Drastic changes in retellings- what do I do?

I just realised I feel like Fafnir's Bane is unoriginal compared to Melvin Burgess' Bloodsong, a take on the same saga in the same genre, which also uses genetic modification as a significant part of the plot. Is it just because I still have dwarves and elves, just as in the original saga, although while Burgess made drastic changes such as having Fafnir be Sigurd's brother and dropping Sigurd's revenge on the sons of Hunding? Even Wagner changed the saga and mythology full-stop drastically. I'm now wondering if I should drop the "Sigurd committing fratricide on behalf of his foster father, " part of the plot, despite the large range of possibilities for interpreting that aspect of the story.

I mean, I changed Evita drastically to get to Cuba Libre but still managed to keep the basic plot so why don't I feel capable of making drastic changes (but still keeping the basic plot) to The Saga of The Volsungs for Fafnir's Bane? And now that I realise what I've done, does anyone have suggestions for what I should do next?

edited 11th Jun '13 2:30:02 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

To clarify the situation, Fafnir's Bane is the only one where I feel that something is missing but don't know what it is. I don't have that feeling with Cuba Libre, which isn't really a retelling of Lloyd Webber.

I don't really want to scrap the project altogether, just suggestions on how to make it more original. Can someone help me figure this out?

edited 11th Jun '13 6:14:55 PM by MorwenEdhelwen