A few weeks ago i had a great idea, concerning the beggining of a fantasy story, but with a vague ending. I have began writing the beggining, but i am stuck at how i should develop my plot. So far i have got a boy that is soon becoming a man. He is on his way to his village for a festival. When he gets there the village is in darkness and everthing is burnt, he runs to his mother's house only to find it is the only house still aflame. When he enters he sees his mother lying burnt clasping her favourite necklace. He takes the necklace and goes to his room. Only to find that nothing is burnt. He finds the vault and finally opens it with the necklace only to find a massive stone. This later hatches to a griffen. Finding the queen's crest on the floor he finds out that it was the army that did this to him. Seeking vengeance he finds a man that feeds on this anger, making him evil. But i am having trouble developing the plot after this point. So i could use any help anyone may wish to give me. P.S if you want to know my idea for the ending of the story please just ask.
I warn you that using the Burning Village to send the protagonist on a personal journey is pretty cliche. It's kind of like recycling old magic that everyone has seen before. Be prepared to put a new twist on an old stereotype or at least give a damn good reason why the village had to be burnt down. For example, in Full Metal Alchemist, the protagonists burnt down their house so they wouldn't have a home to return to. There was nothing to stop them from their goal of getting back the arms and limbs that they lost when they tried to resurrect their mother using alchemy. In Final Fantasy 7, the hero's hometown was burnt down when his arch-rival went crazy and killed the townspeople; fortunately it was rebuilt by the empire (Shinra Electric Company) and stuffed with actors so no one would know. Not bad. Good news is that if you know the ending, you can fill in the gap between points A and B. I've played enough RPGs to have a know how on what is what and I've even got resources to help you out. TVTropes has a good arcana of stock plots and character ensembles. Go ahead and tell us your ending.
There is no "cliche" in plot outlines. Everything has been done before. The writing determines whether it comes across as tedious. The use of the word cliche in regards to a plot summary is cliche.
If I recall correctly, the original Fable opens with your village being burnt to the ground as well. Personally, I wouldn't worry about that though. It might be an idea to put something in there that makes the reader think, "I didn't see that coming!" That is up to you though. OK, so, on to plot development. It might be an idea for you to do some research in to the hero's journey (or Monomyth). It's very formulaic but it is also the centre for many, if not all, stories and really does help you outline where the plot needs to go. The basic premise is that any hero needs to be taken through several plot points in order to reach his goal, and fulfil the audiences expectations of him in the story. Why not have a look here for the basics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth
Thanks for all of your important advice, and i do agree that the burnt village has been used, because of your criticism i got an idea as to how i can make to more original and surprise the reader. My ending is that the main character, throughout the story has commited many acts that are perceived as evil, but he has great reasoning behind. At the end the People(not sure who they are but they represent what the people of the world think), stand up to put an end to his ways and forfeit his life. Just before all hope is lost and the character is about to die he proves the truth and kindness in his deeds. They decide to forgive him only to find, that even though he defeated the manipulator of the events that have occured throughout the story, that he is, but a shell of his real self. As he sacrificied everything to go on and continue the battle of good and evil this time within his own mind. So what do you think? This is seriously my first time writing a story and truth be told i am quite young so i could really use some help. Again thanks for the feedback you have given me so far.
A story concept means nothing. I can tell you now, it has been done before. What matters is how you write it, the characterization, the flow, the imagery, all of it. There's no point to asking what other people think of the concept! They'll either say,"Sounds great," or, "it sounds like a ripoff of..." If the idea stirs you, write it. Then ask people what they think of the final story. After they tell you what they don't like about it, revise it, usually several times, until you're happy with it or until you throw up your hands and say the hell with it. Please read this thread about What is Plot Creation and Development? (and yes, this is a template post, which should give you an idea of how often this comes up.) If it's the first story you write, you'll undoubtedly make many mistakes. Don't let tat deter you. Mistakes are how we learn. Just do the best you can, and be prepared to go through several major revisions.
What you got here is a common beginning (village is in flames, boy goes on a journey of vengeance against an evil army and whatnot) and there's no interesting continuation to it because the beginning already suggest an overused plot. So, you should rethink the beginning I guess.
A beginning can be overused and still come out original. Just make it interesting. Don't look for others to help you create your own plot.. my advice is to think "well what do I want to read about them doing?" and then write that.
The Burning Village is a good place to start. TVTropes has a fantastic page I recommend if you want to research the idea and its numerous applications. There is at least 50 examples for you to check out.
Thanks for all the feedback, it helped me to be more original, even if the burning village has been used, the way i want to use it, is quite different to all the other authors i have read, that have used the same idea. P.S It is not the army that is evil, the evil resides in himself. So it is not a run after the bad guy story.
Check out the opening episode of Elfen Lied. <youtube link removed - the summary suffices>. This is not a Burning Village, per say, but it involves an evil girl (military experiment) murdering the security staff of a secured facility in varied bloody fashions--pyschically. An interesting catch-22 is that she's a cute, innocent little girl when she's not in her psycho mode. Warning: not for the faint of heart. There is also Akira, which is about a boy with psychic powers who goes on an insane and murderous rampage.
