Are You Writing Serious Fantasy? II

[Elennar Starfire]

1) Take the name of anything: your name, your town's name, anything.
2) Write countries, states, or towns to the side of it.
3) Look at the names you have created, and throw out the ones that don't make sense.

I'd forgotten about that, but I've used it to come up with some very nice names. I usually use one of my friend's names and make up a random sentence. Like this:

E-elephants
L-like
E-eating
N-nasty
N-noses
A-and
R-raspberries

Elephants like eating nasty noses and raspberries.

Liaona...oooh, I like that one, no stealing it!

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

I decided to write a story because I've always loved writing of all sorts, I'm actually an award winning poet so I've got a lot of experience.
I am writing a fantasy book and one of my main inspirations was Lord of the Rings, it just struck me as the benchmark of fantasy and originality.
It's so hard to be original when Tolkiens done almost everything already.

[Avie]

Completely agree there Gothbogg. So much fantasy writing is terribly derivative, the dreadful "Shanarra" series being a case in point.
I think that Tolkien covered the major themes so well that the LOTR books are almost impossible to better.
One fantasy writer is distinctively different though...has anyone read anything by Gene Wolfe?

[Imladris]

I think that Tolkien covered the major themes so well that the LOTR books are almost impossible to better.

It's so hard to be original when Tolkiens done almost everything already.

Wow. You guys make it sound as if Tolkien and LotR was the ultimate fantasy, that it was fantasy, that it is the end all of fantasy, and that is the king of fantasy. I feel really sorry for those pitiful authors out there, trying to scrape together a fantasy story for people who seem to think that there is nothing after Tolkien.

You two seem to be operating under the thinking that there are only a few major themes and that Tolkien incorporated them all. I almost seem to be getting the impression that there is only one way to write those themes. Well...hate to break it to you, but there are a zillion ways to write those themes. Tolkien did a theme in a very basic way that had never been done in quite that way before. That's why it's popular. He took the theme of a dark lord and hero trying to take over the world and how a nobody peon defeated him (he even put quite a twist on that) and another theme that is called the Cinderella Theme and he wrote the story from there. Sure, Aragorn isn't a girl but he's still a nobody. A ranger. A ranger who is frowned upon. And then he becomes king. It's so brilliant its hardly recognizable.

What I'm trying to say is that there are only a few handfuls of themes in this world (the Cinderella theme and the peon defeats big bad lord theme are two of the major ones) and they are everywhere, even in history (Joan of Arc). What makes a story is how you wrote the theme, the spins and twists you put on the theme, the reality of the setting, and many more factors. To say that Tolkien's way is the only way to write fantasy or that he already did it is like saying there is only one method to do math, and we all know that that is a lie.

Saying that Tolkien did all there was to do, or that there is only one way to write fantasy is denying the genius, the intricacy, the creativity, and the imagination of the human mind.

[Diamond18]

Fantasy can be anything that has even only vague supernatural or speculative elements. You can write Fantasy without Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, Trolls, Orcs, Ringwraiths, Hobbits, Balrogs, Ents, talking Eagles, Wargs, Dark Lords, magic objects, vast cosmologies, catastrophic wars, Quests, or anything else that takes a forefront in Tolkien’s books. (That isn’t to say that anything which does have one or more of those elements is automatically Tolkienesque, but I mean that those things are not the heart and soul of fantasy). I agree with Imladris, fantasy doesn’t begin and end with Tolkien’s words, and his is certainly not the only method. Or even the best for some people’s tastes. I have come across (to my initial surprise) many aspiring fantasy authors who have Tolkien low on their list of favorites or don’t even like him that much. A year or so ago I would have just thought that they had no taste or were denying their Lord of the Fantasy, but now I have just come to realize that people are varied enough that some can like fantasy but prefer methods other than Tolkien’s. And more importantly, aspire to something other than Tolkien.

I can honestly say there’s nothing in my writing repertoire that is Tolkienesque, and here I even like him. I just don’t buy into the idea that there’s only one way to write fantasy and that it’s Tolkien. I have seen too much proof otherwise. There will always be copycats of great stories, or stories told in a similar format, but that doesn’t mean that there is not and never will be anything else which is still yet worthy of the title “great fantasy”.

Oh, and by the way….

D E T R O I T
I L L I N O I S
A L A B A M A
M O N T R E A L
O N T A R I O
N E V A D A
D E L A W A R E

Hmmm… Ellonee, Tlantvl, Ribtaaa, Onarrdw, Iomeiaa, Tiaao.

S A C R E M E N T O
A L B A N Y
R A L E I G H
A R K A N S A S
H A C K E N S A C K

Alara, Cblkc, Raeak, Enine, Myhas, Esa. I think the second try had better results. That is kinda interesting.

[Elennar Starfire]

It really works! Gets you unstuck when you can't think of any names. I have a list of names somewhere, I make up new ones whenever I feel like it, then write 'em down to use when they're needed.

Suffering from a major case of writer's block at the moment...stupid persuasive essay for english class...