Young Writers Society

This is for all those people out there who are FED UP with cliche fantasy. Unrealistically good-looking knights with magic swords, bad guys with armies of the undead, tomboy princesses, beautiful elves who speak in Olde English (especially hate those), and wizards in pointy hats.

List any cliche fantasy books you've ever read.
I'll start:
Eragon

I hate it as much as the next girl...but I think it's not so much the objects, places, or characters in the story so much as how the story itself is written, and how these characters and places are developed. For example, Harry Potter involves bearded wizards in pointy hats and a bad guy with an army of the undead, but that doesn't make it bad.

But really, HP is the only fantasy I've taken seriously since I was eight.

...

I think the only really cliche fantasy I've ever read has to be Eragon. A simply loathe it. Although I think it's difficult to create a completely original fantasy - some cliches are cliches for a reason. But, like cad, I believe it's the way it's written, as well as how strongly it pulls from fantasy conventions. Eragon is unacceptably bad in both aspects. Urgh!

Imelda wrote:Robert Jordan's (RIP) stuff.

*gasp* I love Robert Jordan! sure, he's a little cliche, but the stories are just so well-developed that you don't care. plus, every story has some sort of cliche element. completely original ideas don't exist.

R.L. Stine. His character's are so annoying with their perfectness and his lack of twisting around overdone plots. All his stories are exactly the same and end with the same cliffhanger ending and then they "Omg stop playing pranks on me! I'm too perfect for that!" beginning of the next chapter.

I think he's books are considered "horror" but they have many fantasy cliches in them though.

Lord of the Rings. Although, that isn't really cliche because it was written before the style had become cliche.

*Gasp* NOT Lord of the Rings. I've read a lot of stories that are rip offs OF Lord of the Rings, but not Lord of the Rings itself. I do agree with Eragon. I really don't like that story. A friend of mine wanted me to read it, so I picked it up at the library today and EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. I haven't even gotten to the part where the dragon hatches and I'm bored to death. All of the characters seem the same and it's just not cool. I mean I like the Shades and stuff, it's just that the author could have done better to piece it all together, and make the characters more...Real? Yeah. Enough of my ranting though. And pray tell, who's Robert Jordan? I think I've heard of him before, but I'm not sure.

he wrote "The Wheel of Time" series. I've only read the first one, "The Eye of the World." It was very good, although its hard to get into at first because he writes sort of like Tolkien, just a lot of information at once.

Eragon, definitely is a cliche book. I also understand the R.L. Stine thing. When I was young, I read almost 50 of his books, and they're all the same, and really bad to boot.

I never read anything by RL Stine. I remember thinking, way back when in elementary school, that the books we rather lame-looking. So, I never picked one up.

Plus, those were the kinds of books that the boys in my grade read, which was enough to tip me off that they were bad.

And, oddly, I rather like the tomboy-princess angles. They're tons better than the slender-and-blond-with-sea-blue-eyes girls that you usually find in books.
Well, a lot less annoying, at any rate.

Gag me with a spoon.

Peace, love, chocolate,
Muffin

P.S. The only good thing about Eragon was Saphira's name. Other than that, I wanted to throw up as I read.

Goosebumps is written for very small children. Most children's books lack very deep characters or complex plot lines, so I think it's excusable.

I personally find Goosebump books very amusing reads once in a while. My friend and I spent a little time reading them once during a sleep-over, swapping stupid lines and circumstances. It was actually a lot of fun.

My favorite part about them are their excellent chaper-ending cliffhangers.

---

As I reached the bottom of the basement stairs, I started feeling around for the light switch. I couldn't find it! Then a noise sounded from behind me, and a pair of cold hands grabbed my shoulders.

Chapter 10

I whirled around as the lights flickered on. It was only my sister Jenny.

---

Priceless.

(No, that's no actual text. It's just basically how every chapter ends.)

Sword of Truth series is ridiculous. Its seriously the same story for nine books. Yeeeuch!

I LOATH Eragon, too. The film was especially wretched. (Except I adore Jeremy Irons as whats-his-name...)

I do agree with Eragon, but I never read LOTR (for angry mobs, dial 1-800-TOO-BAD) so maybe my first impression of it was "cool". Eldest did get better though, and I'm waiting for the third one.

My other cliche books would be anything with "Dragon" on the title.