Today I had a brilliant idea for a plotline, but it does involve the idea of "The world is going to end unless x needs are met," and for fantasy novels, is this generally overdone? I know this is the case with Sci-Fi (my personal beliefs at least), but is it too common in the Fantasy genre?
I think the end-of-the-world/universe VILLAIN is overdone, far too overdone, in fact. I think the save-the-world/universe protagonist is overdone. I also think that apocalyptic stuff is overdone just in general. The world will never "end". Humanity might die off. All life might die off, but the world will still be around unless something literally cracks it into huge pieces or some such.
There are ways to play this out and give it a fresh take. In my story the end of the world as proported by Hindu mythology is not what we expect. That being said even if it were it still makes a good story. So don't get too caught up in the 'It's been done before,' line because really in my oppinion there is not a lot that has not been written about at least once in the past. There are only so many things in the world thus unless you are creating a new world with new rules one expects to see some things rehashed. I think and I could be wrong that this is because we are creatures of habbit, we are commfortable knowing what to expect. And this is in my oppinion why these stories still have a following even after it has been told six ways from Sunday. Just my thoughs... Blue Lotus
I used to think AI stories were overdone but Matrix became a classic hit overnight. Tell the story that you want to tell, to hell with current trends...
It doesn't matter how overdone something is if you can write it well. The reason its overdone is because its popular
Yeh agreed with the others, if it's good then people won't care. Although I dont think apocalyptic stories are that over done. I guess if you count zombie apocalypse then yeh it's over done. Personally I haven't seen or read a good dystopian story in a long time. Would be nice to see a few more good ones out there! I would say just write what you enjoy.
That's right. If this scenario is the only one you can do then do it. If you already think it's overdone you'd better come up with something else. Simple as that.
I think apocalyptic stories in general are overdone. It doesn't matter if it's sci-fi, fantasy or whatever. That doesn't mean you should avoid it, but I think you need to find a way to make the threat as unique as possible. A villain trying to destroy the world is a cliché, no matter how popular it is. Natural events like earthquakes, volcanos etc destroying the world isn't that common, but it's not rare either. The tv-show StarGate SG-1 had an episode where a planet was too close to a black hole, so when they opened a teleporter there, it resulted in the earth slowly being sucked into the black hole as well. That was pretty unique, and interestingly caused by an accident.
The end of the world isn't necessarily the end of the world. The end of the world usually just constitutes a great change. People fear huge changes in their lives. And every novel there is a hudge change, at least to the MC's life. So I guess you could say it is overdone because it is done in every novel.
everything is 'overdone'... all that matters is if you can do it again in a way it hasn't been done yet... or can do it better than it's been done so far...
I agree with cruciaFICTION and Ellipse here. The literal end of the world is an overdone story and quite a dull one to tell, in which the initial incident, rising action, climax, and conclusion are easily predictable - especially in movies. It can be done better, and also much, much worse.
All storys are "overdone". This is because every story has been told. Just make it your's and enjoy writing.
