Are the elves really that boring ?

[wintercub]

In the defense of the Teleri, the Feanorians invaded their coast by force and slaughtered all who resisted rather than doing the polite thing and saying "hey, can be borrow a bunch of your ships to find the Dark Lord and get back the Silmarils? Thanks, guys." The Teleri just defended themselves against a threat and were killed.

i know that the noldor didn't take the best decisions, but still most of the elven houses were noble and kind in nature, they were beautifull, wise and immortal people, not wild barbarians.

Tolkien didn't portrayed elves as evil beings, for that purpose he used the orcs.

In my story i wanted to regress the elves into a more savage and tribal state.

 

[Steerpike]

In my story i wanted to regress the elves into a more savage and tribal state.

Check out the Wood Elves in Warhammer. They tend to go in that direction.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I like elves. In my first couple of books I used them as a magical, beautiful people with a touch of arrogance. In the one I'm working on at the moment, I've decreased their magic a lot, based almost all the magic on priests, and made them a bunch of bigotted, anti human, nobles, and then had the various great houses in a non stop struggle against each other for prestige, wealth and power. In short I embued them with the worst human traits I could find.

I think it works.

But as to what to callthem.If you want them to be elf like, but not hit with the Tolkein stereotypes, try calling them sprites or dryads or some such.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Renee]

There are plenty of people out there (myself included) who still love the classics! I like witches and elves and fairies in my stories because they are familiar to me, and we can jump straight to the meat of the story. It's fun seeing a new take on a classic - I think that's why Twilight did so well - it's a very modern and new take on an old story. Stories with new races are great, too. I guess there's a right way to do either

 

[The Blue Lotus]

Anything can be boring if you make it boring.
If you are just rehashing the same old same then yes it will be boring. If you have a twist to an old idea then no it can be quite thrilling to read.

 

[wintercub]

Stories with new races are great, too.

I was hoping to avoid creating new races.

It requires some time to explain its traits which can be quite boring and the readers might just not get the image or simply don't feel a connection to the race. I prefer using the classics because people already have an idea about how they look and i just have to change the cultural cliches.

Calm me lazy but i think it's much more fun that way

 

[Marlyn Almyr]

I love elves! They are an awesome bunch.

 

[Jabrosky]

I've always had some aversion to standard pseudo-Tolkien elves. They come across as the Gary Stus of fantasy: they're superior to humans and other races at everything. Also, the pointy ears turn me off.

The one story I've written that had elves in it made them imperialistic and racist villains.

 

[ALB2012]

I say use them if you want to. If someone does not want to read your story because it has elves in it then that is their loss. you can't build a story or a world everyone will like. I have elves in my story and although they are forest dwelling and often hunters they are slaves if captured and have no rights. They are very put down and even the "free elves" are not free.
I would say if you are worried simply call them something else.

If you come up with something new or different then cool and it sounds like you have.

 

[Endymion]

I find that they are a cliché, but I still love them. Except poorly written ones.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I was hoping to avoid creating new races.

It requires some time to explain its traits which can be quite boring and the readers might just not get the image or simply don't feel a connection to the race. I prefer using the classics because people already have an idea about how they look and i just have to change the cultural cliches.

I'm in with this.
By using a well established existing races you have some great templates to work with. Readers will have a fairly good idea of what you're describing. Using a template makes it easier to emphasize your own twists and tweaks. You can focus on describing just the changes rather than all the other things that make up your race.

 

[Gambit]

I only find certain stories of elves boring when all the elves have the same flawless persona and a strict beliefs they follow to the tee.

So a good mix here and there is welcomed in my book.

I've read a story once of a near extinct race of elves who were dividing of their cultural belief, many abandoning it to live amongst humans, becoming bandits, or... heh, businessmen. (Which actually worked if you can believe it.)

Heck, I once tried to write a story of an elf child being raised by her adopted human father and the struggles she goes through living in a human society.

You don't necessarly need the whole clan. It all comes down to the character themselves.

 

[wintercub]

I'm in with this.
By using a well established existing races you have some great templates to work with. Readers will have a fairly good idea of what you're describing. Using a template makes it easier to emphasize your own twists and tweaks. You can focus on describing just the changes rather than all the other things that make up your race.

exactly it makes much more sense

 

[Renee]

Another thought on this, from Underworld (yeah yeah, stay with me here . . .) - you can have the best of both worlds if you pick an existing, well covered race, such as werewolves. Then give them a specific origin story and a few unique characteristics, then call them something different, like Lycans. "Lycanthrope" is just another word for werewolf. You get a wonderful 'new' race without having to figure out a way to comfortably present it to your readers. I've been thinking about this thread a lot over the last couple of days, and I've been having fun trying to come up with an interesting story with elves, but my own twist on them and renaming them. Most of my ideas have come from reading the basics of the traditional elf mythology on wikipedia, and making it it with what I have here.

So far myfavorite idea is to take a futuristic fantasy tale where a group of modern Americans crash on a lush green world that no one knows much about. They find that the people there look exactly like elves and even act very elvish, but of course they are not, they are super practical people of the forest. The running gag throughout is the one sidekick of a guy who is constantly asking their alien guide to "do something elvish."

Okay, terrible idea, I know Moral of the story: If you want to write a race that may be a bit over played, my advice would be to read as much as you can about the traditional group, and then take what you like, add a bit more spice to it, and viola! Hopefully.

 

[ALB2012]

Yes elves don't have to be shiny, immortal, aloof etc.

They would have a society in which some people are nasty/lazy/disenchanted the same as anyone else.
They may have some form of belief or religion and it may be pagan/related to the forest etc. However if a culture lives in or near the forest it seems sensible that their beliefs are centred around it. Same as I bet anyone who lived under the shadow of the mountain thought the mountain was god, especially if it was splurting out lava

As Renee said give them a decent origin story and you should be fine. Maybe the elves are fragmented? Different tribes/clans etc. SO long as somewhere you recount why it should be OK.

You can't please everyone. People don't have to read your book if they pick it up and go "oh elves...boring" then that is their problem there are plenty of people who will go "cool elves!" Or just appreciate it for the story.