analect (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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writerslounge2011-09-13 05:46 pm
analect) wrote in writerslounge2011-09-13 05:46 pm
Entry tags:
Artistic license: thoughts?
All righty... in the interests of leaving some discussion open for those who want it, I have a question. How far do you take artistic license when dealing with something in a fictional context, and how much knowledge - either of the thing itself, or in terms of acknowledgement of the license you're taking - do you expect your audience to have?
I'm sure we all have different approaches here, so I'm curious.
As a kick-off point, I recently posted a story of mine that's been kicking around for a while to my journal. The Red Man is a horror short that involves references to Celtic druidism [click to read]. Though I researched a bit for the story, I don't know a lot about either historical or modern practice - however, I do have a few druid friends.
Their religious/philosophical slant is very different to the angle the story explores (notions of Awen and bardic tradition, while awesome, are not terribly horrific). So I guess you could say, here, I've taken the same kind of artistic license that The Wicker Man (the proper film; let's pretend the 2006 remake never happened) took with ideas of preserved pagan practice; i.e., it could have happened that way.
Is this something you do with different ideas? Or are you a stickler for realism and research? Does artistic license always (or ever) mean pandering to stereotypes, or is it a useful tool for playing 'what-if' with?
I'm sure we all have different approaches here, so I'm curious.
As a kick-off point, I recently posted a story of mine that's been kicking around for a while to my journal. The Red Man is a horror short that involves references to Celtic druidism [click to read]. Though I researched a bit for the story, I don't know a lot about either historical or modern practice - however, I do have a few druid friends.
Their religious/philosophical slant is very different to the angle the story explores (notions of Awen and bardic tradition, while awesome, are not terribly horrific). So I guess you could say, here, I've taken the same kind of artistic license that The Wicker Man (the proper film; let's pretend the 2006 remake never happened) took with ideas of preserved pagan practice; i.e., it could have happened that way.
Is this something you do with different ideas? Or are you a stickler for realism and research? Does artistic license always (or ever) mean pandering to stereotypes, or is it a useful tool for playing 'what-if' with?
no subject
So, now I'm researching WWI and how Europe ended up divided the way it was; I want to change some of the facts so that the countries end up different, but not by much.
I'm struggling with how much research I need to do into what really happened before I can change it into what I need/want to have happened. This is background, but the more I read, the more I think I could use this background, the chaos and frustrations of WWI, as part of the story. Still, that doesn't help me know how much to include and how realistic I have to make it.
*sigh*
So, basically, I'm saying I don't know how much to steal and how much to change.
Stasia
no subject
That sounds like a really vivid background to a story. It's certainly a massive, massive area to research and incorporate, but absolutely worth it. I'd think it depends on what aspects - social, economic, political - you wanted most to bring in. Why not post some details and bounce some ideas around here? We won't bite. ;)