/lit/ - Literature

http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/i/viriconium/

Way to play into the stereotype.

Do you know how fucking boring this shit is now?

>Humans, elves, dwarves

Stopped reading there.

Practice telling small lies to strangers on the internet. Many are available from mainstream news sources, but an invented one will get you farther. Try Googling the phrase "voobledooblebooble" and there will be an Easter Egg that one of Google's 8 founding members put there.

Here is my tip: Make humanity a fucking bad ass master race. None of that "jack of all trades" bullshit. None of that "against all odds the humans find a way". Make the humans powerful and scary.

>>3372866

Go back to /tg/.

It's fundamentally more interesting to have human beings in a precarious position or unsure of their surroundings. The only reason /tg/ finds this wankery cool is because they're fucking ugly nerds who need an outlet for their aggression. Hence the revolting HUMANITY FUCK YEAH threads.

>>3372870

Thats just like your opinion bro.

I think Avatar is like the only story ever where the humans are bad ass. Your "fundamentally more interesting" scenario is so way overdone.

The humanity fuck yeah appeals to our natural sense of tribalism. The majority of people will eat it up I think.

>>3372870
I could do with a kill all the humans plot?

Since fantasy has become massively popular over the last decade, there better be something distinguishing about yours, something that will make it worth remembering.

>>3372881
You should work for Bioware. They could use a fresh and brave mind like you on their writing staff.

>>3372749
Fantasy is supposed to be about using elements of myth, legend, and religion to create interesting worlds. It's not supposed to be about using the same damn tropes that were invented when Tolkien wrote his books many decades ago.

>>3372881
>I think Avatar is like the only story ever where the humans are bad ass
See: Every story with an animal protagonist ever.
>Watership Down
>Tailchaser's Song
>The Plague Dogs
>Mrs. Fisby and the Rats of NIMH

WHAT IF THE HUMANS TURN OUT TO BE DWARVES IN DISGUISE?!!!!

>>3372898

And attempt to fill in the shoes of the great Drew Karpyshyn? impossible

>>3372749
>Having a bit of hard time creating a consistent immersive fantasy world
That's because you're in Tolkien's world.

>Any advice or tips, fantasy do and don'ts?
Start with a plot. Not some immersive world with someone else's creatures. What are your reasons?

>>3372913
and Ferngully, and Pocahontas

>>3372920
Hey, at least he had the good sense to leave Bioware after the TORtanic.

>before taking screencap
Maybe he'll come out with a book that isn't crap now? After all, he won't be dealing with licenses anymore.

>after
not hopeful.

I get the point about using Tolkein's world, admittedly I would be grabbing at the races he used and has been used as adnaseum. And I do the inkling of a plot in place,and I have some character down.

But y'know things like for example creating a non-broken magical system, creating an overarching history for the world, fantasy geography,

At base yeah I'm working with a foundation cliches and trope but I do want it to be something more and unique. Maybe some breath of fresh air.

>>3372974
RPG rulebooks already exist, and they do a better job than you ever could.

You're writing a book, not an RPG campaign; start with a theme and a plot, not pointless shit like 'magic systems'.

>>3372995

Its actually important. One of the reasons the harry potter books are so good is because the magic system is clearly explained. When authors dont make it clear the whole universe they created is fucked.

>>3372998
Are you trolling? What about the magic system in Harry Potter is explained?
>wave a want and say pseudolatin
>shit happens
>no concept of entropy, energy balance, creating something out of nothign
>a six year old could cast Aveda Kedavra, if they new the words
>No explination of why one wizard is stronger than another, except Potter's faggy mommy love

“There is a rule for fantasy writers: The more truth you mix in with a lie, the stronger it gets.”

>>3373004
Gonna get shit for this, but your post is one of the reasons I liked Inheritance so much. The rules for magic were very clearly there. True, your only limits were how far you could stretch the meaning of a word or phrase, but everything was explained fairly well.

>>3373004
The spells are more than just words in HP, the words need to be coupled with specific wand movements, and other things like intent and specific types of psychological will also affect the spell.
And other wizards are more powerful because they've harnessed more of the magic within themselves and have practiced with it more.

>>3372974
>>3373004
>>3372998
No one gives a shit about the magic system, except IT nerds and autistic engineers. It's so far from being an important thing in a book series, and Harry Potter is one of the things that really proves that. Seriously, who gives a shit if the rules of magic hang together, it's fucking magic

>>3373030
That's an interesting theory that you've created. Unfortunately, it has no real strong justification in the book series, certainly not in any kind of detail.

Things not to do in fantasy:

1. No Elves
2. No Dwarves

You blew it.

>>3373036
There is nothing inherently wrong with putting elves and dwarves into your epic fantasy book. In fact, it may be the rightest thing you can do.

>>3373036

your language is confusing

>>3373029
>"...it's fucking magic"
Indeed it is. One word: Midichlorians

>>3373036
So all fantasy must have dwarves and elves?

>>3373029

No fuck you dude. If magic is not explained then the entire story is worthless.

Sorry you dont have an ounce of logic in your brain and only like stories for "muh feelings".

I'm not a writer but here's my advice OP.

Before you even start writing the novel and piecing it together, keep a notebook and create the world. Don't slack on details because you can always decide what's important and what can be left out once you start writing. Describe creatures/races from their behavior to their origin and how they came to be. Maybe draw a map of the world. Name areas. Describe the areas. Go as far as describing the culture, fashion, and religious/political ideas of the areas.

Basically just create the world on paper beforehand. Make it so detailed that you start to believe it's an actual place. Just a thought.

>>3374543
You're confusing not using shit like deus ex machina with a comprehensive magic system. You might as well have a comprehensive relationship system too.

>>3374577

And more importantly, think of the world as a big puzzle. If all the pieces don't properly fit together, then you got a broken puzzle.

>>3372749
Dos and donts

Do: Leave

Don't: Write this bullshit.

There are already 1245,00,00, 000 billion vagillion shitty fantasy novels farting up bookshelves across the world. Why do we need more?

>>3372974
Why write fantasy at all? How do you think you're going to breathe fresh air into a genre that you've already copied the major themes of?

How fucking dumb are you?

>>3374614

There are already 1245,00,00, 000 billion vagillion shitty fiction novels farting up bookshelves across the world. Why do we need more?

Same argument.

>>3373004
Mass is conserved. You can't just spawn infinite dildo's like garry's mod. They have to all exist somewhere else first. The conservation of energy thing is bullshit though.

>>3374622
Because you're starting with abject plagiarism. And fantasy is fiction, retard.

I know it's going to be shit, because you're more concerned with MUH WORLDBUILDING than actually evoking emotions in the reader.

>>3374627
>Mass is conserved.
Ron must have been an idiot to not notice his rat weighed the same as a full grown man.

>>3374638

Wasn't me tough guy. I have a an outlined plot and characters.

As for this

>>3374619

So if it's not revolutionizing a genre it's not worth writing? That sounds more retarded than anything else.

How about you not be the internet hurr durr guy for a second, contribute something substantial even in criticism to the thread or please GTFO

>>3372936
>Pocahontas
>implying Native peoples aren't human

Are you that guy who came here asking what to name his elves a while back? I'm interested in how you're progressing.

>>3373035
For fuck's sake, man:
>Specific Wand Movements
See every one of the kids' Charms classes, especially the first "Wingardium Leviosa" one.
>Intent
Later books show us that thinking a spell works just as effectively as saying it aloud. It's also shown in Snape's Occumency (or whatever telepathy is called) tutoring with Harry, where Severus yells at him, saying he can't even fend off Snape's mind attacks, so how could he ever defend against Voldemort.
>Psycological Will
I can practically quote Bellatrix out of memory: "The Crucio spell won't work for you, Potter boy. You need to mean it, to want it. You need to want unending pain for the other person. And you don't want to do that to anyone, do you, Potter?"
She says something like that, anyway.

I've read the whole series maybe twice in my life. Maybe you should try reading it just once.

>>3374655

But Ron is an idiot!

>>3373004
>a six year old could cast Aveda Kedavra, if they new the words

Have you actually read the books?

When the fake Moody is teaching the class of students about Avada Kedavra he says that everyone in the class could point their wands at him and say the words and he probably wouldn't get anything worse than a nosebleed.

If you're doing a fantasy involving elves, dwarves and humans, you really need to address the Elephant in the Room of why there are such divergent races in the first place. Tolkien does it somewhat, but he's mostly using it as a metaphor for different outlooks on life.


Address the economics of the system, and to an extent the politics. These are not really different races so much as different species: they're going to want different things, be adapted to different conditions and have widely divergent morality, Just having three intelligent species coexist (let alone coevolve) is going to be a challenge unless you go completely metaphoric like Tolkien did, and well, he already did it.

Too much of that type of fantasy is just trying to pick up where he left off and Have a bunch of wooly footed faggots smoking in front of suspiciously round doors. And pretentious and obscure elves that talk like philosophy majors who dropped out half way through and were probably high all the time.

This kind of fantasy was becoming a parody of itself even before "Bored of The Rings" rung the changes on it in the seventies.

tl:dr take it and run with it, but have a good story and concentrate on ground not already covered: economics, politics and biology come to mind.

The guy talking about master races has a point: In the Wizard Knight the Angrborn have no use for humans but as slaves, and the osterlanders use them for food. That book might be a good thing to read for reference.