5 Steps to Turn a Public Domain Work Into the Next Blockbuster Original IP
Having worked on several projects that use public domain works, both art and writing, my most recent project involved taking a literary work that is now in the public domain and revising it to be more compelling and appealing to modern readers. The goal is also to take a work that many people, beyond hardcore science fiction readers, will never read and make something that is more high-concept and accessible.
My novel is called Lewis & Glark — Time Traders | Book One and can be read right here on Medium. Chapter One starts here:
https://medium.com/@zenbrazen/lewis-glark-time-traders-book-one-chapter-1-94390c528700
Andre Norton’s The Time Traders (public domain) can be read here:
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/andre-norton/the-time-traders
As I’m beginning to get some interest and attention for this project, I thought it would be worth making a few notes involving the process of creating this novel, as a blueprint for others who are interested in doing something similar.
Thus, here are 5 Steps to Turn a Public Domain Work into the Next Blockbuster Original IP:
Choose an existing work that is well-written and a compelling read
After doing a lot of research, and reading the first chapters of many different public domain works, I settled on the Time Traders series by Andre Norton. The story is about a young man who is given the opportunity to avoid prison time by “volunteering” for a mysterious mission called Operation Retrograde, whose agents time-travel to the distant past in order to uncover the source of important technologies. Its a race against time, as their enemies are also in pursuit of the same technologies.
The story and writing of the first book, The Time Traders (published by World Publishing Co. in 1958) are pretty solid on their own, so I knew it would make a good foundation for a new work. Andre Norton, a well-known a respected science fiction author in her time, had considerable success writing books for the teen market, mostly boys. But her works and writing style are fairly outdated, and haven’t been read except by fans of hardcore science fiction. So, this work and series seemed like a solid choice for a re-envisioning.
Create new and compelling characters and locations that will resonate with modern readers
The main characters of the original Time Traders series — young Ross Murdock, Dr. Gordon Ashe and Major John Kelgarries — are all human white men. I wanted to create characters that had more diversity in terms of race color and size. So, in the Lewis & Glark series, the young black protagonist is named Lewis Freeman. His mentor and time-travel partner is named Glark (no last name) and is Bulkon, a race of large beings, similar to the Gamorrean guards in Star Wars. The Major (referred to only as “The Major”) is also Bulkon. The size and race difference makes for a nice visual contrast and, again, provides some needed diversity for modern readers.
The names Lewis & Glark, of course, are based on the North American explorers Lewis & Clark. The characters in the Time Traders series are explorers. So, it seemed fitting to use a fun variation of the original names for this project, given that the Lewis & Clark’s adventures are still taught in schools and they still have name recognition.
I originally envisioned Lewis & Glark as characters and an IP for kids. But the names and characters seemed to fit really well for this project, so I was happy to re-envision them as adult characters.
The original Time Traders series takes place on Earth, where the main characters become traders of the Beaker culture of Bronze-Age Europe. While I’m sure that was more interesting and exotic at the time, I decided to set the story on a fictional planet called Telaan Six, an Earth-like planet that even in the distant past was a hub of trade and activity for many different alien races. Changing the location freed me from various restrictions in the original story, and made possible more interesting, modern choices in terms of characters, locations and events.
Provide more character development and backstory for the main character
In the original story, the main character, Ross Murdock, doesn’t have much backstory. Norton alludes to a troubled past, but doesn’t elaborate on any of Ross’ family or his feelings about important thematic topics that a person in his situation would naturally be confronted with and think about.
In my version of The Time Traders story, I made sure to give a little more information about Lewis Freeman with regard to his family. He bristles when another character refers to him as “son”, commenting “I’ve never been a son to anyone”. This makes us wonder what happened to his father, and why did they never have a relationship. There is also mention of Lewis’ mother and brother. He thinks of both favorably, but its clear that they are no longer in his life either. Even these minimal references to family, or lack of one, gives the young main character more depth and resonance.
Also, a character in Lewis’ position might naturally be confronted with thoughts and questions that weren’t addressed in the original series: questions about his past as it relates to his family, thoughts about being profoundly alone, and thoughts about what “home” means, and where exactly home is for him. Adding these details gives the main character a lot more depth, and makes him resonate with readers much more than in the original series.
Update the language and writing style to appeal to modern readers
One of the popular conventions of the day was to imply excitement — both in dialogue and description — via use of exclamation points! It seems like a minor thing. But when the excitement and importance of everything is dialed up to a ten, it get a little distracting, even humorous. So, getting rid of a lot of exclamation points, and using them sparingly, was more effective.
Another popular convention back in the day was to not use contractions as much as we do now. The original work has so many uses of “could not”, “would not”, “was not”, “did not”, etc. Changing many of these instances to their contractions makes the description and dialogue more casual and reflective of how people, especially young people, talk today.
When dealing with a scene with two characters, Norton would often refer to the secondary character as “the other”. I found it better to be more specific and refer to the character by name.
There were a handful of words that were frequently used back then, that I changed to more modern equivalents. The main one that comes to mind is “queer”, which commonly meant odd or different. That word has a more modern meaning familiar to most people. So, its more effective and less distracting to replace that word with a reasonable alternative.
Many books written 70 years ago have a more formal, wordy style, and use words that may have been popular or common at the time but are less known and confusing for modern readers. A less formal, more casual and conversational writing style allows the reader to understand and get through the story quicker, with less trips to Dictionary.com.
Change dated or problematic elements to be more appealing to modern readers
Changing dated and problematic elements makes an old work more appealing and less offensive to modern readers. A few examples…
It was clear that the main characters in the original Time Traders series were all white men. Changing it up so that some of the characters are female, some are people of color, and some are are even members of alien races makes the work more inclusive, and representative of our modern world and culture.
In the original work, the main character is stunned to see people defined as “Oriental” and those from Northern European countries, and views them as alien and unfamiliar. Updating the work so that those people are normal and familiar, and that the unknown characters are people of fictitious races from fictitious planets removes any hints of racism that may have come through in the original work.
Similarly, there were many elements that could have been considered sexist in the original work. Not only were all the characters in the story men, but outdated references to gender were also used. During one dramatic event, Norton says “the women screamed and ran, men shouted”. Changing the language to avoid these gender stereotypes makes the story more readable and palatable for modern readers.
An update of the technologies featured in the work makes it more interesting and in-line with those we have in our world today. A “screen” or “tablet” instead of a “notebook and pen” is more high-tech and modern. “Data drives” and “streams” instead of “tapes” is a better choice. A “spaceship” instead of a “supersonic aircraft” is cooler and more representative of current and future technologies.
Norton used the term “Reds” to define the enemy faction in the original Time Traders series. This, of course, refers to Communists and roots the story during the Cold War era on Earth. Changing the name of the enemy faction to the nebulous “Ones” and setting the story on another planet removes all the specific and dated notions and elements of Cold War-era Earth, and frees up the story and situations to be more modern, compelling and understandable.
NOTE: The changing of elements that might read as objectionable to modern readers — with regard to sex, race and gender — is no comment on Andre Norton or her work. She wrote this story at a specific time and place, using conventions, ideas and language that were common at the time.
But things change over time. Updating a work so that readers are able to enjoy the characters and journey of a story without getting hung up on outdated and objectionable conventions, ideas and language was a primary motivator for taking on a project like this.
Include a mock cover image that helps to illustrate the story and world
Andre Norton’s The Time Traders book offers an outdated cover image. In an age of movies, TV shows, comic books and social media, consumers — as well as producers, agents, world builders and supporters of original content — are very visual and appreciate modern images that help them visualize the characters, events and world of the story. To that end, a new mock cover has been made for the revised work.
There are countless works in the public domain that have compelling characters, stories and world-building elements that can be updated and refreshed for modern readers and entertainment media consumers. I hope this provides a basic blueprint for turning a public domain work into a modern and compelling original IP with a ton of potential, and exposes people and brings new life and attention to the works of past authors like Ms. Norton.
