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Modern World + Elves and other fantastical things = ?

Hey everyone,

I posted a thread a little while ago about avoiding cliches and crossovers in fantasy projects with elves and such. I've gotten some huge amounts of feedback and input (for which I'm very thankful). I've thought of a new angle for my elf story but at this point it's just a concept that I may or may not use either for this story that I'm doing now or for a future project.

The concept is that essentially fantasy creatures, like elves, have existed in isolation for eons and have been sort of ignoring the changes in the world until they're sort of forced into the modern world by...something. Wow, this sounds really corny now that I'm reading what I'm typing...

Any thoughts?
 

Gurkhal

Auror
I think that you will need to explain how these fantastical beings have from the start been able to ignore humanity spreading and re-shaping the world, and also what kind of thing brought them out now, as that should have been something of major importance to them. In fact depending on what kind of audience you want to read for, but this should in my mind be something that at least has some thoughts behind it.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Yeah, lots of urban fantasy along these lines. And it's the basic idea in the Shannara books too, isn't it? With respect to elves?
 

Reaver

Staff
Moderator
Yeah, lots of urban fantasy along these lines. And it's the basic idea in the Shannara books too, isn't it? With respect to elves?

Absolutely. Much respect to Mr. Brooks for riding that one trick pony for about 40 years now. That Elves staying hidden as the world changes is everywhere. One of my favorites is Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

***EDIT***

Re: The OP... Some other fantasy beings in lieu of elves would be cool. Except vampires. That train has sailed.
 
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I've heard of plenty of urban fantasies with vampires, werewolves, demons, etc. but never elves or other Tolkien/D&D/"classic" sword and sorcery fantasy creatures. This could be cool.

Have some dwarves that live in tunnels underground and occasionally wander up into the subway tunnels or sewers...
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I've heard of plenty of urban fantasies with vampires, werewolves, demons, etc. but never elves or other Tolkien/D&D/"classic" sword and sorcery fantasy creatures. This could be cool.

Have some dwarves that live in tunnels underground and occasionally wander up into the subway tunnels or sewers...

I don't know about dwarves. I believe you'll find elves and fae generally in the works of Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Robert Holdstock, Ramsey Campbell, Seanan McGuire, and others. One can argue the extent to which Holdstock and Campbell are truly urban fantasy in the current sense, but some of their work extends into that sphere.

ETA: Also shows like Lost Girl.
 
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Reaver

Staff
Moderator
I don't mean to be tellin' tales outside a' school but our own Phillip Overby writes damn good Urban Fantasy. Check his books out.
 
I've heard of plenty of urban fantasies with vampires, werewolves, demons, etc. but never elves or other Tolkien/D&D/"classic" sword and sorcery fantasy creatures. This could be cool.

Have some dwarves that live in tunnels underground and occasionally wander up into the subway tunnels or sewers...

Dwarves wandering into a subway...great for comedic effect, almost as good as Gimli's 'not the beard!' line in Lord of the Rings; Fellowship of the Ring...
 
Yeah, lots of urban fantasy along these lines. And it's the basic idea in the Shannara books too, isn't it? With respect to elves?

You mean Terry Brooks, right? I've never actually read his books. I tried the Shannara Chronicles when I was about 12 or 13 just after I finished the Lord of the Rings books as well as the Hobbit and Silmarillion...maybe I'll give him a try.
 
I think that you will need to explain how these fantastical beings have from the start been able to ignore humanity spreading and re-shaping the world, and also what kind of thing brought them out now, as that should have been something of major importance to them. In fact depending on what kind of audience you want to read for, but this should in my mind be something that at least has some thoughts behind it.

You make a good, solid point here and I have been wondering about that...maybe I should start with something smaller and use this line as a future project; might be better if I take my time thinking out the story properly first.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
You make a good, solid point here and I have been wondering about that...maybe I should start with something smaller and use this line as a future project; might be better if I take my time thinking out the story properly first.

Options:

1 - they were real, real good at hiding from ordinary people for millennia. Gets into 'plot logic' problems, though there are some ingenious work-a-round's. (though those tend to gloss over rather than solve the basic issue. Best involves a powerful, global enchantment that makes supernatural critters far less noticeable to ordinary people.)

2 - they are mutants, the result of an event or experiment. Something happened that transformed significant portions of the populace into elves, goblins, and other fantasy races. I usually see this employed in far future settings, centuries or millennia after the event/mutation. There are a few near future books that describe the event pretty much as it happens. The 'zombie apocalypse' theme is a variant of this.

3 - they came from elsewhere, usually via a dimensional rift to 'faerie' or somewhere similar. If my somewhat hazy memory serves, this is employed in two or three fairly popular urban fantasy series.
 

Gurkhal

Auror
You make a good, solid point here and I have been wondering about that...maybe I should start with something smaller and use this line as a future project; might be better if I take my time thinking out the story properly first.

You do as you think is best. One way could be to write an overview of the setting, story can cast, and then start to explore and expand upon different parts with smaller stories so that some time later, you've got a chance to know setting and characters more intimate.

Options:

1 - they were real, real good at hiding from ordinary people for millennia. Gets into 'plot logic' problems, though there are some ingenious work-a-round's. (though those tend to gloss over rather than solve the basic issue. Best involves a powerful, global enchantment that makes supernatural critters far less noticeable to ordinary people.)

2 - they are mutants, the result of an event or experiment. Something happened that transformed significant portions of the populace into elves, goblins, and other fantasy races. I usually see this employed in far future settings, centuries or millennia after the event/mutation. There are a few near future books that describe the event pretty much as it happens. The 'zombie apocalypse' theme is a variant of this.

3 - they came from elsewhere, usually via a dimensional rift to 'faerie' or somewhere similar. If my somewhat hazy memory serves, this is employed in two or three fairly popular urban fantasy series.

The author shoud also be mindful of the difference between hiding from, and ignoring something. Its entirely possible that creatures equipped with magic can hide from humans, but given humanity's growth, the mark on nature from humanity's exploitation and so on, its a great deal of disbelief how anything can hope to ignore humanity or been in isolation from the modern world as the modern world reshapes the natural world in ways impossible to believe some 500 years ago. And in the OP its not hiding but isolation from the modern world and ignoring humanity.

As such I would recommend option 3.
 

cydare

Minstrel
Another suggestion is if perhaps the fantasy creatures haven't been ignoring the world's changes. I'm always a sucker for fantasy which meshes together technology and magic. One of my favourite authors is Diana Wynne Jones, and she's written about things such as magical barriers as computer programs (a literal firewall, made by conducting magic through tech). You can check her work out for inspiration. This probably changes your original idea entirely though.
 
Hi,

Yeah I wrote a science fantasy - Doorways - with elves in the modern world where I used option 3. I simply created parallel worlds (it's easy when you know how!) and had different races living on different worlds with some crossover possible. I also gave the elves a slightly mixed up name, the ability to travel the worlds, a somewhat alternate technology and a dislike of humans not to mention a desire to make sure they never got to travel the worlds (it was a busy week!).

I think you can get away with a lot of fantastic things / impossibilities if you just use a logical and consistent world build.

Cheers Greg.
 
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