writing a fantasy novel?

[Fish]

Well, make sure you read through this exam first - you may be surprised how many "fantasy elements" are actually just tired cliches. Amusing and informative.

http://rinkworks.com/fnovel/

[Euda]

Yes, it's nearly impossible to write original fantasy at this point in time. The only chance a fantasy author has is to write, well, from a different angle. A story really needs to hook it's audience and evoke something, anything. Authors need to think outside of the box and it's one hell of a big box.

I don't know about any of the RPG stuff, are there books that do that? I've never really played an RPG, DnD, or anything of the sort.

However, I think that if a fantasy writer began writing in Palahniuk's style, they could be very successful in today's market. It would be a fine line to avoid being labeled gothic, but I think someone will walk that line before too very long. Fantasy with a little shock could really grow a reader base.

Having read a wide variety of what the genre has to offer, I know that I think twice before picking up a fantasy book.

[LiquidIce]

Yes, the woes of being a fantasy lover and a would-be writer.

However, even if a story sports some of these cliches then it might read well if it's written well.

I heard that Shakespear basically covered each possible plot and storyline one can imagine and all books after him just have different events and different characters.

[dysik]

fuck that test... and fuck anyone that knocks robert jordan :(

hahah, some parts are true, but i mean c'mon. just because ive read a book about a wizard a few times, doesnt mean it should stop being a character in any new books. this is fantasy after all.

[Zygo Orbitale]

This wizard talk reminded me of this (http://www.cracked.com/article_15952_7-most-powerful-wizards-too-lazy-use-their-powers.html).

[SawdustInBloom]

I heard that Shakespear basically covered each possible plot and storyline one can imagine and all books after him just have different events and different characters.

That such an ignorant statement! If someone says "each possible plot and storyline" you need to smack them with a rubber duck. Hard! What gives them the authority to speak of what is and is not possible?!!

Once, I think it was during the renaissance, there was a notion that all the great music that was possible to write had already been written.
Wouldn't you agree that that was aggressively ignorant of them?
And if you do agree, why is the statement about all possible plots being taken any less ignorant?

And besides, as far as I know Shakespeare mostly retold ancient stories and historical events. Romeo and Juliet would be an example of the first, Caesar of the second. I don't know if this is true for all of his works.

Also,
A young single mother meet a young single man.
As they start getting serious, she grows concerned over whether he will be like a father to the child and love it as his own. She has hitherto kept the child out of the picture mostly, both from him and previous dates; she's been afraid it would intimidate them.

The young man is a paedophile but hides it artfully. His sexual interest in not exclusively geared towards preadolescent children, he likes women too. He knows the young mother has a little boy and he has been very patient, biding his time, waiting for her to let him come close to the boy. Oh, he's not stupid; he's not going to rape the lad once alone. He wants to become like a father to him. So that he can show his fatherly love and discipline on a regular basis.

Blah blah blah.

Did Shakespeare ever cover that one?

Yeah, I know this is off topic. But there's no way for me to smack LiquidIce with a rubber duck.

[supperrfreek]

looks like I'm going to have to stop writing my fantasy novel.
But basically there are two plots:
1. a stranger comes to town
2. a man goes on a journey
every novel can be boiled down to one of these on some level. all plots are ripped off

[LiquidIce]

Stephan King said something along the lines that there's an infinite number of stories to write, but a finite number of plots, that was what I was getting at.

SawdustinBloom, your plot ain't revolutionary, it's all about love and 'dark' 'hidden' desires. There's also an opinion that most heavy metal riffs were played by Black Sabbath, and all the other heavy metal bands can do is play them again in different configurations or with different speed.

Thing is, what the list post in OP outlined - there are maybe a few hundred plots that can be segregated into a few main plot categories. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to write a good story - the plot is taken, it's well known, but you have an infinite number of stories to choose from and put it to paper.

Also, I would love a rubber duck, I'd finally have a friend :p

[Sookie]

However, I think that if a fantasy writer began writing in Palahniuk's style, they could be very successful in today's market. It would be a fine line to avoid being labeled gothic, but I think someone will walk that line before too very long. Fantasy with a little shock could really grow a reader base.

I wholly agree with this.
People aren't really into epic fantasy books like LotR at this point in time. Some stark, sparse wording and violent imagery will do the trick.

[SawdustInBloom]

Stephan King said something along the lines that there's an infinite number of stories to write, but a finite number of plots, that was what I was getting at.

SawdustinBloom, your plot ain't revolutionary, it's all about love and 'dark' 'hidden' desires. There's also an opinion that most heavy metal riffs were played by Black Sabbath, and all the other heavy metal bands can do is play them again in different configurations or with different speed.

Thing is, what the list post in OP outlined - there are maybe a few hundred plots that can be segregated into a few main plot categories. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to write a good story - the plot is taken, it's well known, but you have an infinite number of stories to choose from and put it to paper.

Also, I would love a rubber duck, I'd finally have a friend :p

Ok first of all, I was thinking of a rubber chicken, like in that Monty python skit.

My very basic plot or premise certainly wasn't revolutionary. It's a variant of the triangle drama. I believe it's an original variant, but a variant nonetheless. But saying that it is "about love and 'dark' 'hidden' desires." is in my opinion over-simplifying. That is not a description of the plot but a list of the elements it used.

If we're talking about a limited amout of buildning blocks from which to craft out plot, I sort of agree. There's love, death, betrayal etc. This is a list to which we cannot easily add, and which may look exactly the same today as it did in ancient Greece. Mind you, this does not mean that it is impossible to add to the list. I'm saying it's theoretically possible to add to the list. It might not happen every millennia, but, hey, you never know.;)

But if we're talking plots and storylines, I wholly disagree. I said mine was a variant of the triangle drama and I'm not claiming to have invented a new genre. But I do believe that it is perfectly possible to invent new genres. And that this does happen and has happened since Shakespeare.

Shakespeare borrowed liberally from the Greeks, and we have fragments of bronze-age myths with the same basic plots as the Greeks used. And most of the stories written today has it's roots there too. Most, but not all.