Young Writers Society

*whisper*
Psst... KJ, feudalism is a kind of government...

lol. Well, I don't know about that either! But then I don't pretend to so... does that mean I get a nought, or is it still a one?

Ouch!

Okay, it seems I need to re-work a couple of stories.

How many did you get Grif?

Ha! I looked at the 800 page masterpiece I've been working on for about four years now, and guess what?

We got 28 clichés!

Oh man, we so totally rock!

Well, I can't give you an exact count, since most of them are just stories that haven't been put down yet.

But you only need to miss one to fail.

four, five maximum. Not too shabby.

I was laughing half way through, and it just escalated from there!

And the funniest thing yet? I said yes to like a 1/4 of it all!

It's soo funny, because it's soo true! Here I am, planning out a story for just about a year this month, and I read this and as I'm reading the first few questions, I wondered if this guy read my mind or something! And I seriously thought/ think it would be a great tale! But it doesn't discourage me, but I'm frightened it'll become something like Eragon!

Let's see: The main character, surprisngly, isn't an able farmhand, rather a boy making a living with his 'guardian' in one 'Murkwood'(pending name... ) and who doesn't know his 'true' parentage. He is the heir to the throne, which he doesn't know. He does aquire a magical artifact, but rather than to save the world, to save the Viking equivalent in my story. No such prophecy... He is of the line of the gods (which is but a legend of his people), however that legend is obscure, and but lightly touched upon; I'm undecided as to whether or not he is related to the 'supreme badguy', and whether that badguy is one of the gods himself... I've taken, and continue to, extra care in bringing our worlds physics and logistics in the story, for example the main character, who is but a teen, doesn't instantly kill ten goblins with seven shafts, then procedes to wrestle a black wolf and feral bear to their death-rather he is overcome by a large bear, catches a fever and nearly dies from it (he did come from more warmer climes). They do go through a dwarven stronghold, an elf and dwarf do travel together, and it's NOT a LotR rip-off! I've already done like ten, time to try out something new (but reading it once a year, and watching it countless times does get it embedded in your mine quite good)

I answered 'yes' about 3 or 4 times. I'm gonna go fix my story now...

smaur wrote:

Caligula's Launderette wrote:smaur -

I obviously rule.

- Didn't we go over this already.

We did?

... wait, so do I rule?

*glee*

uh... yeah... do you need a *smaur rules* avvie to remind you?

oh other topics... feudalism *snicker snicker*

LOL this was funny! I like this line the most though.

Is your name Robert Jordan and you lied like a dog to get this far?

I do think that many people who are reading that list are throwing their computers out the window right now. Because it is identical to their story. But there are also people out there who will have the next great idea and didn't even have to use any of the cliches in that list. But, is it really that hard? I mean, if you are trying to be like a cretian writer then you will most likely copy something of theirs and not even know it. So another thing this list is pointing out is that there is still many new kinds of things you can think of. You don't have to keep on continuing the same Orks VS. Elvs battle or you don't have to have the usual Super evil magic king. I am waiting for the next big thing to come something that is mind blowing and nothing like any of the other stories something that is truly new.

Then again, there's nothing wrong with the traditions and conventions of the genre.

Reichieru wrote:Then again, there's nothing wrong with the traditions and conventions of the genre.

To an extent. If they homogenize the genre, there is most certainly a problem.

*cracks up laughing*

There are a couple I would need to query,

eg

Did you make the elves and the dwarves great friends, just to be different?

How does not great friends, not great enemies, but are basically on the same side becasue they'd be daft to make more enemies amoungst people who are, loosly, their brothers and sisters (you got to know the story for that) rate?

Is your main character the heir to the throne but doesn't know it?

Oh, she knows it.

Does everybody under four feet tall exist solely for comic relief?

Over half my cast is under four feet and ... well ... they have their moments of comicness, but then so do the humans. Plus, they contribute hugely to the plot by being short.

Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings?

Agh! Yes! BUT they're not cliched! I promise! The elves are self-centred, gold-obsessed magpies who can photosynthesis (however you spell it. I'd like to know how they got green skin without chlorophyll!) and are by no means good and wise and fair and so on and so forth. The dwarves live in a matriarchal society (brownies are the females) and they are short and do tunnel and stuff, but then all my non-humam races are short (and dwarves aren't the shortest) and their bodies are designed (not evolved ... you need to know the story for that one) for digging so they were just born with supreme underground wisedom!!! No orcs ... the fairies are the badies ... but they're desperate! It's not like the whole race was born evil to the core or anything.
See! All explainable.

But I only outright failed the haybailer.

Do you think you know how feudalism worked but really don't?

Hehe! And how are we supposed to answer that one? Of course we'd say we know, because we think we know, but then how do we know if we really don't?

Funny, funny quiz. I took that on NaNoWriMo too.

Then again, there's nothing wrong with the traditions and conventions of the genre.

Say that after reading fifty novels, each of which is basically LOTR with differently named characters (and even then the spell checker would match them to the same words), in a row. Or after you read fifty novels each of with has a poor boy/girl of unknown lineage turn out to be the heir to the throne after a long journy filled with danger to either get or deliever an artifact. Or even twenty books about girls disgising themselves as men to fight in wars, they're getting rather popular.
It gets a bit old after a while.
Just little traditions and things aren't too bad though. If we all decided to do fantasy originally to extremes, we'd end up with someone going "I shall write a fantasy novel with no magic or mythical creatures in it!"

"I shall write a fantasy novel with no magic or mythical creatures in it!"

^ That's what I'm trying to do!! Hehe, although I'm not too sure it's going that well at the moment... I'd like it if my plot was a tad stronger; I'm not sure it's going that great at the moment...