I need some opinions...

[SeverinR]

I agree with most others,
Write it.

The plot can sound cliche or like another story.

When you make a story yours, it ceases to be cliche. Don't pretend to be Tolken or any other writer, create your world, your story, your animals, villians, etc. Make it yours and it won't be LOTR wanna-be.
Tolken wrote great books, no one wants to read Tolken-like books. They desire a unique book that grabs their interest. Draws them into a world where they can forget their mundane problems.
If YOU think you are to Tolken-like, then read others books, others worlds, and figure out where your world lies.
Friends might not be right, but you probably know if it is true or not.

My favorite author helped me find my world, but I am not Lackey-like. I don't write to impress her, or to copy her.
I did take her advice to heart and attempt to live as much of the life I write.

 

[Saigonnus]

Ever hear the term "it's not what you say but how you say it"? Same thing goes for stories. The theme of the hero traveling the world to save a sister, mother or friend or some loved one has been done a hundred times over. But people still pick up these books to read because the stories have a different voice, different characters, different world and are told in different ways. It's your story so make it your own.

Sure, by all means. I wasn't suggesting not to use the idea of a prince; if you have a decent story and lovable characters it wouldn't matter one way of another to most readers. I just tend to think about things like what I posted when considering whether or not to make a character nobility of any type.

 

[ChristielleKeenan]

Though I have heard it so many time, that every story has been written, I have never quite agreed with that. I do understand that scenarios can be the same, but no two people write the same story ever, unless there is a whole lot of plagiarism goings on... I want to read your story. Your description may seem lackadaisical, but I am sure it is anything but...

 

[gavintonks]

the point is there are an infinite number of ways to describe the same story so Romeo and Juliet aka Star Wars - They are both still love stories just the twists are different

 

[robertbevan]

As you all I'm working on a fantasy book, but I have a little problem: Everyone tels me that story I created is to predictible.

have your friends read the book? or have they just heard your pitch? there's a difference between "predictable" and "fulfilling expectations".

from your one sentence pitch, i'm going to (hopefully accurately) "predict" that the dude finds his sister. that doesn't mean the story is predictable. that just means the hero successfully completes his quest. it's the 'how he goes about it' that's going to make it predictable or not.

I know it sounds lame and boring, but it is not.

this is what made me respond to the post. whenever i tell anyone what my story is about -- a group of gamers who get transported into their game world as their characters -- i always feel the need to add "i know it sounds lame and done to death, but it's not."

i think it might behoove you to think up a new pitch. i can't help you with that, because i'm still using the one i feel the need to add an disclaimer to.

or the fact that I took Frodo as my middle name (that is what F. Stands for).

that's kind of lame.

 

[gavintonks]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/253275734741303/



The seven basic plots are: overcoming the monster; rags to riches; the quest; voyage and return; comedy; tragedy; rebirth. Christopher Booker begins by establishing the endurance of these plots in works ranging from the Bible and Greek drama through 19th-century opera to the latest Hollywood films. Booker obviously felt that the force of his claims depended on a large number of examples, and many paragraphs begin, "Another instance". His claims for universality, though, would have been strengthened by reference to non-Western traditions.

At the end of chapter 11, we are told that we must move down to a "deeper level" and that these seven plots are merely different perspectives on "the same great basic drama". This begins with the hero or heroine "in some way constricted" and ends up with "a final opening out into life, with everything at last resolved". Later chapters elaborate on this by revisiting the seven plots and considering the "archetypal figures" that populate each. One of the central themes here is the relationship between the "power of the feminine" (associated with empathy and connection) and that of the masculine (power and order). Things go wrong when men (such as Wagner's Tannhäuser) stop being manly, and women (such as Austen's Emma Woodhouse) are "cut off from their inner feminine". A happy ending (for "the collective psyche" at least) requires girls to be girls and boys to be boys.

At this point, classification gives way to jeremiad. Two hundred years ago, it seems, European Romanticism ushered in the era of egocentricity and things began to fall apart. Storytellers "detached" themselves from "life itself" and instead became obsessed with sex and violence. Booker, whose last work was a history of the European Union, entitled The Great Deception, talks of "trivialisation", "disintegration", "perversion" and "violation".

 

[gavintonks]

The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Each situation is stated, then followed by the necessary elements for each situation and a brief description.

Supplication
a Persecutor; a Suppliant; a Power in authority, whose decision is doubtful.
The Persecutor accuses the Suppliant of wrongdoing, and the Power makes a judgment against the Suppliant.
Deliverance
an Unfortunate; a Threatener; a Rescuer
The Unfortunate has caused a conflict, and the Threatener is to carry out justice, but the Rescuer saves the Unfortunate.
Crime pursued by vengeance
a Criminal; an Avenger
The Criminal commits a crime that will not see justice, so the Avenger seeks justice by punishing the Criminal.
Vengeance taken for kin upon kin
Guilty Kinsman; an Avenging Kinsman; remembrance of the Victim, a relative of both
Two entities, the Guilty and the Avenging Kinsmen, are put into conflict over wrongdoing to the Victim, who is allied to both.
Pursuit
Punishment; a Fugitive
The Fugitive flees Punishment for a misunderstood conflict.
Disaster
a Vanquished Power; a Victorious Enemy or a Messenger
The Power falls from their place after being defeated by the Victorious Enemy or being informed of such a defeat by the Messenger.
Falling prey to cruelty/misfortune
an Unfortunate; a Master or a Misfortune
The Unfortunate suffers from Misfortune and/or at the hands of the Master.
Revolt
a Tyrant; a Conspirator
The Tyrant, a cruel power, is plotted against by the Conspirator.
Daring enterprise
a Bold Leader; an Object; an Adversary
The Bold Leader takes the Object from the Adversary by overpowering the Adversary.
Abduction
an Abductor; the Abducted; a Guardian
The Abductor takes the Abducted from the Guardian.
The enigma
a Problem; an Interrogator; a Seeker
The Interrogator poses a Problem to the Seeker and gives a Seeker better ability to reach the Seeker's goals.
Obtaining
(a Solicitor & an Adversary who is refusing) or (an Arbitrator & Opposing Parties)
The Solicitor is at odds with the Adversary who refuses to give the Solicitor what they Object in the possession of the Adversary, or an Arbitrator decides who gets the Object desired by Opposing Parties (the Solicitor and the Adversary).
Enmity of kin
a Malevolent Kinsman; a Hated or a reciprocally-hating Kinsman
The Malevolent Kinsman and the Hated or a second Malevolent Kinsman conspire together.
Rivalry of kin
the Preferred Kinsman; the Rejected Kinsman; the Object of Rivalry
The Object of Rivalry chooses the Preferred Kinsman over the Rejected Kinsman.
Murderous adultery
two Adulterers; a Betrayed Spouse
Two Adulterers conspire to kill the Betrayed Spouse.
Madness
a Madman; a Victim
The Madman goes insane and wrongs the Victim.
Fatal imprudence
the Imprudent; a Victim or an Object Lost
The Imprudent, by neglect or ignorance, loses the Object Lost or wrongs the Victim.
Involuntary crimes of love
a Lover; a Beloved; a Revealer
The Revealer betrays the trust of either the Lover or the Beloved.
Slaying of kin unrecognized
the Slayer; an Unrecognized Victim
The Slayer kills the Unrecognized Victim.
Self-sacrifice for an ideal
a Hero; an Ideal; a Creditor or a Person/Thing sacrificed
The Hero sacrifices the Person or Thing for their Ideal, which is then taken by the Creditor.
Self-sacrifice for kin
a Hero; a Kinsman; a Creditor or a Person/Thing sacrificed
The Hero sacrifices a Person or Thing for their Kinsman, which is then taken by the Creditor.
All sacrificed for passion
a Lover; an Object of fatal Passion; the Person/Thing sacrificed
A Lover sacrifices a Person or Thing for the Object of their Passion, which is then lost forever.
Necessity of sacrificing loved ones
a Hero; a Beloved Victim; the Necessity for the Sacrifice
The Hero wrongs the Beloved Victim because of the Necessity for their Sacrifice.
Rivalry of superior vs. inferior
a Superior Rival; an Inferior Rival; the Object of Rivalry
A Superior Rival bests an Inferior Rival and wins the Object of Rivalry.
Adultery
two Adulterers; a Deceived Spouse
Two Adulterers conspire against the Deceived Spouse.
Crimes of love
a Lover; the Beloved
A Lover and the Beloved enter a conflict.
Discovery of the dishonour of a loved one
a Discoverer; the Guilty One
The Discoverer discovers the wrongdoing committed by the Guilty One.
Obstacles to love
two Lovers; an Obstacle
Two Lovers face an Obstacle together.
An enemy loved
a Lover; the Beloved Enemy; the Hater
The allied Lover and Hater have diametrically opposed attitudes towards the Beloved Enemy.
Ambition
an Ambitious Person; a Thing Coveted; an Adversary
The Ambitious Person seeks the Thing Coveted and is opposed by the Adversary.
Conflict with a god
a Mortal; an Immortal
The Mortal and the Immortal enter a conflict.
Mistaken jealousy
a Jealous One; an Object of whose Possession He is Jealous; a Supposed Accomplice; a Cause or an Author of the Mistake
The Jealous One falls victim to the Cause or the Author of the Mistake and becomes jealous of the Object and becomes conflicted with the Supposed Accomplice.
Erroneous judgement
a Mistaken One; a Victim of the Mistake; a Cause or Author of the Mistake; the Guilty One
The Mistaken One falls victim to the Cause of the Author of the Mistake and passes judgment against the Victim of the Mistake when it should be passed against the Guilty One instead.
Remorse
a Culprit; a Victim or the Sin; an Interrogator
The Culprit wrongs the Victim or commits the Sin, and is at odds with the Interrogator who seeks to understand the situation.
Recovery of a lost one
a Seeker; the One Found
The Seeker finds the One Found.
Loss of loved ones
a Kinsman Slain; a Kinsman Spectator; an Executioner
The killing of the Kinsman Slain by the Executioner is witnessed by the Kinsman Spectator.