Dracula is quoted as the most widely adapted villain in a work of fiction. The 20th/21st century has witnessed so many adaptations of the blood sucking count and doubtless, many more are in the works. Vampire film geeks never seem to get enough of him.
As of 2009, an estimated 217 films feature Dracula in a major role, a number second only to Sherlock Holmes (223 films). The number of films that include a reference to Dracula may reach as high as 649, according to IMDb (Internet Movie Database) owned by Amazon.com. http://www.wikipedia.com
If you are a vampire movie nerd, you can root for that. The character, Dracula, is author, Bram Stoker’s baby. Of course, he had a little help from Romanian history.
Before writing Dracula, Stoker spent seven years researching European folklore and stories of vampires, being mostly influenced by Emily Gerard’s 1885 essay Transylvania Superstitions. http://www.wikipedia.com
I have watched at least three screen variations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, from The Odyssey to the more recent cinematic Brad Pitt’s Troy. Each of these films tell their story from a separate Major Character’s POV. Troy, I think, was in Achilles’ POV. Homer, a Greek poet, wrote The Iliad and its sequel, The Odyssey as documentation, not just of the Trojan War, but of how the gods interfere in human affairs. Events seem to depend as much on the choices made by women and serfs as on the actions of fighting men. http://www.wikipedia.com
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has enjoyed numerous adaptations, both plagiarized and altered copies. Virtually hundreds of tragic love tales have been spun off this masterpiece, thousands because writers perceive threads of immortal plots running in between the lines and tap into it. And right there’s the point I’m getting at.
There is a note of continuity in every genuine work of fiction. No story is ever completely told, no plot’s ever overstretched. No question about it, there will always be those gleanings some other author can explore and launch into a story with a different twist.
Thomas Hardy supposedly said the most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones. Stephen King took that and ran with it and churned out a world wide best selling novel, Bag of Bones. Now, on a personal level, you oughta read that book to see what I mean. For those of you who have guess you know what I know, then. Things Fall Apart, a novel by Dr. Chinua Achebe, by far the most widely read African novel by an African residing in Africa. (*sic*) pardon the repetitions, now. But the title of the book derives from The Second Coming (1919), a poem by the Irish poet, William Butler Yeats.
No need to mix things up, thinking I’m preaching plagiarism of sorts. Being original means learning from the originals how they learned to be original (there I go again with ‘em repetitions). It’s about threading in the golden footprints of legends and not being shy about it. Actually, it works best if you’re loud about it.
Read any stories, recently that sprouted new ideas for original plot developments? Get your post-it notes and jot them down. Whatever you do don’t let them get away.
Keep your pen bleeding!
Akpan
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