I have a lot of time on my hands. It's obscene, the amount of stuff I could reasonably achieve during these lonely weeks of unemployment but haven't because I prefer to sit on the sofa and stare vacantly into the ether.
In an effort to soak up some of my time, I have begun this blog. Much like one of those jazzy moths with eyes painted on their wings, upon initial inspection this blog has important narrative questions to answer and academic intentions. Yet look a little closer and you will see a bedraggled brown moth-blog, interested only in lightbulbs and eating shirts.
Anyway, forgetting moths for the time being (if only), I wrote an essay a while ago for a crime fiction module, in which I rewrote portions of a Sherlock Holmes story in an American / Noir style. I called it A Scandal in Little Bohemia and it was terrible. And so that is the aim of this blog; to explore how we can adapt narrative and character to different genres and mediums and whether this impacts the original texts.
For instance, my rewritten story followed the plot of Conan Doyle's writing and so we can wonder whether it was a new text or belonged in part to him. Nothing was copied exactly. All the recent Holmes adaptations, both good and bad, made me think of my own interpretation and whether modern characters and a change of location creates something entirely new.
Thus I want to come up with my own adaptations and mash ups. This is where it starts to look suspiciously like fun. Starting with some ideas and then possibly writing scenes or synopses and critical commentaries, I am going to swap the genres of famous narratives and see what happens. Although not an experiment in almost every sense of the word, who knows - this might actually help us understand what narrative is.
So apologies if you thought this was going to be an interesting or comedic read! It's more for my own amusement and as a writing aid. Anyone interested in reading narrative theory should make sure there is absolutely nothing else they could be doing, pour themselves a brandy and peruse some Russian formalism. Good luck and happy reading!
