Quests - still acceptable?

The quest is the basic structure of The Hero's Journey, so not only is it acceptable, it has been around since ancient Mesopotamia and probably isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It's kinda fundamental.

What you can do is try not to advertise that it's a quest - rather than being summoned to council by Elrond and sent on a mission with the weight of the world on their shoulders, perhaps they simply stumble into it and only realize the stakes while they are on their way? Perhaps they start off questing for something different, or are trying to accomplish something else entirely.

Also, the part about wanting to stop the villains from blowing up half the world feels a bit reactive - not that it isn't a noble goal, but it isn't very personal. Do the heroes have a goal or initiative of their own? Is there some constructive benefit they might gain from finding the elixirs?

 

Agreed with Anders (which is a little rare ).

I wouldn't worry about the quest, but rather your reluctance and the brewing time you've been taking. I admit that my "real" first novel took many years to develop from idea to rough to finished work, but I had written other books along the way (that have never seen the light of day...although I may dust them off someday). If your own story does not appeal to you enough to have much more than rough ideas after years of development, you may want to find something that does call to you with passion.

I believe that you can be a technical writer and, although I believe you do need to love what you do, you can treat writing as a job (in fact, you basically HAVE to do this, even if you are passionate), but passion for your subjects (characters, settings, plotlines, etc) if not writing itself as well is something that cannot be underscored enough and without which the job of being a writer becomes something nearly insurmountable.

Maybe I am reading too much into your quick blurb, but if you are passionate about your story and the story that you have to tell, then the fact that there is a quest in it is not the coffin nail that you think it may be. On the other hand, it sounds like the story may already be halfway in the ground--hence why you are seeing coffin nails at all.

 

Yeah, sorry about that. You know, I used to be very agreeable, but alas time and hardship has rendered me a bitter and contentious man. -_-

 

Just like Zero Angel I think that Anders put it fairly well. Quests can be done, but you will probably want to be a bit subtle about the fact that these are quests.

 

I like quests. They give you an opportunity to show off your exotic and fantastical worlds in full. I wouldn't care too much about whether others consider them "cliche" or not, as long as you execute it competently.

 

Quests are fun. I use one myself in my WIP Summer's Pawn -- the twist is that the heroes are ordered to go on the quest by the villains, and they have no choice but to do so. Trying to somehow not accomplish what they're sent out to do will have consequences for everyone involved.

 

Don't worry about the quest idea. My first two Revenaunt books are a quest and people still like it/them.

I'd say several characters, several motivations. Sense of duty, monetary gain, scientific curiosity, boredom, etc.

If your world is orderly and democratic, the quest givers could be international, some great worldwide institution lie UNESCO, International Court of Justice, World Trade or Health Org., etc. Or a multinational ofc. or something like Greenpeace.

 

One way quests often get a bit old-fashioned is by being more linear than they have to. Go to X, then Y, then Z. So consider things like:

Is there real disagreement within your team-- maybe a quarrelsome "Gollum" they've had to take with them, or real doubts as to which way to go next rather than "they get to Y and there learn they need Z instead"?

Are there more than one piece to the puzzle and those pieces' balance changes? I remember one cheap cartoon of "both sides race for the fragments" that mixed things up by a component or two being stolen back by one side after the other had gotten it, while the race was still going on.

Are there ways to stop the devastation besides getting all the pieces-- eg get some, then trade one for a spirit's help in preventing this or that?

If these are rare elixirs, each dose can only be used once. Do people have to choose which land to protect if the villains do get hold of some, or try to negotiate a war's end under the shadow of "If I don't get my capital back I'll kill them all!" knowing that it could really happen and there'd still be the rest of the world left to save?

--EDIT: then again, the more alchemy resembles science instead of There's-Only-One-Ring Magic, the more it can be replicated with knowledge. If somebody ever proves the formula works, no nation will ever feel safe until they've gotten their own set of Doomsday Components, so even using it once might be the end of world peace as they know it.

The classic quest tries to give people only one choice at a time, when there's any at all. A more modern story tries to have more.

 

Quests are of every genre.
Just because they don't call them a quest doesn't make them not a quest.

If they are going places after anything, its a quest. Indiana JOnes-all quests, Shanghi knights(quest for princess peepee.), Twilight saga-(quest to become a vampire or Werewolf's bit.. wife, possibly a vampire.)
Most karate movies have a quest, alot of teen movies have quests.
Many teen movies have meaningless sex with hot girl quest, while ignoring hot female friend that has always been there for the mc.

Quests are a major plot device.

 

I think a quest is just a maguffin is fine. After all, it's not what they go after as those who on quest and what happens along the way.