I don't think you can write fantasy without taking from Tolkien a little, but one trick is to stop reading it (I can't believe I said that on a Tolkien site!) Some writers stop reading entirely while they are writing, just to keep from being blatantly derivative. Immerse yourself in your own created world, and avoid everyone else's.
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Yet all the while I sit and think of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.
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