Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Help for a fanfic

Hi all! Most of you won't remember me but I used to be a regular on the boards. Due to real life intruding in a major fashion, I haven't posted to the boards in a few years.

Things in my life have calmed down and I've been trying to get into writing fanfic again. I've started on one and I need assistance with a detail for a small part of the story.

I need one of my characters to make reference to a novel or a play wherein a woman is abducted because she is an heiress and someone wants her out of the way. I know that there are stories out there where women were stuck in monasteries to get them out of the way. I'm looking for something cliché. Any help is much appreciated.

In "Babes in Toyland" (okay, it's a movie / play, not a novel) where Mary Mary Quite Contrary is an heiress... but it's just an awful story , which doesn't make much sense. So, never mind.

Most of the stories I can think of are old movies, so aren't much help, and usually someone is trying to kill off the heiress, not just abduct her. Does "Washington Square" work? I've only seen the movie, but I know it was based on a book. It sounds like what you want is something Gothic, or something like "Jane Eyre" (which for some reason, I can never remember the ending of). There's always Princess Buttercup from "Princess Bride", but she wasn't an heiress, and was abducted only to start a war. There's always "Snow White" or "Cinderella", which (if you take the Disney version) are heiresses abducted to get them out of the way.

Okay, I can see I have been anything but helpful. Sorry. Clearly, I've been reading the wrong sort of story.

Anyway, Welcome Back!

Irene! How lovely to hear you're getting back to writing, both fanfic and here on the mbs.

Not sure if either are big enough names for your needs though.

LabRat :-)

PS : If any of you out there haven't read Irene's previous fanfic yet, get yourselves over to the Archive now. You're missing a treat!

Irene,
I get the impression the you want to reference a book that everyone will instantly recognize and be able to make the parallel connections just from the reference.

Since nothing has come to anyone's mind right away perhaps 'the book' won't have that impact you wish.

My opinion is to just make up some book and with a few extra lines of dialog allow your characters to make the inference by acknowledging the plot of the 'well-known' novel.

Tank (who is very eager to see Irene's work back in this fandom again)

WoHooo! It was cool to see your name again, Irene.
Welcome back! I think Tank's suggestion has merit, since there does not seem to be one book with universal reference any more.
regards
Artemis

Thanks so much, guys! Yes, I've been leaning towards making up my own 'iconic' story that is recognizable for that universe.

Thanks for the suggestions and good to hear from everyone.

Don't look for anything quickly. Since I left an unfinished story on the boards before (which is what I'm going to tackle next), I've promised myself that I'm not going to start posting anything to the boards until it's done! This one is probably going to be novel length and I'm currently barely into chapter 1.

Thanks again,
Irene

Welcome back, Irene. I've read a number of your stories and I've always enjoyed them. I am also glad you've made your way back to this interesting community.

As to your original question, you might consider a fairy tale like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty for your reference. Of course, that would depend on the context of your story, but those might be more universally recognized than a romance novel or classic movie. I worked with a beta once who had never watched "Gone With The Wind" and didn't recognize the reference I made to it in the story we were working on.

Most fairy tales are also cross-cultural, so a reference to one wouldn't automatically leave out readers from places which don't share a specific cultural framework. Anyway, it's a thought.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is the classic story on these lines, filmed and adapted for the stage many times - there was a BBC series in 1997 if that helps.

Search on Wikipedia for The_Woman_in_White_(novel) and its films etc.

I think, Marcus, that a British novel published in 1860 would not have the market penetration across the pond that you might expect. I downloaded the e-book version (free from Project Gutenberg and was startled to see that it consists of three volumes! I may have to work myself up to reading it, although I think I probably will, given your recommendation.

Oh, dearest Irene, I have not forgotten you at all. You have always been one of my favorite authors! I love your next gen stories - Solar Eclipse is my favorite.

I agree with Terry about making up a book.

But I suppose The Fugitive might work, but the lady in question was murdered (by the one armed man).

The kidnapping of Anne Sluti has been made into a movie, she has done some interviews, and re-enactments have been done (like some of the detective shows). She almost sounds like what I'd imagine Lois would do. Eventually the guy left her alone with a phone and she called for help. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sluti The story is also told on Dateline episode 778. I'm not really sure that would work, but Ann's scrappiness is very Lois-like.

There's another famous kidnapping that definitely got someone out of the way. The book is called 83 Hours 'Til Dawn. Heiress Barbara J Mackle was buried alive. I remember a time when this book was quite popular, but that was in the early '70's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jane_Mackle