Anna

I was just wondering whether the idea of using elementals and other magical creatures in a story would be cliche and lame. And is the idea of these magical beings fighting against human kind also lame? Other Ideas/suggestions would be great. Tell me what you think.
Thanks
Anna

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biggles

Is this for a student project? Not that anything is wrong with that but you know very well there is a whole world of stories depicting magical creatures and humans at odds with each other. Harry Potter comes to mind and better yet Homer's Odyssey.

Anna

No not a school project. And yeah I know that's why I wasn't sure if I should do it or not. I suppose I could change it but almost everything I can think of people have done before sometime or other and by someone. Maybe I should give up on fantasy.

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‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’
Samuel Beckett
~~~
'There is absolutely no point in sitting down to write a book unless you feel that you must write that book, or else go mad, or die.'
Robertson Davies
~~~
'The only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you.'
Somerset Maugham
~~~
'Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure only death can stop it.'
Ernest Hemingway

MiloDaePesdan

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." --G. K. Chesterton

Well, at least that's what it says in the blurb of Neil Gaiman's Coraline. ^_^

People here have said it before. It's about how you write it.



Milo

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assassin

*gasp* Bite your tongue!

So what if someone has come up with the same idea? Okay, maybe ditch it if includes using secret magic school with young wizards. Ditto for the one that involves going through a piece of furniture to a war-torn land with talking animals.
Elementals/magical beings fighting humans? Pfft, I can't even think of a single author that has that idea associated with just them.
Milo's right. It's how you use that idea that makes it your story.

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Mike C

Personally I'd encourage anyone to give up on fantasy and to write something better instead, but that's just me.

Sure, the ideas have been done to death, but then so have love stories, space operas and virtually every other genre but people keep reading them, and people keep writing them. Like Milo says, it's about how you write it.

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SecretSam

Someone out there will think its lame. But dont let that bother you. If YOU like it then YOU write it!

blackthorn

Well, it's DEFINITELY been done before, but people still do it anyway and it's still good, so go ahead and do it.

Are these creatures going to be taken from a certain type of mythology, or are you just going to make them up?

ScribbleMonster

if writing fantasy makes you happy then write fantasy, don't wite something that doesn't make you happy when you're doing it, and don't give up.

when you do something, regardless of what it is, it has to make you happy at some level or there is no point in doing it in the first place.

ClancyBoy

I think so, yes. How hard is it to think up an original monster? On conceptart.org they do it every week.

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valeca

Note: Moved to from Critique and Advice (which is for works-in-progress) to Tips and Advice.

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I'm here.

lin

Fantasy is an active genre where writers are loved. If you have a vocation for fantasy, do it.

I personally agree that it's weird fantastic authors use elves and such instead of making up new stuff, but see, lots of people are into fantasy because they love elves. Just like people read private eye novels because they like those characters. Tough guy private eyes that shoot it out and fight in the course of business are probably rarer than elves. So are middle-aged women who inspire the lusts of hunky young swashbucklers. But people love it.

This subject is heavily discussed on fantasy and SF forums and if you seriously want to do this, I'd suggest going there.

sffworld.com

forums.rofmagazine.com

for example

Mystery

Dude, there is no such thing as lame.

Your story can be about the last dragon who befriends and human and eventually sacrifices himself in an epic plotwist, if you write it to be interesting it will be, if you write it to be lame, it will be.

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Storm Eagle

As long as it hasn't been done before, then your fine.

I personally like the government way: The war was caused by the humans dealing with an evil entity and basically, the humans find out about thier leader doing so, depose him, put someone else up, and he/she starts said war. That or your could do Lord Of the Rings-esque style.

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Avingard

Next time you're in a book store take a stroll through the fantasy section and see how many covers you can count with elves, dwarfs, and orcs on them. Originality is a matter of perspective. If you can take the concept and make it work, go for it; writing is, after all, about self-gratification first and satisfying others second.

If you want to write it then write it.