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Is the love story between a human and an elf too worn out?

I'm fairly certain I've seen fire elemental plus water elemental somewhere--maybe it was a B-plot in The Woman Who Loved Reindeer?
 

Kit

Maester
I'm an Aries with Sag rising and I dated a triple Scorpio for a while- does that count?
 

Hans

Sage
I'm fairly certain I've seen fire elemental plus water elemental somewhere
I have written a short story about that last year. Actually it's a lake and a lava stream, but both represented by spirits.
I wanted to revise it again because critics brought up some valid points but haven't come around to do it yet. Is it ok to give a link here?
 
I have written a short story about that last year. Actually it's a lake and a lava stream, but both represented by spirits.
I wanted to revise it again because critics brought up some valid points but haven't come around to do it yet. Is it ok to give a link here?

Once you've made the revisions, post it in the Showcase, and see if people think it's improved.
 

Hans

Sage
Once you've made the revisions, post it in the Showcase, and see if people think it's improved.
It is a German story so most probably will do no good posting it in an English forum. With a simple link i could write [German] into the link text so anybody who can not read that language and can not be bothered with a translation tool does not need to click on it.
 

Devora

Sage
To me, it's not what you use to tell a story, but how you tell it. Every writer, whether they admit it or not, consciously or unconsciously, use various tropes that have been played over and over again in almost every story, and many writers rehash the same stories that they've read over and over again.

I say a story's true merit is on how the writer tells it, not on the bits and pieces that he/she uses.
 

SeverinR

Vala
Is a love story between a man and a woman worn out/cliche/ etc?

This is quickly becoming my pet peeve.

Before asking a question of the Fantasy Genre, ask it in real world.

Are elves to cliche? Are Elf human love stories worn out?
In the real world, do people still write about humans? yes, 99% of stories are about humans in the real life genres, so Fantasy humans(elves/dwarves/orcs/trolls/etc) can have endless stories also.
In the real world do people still write about star crossed lovers? yes. Do they write about rich men falling for poor ladies?yes.
royalty vs commoner romances?
If you can write it so as not to be a carbon copy of everything else written, it will not be the same worn out story, no matter what genre.

If you can write about humans, you can write about it with any other race ever thought of.
 

S J Lee

Inkling
ACTUALLY, Tolkien DID have a love story between a human woman and a male elf!
Finrod's (and Galadriel's) brother, Aegnor, was in love with Andreth, way back in the Silmarillion days. (the story didn't make it into the S, but it is in one of C Tolkien's many compendiums of T's "other" stuff - it seems almost fully finished
It's not a romance as such - but rather Finrod and Andreth, in Andreth's old age, teasing out the differences between elves and men...
Bottom line? They both knew they were in love, but nothing happened
Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth - Tolkien Gateway

Andreth assumed its because Elves think humans aren't good enough, but F explains it is not so.
Aegnor would have stayed loyal til her old age and death - that is not the problem. BUT he knew he would pity her. AND he knew she would be angry with him for pitying her. And rather than have a love that ended in blame and anger, better not to marry at all. Andreth, now old and unmarried, is surprised. "But any human would have not worried about that - spending your good years in happiness would be worth any bad end."
"But elves don't think that way."
"Better he forget me and marry someone else long after I am gone"
"Don't be silly. He will never marry anyone else, not any more. You were his great love."

So - it's NOT just about male fantasies of the perfect, ageless beauty in a woman - or, it does not have to be.

All ideas have been done before - BUT the significance you imbue them with - your RIFF or TWIST - is your own
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Not trying to be the post policeman, but ummm... the OP was asked 8 years ago. I know some writers are slow, but if they haven’t figured it out by now, they probably never will.
 

S J Lee

Inkling
Ideas never die... more than just the OP are interested in the idea! The site brought it up for me to look at... so here we are!
 
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