Idea for a story

I was just wondering how people would take this idea.

basically there's an elf who is a blacksmith and the town he lives in is attacked (how cliche) by humans (yay not cliche) so he is recruited into the army and is forced to fight the humans he rises up the ranks and eventually becomes a famous general. while this happens the son (human) of a noble is found out to be a military genius and it's basically from then on them trying to conquer the other races in the world and undermine each others own efforts.

I know it seems cliche but I have some stuff on how the elf society is based and it's not like 1 nation of elves and 1 nation of humans. I'm also trying to add some kind of complications. . . but not something lame like the two generals were friends. that would be painful.

Please help me get some more ideas on what could happen in the story.

Study politics.

There is no reason a blacksmith would rise to general. War is also not cliche, but war without reason is. Politics first, because war is a losing option.

Politcs is the only thing I can suggest.

But then again, even if you added that, it'd still seem cliche.

Human vs. Elves is a little cliche, but if you work it right it could turn out great. Like the others said, politics!

GET RID OF THE ELVES.

Sorry. I just have a phobia against using mythical creatures that have already been done to death. Make up your own races. Is it really that difficult? And yes, think about politics. You would also need to think about the people that are conquered; laws would be imposed that people would fight against, because change in society is traditionally gradual. Also, why are they attacking each other? What's their reason?

One thing blink, oh and by the way if it seems like I'm being a whiny little complainer sorry, but have you ever tried to make your own fantasy race and not have it cliched? I have and because of my unfortunate obsession with mythology I have never been able to make one that I didn't find cliche overused or just stupid. So any advice on that would be much appreciated.

Shadowlink1142 wrote:One thing blink, oh and by the way if it seems like I'm being a whiny little complainer sorry, but have you ever tried to make your own fantasy race and not have it cliched? I have and because of my unfortunate obsession with mythology I have never been able to make one that I didn't find cliche overused or just stupid. So any advice on that would be much appreciated.

Firstly: change the name. That's the first step. Come up with a nice name for your race.

Secondly: traditionally, what do they believe in? Are they largely religious? What's their social structure like?

Thirdly: what are their disagreements with other races? How have they contributed to the world? Do they like peace?

I hope I helped. =) But really, the name is the worst. There's just no point using something someone else has, if you understand.