A rant about the cliché nature of Fantasy….
5) There must be a prophecy. Not true in all cases but most of the time some great prophet comes along and says unless so and so here at the random farm can save the world…doom awaits us all.
Seriously get a grip and rework this tired old thing. Prophecy makes for interesting reading but it can have a thousand different tones and undercurrents under the surface.
To be a hero requires sacrifice of current living conditions. To be a hero it doesn’t take a prophecy.
4)Inherit and obvious racism. Elves, dwarfs, humans, orcs, ogres, trolls. Oh my goodness its a nasty troll or oh its a stuck up elf. Really, I don’t think so.
Elves are pure magic, they are mystical and yes aloof but they all shouldn’t have the I’m better than human attitude, good grief so you have pointed ears, wow and magic likes you a big whoop for you.
Then some kind of evil races of ogres, trolls, and orcs. Serious a mad horde of trolls come dashing out of the mountains to slay people sure, sure whatever. Things can be turned on its head.
3) Dragon issue. Really unless you can take human form you don’t need gold or jewels or fair maidens. You really shouldn’t need to be big as a train. Really no sense in being any bigger than bus. They have to eat something, there aren’t enough cows to feed a serpent the size of a train.
2) Must take quest to save the world because a wizard says so…
Enough said. Tell that to one of my characters and see what they do. They would all give him the equivalent of a vulgar gesture.
1)Lack of a choice. He can walk away from it and watch the consequences or face the danger on his/her own terms. I know young naivete of a farm boy with some secret royal or magical lineage there had to be a reason. There has to be a reason for everything and no prophecy. No wizard to tell you what do to do without having the ability to sense magic from person.
Freewill plays an important part in people’s lives and being forced to do something goes against it. No body can be forced to do something if they don’t want too. The only thing is doom may rain down on all their friends and family. Choice makes for an important decision and tension factor.
JokiLoki22
Jul 20, 2010 @ 21:44:45
As far as fantasy goes, you are definitely right, but even when someone falls into these it can still be a good read, if well done. I’ve wrestled with fantasy a few times and I’ve never had a good story come out of it, but in the past whenever I’ve bought into one of these and noticed it, I cut it off. Especially the prophecy bit; that’s one that I came to independently and decided I couldn’t stand. Still, when the fantasy is intentionally open-ended or self-fulfilling, it can put a new twist, depending on how it is done. In my opinion at least.
Actually, since this is fantasy, you should drop by my blog and drop your opinion on my latest entry. It’ll maybe help to determine what’s in an up-and-coming fantasy so that it doesn’t grind on your nerves too badly. And yes, that was a shameless plug.
Mystic Ruins
Jul 20, 2010 @ 22:25:14
Shameless plugs are fine. I write also. Funny as it may seem I write fantasy, I just have grown tired of beating a dead horse.
kerry622
Jul 20, 2010 @ 21:47:30
I am a writer that just wrote a fantasy story and there are no dragons, elves or dwarfs. I made my hero a bit rough and dark and found that I like when the reader struggles with the the main character. The dialogue is a bit snappier and humorous.
It will be out this year and it is a ghost story, because as much as I love boy wizards and vampires when I was a kid give me a great ghost story any day!
Though I have to agree a bit with you on some of your pet peeves there is still a whole world of imagination to conquer and new ideas to put out there. Good Luck!
Mystic Ruins
Jul 20, 2010 @ 22:26:23
Thank you. Oh and yeah I write, fantasy of all things, I just feel that there are waters out there yet to be explored.