Writing fantasy? Take this exam.

Discussion in 'Fantasy' started by Tenderiser, Jul 5, 2016.

  1. Dr.Meow

    Dr.Meow Contributor Contributor

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    Took the test, only one out of 75 actually rang true... I do have a "Badlands" in my novel, but in my defense it's really just a hard-to-settle place that is home to tribes and outcasts. Mostly people that would be killed, but fled to that area for a small chance to not be cannibalized by the tribals and escape execution. It also has a bunch of myths and legends about it that keep most people from wondering aimlessly in the area...and the cannibals of course.
     
  2. Skye Walker

    Skye Walker Banned

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    Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy? It's about several young characters that get... superpowers? Hopefully they defeat the supreme bad guy. Not without a good dose of tragedy, though.

    Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character? Well... no, but the main character is the father of one of the bad guys (time travel is great)? Does that count?

    Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around? They sincerely don't give a fuuuuck. Not like they have mirrors, or anything.

    How about a quintet or a decalogue? I don't know what a decalogue is, but six books are planned...

    Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables? Yes, but it's a normal name. And he has a nickname that's two syllables. So.

    Do any of the magic users in your novel cast spells easily identifiable as "fireball" or "lightning bolt"? It's a series about elemental magic. Whaddya think.

    Does your main character have a magic axe, hammer, spear, or other weapon that returns to him when he throws it? Eh. It doesn't come back on its own. Telekinesis.

    Does a large portion of the humor in your novel consist of puns? Not really. A lot of it is ironic. One of the characters is punny though. He's great. :)

    Is the countryside in your novel littered with tombs and gravesites filled with ancient magical loot that nobody thought to steal centuries before?
    Well, there are mass graves, but that's because it's set in Cambodia. Where a genocide happened. I don't think this applies.
     
  3. Cave Troll

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

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    Somebody is pulling a Fry is his own granddad thing. :p
     
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  4. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    This test is hilarious. And so very true. There's nothing worse than bad fantasy.
     
  5. truthbeckons

    truthbeckons Active Member

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    If you as a writer don't yet have an intuitive understanding of what it means when someone says 'nothing happens for x amount of pages' (10, 20, 50, whatever), you might want to reflect on that. It shouldn't need to be explained.

    For example, if we're only learning about a character by seeing them live their everyday life, and nothing happens that seems particularly interesting or that will matter to anything that comes later, it'll usually bore the reader. There's lots of ways you can make those introductory sections significant. Introduce and develop a miniature conflict, before the 'inciting incident' gets the main 'plot' rolling. Foreshadow what happens later. Reveal what the main character really wants and start suggesting what they'll ultimately need. Etc., etc. Obviously it's important to weave these things in, or else it'll be fair for a reader to complain that 'nothing happens'.

    It surprises me that you think someone asking this question needs to define their terms.
     
  6. Teruzond

    Teruzond New Member

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    Ale is a type of beer. There's also lager, stout, bitter, probably a couple others.
     
  7. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    :stop:

    Take the exam or move on. Welcome to the new paradigm. That which needs deleting shall be deleted.
     
  8. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    Seeing as people are going more in depth with their "test results" I thought I would do the same.

    Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages?

    Plenty of stuff happens, including waking up in strange place, seeing a ghost, killing a monster, meeting new characters, etc

    Is your main character a young farmhand with mysterious parentage?

    No, he's an army deserter with PTSD in his 30's and his parents are dead (he did know them though).

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

    There are no "throne" as such in this world, just a multitude of city states fighting for land.

    Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme
    badguy?
    No, it's about a 30's something former soldier trying to make it home to his wife and child while fighting to avoid losing his mind and humanity.

    Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world?

    See above.

    How about one that will destroy it?

    Still no.

    Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about "The One" who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good?

    Nope.

    Does your novel contain a character whose sole purpose is to show up at random plot points and dispense information?

    No, the only characters that show up and disappears just have a keen interest in the main character...though he also have other things to do so can't stalk him constantly.

    Does your novel contain a character that is really a god in disguise?

    Nope...well...there's an insane judge who acts like he is...

    Is the evil supreme
    badguy secretly the father of your main character?
    The "evil supreme bad guy" in the story can't even be defined as a specific creature, so no.

    Is the king of your world a kindly king duped by an evil magician?

    No, the closest thing to a "king" this world has is a Countess who fancies herself an Empress and wears a mask cause she's afraid if people see her face they'll "steal her beauty"

    Does "a forgetful wizard" describe any of the characters in your novel?

    Nope.

    How about "a powerful but slow and kind-hearted warrior"?

    Don't have one of those either.

    How about "a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons"?

    One character that may be defined as a "wise sage" does withold some infomation from the main character, but mostly for the main characters own sake.

    Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around?

    Except for the aforementioned countess (who's batshit insane), no one really have time or energy to worry about looks, considering the world is post-apocalyptic, over run by monsters and the human race is on the brink of extinction...priorities people!

    Do any of your female characters exist solely to be captured and rescued?

    Nope, they exist solely because they survived childbirth.

    Do any of your female characters exist solely to embody feminist ideals?

    Nope, gender equality isn't even a problem people care about in this world.

    Would "a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword" aptly describe any of your female characters?

    Nope.

    Would "a fearless
    warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan" aptly describe any of your female characters?
    I'm not sure "warrrioress" is an actual word...but no.

    Is any character in your novel best described as "a dour dwarf"?

    No, there are no other races in the world except humans and monsters (who in turn are mutated from humans or animals).

    How about "a half-elf
    torn between his human and elven heritage"?
    See above.

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

    There's still no elves or dwarves.

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

    I'm pretty sure Jar Jar was taller than four feet...

    Do you think that the only two uses for ships are fishing and piracy?

    Nope, standard naval warfare, trading, people transport etc are just as common...or they were before the whole world went nuts.

    Do you not know when the hay baler was invented?

    1930's I believe, if we're talking about the automatic hay baler.

    Did you draw a map for your novel which includes places named things like "The Blasted Lands" or "The Forest of Fear" or "The Desert of Desolation" or absolutely anything "of Doom"?

    I will draw one at some point to try and keep track of locations...and the closest name like that is "Mortwood", most names are inspired by Germanic location names.

    Does your novel contain a
    prologue that is impossible to understand until you've read the entire book, if even then?
    There's no prologue.

    Is this the first book in a planned trilogy?

    It's the first book but I have no set plan for how many there will be...or if there'll even be more.

    How about a quintet or a decalogue?

    See above.

    Is your novel thicker than a New York City phone book?

    We usually don't get the New York phone books here in Copenhagen...but no, I wouldn't think so.

    Did absolutely nothing happen in the previous book you wrote, yet you figure you're still many sequels away from finishing your "story"?

    This is my first book...so yeah, I guess nothing happened in the last one I wrote...technically.

    Are you writing prequels to your as-yet-unfinished series of books?

    I'm not writing anything else related to the world in which my story takes place yet.

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

    I assume I should know who this is...but I really don't, sorry.

    Is your novel based on the adventures of your role-playing group?

    I currently don't have a role-playing group, so no.

    Does your novel contain characters transported from the real world to a fantasy realm?

    Nope.

    Do any of your main characters have apostrophes or dashes in their names?

    Also no.

    Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables?

    Currently no and I don't think I will have (unless we count last names together with the first name).

    Do you see nothing wrong with having two characters from the same small isolated village being named "Tim Umber" and "Belthusalanthalus al'Grinsok"?

    Don't have that in my own story...but no, just because they live in the same village doesn't mean they share the same culture...people move.

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

    Nope.

    How about "orken" or "dwerrows"?

    You mean do I change the name of a classic fantasy race slightly and pretend like it's something different?...no...

    Do you have a race prefixed by "half-"?

    Well it wouldn't really be a race would it? more like a mix of races...but no.

    At any point in your novel, do the main characters take a shortcut through ancient dwarven mines?

    No...and what's is your problem with small people anyhow? did a dwarf steal your ale at some point?

    Do you write your battle scenes by playing them out in your favorite RPG?

    No, that wouldn't really make sense.

    Have you done up game statistics for all of your main characters in your favorite RPG?

    No, a complex character can't just be summed up in a few numbers on a sheet.

    Are you writing a work-for-hire for Wizards of the Coast?

    Nope.

    Do inns in your book exist solely so your main characters can have brawls?

    Nope, they exist to have people have a place to rent a bed and buy something to eat and drink.

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

    Medieval systems of governance isn't really something I'm interested in, so no, though I do have a basic idea.

    Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place?

    Don't we all spend most of our lives journying from place to place *sits down and ponders his existance*

    Could one of your main characters tell the other characters something that would really help them in their quest but refuses to do so just so it won't break the plot?

    No, my characters are annoying assholes in others ways...

    Do any of the magic users in your novel cast spells easily identifiable as "fireball" or "lightning bolt"?

    No, the closest thing to magic in this world revolved around ingesting alchemical potions and is closer to witchcraft.

    Do you ever use the term "mana" in your novel?

    No...also: manamana...do doooo do dodo.

    Do you ever use the term "plate mail" in your novel?

    No...but the terms "cuirass" and "brigandine" does appear a few times.

    Heaven
    help you, do you ever use the term "hit points" in your novel?
    Uuuuhm...what?

    Do you not realize how much gold actually weighs?

    I do...though gold is not used as a currency in this world.

    Do you think horses can gallop all day long without rest?

    Everyone knows only unicorns can do that...

    Does anybody in your novel fight for two hours straight in full plate armor, then ride a horse for four hours, then delicately make love to a willing barmaid all in the same day?

    Considering how much you wouldbe sweating after two hours in plate armour I doubt even the most willing of barmaids would come near you.

    Does your main character have a magic
    axe, hammer, spear, or other weapon that returns to him when he throws it?
    Nope.

    Does anybody in your novel ever stab anybody with a scimitar?

    Would be kinda silly to stab someone with a weapon made specifically for slashing.

    Does anybody in your novel stab anybody straight through plate armor?

    No...although it's not exactly impossible to do, there's a lot of factors that play into this.

    Do you think swords weigh ten pounds or more?

    I have no idea how much a pound is...so...no? I guess...though swords are rarely as heavy as people think they are (same goes for armour).

    Does your hero fall in love with an unattainable woman, whom he later attains?

    My hero is married and has a child who he is beyond faithful to.

    Does a large portion of the humor in your novel consist of puns?

    Hmm I'll have to punder that for a bit...let me get back to you...

    Is your hero able to withstand multiple blows from the fantasy equivalent of a
    ten pound sledge but is still threatened by a small woman with a dagger?
    Never underestimate a small woman with a dagger!

    Do you really think it frequently takes more than one arrow in the chest to kill a man?
    Guess it depend on the man (or woman)...and how long they're left to bleed.

    Do you not realize it takes hours to make a good stew, making it a poor choice for an "on the road" meal?

    I've never made stew, so I did not know that...my roundbound characters don't eat stew though.

    Do you have nomadic barbarians living on the tundra and consuming barrels and barrels of mead?

    No, but that sounds like some good living! sign me up!

    Do you think that "
    mead" is just a fancy name for "beer"?
    No, mead is more like wine and is based on honey (and freaking delicious!)

    Does your story involve a number of different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion?

    Nope.

    Is the best organized and most numerous group of people in your world the thieves' guild?

    Well if they're that good...how would people know?

    Does your main villain punish insignificant mistakes with death?

    They're not insignificant to him...he kills people because he believes he's saving them a favour and doing what's right.

    Is your story about a crack team of warriors that take along a bard who is useless in a fight, though he plays a mean lute?

    Bards are in no way useless in a fight...you just gotta know how to play them right!

    Is "common" the official language of your world?

    Nope.

    Is the countryside in your novel littered with tombs and gravesites filled with ancient magical loot that nobody thought to steal centuries before?

    There is no "magical loot" in my world at all...least of all in the countryside.

    Is your book basically a rip-off of The Lord of the Rings?

    No...

    Read that question again and answer truthfully.

    Did I stutter?


    Okay...so may have answered these in a pretty snarky manner :p
     
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  9. Teruzond

    Teruzond New Member

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    1. Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages? -No. Something happens in the first chapter, which sets up the rest of the story.
    2. Is your main character a young farmhand with mysterious parentage? - No. She's a career soldier, and knew who her real mother was.
    3. Is your main character the heir to the throne but doesn't know it? - No, and succession among her race doesn't work like that.
    4. Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy? - Yes and no. She still has about 70 years before she's considered an adult, but she does temporarily gain superhuman strength and plays a hand in defeating the Big Bad.
    5. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world? - No. My story is about the lives of several people caught up in a war.
    6. How about one that will destroy it? - No again, for the same reason.
    7. Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about "The One" who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good? - No. There is no prophecy.
    8. Does your novel contain a character whose sole purpose is to show up at random plot points and dispense information? - No. Most of the characters stay in the same group for most of the story.
    9. Does your novel contain a character that is really a god in disguise? - No.
    10. Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character? - No. The bad guy is a different race, and cross-breeding is rare in this world.
    11. Is the king of your world a kindly king duped by an evil magician? - No. The king has only a minor role to play.
    12. Does "a forgetful wizard" describe any of the characters in your novel? - No.
    13. How about "a powerful but slow and kind-hearted warrior"? - Yes and no. One of the characters is immensely powerful and slow to draw her weapon, but she's kind of a salty bitch.
    14. How about "a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons"? - None of that here.
    15. Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around? - No. There are only two male mains, and none of the others do this.
    16. Do any of your female characters exist solely to be captured and rescued? - Haaaaaaaaano.
    17. Do any of your female characters exist solely to embody feminist ideals? - I'm not really sure. The main is a soldier, her lover is a ranger, her best friend is a warrior (the salty bitch above), and the others have similar occupations. I guess if you want to get technical, gender equality is a thing in most of the nations, but given that there are like 13 dominant races/species on this world, all of which with similar intelligence, things do get a bit confusing.
    18. Would "a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword" aptly describe any of your female characters? - No, but one of the characters loves to cook more than she likes to fight.
    19. Would "a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan" aptly describe any of your female characters? - Probably one or two, but even they know how to feed themselves.
    20. Is any character in your novel best described as "a dour dwarf"? - I mean. There are dwarves in the army. Extras. Maybe some of them are dour?
    21. How about "a half-elf torn between his human and elven heritage"? - No. Again, crossbreeding is rare enough that this really never happens.
    22. Did you make the elves and the dwarves great friends, just to be different? - No. They get along well enough, due to being allies.
    23. Does everybody under four feet tall exist solely for comic relief? - No. The gnomes are actually master creators and mechanics who. They do look funny, but that just means they can kill you in an amusing way.
    24. Do you think that the only two uses for ships are fishing and piracy? - No. When ships are used in the story, it's for transport.
    25. Do you not know when the hay baler was invented? - No, and there's no hay to be baled in the story, so it doesn't matter.
    26. Did you draw a map for your novel which includes places named things like "The Blasted Lands" or "The Forest of Fear" or "The Desert of Desolation" or absolutely anything "of Doom"? - No. There is a region called the Blasted Lands, but I didn't name it, and it doesn't come up in this story.
    27. Does your novel contain a prologue that is impossible to understand until you've read the entire book, if even then? - No. It's a dream. It's all a dream. Go back to sleep.
    28. Is this the first book in a planned trilogy? - No. It's intended to be a standalone story.
    29. How about a quintet or a decalogue? - Again, no.
    30. Is your novel thicker than a New York City phone book? - I hope not.
    31. Did absolutely nothing happen in the previous book you wrote, yet you figure you're still many sequels away from finishing your "story"? - I haven't written anything before this.
    32. Are you writing prequels to your as-yet-unfinished series of books? - No.
    33. Is your name Robert Jordan and you lied like a dog to get this far? - No. I promise.
    34. Is your novel based on the adventures of your role-playing group? - No. The main characters are my World of Warcraft characters, and I thought up a story for them to have.
    35. Does your novel contain characters transported from the real world to a fantasy realm? - No.
    36. Do any of your main characters have apostrophes or dashes in their names? - Three of them, but they're completely unrelated and incidental.
    37. Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables? - One.
    38. Do you see nothing wrong with having two characters from the same small isolated village being named "Tim Umber" and "Belthusalanthalus al'Grinsok"? - wtf, I don't even. Like, I can't possibly even. Yes, there's a problem. Fortunately that's not the case here.
    39. Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings? - Yes, except instead of halflings, gnomes.
    40. How about "orken" or "dwerrows"? - What the hell is a dwerrow?
    41. Do you have a race prefixed by "half-"? - No.
    42. At any point in your novel, do the main characters take a shortcut through ancient dwarven mines? - They don't even come close to the Dwarven kingdoms.
    43. Do you write your battle scenes by playing them out in your favorite RPG? - Nope.
    44. Have you done up game statistics for all of your main characters in your favorite RPG? - No.
    45. Are you writing a work-for-hire for Wizards of the Coast? - No. I promise I'm not.
    46. Do inns in your book exist solely so your main characters can have brawls? - I mean. There are battles. But not in inns. Just sex, food and sleep happen in those.
    47. Do you think you know how feudalism worked but really don't? - I have an idea of how it worked, but it's difficult to pull off, so I don't try.
    48. Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place? - They do have a four-day march, and it takes up probably a third of the book, because I'm focusing more on the characters.
    49. Could one of your main characters tell the other characters something that would really help them in their quest but refuses to do so just so it won't break the plot? - No. What do they look like, time travelers?
    50. Do any of the magic users in your novel cast spells easily identifiable as "fireball" or "lightning bolt"? - Chain Lightning is probably the closest.
    51. Do you ever use the term "mana" in your novel? - No, because that's a game mechanic.
    52. Do you ever use the term "plate mail" in your novel? - I don't think so. Two of the characters do wear plate armour though.
    53. Heaven help you, do you ever use the term "hit points" in your novel? - Dead gods, why.
    54. Do you not realize how much gold actually weighs? I do, and it doesn't play a role here. Though I suppose I could use it for comedic effect.
    55. Do you think horses can gallop all day long without rest? - No. I have equestrian friends who would hurt me if they saw me write that.
    56. Does anybody in your novel fight for two hours straight in full plate armor, then ride a horse for four hours, then delicately make love to a willing barmaid all in the same day? - Yes and no, but it's subverted. One of the characters does most of this, but the horse is undead and she doesn't make delicate love to a barmaid. The battle is actually pretty short too. So...I guess no.
    57. Does your main character have a magic axe, hammer, spear, or other weapon that returns to him when he throws it? - No. She gripes about not having enough ammunition or one of those fancy magic weapons once.
    58. Does anybody in your novel ever stab anybody with a scimitar? - No? I mean, people are run through, but not with a scimitar.
    59. Does anybody in your novel stab anybody straight through plate armor? - No, but someone does get hit with a spell that goes straight through her scale armor and breaks it.
    60. Do you think swords weigh ten pounds or more? [info] - No. Even the big claymores barely break that.
    61. Does your hero fall in love with an unattainable woman, whom he later attains? - No. She and her lover are established from the start.
    62. Does a large portion of the humor in your novel consist of puns? - No.
    63. Is your hero able to withstand multiple blows from the fantasy equivalent of a ten pound sledge but is still threatened by a small woman with a dagger? -Yes and no. The salty bitch can, due to her armour (it still might break a few things). A small woman with a dagger is no threat, though.
    64. Do you really think it frequently takes more than one arrow in the chest to kill a man? - This is a trick question. Arrows plug the holes they make, and most arrow wounds are statistically survivable. You would have to get a hit in just the right spot, or destroy a large enough amount of tissue, and on that scale bullets and explosives are more effective.
    65. Do you not realize it takes hours to make a good stew, making it a poor choice for an "on the road" meal? - I actually do realize this, and that's why the characters pack rations.
    66. Do you have nomadic barbarians living on the tundra and consuming barrels and barrels of mead? - No.
    67. Do you think that "mead" is just a fancy name for "beer"? - No. I know what mead is and how to make it.
    68. Does your story involve a number of different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion? - Yes and no. Certain races share a central ruler, country or religion, while others do not.
    69. Is the best organized and most numerous group of people in your world the thieves' guild? - No. It's most likely the collective militaries.
    70. Does your main villain punish insignificant mistakes with death? - No. He's cruel, not heartless.
    71. Is your story about a crack team of warriors that take along a bard who is useless in a fight, though he plays a mean lute? - No. One character does own a flute, and another a lute, but they don't bring them.
    72. Is "common" the official language of your world? - It's the human language, and it became a common tongue/traders pidgin over time. They just never gave it a name.
    73. Is the countryside in your novel littered with tombs and gravesites filled with ancient magical loot that nobody thought to steal centuries before? - No. Except maybe the unsettled areas, but I'm sure all the old valuable shit is gone by now.
    74. Is your book basically a rip-off of The Lord of the Rings? - No.
    75. Read that question again and answer truthfully. - Okay. It's still no. There's no magickal artifact to destroy. Orcs aren't inherently evil. Goblins are just really shady mercenaries. The two elven races hate each other. And in the end the main characters up and waste a guy. Granted, he wants to take over the world. But still.
     
  10. Gold Bearer

    Gold Bearer Member

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    Me too. :oops: That's not mentioned in the test though.

    19. Would "a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan" aptly describe any of your female characters?
    YES! But this is an unfair question, especially since the one before it is: Would "a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword" aptly describe any of your female characters? They have to be one or the other!

    29. How about a quintet or a decalogue?
    It's supposed to be a series so I suppose that counts.

    37. Do any of your main characters have names longer than three syllables?
    Yes, one.

    39. Does your novel contain orcs, elves, dwarves, or halflings?
    Yes it does.

    41. Do you have a race prefixed by "half-"?
    Yes, half-elves.

    48. Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place?
    Yes. A big part of it is a journey.

    50. Do any of the magic users in your novel cast spells easily identifiable as "fireball" or "lightning bolt"?
    Yes, lightning is a cool spell and having magic without elements like fire, ice and lightning would be a waste.

    74. Is your book basically a rip-off of The Lord of the Rings?
    Virtually all fantasy stories are. It's definitely got a very different and much more modern feel to it.
     
  11. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    I strongly disagree that virtually all fantasy stories are LOTR rip offs...many fantasy stories don't have anything in common with LOTR except the genre, and that doesn't make it a rip-off.

    And why do a female character either have to be a warrior who can't cook or a cook who can't fight? they easily do both, or neither ^^
     
  12. Phil Mitchell

    Phil Mitchell Banned Contributor

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    Yeah you'd think a warrior...which is essentially an athlete, would care about what they eat.
     
  13. Gold Bearer

    Gold Bearer Member

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    She's either more comfortable with a sword than with a frying pan or more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword, but yes I get what it's saying, I'm just being pedantic.

    I just meant that LotR was the first (as far as I know) to mix all these fantasy elements into one world so it created the genre, and the common depiction of the races.

    I think failing this test might be why I'm having trouble posting, too many flag words. Error, too cliche, post something more original please. :D
     
  14. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    But fantasy isn't just elves, orcs and dwarves...Harry Potter is fantasy, so is Alice in Wonderland, Narnia etc.
    "Fantasy" is a very broad term.
     
  15. Gold Bearer

    Gold Bearer Member

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    Hmm, I should have said high fantasy, I think that's the right term for it.
     
  16. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    Even then I wouldn't call it a rip off...there's also a lot of variation within high fantasy. :)
     
  17. Gold Bearer

    Gold Bearer Member

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    Yes I shall keep telling myself that as I write my story involving elves, dwarves and magic. :)
     
  18. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    Well your story might be a rip off, not denying that :p
     
  19. Phil Mitchell

    Phil Mitchell Banned Contributor

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    It all depends on how it's done. I like hearing what new spin or old homage people have done with elves and dwarves rather than humans. Humans are boring in fantasy.
     
  20. Gold Bearer

    Gold Bearer Member

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    I've got those too. The main characters are all elves and humans, one half-elf. It's up now in the the short stories section.
     
  21. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    Personally I find elves, dwarves etc boring because they're always portrayed to all be the same...unlike humans, in fantasy we're always the most varied of races.
     
  22. Gold Bearer

    Gold Bearer Member

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    My elves and dwarves aren't stereotypes, not in character anyway. They're just people, same as humans.
     
  23. Phil Mitchell

    Phil Mitchell Banned Contributor

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    Humans are stereotypes as much if not more. The bland everyman farmhand with a great destiny with no mind of his own. The "wise" mentor character who exists to die once the "hero" learns enough, the obliugatory designated love interest. Lame.
     
  24. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    Well yeah if the author has no imagination.

    Problem is that fantasy races (like sci fi aliens) are always presented without diversity within the race.
    But look at game of Thrones, it's mostly humans and there's a lot of interesting and diverse characters.
     
  25. Phil Mitchell

    Phil Mitchell Banned Contributor

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    Except if a fantasy race was as dominant as humans are in GoT, you would be forced to have just as much diversity. It sounds like you're comparing apples and oranges, an elf/dwarf race that's relegated to side status in the presence of a main human race can't be compared to a story where basically all the characters are human.

    Ps - GoT is crap imo.
     

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