philosophical pondering of tie-ins
Jun. 24th, 2012 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliInspired by a LJ post I read a while back about tie-ins and whether you read them and what you think of them. . . .
Given the way I have read and enjoyed Dan Abnet's Gaunt's Ghosts books and Brother of the Snake, and Sandy Mitchell's Ciaiphas Cain books, I had to say that yes, tie-ins could be as good as stand-alone literature.
Of course, both of those are gaming tie-ins. And ones where they were not assigned pre-defined characters. Or even assigned a particular setting within a galaxy-spanning universe. Though they do draw on a deep and complex world-building and history.
On the other hand, among webcomics, there are Rusty & Co and Order of the Stick -- D&D tie-ins, effectively. Where they don't even take the setting, just the rules (which they proceed to fold, spindle, and mutiliate at whim for comedy and plot effectiveness -- the author of Order of the Stick has explicitly decreed no character sheets for his characters, to keep himself from being locked in). This does mean they have to devise their own worlds, not just a particular setting in them, and history for them, which can be a problem in that thickness is hard to whip up in an afternoon. Then, havinag read some D&D tie-in novels, avoiding other people's worlds is not always a bad thing, because then you can avoid world-building flaws, only some of which stem from need for playability rather ability to be written about.
Though if the best tie-ins are the least bound by constraints, it does help explain the reputation of tie-ins.
Given the way I have read and enjoyed Dan Abnet's Gaunt's Ghosts books and Brother of the Snake, and Sandy Mitchell's Ciaiphas Cain books, I had to say that yes, tie-ins could be as good as stand-alone literature.
Of course, both of those are gaming tie-ins. And ones where they were not assigned pre-defined characters. Or even assigned a particular setting within a galaxy-spanning universe. Though they do draw on a deep and complex world-building and history.
On the other hand, among webcomics, there are Rusty & Co and Order of the Stick -- D&D tie-ins, effectively. Where they don't even take the setting, just the rules (which they proceed to fold, spindle, and mutiliate at whim for comedy and plot effectiveness -- the author of Order of the Stick has explicitly decreed no character sheets for his characters, to keep himself from being locked in). This does mean they have to devise their own worlds, not just a particular setting in them, and history for them, which can be a problem in that thickness is hard to whip up in an afternoon. Then, havinag read some D&D tie-in novels, avoiding other people's worlds is not always a bad thing, because then you can avoid world-building flaws, only some of which stem from need for playability rather ability to be written about.
Though if the best tie-ins are the least bound by constraints, it does help explain the reputation of tie-ins.
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no subject
Date: 2012-06-25 12:58 pm (UTC)And where is the line drawn between “tie-in” and “fan fic”? Is it that you're using the setting but not the characters? But “OC” fanfic is commonplace, and indeed is the basis of the famous “Mary Sue.”
And what if you're NOT using the original setting?
“On Alternate Universes or Not So Much”
At one point I mentioned to someone that I could not feasibly do Harry Potter fanfic per se, but I could do a story set at Hogwarts, using my own characters. Suppose I fold in some of hardcore Anglophile H P Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, and write of a New England school of wizardry founded in Georgian times that went underground after the Revolutionary War but still exists?
Would this be fanfic, crossover, or tie in?
no subject
Date: 2012-06-25 02:04 pm (UTC)As for your Cthulhu Mythos Hogwarts -- it's original fiction. Scrapping off the serials makes it original, even if horribly derivative. Virtually all my original fiction is inspired by other fiction. Even though I've gotten kinda good at the serial number scrapping. And when do we get to read it?
no subject
Date: 2012-06-25 03:24 pm (UTC)What, the “Hogwatonic” story, from me? Well, it might be a while; I'd want to settle what's going on in war-time London first.
[“Coolest damn thing I'd ever heard”]
That's not to mention the other war-time London:
[Can you say, “In the public domain”? Heh heh heh…]
no subject
Date: 2012-06-25 10:59 pm (UTC)“AU, with OCs”
Date: 2012-06-25 02:57 pm (UTC)“For cryin' out loud awreddy!”
This woman's ready to work without a net.
Re: “AU, with OCs”
Date: 2012-06-25 10:44 pm (UTC)When of course you should be filing them off.