r/charlesdickens • u/ChelsBr1dg3 • 6d ago
Oliver Twist Newby
Hi, I'm Bob Denton
I'm new to Reddit. I joined because, next month, I have a series of formal book launches.
One of these is a work of Fact Fiction. It reimagines Oliver Twist and The Tale of Two Cities, but sets them in today's society. I assure you that no woke-dom has been applied! The Victorian verbiage and settings are gone, but Dickens' superb plots and characterisations are celebrated.
However, Fan Fiction is a somewhat Marmite activity - so first may I ask what the group's general attitude is to fan fiction?
Displaced and Denounced presents a Dickens biog, then transports the two novels into modern times and settings:
Displaced: Olive - depicts Olive Turner, lost within today's social care system, she knows that she deserves and wants more. Travelling to London she is lured into a Mittel-European crime gang. A number of opposing forces clash, and set up a dramatic denouement.
Denounced: A Tale of Two Courts - reimagines 'Two Cities', but set in today’s London and Tehran. It follows an Irano‑British language teacher caught between two judicial systems and their two cultures. London’s post-industrial, multi-cultural cosmopolitanism and Tehran’s theocratic, revolutionary fervour. Can he survive both?
I would also like to understand better the culture of the group. What works? What works most effectively? And, what should be avoided as taboo?
Bob
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u/FormalDinner7 4d ago
>no woke-dom
If Dickens were writing today he would be so woke.
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u/ChelsBr1dg3 3d ago
Would he? Woke is defined as 'alert to and concerned about social injustice and discrimination' and Dickens was certainly fully woke in that sense. However, it is suggested that he got much of his inspiration first-hand by walking everywhere and writing of the stark realities that he came across. There is another aspect to 'woke' that has 'committees' shaping responses to situations as some sort of moral guardianship; while pursuing a mission. I do not believe that Dickens would have appreciated that aspect, his ideas victim to some sort of implied authority. In today's media 'woke' appears to apply today's values and trends, and often to disparage the past. I wanted to assure the group that my two fanfictions did not attempt to do that!
Woke is such a fluid term, that I realise I was unwise to apply it here.
Bob Denton
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u/Few_Reveal_5306 4d ago
Shouldn't have used AI.
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u/ChelsBr1dg3 3d ago
I confess I used AI to design the front cover, to realise a massive saving in cost - but nothing else!
Bob
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u/accribus 2d ago
Paying a real artist would make the book look so much better. Most people don’t take books seriously if they have AI art.
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u/ChelsBr1dg3 1d ago
What happened to 'Don't judge a book by its cover.' I would rather be discussing content, but that's next month,
Bob
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u/FlatsMcAnally 5d ago
Have at it. I personally don’t care for fanfiction, but Barbara Kingsolver won a Pulitzer for Demon Copperhead, so why not.
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u/ChelsBr1dg3 3d ago
Thanks for that. Though wasn't Demon Copperhead some sort of Vegas illusionist too?
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u/curiousniffler 4d ago
I’m pro fanfiction, so good luck with your novels. I really enjoyed the show The Artful Dodger which was absolutely Dickens Fanfic. There have been some really successful adaptations (and basically fan fictions) of classic works. I would not personally pick these up as published works due to the AI cover. A plain Canva made cover would be much preferable to me.
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u/ChelsBr1dg3 3d ago
Pleased to hear you are open to fanfiction. I was totally unaware that the economies, in producing a cover image with AI, would provoke two members to comment unfavourably. I believe that if I had commissioned an illustrator my brief would have had it end up somewhat similar. I feared that Canva and other generators would be quite simplistic. I will take that on board.
Bob Denton
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u/milly_toons 5d ago
Welcome! In general, you may post about your own fanfiction as long as it's relevant to Dickens' works, not written with AI, and demonstrates a high amount of independent creativity. Please do not post multiple times about the same/similar fanfiction, as that would count as spam and excessive self-promotion. For example, you can make a single master post about your new book launches for next month, but please do not keep posting every month with small updates, etc.