but still be compensated if our work is used for anything commercial.  That sounds pretty ideal to me.

[ratlaf]

Nope.

I'm with Seldom on this.  Emulating someone else's style is quite difficult.  If I were a real writer with real skills I might be able to pull it off, but I just write what comes to my mind and channel it into words.

Also, I don't know what the original author had in mind for their characters and ultimately where the plot was intended to climax and conclude.  I wouldn't want to take their story to a place they didn't want it to go.  I'm quite possessive of my stories and wouldn't want to see someone else mess it up.

Re-envisioning I've done…  My "Monkey's Paw" story exists thanks to Lingster's story but they're two totally different stories with totally different characters and styles.  I enjoyed the "Amazon Cruise" story so much that I may end up writing my own experience on that cruise line, but it'd be totally different than the existing story.

Those're my thoughts…
Ratty!

[stmercy2020]

Oddly enough, yes, I think I could finish a storyline in another writer's style.  The thing is, I wouldn't want to.  I have far too many irons in the fire right now in any case, but I think part of the joy for me, at least, comes from writing what I want in the style I want to write it in.  If I were commissioned to write something in a particular style, on the other hand, I might change my tune.

[Cowprobe]

I haven't tried continuing a story in another persons style as of yet.

That being said I would like to play around with some plot devices left glowing strangely in the dusty corners of FMG/BE/Mini-zon fandom.

It's rough when I see some of these unwrapped tales because there's so much potential.

Probably brought this up in another post somewhere but repetition helps creates brand awareness. 😉

For instance;

Doug and Jonas' miniature pituitary stimulation emitter from "Numa Maduk's Amazon Extravaganza, Chapter 1" by The Mighty Lingster. The story takes place in 1998 and I'd love to do a 10 years later flash forward especially since cellphones have saturated everyday experience. The original story had a usb powered device but a modded cellphone held near the brain doesn't seem too far fetched.

Arcane Software's 'Imposer 1.0 Gold Edition' from Augoose's "Imposer". These Caballah decorated mystic plastic pressings could affect the real world through a Poser program style interface. While I favor pseudo-science instead of out and out magic in stories the experimentation and reveal in this story had me hungry for more.

Dr.Ghust's drug or virus that was developed to counteract tissue degeneration in Whoopsy and Hi-Standard's "Hiccups". Unleashed on the UCLA campus this material seems to be activates when someone has a heart rate accelerating event after dosage. 

"Dr.Amastien" by Spitfire has cloning, head swapping and all sorts of forays into areas man Was Not Meant To Go. Doctor A ends up saving his wife only to have her new body change the power dynamic at home and leave him taxed to keep up. The next step might be him expiring from sheer exhaustion or attempting to escape his ravenous bride.

Well that's a few which have been bleating in the back of my brain for a continuation.

[crazyfck]

I always had the feel when the story became interesting, most writers abandon it. My theory is that the more the story progress, more complex is to write without jumping the shark, so they prefer to let it for a more inspired day that never comes. Some of them, I think, were wishing to someone to complete it in the style and energy they begun. But that's impossible.

Is not only the grammar that changes, is the flow that changes, the way the writer connected the ideas change.

So, I believe, to continue a story from someone's else, you have to write with your words and your ideas; trying to 'mimic' the previous writer is a sandtrap.

[Fonk]

I don't think so – I wouldn't want to tread over the original author's vision with my own ideas and writing style. If they'd given me a blueprint for what they wanted to happen, I would consider it. Adapting my own style to fit theirs would probably be hard, though. Hmmmm.

Good question, as ever!

[JimmyDimples]

To be frank, I don't think I could pull it off.  Admittedly, being a fan fiction writer, I'd taken other peoples' creations and done stories, but I did it with my own brand of style, mannerisms, and flavor. 

And if there were an unfinished story someone wanted me to complete, I'd be sorely tempted to start all over again from scratch with the original set-up and write it my way.  Keep it true to the original concept, of course, but I wouldn't want to shoe-horn myself into another writer's way.

[robclassact]

I'd certainly love to try. I realize it would be pretty difficult, but attempting to write in another writer's style is a good writing exercise since it forces you out of your writing comfort zone.

Lord knows there are at least a half dozen unfinished stories I could think of that I'd love to take a crack at. At the present I'm more involved in completing my own story though.

[Mark Newman]

I do enjoy finishing incomplete stories, or working on variants of existing stories, but only if the styles are compatible (and I have permission).  For me, this works best if there is somewhat less detail in the original story than I would put it, leaving room for my own spin on it. 

Sometimes I just write Marknew versions that are inspired by the original by are wholly mine.

I love writing Marknew variants with Steve the Z's stories, and Helplesscase has inspired two entire stories for me.

[Author]

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