I think what you need in successful fantasy are things that represent some real-world element. Authors like Robert Jordan have done this well. Whitecloaks bring to mind the Crusaders. The Aiel remind me of Muslim armies vs. the West. The Aes Sedai and Tar Valon are like the Holy Church and Rome. Artur Hawkwing is like King Arthur. The Seanchan bring to mind ancient China. Anyways, you get the idea. It makes things less arbitrary and more familiar to the reader. And, most importantly, it keeps things more grounded, credible, and believable.
HorusEye, That was the point I was trying to make, yet as close as McKiernan's work was to The Lord of the Rings, the Tolkien estate didn't take legal action, claming plagerism. One could speculate as to the reasons, but one obvious possibility is that simply wasn't. I think your statement is probably more on target. Marcelo, I hope you do give it a read. I'll post on the site when it's available. Thanks! Terry
Just think outside the box! Why would you be constructed to just the Medieval Times? What about the future? The present? Most creatures in fantasy books are "perfect." They suddenly have this hidden characteristic at just the right time. What can make your characters more rough? Kings, Queens, Princesses. Why not a different form of government, or no government at all. Does the hero/heroine have to be likable?
Thanks for the responses. Keep them coming. To tell the truth I enjoy the adventure component, just not looking for or destroying the mighty item, which is NOT what I have planned. Anyway, I do have some twists with existing components of fantasy.
Do what Tolkein did and take almost everything you write from north European mythology. But keep it true to what it actually was, and no-one will notice. And then, for a setting, don't go to a feudal place in Europe with kings, queens, knights, etc. Go somewhere like tribal Arabia, or the Highlands. There are thousands of creatures in mythology that Tolkein didn't use, and he used a lot! The question isn't where can you find inspiration, but where can't you?
We seem tobe returning to a central point of writing - It isn't the idea as much as what the writer can do with the idea.
As Cognito and others have pointed out, ideas aren't copyrightable. There are entire shelves of books in every library and every bookstore that share similarities. Assuming you haven't copied from the work of another, then the work is yours. Don't worry if there are similar ideas. If the first person who ever wrote a novel, say, where a murder is committed and then a detective has to put together clues and solve the murder, was also the last person who ever wrote such a novel, because everyone else said, "I don't want to be considered a rip off of that guy," then we would be missing an entire wealth of literature called "the murder mystery novel." Now, how "not to be branded" another Lord of the Rings ripoff -- you can't control what people say. If someone says your book is a LOR ripoff, as long as you know your book isn't a LOR ripoff, take it in stride and continue your work. I'm writing a book called "the Jefferson Bible Code." It's a thriller novel about a secret code left behind long ago by Thomas Jefferson, and people are trying to solve the riddle, and people are getting murdered...sound familiar? It might, as there are many books (an entire genre) like that, but my story is also unique in its own ways, my characters are unique, and the writing is all my own. And personally, I think the finished product is going to be pure dynamite. I've had people say to me, "Oh, so you're writing a rip off of the Da Vinci Code?" Sure, there are similarities in the ideas...but there are also similarities between my book and Spider-man. That doesn't mean I've ripped off anything. My book is unique in many, many ways. While you can't stop people from saying things like that, a wise man once said... If your book is your own work, then it's your own work. Some people do toss around accusations like this casually. Don't worry about the accusations of others. People will say what people will say. Just keep on writing, and be confident that a few rudimentary similarities between your ideas and the ideas presented in another novel does not mean plagiarism. Charlie
I agree. I think I've stated before on this forum that ideas are a dime a dozen. Good ideas are two for a buck. It's the quality execution of those ideas where the payoff can be found. Terry
How 'bout forgetting all about genre, forgetting all about LOTR, forgetting anyone's ever written anything in the history of mankind, and just telling your story how it wants to be told?
^ That, IMO, is a really naive way to write. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with it, but why would you ignore the entire history of literature when instead you should be building on it, changing things, experimenting with what other authors have already done. Its very rare for a writer to write something successful coming from nowhere (with regards to the literary canon), while all the classics I can think of are successful because of the way they build on literary conventions and notions of genre and style by extending, altering or subverting them.
Or that too, yes, that also. Keep the literary conventions, build on them, subtract from them, fold them into origami cranes and sail them downstream, or wipe your ass with them and flush them down the toilet. Whatever serves your art better, really.
Very true, but the OP was concerned with creating "just another LOTR". In this situation perhaps Footfork's advice is the best as it frees him up to do the actualy writing. Most of what you suggested would flow from that process.
I don't think fork meant to forget it in that sense you ignore what's available to you. No matter what, you're not going to be pulling stuff out of nowhere. But you shouldn't worry about what's "been done." You need to pick the elements that are right for you and your story. When I write, I couldn't care less about conventions. I don't think about them. I simply worry about what elements are right for me.
I didn't read all the other advice you've already gotten, there's a lot of it. But here's my thoughts really quickly. While getting away from Tolkien is perfectly acceptable and smart move since it shows originality, I would say don't steer yourself in that direction on purpose. If you already have a basic idea for a story, just write and see where it goes. Forced creativity can get really ugly, if you refuse to use orcs even though they're the best fitting, just because you don't want to be the same. Also, many people, myself included, don't mind hearing stories in a Middle-Earthesque setting. I love LoTR, and anyone who uses the same races and stuff and does a decent job has my money. So in terms of having an audience, doing the same thing isn't always a bad thing. Finally, you can take the Tolkien world and simply adapt it. The most basic way to do this being to take something like the Elves, and change how they act, their characteristics, etc. This gives people Elves (who doesn't love them?) but is still different. You can even write fan fiction where the world is the same, but you can use a different region or time (age if you want to use Tolkien language) which would be different from the 3rd age in Middle Earth. For instance, I'm contemplating writing about the Grey Havens as an extension to the trilogy. You could do that too. Hope that gets you thinking! Nate
Everyone who's replied has been so helpful. I know, though, that "ideas aren't copyrightable" as CharlieVer points out (who in turn quoted Cogito). I was just worried that, when I do write it (it's in the outline stage), I might see it as another Lord of The Rings, but I know it's not, because I'M writing it, not Tolkien. P.S. Looking forward to an excellent read Terry. Can't wait until it is published.
Yes, absolutely. Lotr wasn't just a fantasy novel, it was all based around Tolkein's philosophy, largely showing his view of human nature as essentially corrupted. If you have any universal ideas, or any ideas for themes, it would be good to get some symbolism or something in their to give it some meat and distinguish it. Just avoid the elf, man, and dwarf trio; and of course rings of ultimate power. This site shows all the tropes of Lord of the Rings which you should try to avoid. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLordOfTheRings Whatever you do, just don't make a fantasy novel sound like this.
I like going way out there The Neverending Story style. I have been planning out a fantasy novel for a while now. The only creatures I've decided to use that are standard, not completely my creature are elves, But I have made them my own. For example, my MC is a lightning elf. They can create lightning and even transform into lightning temporarily. To do this they must suck electrons from trees and such around them. When not matured, their long ears stick out. For this reason they make fun of my MC, calling her Pointy and Outie. She's also afraid of using her lightning powers, and so she sucks at filling the lightning copacitors, which are shaped like large glass bullets. Perhaps someone has done something similar to lightning elves before, but I never come across them. Other species I invented are the man eating trees and the tree nymphs, who work together. The tree nymphs form female bodies from leaves. They use magical seduction to get men to see them as beautiful naked women. Using their abilities they lead the men to the man eating trees, who deroot, lifting half their trunk up, forming a wicked mouth, where the roots look like teeth. If you cut the tree it bleeds red blood. To come up with this idea, I started with the core idea of a sea nymph from Greek mythology. Then I imagined another element other than water. First I thought of sand nymphs, who form the shape of women from sand. That idea didn't go anywhere, so I thought of earth. Then I remembered I wanted man eating trees, and what better way to lure men close to it other than tree nymphs? I liked the idea of them forming women out of leaves, so I went with that. Maybe this will help those that are struggling to come up with new species.
I do not think that if you have Lord of the Ringish background plot or theme matters as long as you have your own flavor of writing (unless your main character forms a fellowship to destroy an object... that would be too obvious.) If you are not able to cast away the LoTR influence, I think you should just use it to your advantage, not thinking of plagiarism or being a ripoff just yet. Remember that LoTR came out about half a century ago. Maybe you could add more modern influence on your story (Aragorn with rocket launcher, anyone?)
Well, there was Bored of the Rings, with Legolam, Goodgulf, and Gimlet, published by the Harvard Lampoon. Never underestimate the value of a good parody.
Cogito, A classic parody. One of the very few books I've ever laugh at while reading, even the second and third time through. Any fan of The Lord of the Rings should give Bord of the Rings a try. Terry
