Meme: 11 things I will strive my best never to put in a fantasy novel
Note: So sorry for the lack of responses… time has not been my friend. Will get back to everyone as soon as I can!
I found this meme while trolling around Livejournal. Limyaael is the Net handle of an expert fantasy book reviewer and writer extraordinaire, and she made a rather interesting list herself, which is here.
After Limyaael made the list, someone suggested that she make a story out of it just for fun, which she did, and it turned out to be absolutely brilliant. I just have to link it here: The Gates of the Moon
I thought about my own answers, and did this meme myself. I don’t have it in me to write a story with these elements yet, but it would certainly be great if other people made a story out of their lists too, just for the laughs.
It would also be a great way to find out if there’s a pattern to the things Filipinos have grown tired of in the spec fic that they read.
…However, truth be told i’m not conscious about the things i want to write, so i definitely see myself betraying this list from time to time.
Eleven things I will strive my best never to put in a fantasy novel unless I am trying to undermine them, and in fact could do without entirely from now on, thanks.
- Side characters who’ll have enormous significance in the first part of the story (i.e. recruiting the protagonist, getting the protagonist pregnant, etc) then not having a suitable resolution made out for them. For the rest of the story they’re just… hanging around.
- Magic schools that suspiciously resemble Hogwarts.
- GLBTQ characters suffering a needlessly gruesome death. Because seriously, Orson Scott Card.
- Extraordinarily powerful yet weak-willed and whiny protagonists who cycle between being bitchslapped, adored, and rescued.
- (in science fiction) Serums that instantaneously change the members of ONE species into ANOTHER species, with an entirely different biological makeup and mode of social consciousness. And the best part is, the effect is reversible! *coughretroviruscough*
- Reluctant child/teen heroes. Especially those who angst liberally about having to save the world while so young.
- Instant fixes to worlds/cities that have experienced massive destruction. Wave your hand and it’s aaaall back to normal!
- Plain and simple lack of cultural and ideological diversity.
- Characters gifted with such “otherworldly beauty” that everyone, including the protagonist/s, ends up having a crush on them. Then they have a doomed relationship with one of the side characters and die.
- Unlimited but destructible power sources. Such as a big rock that is supposed to be the source of all evil in the universe.
- “…and then she woke up.”
3 Comments
Comments are closed.
an eight isn’t too bad.. is it? he he he
no seriously, i have about seven or eight for what I’m trying to write right now. then again it’s young adult, so they can’t shoot down what they’re not aware of yet ;)
ahaha well, you’re doing them a service by giving them cliche-free fiction at such an impressionable time in their lives :D
i’d like to know about that seven or eight – would you happen to have a blog/website i could stalk and/or link to?
i did another count and i found instead of seven or eight i’m actually using four or five of the eleven points you put down. i guess that’s better, right? :)
i have a blog, but i’m not updating it. i thought it’d be cool to have one at first, but after awhile i thought a notebook and a ballpen does the job for me, too. i’m hoping when the time comes for me to tell you about those four or five points i used, it’ll be when i’m personally showing you a copy of the book, published and all. not trying to sound conceited, just wishfull thinking.