Tell me what you think of my idea: NO STEALING!

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It's a modern remake of Pride and Prejudice. I know it's been done to death, but I completely changed it around. It takes place in New York, though not in the city, rather, on Long Island. Now, I don't know how familiar you are with LI, but I'll give you a general outline. It's long and skinny with two legs at the end. If you think of it as a person, the head's NYC, the stomach's suburbs, the area near the crotch is all farm lands(stop snickering) and the legs are the Hamptons. Ultra-rich, ultra posh, everyone there is either a millionaire or a migrant farm worker.
I though a bit about how to create the characters, what I would do with each of them, and I decided, well, THEY practically decided for me, that all the genders of all the characters should be reversed. Sooo, this means that Mr. Darcy is now a girl, and Elizabeth now a boy about the same age. Late teens, I was thinking, about 17 or 18.
Anyway, I don't know how many of you have seen or read Pride and Prejudice, but every time I read it, the thing that always stuck out in my head was how Aspergery Mr. Darcy always acted. I mean, he was practically a textbook case of mild Asperger's, minus the obsession. I decided that this Mr. Darcy, whose name, coincidently, is Julienne Cardin, had AS, and had an obsession with anything that had to do with astronomy. She walks around with a marble notebook whenever she goes anywhere at night, and charts the stars. She would be a rich Hamptonite, who is completely sheltered and the embodiment of innocence in my story.
Elizabeth would be named Thomas Arteaga, the American son of two illegal mexican immigrants. He has a twin brother, Tyler, who is his exact opposite in everything but looks(Lydia), a younger brother, Matt(Jane), who is milder than Tom and not nearly as bitter, and an even younger brother, Jonathan, who never figures much into the story except as a plot device to get one of the brothers out of the room when something important happens. Tom is an interesting character. He's horribly intolerant and impatient towards nearly everything, and hates wealth for the mere fact that it exists. His main trial in the story is learning to accept all different people, and to know that he doesn't have to hide his true personality under a bitter, jaded, rebellious persona.

The plot would typically follow the oridinal layout, albiet a few changes. If you have any questions, or need something cleared up, don't hesitate on asking questions. I like questions. They keep your fingers excercising.

Go for it. Ideas are interesting, plots are recycled, etc. etc. etc. But if you have fresh insights into the original idea, push it for all it's worth. What have you got to lose, anyway? Throw it into the air and see if it flies.

Very nice!

Your idea sounds very interesting. I thought of writing back to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre once. It's been done before too, with "Wild Sargasso Sea" by Jane Rhys and "Adele" by Emma Tennant. I think it would be great to have a sequel to a classic text written by an aspie. Wild Sargasso Sea told the story of Jane Eyre from the point of view of Mr. Rochester's mad Creole wife. Adele told the story of her daughter. I think it would be really interesting to read a book written by an aspie author writing back to a colonial text. I'm not a big fan of Jane Austen, but I'd buy a book written by an aspie writing back to Jane Austen for sure.

I do have a question. In what ways do you think being an aspie would influence your writing? Do you think that being an aspie has an effect on your voice as a writer?

To answer your question, Anandamide, I don't really know. So far I've only really written the (few) bits that are told from Julienne's point of view. I've always hated first person, so I'm writing it in third person limited. Like the original, the reader will get such-and-such of an idea about Julienne, only to have that idea completely disproven on closer analysis of the character. The parts where Julienne's view is the view from which the reading will only happen at the climax, and after.

As an Aspie, the areas where all the NT characters are interacting,ex: chatting, the Arteaga brothers on a daily basis, etc, will pose quite a challenge, especially when trying to give Tom or Tyler something to say, as I am very rarely around people my own age, and never around boys. (social phobia, you see) I will have to rely on extensive proofreading by an impartial NT adult who knows his/her own way around the English language(teacher?) and has some experience with teenagers and children.

That is what I am most worried of; my voice when writing fiction is almost impossible to detect as an Aspie's. I tend to poke silent fun at circumstances, especially social ones that most NTs take for granted, that may come off as slightly odd. I think that I'll probably come off as a bit of geek with way too many literary references not-so-subtly placed in my story, but generally accessible and good-humored. At least, that's what I'm aiming for.

I think the great thing about creative writing is that you can create an entire world, and the characters don't have to act in the ways that normal people would do. If you can imagine what the boys might say, go for it. It will probably be a lot more entertaining if it comes out of your imagination rather than if you strive for portrayals based on stereotypes.

I'm still struggling to find my voice as a writer. I think I speak in a very detached voice. As well my writing tends toward surrealism. I like surrealism because it allows people to tell stories in which small everyday events take on a lot of significance. I have a very humdrum isolated social world, and so what I've figured out is that I can hype everything up to make it more interesting. If I write with a bit of surrealism thrown in then even a trip to the grocery store becomes an interesting event.

I agree. If what the characters are saying and doing are relevant to the overall style of the piece, I think you would be better served with controlling the output of the characters. Trying to be more natural can sometimes result in awkward directions that need to be panel-beaten back to the original point, and don't flow as well. Don't worry about being real, worry about being real to the story.

I'm gonna totally steal your idea

/steals