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Being a little before the 1 year deadline for threads, I thought I'd ask this again. I've been collecting notes on the species of a Gulliver's Travels-style world for use in the Three Galaxies with the intent of posting, but if it's just going to get locked I'd as soon not bother.

A related question to the conversion of public domain material is creative work for which the right to make derivative work has been expressly granted. Works released under a CC BY-NC license allow others to freely make non commercial derivatives/adaptations/remixes so long as the original source is attributed. This is a more complicated issue, particularly since ND and/or SA licenses wouldn't jive with the posted forum rules, and so unlike with public domain might be better left unavailable.

One YEAR deadline? This would be a necropost anywhere else.

To the topic, WHY use someone else's characters?

I understand that all stories are retellings of each other, Star Wars is a retelling of the old wizard meets farmboy fantasy trope, after all. But the reason Star Wars is different from, say, the Black Cauldron, is the spin on the characters and situations to make a great story.

Frankenstein is cool, but why not make someone else up without the baggage and legal worry?

You can even steal the major elements and then add a twist? A story with a flesh golem created by a mad scientist is tired. A story about a flesh golem created by a mad scientist to console his wife over the death of their daughter, rebuilt from her brain and a dozen murdered teenagers... that might be worth telling.

I'm just saying, why be steamboat willie when you can be Truck Driver Bill?

Riffing on past fiction can lend verisimilitude. An immortal were-donkey sounds silly in a vacuum, but making Lucius, the priest of Isis from the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, a divine agent adds a certain authenticity. That Lucius could, as the result of a diplomatic mission turned farce with a faerie court have been the origin for Nick Bottom, can make the character a jack*** for the ages.

Why not use established public domain characters? I mean sure, you don't have to. But if you want to then what not. League of Extraordinary Gentleman is a perfect example of how it can work brilliantly.

Josh Hilden wrote:Why not use established public domain characters? I mean sure, you don't have to. But if you want to then what not. League of Extraordinary Gentleman is a perfect example of how it can work brilliantly.

I do love a good Allan Quatermain flick.


I would love to start a thread of just PD conversions, but I doubt the staff would want to be burdened with proving copyrights. I'll bet the standing order on any conversions at all is a nope.

Curbludgeon wrote:Riffing on past fiction can lend verisimilitude. An immortal were-donkey sounds silly in a vacuum, but making Lucius, the priest of Isis from the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, a divine agent adds a certain authenticity. That Lucius could, as the result of a diplomatic mission turned farce with a faerie court have been the origin for Nick Bottom, can make the character a jack*** for the ages.

A certain "Stoker almost had me right, dear doctor." vibe. I get that.

Damn, I want to make that conversions thread so bad. If word falls from on-high with the OK, I claim Dracula. Dibs.