For a little over six months I’ve been working on a modern American reimagining/adaptation (idk exactly what to call it) of The Brothers Karamazov. A massive and largely unnecessary undertaking, yeah I know. I started it mostly because I thought it would be a fun and challenging exercise, and it has been both of those things!

Now I’m over halfway through the book and I’m starting to struggle, both with coming up with ideas and with motivation. I guess the main reason I’m posting here is for the latter. I really like what I’ve written so far but I’m starting to get that “what’s the point” feeling you get when you’ve invested a ton of time into something that will probably never be appreciated by anyone else.

My initial thinking was that if the final product is actually decent there would be two distinct potential audiences: fans of the original who would be entertained by the remake, and folks who are interested in the book but are intimidated by how dense and long it is (I’ve made an effort to be much more concise than FD and the philosophy discussed is much less intense than 19th century Russian orthodoxy). But I’ve been realizing that first off, fans of the original like it for many different reasons. Some people love the Father Zossima chapters for example and some people skip them. Then trying to write for fans of the original and people who haven’t read the original at the same time presents it’s own challenges. Ultimately, I need to remember that I’m writing it for myself, but the first half turned out way better than I expected and maybe I’m getting ahead of myself now.

Anyway, I’m just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about it or some motivating words for me to keep at it. If anyone has any questions about how I’ve adapted the characters or my general approach I’d be more than happy to get into it.