When is it time to quit?

Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by Rachel2018, Sep 17, 2018.

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  1. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    Don't write what other people write. go for something unique. Something different.

    SO what if it might seem a bit too weird or a bit too much for readers who need their hand held? It's your work.

    I started writing two months ago, publishing on a free to read platform, and it has been a rewarding experience.

    Take a look at the idea behind what i made.

    The Minotaur Paladin.


    The Dead World


    Yes, i could stand to improve, but what matters is that i'm not going outside the box, i'm tying it up and kicking it into the corner. Try it, it just might be what you need to get going again.
     
  2. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    sounds like pretty standard fantasy to me - Ive news for you Bruh , everything has been done before
     
  3. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    Name me ONE story where the MC is sent from a primitive world to modern day earth. Where he's a Minotaur. Who's also a Cleric. An Earth that gets a video-game like system, ( Levels, Skills, etc, etc,). Where everything is available for purchase if you have enough money. ANYTHING. And a universal entertainment company is behind it all.

    Give me one story even similar to that. That's just the premise. That's not even getting into the story itself. Standard fantasy? HAH.
     
  4. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    Oh, Bonus, MC of my second story is a Drake, ( Dragon humanoid. )

    The world in the title? Literally dead. Nothing moves, nothing changes. Even the sun and the clouds have stopped moving hundreds of years ago. Crops? Food? Nope, nothing grows on the world itself. You have to kill Dungeons for that. Living, sentient, underground spaces filled with monsters provide the only place to feed the rest the of the world's population.

    So far, the cast includes:

    Dralvor. A Drake dual sword wielder. MC
    Illruchi. Dark Elfe/Drow Axe fighter.
    Mira. Tigerwoman Brawler.
    Ollidiam. Elfe enchanter.
    Strider. A Hollow Man ( Suit of living armour. )
    Lightshow. A creature composed of floating orbs of Soul.
    Prenik. Human Spell-bow user.
    An unamed dwarf. Refuses to give his name, lugs around a blunderbuss and plenty of insults.



    That's just starting the cast.

    Standard fantasy? HAH.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2018
  5. Nariac

    Nariac Contributor Contributor

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    Sounds good. :)

    Now all you have to do is write it.
     
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  6. 123456789

    123456789 Contributor Contributor

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    And get coders and graphics designers, since he just described a video game.
     
  7. jim onion

    jim onion New Member

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    @l nimbus

    Well, you do have LitRPG, which I think is similar to the leveling system you mention.

    I used to play a strategy video game called Endless Legend that had an entire race called the Drakken (dragon humanoids).

    Strider is Aragorn's nickname in Lord of the Rings.
     
  8. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    You seem to be confused in thinking that lobbing a whole load of different tropes into one book constitutes really radical planning … when it just makes it sound confused (and probably unsaleable). Yeah its unique, but not in a good way.

    Books where the MC is a supernatural creature abound - vampires, werewolves, wizards etc - okay a minotaur is unusual but its just more of the same.

    Life as a video game is also a very over used trope from only you can save the world - through to ready player one

    Everything being available to purchase doesn't even require fantasy - that's true of reality

    And the big bad being an entertainment company isn't even unusual - The Running man, ready player one (again), the hunger games (kind of)

    The MC being sent from a primitive world to a modern or future earth is the only bit that actually sounds interesting, but even that's been done before

    I'm not saying your book will be bad - although it does sound over complicated, but taking three or four standard tropes and jamming them into one book doesn't constitute 'not just thinking outside the box but kicking that baby to the kerb'
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2018
  9. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Sounds like a fairly standard dystopian quest - the matrix for example has a dead world where the human survivors live underground, added to that your normal swords and sorcery cast with the foul mouthed dwarf and the enchanting elf, not to mention the MC who fights with two blades. You only need to add a really stupid giant and you'll have a line in character cliché bingo.

    There are at least two other people on this very forum writing books about humanoid Dragons
     
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  10. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    Okay, wow. That got EVERYTHING in my story wrong.

    Here's the thing.

    1. EVERYBODY has levels. EVERYBODY has Classes, Skills, etc. And Save the World? How? the Apocalypse is here and gone.

    2. i mean everything. Litterally insert a few million bucks and shut down technology, raise yourself a fortress out of nothing, buy an army of robotic tanks, the possibilites are endless.

    3. Enetrtainment company that operates on an universal level. Earth is just another planet to them. They sell worlds, and the outcome of those worlds, which they can enforce with a snap of their fingers, to the highest bidder.

    4. Maybe, maybe not.

    5. Go read it and then come back before you make that decision. Writing a good book isn't about tropes, it's about getting the readers to like it.



    Here's a professional author's opinion on it.


     
  11. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    Foul mouthed dwarf who hates everything.
    Overweight Elfe who works as an ENCHANTER. putting enchantments on things.

    Don't get started on the dual swords.
     
  12. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    You realise your professional author said the same thing I did "artfully combines post-apocalyptic fantasy with the color palette of the game-based-adventure." Ie uses well worn ideas from these genres … I'm not passing judgement on your story since I haven't read it, but you are asking for trouble when you come into a community of writers and start acting the Biog I am claiming to be this amazing genius who thinks so far outside the box that they can't see it when in fact like everyone else you are using ideas that have been around for years. I think it was Hemingway who said that there were only 6 basic plots

    Hell you even say on your write up on Royal Road that this story is a semi parody of the game Exiled Kingdoms and several characters are drawn from there, how does basing off someone else's work qualify as not just thinking outside the box but tying it up and kicking it into the corner ?

    I've no problem with you using tropes and getting readers to like them - that's what everyone does... my issue is using tropes whilst claiming that you are coming up with amazing original ideas, when your amazingly original idea is a combination of things that have been done before (again no problem doing it, everything I write has been done before - but I'm not claiming otherwise)

    And on your second story - dwarves are always grumpy and hate everything, elves are always magical, as I said you only need to add a really stupid giant and perhaps a wizened grey haired wizard and your trip to the cliché mine would be complete (again nothing wrong with that, except for your claim to be so far outside the box)
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2018
  13. jim onion

    jim onion New Member

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    I think it's possible to synthesize already existing pieces and create something "new" out of them. But you have to acknowledge the fact that you're using well known and widely used ingredients, even if you are doing unique things with them.
     
  14. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    I read the first two chapters btw - the first is pretty good, although the square brackets are distracting, but you lost me at the second with the monstrous scene setting info dump. While show don't tell is a very over used rule you could have done with showing some of that "world going to hell" stuff.
     
  15. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    It gets better deeper in. That was amateurish early on. Like, my lowest quality work. i was, to put it mildly, vomiting words over the page.

    And hey, i never claimed to be a genius, just someone who didn't write for the tropes.

    As for EK, i notified the game's owner that i was going to borrow some lore from the game, base the MC homeworld there because i liked the game, and he agreed. That's the only thing i take from the game. The monsters in the first chapter and some lore. THAT's it.
     
  16. OurJud

    OurJud Contributor Contributor

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    This is exactly what I was thinking.

    I honestly don't have a lot of sympathy. You're published (multiple times), getting 4-star reviews in a five-star system, and you're considering quitting because you haven't won the Booker?? A cynical person would say you'd posted this to do nothing more than brag about your success, but I'm not in the slightest bit cynical.

    But if you really want an answer as to when it's time to quit. It's time when it's time, and you'll just do it.
     
  17. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    What are you hoping to accomplish here? Not with the book, but with bragging about it in a thread started by someone concerned about how to improve their reviews? If you want help and advice, there's the Workshop, once you qualify. If you want to show something off, there's the blogs section. If you have questions or advice about the process, there's the Creative Writing section on the top third or so of the main page. Wandering into a random thread and telling all four or five participants in that particular discussion about your story isn't really going to accomplish anything though, whether you're the next Cormac MacCarthy, the next Chuck Tingle, or anything in between.
     
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  18. jim onion

    jim onion New Member

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    ^To be fair, he can't play by himself. I don't know what his motivations are and I don't care but he's not talking to himself.

    Whether his story is unique or new is another matter. His advice was "Don't write what other people write. Go for something unique. Something different. So what if it might seem a bit too weird or a bit too much for readers who need their hand held?"

    I don't agree with the advice myself. Whether it's really possible to write something that has never been written before... I suppose it is theoretically plausible. You can certainly combine elements that already exist in a new way, but closer, higher-resolution analysis will always reveal its connections and origins. That being said, I don't think it's a useful suggestion for Rachel. That, however, is for Rachel to decide.

    Him shamelessly plugging his work as an example has only been disproportionately exaggerated by the derailment, and I'll give the benefit of the doubt that that wasn't his intention.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2018
  19. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    i just gave some of my thoughts on how to help this author. Mainly, by saying that they try writing something outside of the box, and that it would likely produce results. I showed what i'd used so they might have some inspiration, and this was commented on by other users, who either wanted to know a bit more or pointed out that i wasn't exactly making good description, so i elaborated. It might have gotten a little out of hand and derailed the thread, but at no point did i mean to brag about how great i was, only defending my points when another user stated that i wasn't actually doing what i described.

    It got off-topic, and that's that.

    Tell me, at what point did i claim to be the next Chuck Tingle? i stated that i was an amateur, and nothing more.

    If that off-topic discussion offends you so much, i'll quit instead of being a jackass. Also, i'd much rather be the next PirateAba or ErraticEratta.
     
  20. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    There are ways to transition from writing. In a previous incarnation I used to foam about waves and surfing being the route to Nirvana. Not that I still don't love the ocean and will certainly make a comeback, it's just change/age/and evolution.

    I suppose having written five terrible romance stories and shoved them on the Amazon one might venture down the village hall circuit? Maybe as an expert in relationships, hawking the books on the way? Or a gentler decline, those colouring books, or war-gaming? I do like the cut of their jib.

    Have you built a Spitfire?
     
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  21. Cave Troll

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

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  22. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Capitalize your I's. Please. For the love of God, capitalize your I's.

    (Hey, the thread is already veering off topic.)
     
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  23. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    1st book @ 1 minute 41
    2nd @ 1 min 52
    the collection @ 2 minutes and 7

    @ 2 minutes and 36 OP posts on WRITER FORUM
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2018
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  24. l nimbus

    l nimbus Member

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    As for a quick note to the OP, sorry for derailing the thread, and consider yourself lucky to have made it this far. I've person
    No, i shall not. i want to be unique, therefor, i shall not "Capitalize my i's".
     
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  25. jim onion

    jim onion New Member

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    Ooh, ooh, can I play too?!



    first reader reviewing my writing @ 1:39

    forum member who thinks he's Ernest Hemingway reincarnated reading my writing @ 1:52

    beta reader giving me feedback @1:59

    from 2:03 to 2:15 is me "killing my darlings"

    *rest of the video is me doing more revising and rerevising*
     
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