Similarity with other existing story?

[Ghost]

Is Arya flat? Or Kitiara from Dragonlance? I don't think so [...] I personally prefer more traditional fantasy along the lines of Dragonlance, TLOTR, The Legend of Drizz't, and the ASOIAF, among others. All of those fail that test, and all of them are great novels in my opinion.

I didn't say Arya was flat. I said that, for me, the fearless warrioress calls to mind a "gruff female fighter." She wears men's clothing, has the strength of three men, and carries a very large weapon. She'd sooner kill a man than let him try to romance her. I know I'm not the only person who's seen that character in fantasy novels, stomping around as she spits chewing tobacco. Brienne doesn't fit exactly, but I think GRRM consciously twists those stock characters into something more than the stereotype. He makes "mannish warrior woman" a sympathetic woman with her own goals.

I don't think it's fair to use LOTR is a good example of a book that uses cliches well because it originated a ton of them. Besides, 74 on that exam was "Is your book basically a rip-off of The Lord of the Rings?" which seems to acknowledge it as the source of some of the tropes.

It's hard to come up with something original, but I appreciate when an author has a fresh perspective on a familiar subject. Cliches and tropes aren't unforgivable. It depends on what you do with them. When an author lets them replace character building and common sense, it's a waste of potential. As a reader, I've come across that problem before. Perhaps that's why I don't take the Fantasy Novelist's Exam personally.

 

[Kit]

Hey, if Tangled taught us anything, it's that frying pans are excellent weapons. Who knew, right?

I was thinking Lucivar teaching Marian to throw skillets when she showed no aptitude/inclination for learning "standard" weaponry. Hey, did we just find another cliche?

 

[Thalian]

I have found the some problematic things in my writings where I will go back and read it and it will sounds fairly similar to something I recently read in another novel. But really, it has all been done before so if you can go back and recognise the error and add in subtle twists and turns to make it your own then you are fine, as long as at the end of the day you feel you didn't explicitly rip off another author's ideas.

 

[Solomon Tan]

"
As long as your magic system and major conflicts different, I don't see a problem with having a similar concept, especially since your characters and setting are bound to be different anyway. I don't think it's copying unless you let the published book influence large chunks the story. Did you arrive at this concept on your own and stumble on a book that already had it, or did the book influence you to do your own take?

Thanks, Ouroboros.

This concept is partly on my own. I was thinking of a major conflict that will be justified as a major event that cause people to be united to fight. I thought of many, and this idea came up.

I'm not afraid of you guys using this but I'll say that, the sacrifice of humans will actually be a hidden thing. It's a big magical rune that is etched, and the souls will be absorbed and form a crystal. There are difference in quality of the crystal... The best is that the soul have emotions while it was absorbed.. Terror, fear, excitement, anger, suffering and a mixture of emotions.. Where do you find them all in one place? The battlefield..

So this story will have many many wars.. and all these wars are incited by a group of immortals who are doing this to absorb souls.. Ultimately to relieve an ancient demon that was trapped in the world...

That's the main idea, and i think about it, yeah. I believe not many people will write something like that.. most of the fantasy books(not that I read many of them), don't have this as their concept...

 

[Elder the Dwarf]

Ouroboros,

I agree with you, I think my whole point was that it was a little unreasonable to look at that quiz and take it at face value- which is to say that just because a novel fails that test, it isn't necessarily bad.

 

[Ghost]

It sounds like a really interesting idea, Solomon. It must suck for any mortal characters, especially if they realize what's going on. I like that the emotions get absorbed along with the soul because it sounds like a fun way to mess with the immortals.

I understand being uncertain after seeing a vaguely similar idea in print, but I doubt they're really that similar. Years ago, I read the summary of a novel that was exactly like one of my plots. So not cool.

We both agree on that, Elder. I don't know who David J. Parker or Samuel Stoddard are. The proscription against every single thing on the list and the advice to abandon a novel because of an online quiz are both silly. "Fantasy Novelist's Exam" wasn't the best title for the quiz.

 

[flashfire07]

Well if you're worried about people not reading not reading your book because it's too similar to other works don't worry. Those people will read one book and not pick up another because it is impossible to find a story that is not a completely original creation. For instance, my story I'm currently working on is about a powerful wizard who was slain by an ancient evil and has returned to life to seek revenge. On the surface it is very cliched, but a cliche is merely a common, predictable and dull element. The trick is to add something to keep interesting, for instance my wizard is a giant ferret with a penchant for eating his slain enemies. Adding in interesting traits can stop a story becoming dull and therefore avoid it becoming cliched.

 

[Terra Arkay]

Well if you're worried about people not reading not reading your book because it's too similar to other works don't worry. Those people will read one book and not pick up another because it is impossible to find a story that is not a completely original creation. For instance, my story I'm currently working on is about a powerful wizard who was slain by an ancient evil and has returned to life to seek revenge. On the surface it is very cliched, but a cliche is merely a common, predictable and dull element. The trick is to add something to keep interesting, for instance my wizard is a giant ferret with a penchant for eating his slain enemies. Adding in interesting traits can stop a story becoming dull and therefore avoid it becoming cliched.

I must say... that is genius :O

 

[Liu Xaun]

I had a typical older mentor archetype who dies, so I changed some things to make it my own. I made him a half breed of my own made up race and gave him "daddy issues" with his much older, demonic, father.

 

[lawrence]

Lol Benjamin.

That online quiz is pretty useful ha haa ! Its a good checklist, but I don't think that they are all unbreakable rules.

Quite a few of them would never trip you up if you are doing your research properly.

 

[Wormtongue]

The Fantasy Novelist's Exam

Is your fantasy plot cliche? - Quiz | Get More Quizzes at Quizilla

Try these..... they made me laugh, although I'm not going to admit how my current Work In Progress scores.....

I came across the Exam today and decided to see if anybody had posted it here.

Clearly it's meant as humor, but with a great deal of truth. It certainly does make you think about just how easy it is to fall into the standard cliches.

 

[Ravana]

Tried it, and scored in the "0-25% Cliché" range. Guess that means I ought to get the story finished some day.…

 

[Johnny Cosmo]

Hmm. I got 25 - 50 percent with only three selections. One of which was that they were born in the fantasy world, another being that their name is reasonably common, and the last that they are of noble-blood. 25 - 50 percent. Really? The first two selections just... make sense, and it's not as if my main character is heir to anything either.

Tried it, and scored in the "0-25% Cliché" range. Guess that means I ought to get the story finished some day.…

Perhaps you'd better check out a more reliable quiz first! It looks like 'things that make sense' is a cliche.

 

[Neurosis]

0-25%. I basically didn't select anything: there is no love interest, and there is no evil 'villain'. I love how this quiz assumes so many tropes, it really makes you think about them.

 

[Wormtongue]

So basically, if I don't want to be cliche...

I should write a story about a common person with a common name, who had a wonderful childhood, with no love interest, who isn't related to anybody, doesn't practice magic, doesn't own any magic items, never got any advice from anyone older or wiser than they, who doesn't live in a fantasy world, who doesn't defeat a villain.

My, doesn't that sound exciting...

On the other hand, it has got me to thinking that some of my plot devices need to be tweaked...