Help: Converting SRP thread to a story?

[Tanuki]

Has anyone tried to convert a SRP thread to a conventional story? I'm trying to do that, and I'm wondering how best to change the back and forth style of an SRP to a story. SRPs usually show two characters thoughts and feelings, but is going back and forth like that weird in a story?

Anyone done this?

 

[BlackShanglan]

Too many switches in perspective can be distracting. Generally I would give each character at least a few paragraphs of time before moving to the next. It's true that you can try to fix the problem by taking a very detached third-person point of view and not reporting internal thoughts in strong detail or really attaching the point of view to either character, but that does limit your development of them as people with strong personalities.

Another way to go, of course, is to focus just on one character and voice it first person or third person limited omniscient, focusing just on that character and having him/her report the other character's actions. That could work too. I think that the key thing is being willing to release a great deal of the blow-by-blow structure of the SRP and envision it more as an outline than the bulk of the story.

Shanglan

 

[Tanuki]

Another way to go, of course, is to focus just on one character and voice it first person or third person limited omniscient, focusing just on that character and having him/her report the other character's actions.

That is the way I usually write, from the female protagonist's point of view, so they're not privvy to the thoughts of other characters. But I'd hate to cut my cowriter's material, it's really good. I could write from just his (the male character's) point of view, but I'm not so good at that.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I wrote my first novel that way. A girl wanted to play a game exploring a loving BDSM relationship, so we set the story in turn-of-the-century New Orleans for a little atmosphere, and her character was sent to me as a kind on indentured lover to pay off her father's gambling debts. I then took her through the usual descent-into-BDSM thing.

Half way through it occurred to me that I was really into it and writing some good stuff. maybe even book-worthy. I told her that if it was okay with her, I'd like to turn it into a book, but that I wanted to rewrite her parts so as not to steal her stuff, as well as make the story flow better. She agreed and wished me luck, so I took over the prject myself.

It had to be rewritten anyhow, because the changes in POV's were just too disorienting. (I've seen stories told from alternating POV's, but they don't work for me and that's not what I wanted.) Luckily, it was a BDSM book involving D/s, in which my dom character would do something to her, and she would react. That made rewriting her parts easy. I just had to incoporate her reactions into my dom's story. In the end, I actually used very little of her original material. I rewrote her reactions to fit my story.

First thing you've got to do is get your partner's permission to use their material and change it to fit your needs. You might want to consider joint-authorship if you're going to use a lot of their ideas and writing. You've got to do a lot of rewriting, and it can be a lot of work.

On the other hand, an SRP game gives you great motivation to write, since you have an instant audience eagerly waiting your next installment, and you can have enough material for a novel n a matter of weeks if goes well. It really helps too if you're a strong writer and your partner is just along for the ride, to provide inspiration and moan softly every so often. WIth two strong writers each owith their own ideas, it's a bit harder.