1. DaveLu

    DaveLu Member

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    Are taking fantasy trains/planes to another setting cliche?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by DaveLu, Aug 18, 2016.

    Say your main characters meet on this transportation... lol Harry Potter, Polar Express, (even south park's imagination land haha) etc. If you see that in another book you come across would you roll your eyes? The only difference is that the characters aren't going from a human mundane world to a magical/surreal one. Kind of like zootopia or Hunger Games where it's just a big change of setting.
     
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  2. NigeTheHat

    NigeTheHat Contributor Contributor

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    It's fine. Any problem there may be won't come from the trope, it'll come from the implementation. Do what you want, just do it well.
     
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  3. Kalisto

    Kalisto Senior Member

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    Are you sick of stories that have characters driving cars or riding horses to get from point A to point B. Other than Polar Express, the trains aren't really all that important in the stories. The train in the Hunger Games felt very different than the ones in Harry Potter. And in Europe that is a huge form of transportation. I didn't even own a car when I was there.
     
  4. Seraph751

    Seraph751 If I fell down the rabbit hole... Contributor

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    I think that we need to see more trains and planes in fantasy. What can you do to make them uniquely yours though is what will either make or break them in your world. :D
     
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  5. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    I am going to agree with @Seraph751 that having more 'pedestrian' style modes of transportation in fantasy. :)
     
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  6. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Everything is a cliche , everything thats worth doing has probably been done before , so just do it well, and if possible find a new twist, or at least one that feels new, and no one will care that its a cliche
     
  7. IcyEthics

    IcyEthics Member

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    It's a cliche I personally love. I don't think it's that bad. Certain tropes are necessary, and sometimes the cliche is better than the alternative of being completely original.
     
  8. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Well how else are they going to travel long distances if walking or riding a horse, or driving a car is a no-go? Unless they can strap magical rockets on their ankles and take off, or sprout wings from their backs, or magically teleport themselves from Point A to Point B with their mind/a MacGuffin, they're kinda out of options.
     
  9. isaac223

    isaac223 Senior Member

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    Sure, it'd be cliche...

    But vampires with fangs is a cliche and you don't see anyone complain about these -- even though in Western folklore involving vampires, they didn't originally possess fangs (but they look, but that's all beside the point.)

    That being said, using a more substantial cliche -- like a Crossworld/Portal Fantasy involving transportation from the world of the mundane to an admittedly cooler fantasy world via closet or train -- isn't necessarily a bad thing. I stand by my opinion that any trope and/or cliche --however overused or underused or whatever they are -- can be done well, so long as it is given the proper care and attention, and so long as the author puts forth the effort to develop the cliche and/or trope -- you could even do a deconstruction of fantasy like that and kill the genre like Don Quixote's deconstruction of romance involving overly-chivalrous knights in shining armor attributed to the death of that genre.

    Yes, it'd be cliche. No, that fact alone shouldn't deter you from writing it unless you're not totally confident in your ability to make it somewhat original. (Even if you aren't totally confident, still try to write it though, and maybe you'll have an epiphany.)
     
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