Souls 2000

07/18/00
4:52am

Yes, I re-wrote Souls. Why? Because I thought some of it was so bad that it was just shameful. I couldn't stand to read the thing!

I actually planned on re-writing more of it (as it is only a few paragraphs have been completely re-done), but I found that a lot of my dis-like for the story stemmed from comma splices and run-on sentences.

The way I went about re-writing was this- I copied the whole story, and pasted it into a new notepad file. I then re-wrote what I didn't like, and fixed any grammar errors.

My original plan had been to re-write the whole story on a paragraph to paragraph basis. That's what I did with the first paragraph... I read it, deleted it, and wrote it again. But as I moved on I decided that most of what I had written wasn't too bad, so I changed some words and left most of what was written intact. I'm actually disappointed in myself... it seems like the lazy way out.

I know that people love Souls the way it is. So it didn't seem crazy to leave it most of the wording in it's original state. But now I feel as though I should have re-written each paragraph, or dumped them all and started the whole concept over. Maybe I would have come up with something better.

But I'm afraid that if I do that, I'll lose some of the magic. I'm just not in the same state of mind I was when I wrote the original. I'll never be: I'm a different person now. I'm afraid that I'll give the story a whole different vision... like the shot-by-shot remake of Psycho. (Note: I haven't see either version of Psycho. I just thought it would be a good metaphor, and I'm going on what I've heard about both movies.) Both version had exactly the same script, and exactly the same shots. But different people were involved with the remake, so it inevitably had a different feel to it. It lost it's magic.

Now, I've gotten lucky with the first Souls. It had just the right combination to move people, to make them like it, just like the original Psycho had just the right combination of factors to make it a popular classic. I don't know if I can hit the combination again, and I don't know if the story will have the same spirit (because I really do like the spirit of the original), and I don't know if I'll be soiling the original's name with a new creation.

As it stands Souls 2000 isn't really a re-write. It's more of a revision, a further edited edition of Souls. So I still don't know how a re-write will turn out. Of course, I'll never know until I try. I'm too tired to take a stab at a real re-write tonight. I hope I'll feel like it tomorrow, I'm quite interested to see what I come up with.

08/03/00
10:23am

Hey, I was just formatting this entry to be put up on site, and I realized I never cleared up some things. Basically, I got sick not too long after I wrote this entry, and never tried a true re-write like I was planning. But I did send Souls 2000 to a friend to read, and she loved it. After some more discussion on the subject, I decided that I like the re-write the way it is, and I'm planning on posting it as is.

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