forum Things You Want LESS Of In Books

Started January 21, 2019 by @HighPockets group

tune

Is this about Clerval?

Yes this is about Clerval.

When you're reading a retelling and their take on a character is like…unrecognizably out-of-character.

what book?

Cadaver and Queen.

When you're reading a retelling and their take on a character is like…unrecognizably out-of-character.

what book?

Cadaver and Queen.

ok

I tried to read it sometime last year, but I didn't really like it I also don't think I'd read Frankenstein yet, so maybe I should retry

I tried to read it sometime last year, but I didn't really like it I also don't think I'd read Frankenstein yet, so maybe I should retry

I'm not very far in but look how they massacred my boy-

The clumsy character who is always clumsy in a cute way but it never really matters or impacts the story, bonus points if said character is super competent and graceful when fighting or smth.

I would sort of love to see someone who alternates. But at equal levels convenience and inconvenience.

like when i play d&d
i may or may not have dropped the super important breakable item of destiny but rolled a 20 to do a backflip

Brooooooo.

Me when I just managed to hide from the dude I was tailing but got my foot stuck in a pot. Then I rolled a 20 and kicked it off so hard it flew across the alley and knocked the guy out cold.

Elves. Not that I read a lot of fantasy (that might be a surprise as I love it best), but everyone uses them. They're cliche. I want original stuff. To be fair I started off with Elves, Humans, Goblins and Dwarves. But I went way beyond that. So far that calling the AlFen elves is and insult to both of them.

super agree with that. Tolkein kinda set the standard for fantasy books, and everyone is really copying what they thought made them good. Elves, dwarves, and even goblins and orcs all came from myths that have so much more to them than those set races. I get the reason for common culture with stuff like elves, but there's so much more cool stuff out there, not to mention if you're writing fantasy then go wild and make something new!

I'd be fine with elves if authors would actually do something unique with them as opposed to just diet Tolkein elves

I'd be fine with elves if authors would actually do something unique with them as opposed to just diet Tolkein elves

That's the best way of referring to elves in modern literature I have ever heard.

The way I think of elves is: As long as you put work into giving them their own, unique culture, that isn't, to steal Jyn's phrase, Diet Tolkien^TM, then I enjoy them. Especially if you use your own unique twists to them to make them more interesting. But if they're just strong, fast, immortal, and sO bEaUtIfUl, then I'm going to chuck the book across the room. They need culture, and they need to be just as varied and unique as your humans are

Personally I'm not a huge fan of elves, mainly because all of them that I've encountered have been Diet Tolkien elves (have I even read a book with elves? I genuinely can't remember). Either do something new with them or just use a different creature.

The only book centered around elves that I remember reading was Selfish Elf Wish, which was cute I guess but a sequel to a book I hadn't read

I read a lot of fantasy. So. I see a lot of Elves. One situation that sticks out to me as being "Wow, this is a Tolkien ripoff" is the Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini. Now, I still love this series, it's a fun read, but…the elves are like…Tolkien ripoff. Even their origin story, of how they came to Alagaësia, is almost an exact copy of how Tolkien's elves first came to Middle Earth.

Speaking of Elves…. Characters that are ¹/₂ Elven ¹/₂ human; mix it up a bit since there's a multitude of other species that the character can be ¹/₂ of!

I feel half elf half dwarf would be interesting

my LoTR OC from sixth grade feels called out

No offense Ice….

Yeah, that would be interesting Pickles!

No offense Ice….

Yeah, that would be interesting Pickles!

Lmaoo none taken. I meant it as a joke, because that's exactly what she was, and she was a mary sue to the max

Speaking of Elves…. Characters that are ¹/₂ Elven ¹/₂ human; mix it up a bit since there's a multitude of other species that the character can be ¹/₂ of!

Lol my self insert character from back when. Now I do have two characters that would fit that (Barikev and Ledhalav) if I stuck to the races instead of developing my own.

I really ship halfies of my tribes though. I fantasize about if a Menna/Gobe-Li child got the best attributes of the two tribes.

Looks nervously at my fae/human hybrids