Monday, March 15, 2010

Generic fantasy writers unite!

So the other day I picked up a fantasy book, not going to mention names will probably review it later. And found a young man with a strange heritage he knew nothing about given some crazy quest with some magic talisman and a hearty band of travellers to help him through his hardships. Surprise surprise this band did not stay together for long and split up, leaving our hero with only his bestest friend for support. And I thought, this sounds familiar. And then it hit me, it was familiar. I have been reading variants of this book for years. So I decided to try my hand at writing a fantasy by drawing pieces of paper out of a hat to create my own story.

All words in bold are replaceable and were drawn out of a hat:

Our main character Steve was rudely taken from his budding career as a carpenter by a strange old man. He was given a powerful amulet that is the only weapon against Drollive a power and ancient wizard. Forced to flee his small village, Steve meets up with some friends, a bashful dwarf, an intrepid hunter and a claustrophobic elf. Of course Steve is also backed up by his best friend Lap who he has closeted homoerotic dreams about.

So off the merry travellers go. Steve has doubts about his ability to harness the amulet, but is reassured. Battles follow. People die. But luckily not our band of merry men. Off they plod on this very long journey and has been mentioned in another post all other methods of travel not being an option.

Unfortunately Steve and Lap are left to fend for themselves when the rest of the band are called away to fight an army of rabid mountain trolls. They toil alone until coming undetected to Drollive's lair, whereby Steve activates the amulet and destroys Drollive using and act of kindness. Everyone is saved and they all live happily ever after but are changed for the better by their experiences.

Hmm not bad, now I just need to flesh it out and I will be rich.
Don't get me wrong I love my fantasy and I am an avid reader. But the more you read the more you see this pattern start to repeat itself. That's why a unique fantasy is a rare find and I hope that some of these will be reviewed here.

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