Are You Writing Serious Fantasy?

[Naaramare]

Current perceptions of elves, as influenced by Tolkien, are a good deal closer to the Irish Tuatha du Danaan than to lios alfar of Scandanavia. ^^

[Eol]

I would have to indefinately agree with you Naaramare. If you even look closer, you might be able to see connections between what Tolkien used to develop his ideas and what was readily avaliable to him. There should be no surprise if you feel like you are reading a greek tradgy or see connections between a hero in Celtic myth and let us say a character in the Silmarillion.

Has anything thought of looking at Beowulf and then compare to what has been written by Tolkien? What can you see in connections or inspirations? Forgive me if this has been asked in previous thread. After the 16th page, the memory begins to fade. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[ August 09, 2002: Message edited by: Eol ]

[littlemanpoet]

So Tolkien's elves are drawn from the Celtic Tuatha de Danaan (sp?);
his dwarves from Icelandic/Scandinavian stock;
his hobbits from westmidland English;
his Rohirrim from Anglo-Saxons;
his Gondorians from the Germanic peoples;
his Men of Westernesse from the legend of Atlantis;
his ghan-buri-ghan people from the indigenous dwellers throughout Europe who barely exist anymore outside of the Pirenees, etc.;
his goblins and orcs from lios alfar?
his trolls from Nordic;
his nazgul from his own genius;
the Haradrim from middle-eastern culture;
Easterlings from the Mongols;
have I covered it all?

And so what? Oh, I don't know, it just seemed like a fun exercise to raise the hackles of all purists and detail oriented scribes and hunchbacks. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Eol]

You forgot the details from the 17th and 18th century: tobacco, pipes, gunpowder(13th from China), fireworks. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

There is nothing wrong with being a purist. Without them, the world would be a pretty vague place. Same visa versa, it would be bad without the rest as it would be too much of an anal rentetive world. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

I thought the dwarves were derived something else, especially since in the Movie Gimli was speaking with a scottish accent.:P Like that holds any validity to the current topic. It would not personal use the Movie to derive anything from.

[ August 09, 2002: Message edited by: Eol ]

[Saxony Tarn]

oh ye Gods Eol -- so THAT's why the Dwarf in my WIP is dropping the occasional "aye" and using his own peculiar dialect (words like "mayhaps" for perhaps/maybe and "afore" for before)

And on the way to the City, he even passed a flask of strong spirits around in a "Dwarven display of comradeship"...

Uff da. Mayhaps i ought to work a brogue into his lines and revise his garb to make his armor accessorize with a nice dress tartan. (but i thought the Dunland folks wore plaid?)

|_|) <-- pass that flask!

s.t.

[Eol]

Maybe, stranger things have happened. Have an elf who talks with a drawl with a cockeny(sp?) accent and his Man friend speaks with a thick gaelic brogue.


*Eol passes the |_|) on*

[littlemanpoet]

Naaramare: Isn't lios alfar what Guy Gavriel Kay calls his elvish race in The Fionavar Tapestry? By the way, do you have any idea what the derivation of "fionavar" is? I see a feminine Celtic first syllable combined with a second syllable denoting an indo-european tribe of the Russian steppes over 1,000 years ago...

[Naaramare]

lmp: he does, but I think that's just because he has a definite Nordic/Celtic thing on, and sidhe has been overused, so he used lios. ^^

Fionavar . . .I'm not entirely sure. It seems somewhat similar to the actual Gaelic name for the king of the Elves (Finvarra, or the Gaelic spelling which I'm not sure of).

[Starbreeze]

I am now very glad that I did not type up my story without a written copy - someone has selectively gone through my computer deleting all my coursework and my story. If I had not written all my story down 2 years of work would have gone. I am also thankful to FWW, as I uploaded part of my typed up bits to there, at least I can recover some of it!

[Lila Bramble]

Well...of origin of the Lord of the Rings races I know not much of, for I am still reading The Return of the King and have not had enough time to research throughourly Tolkien or the book.

Also, a question for all of you has been picking at my mind. When you are writing, you usually have so many ideas you want to write several different stories. But you can't be focusing on more than one, so what do you do with all your ideas? Keep them for later, or is there fear that you will forget your ideas or stroke of creativity?

And a problem that I have personally. I am a huge fan of anime (japaese animation) and manga (japanese graphic novels.) I sometimes use the elements from these, as I write and draw manga as a hobby, and it shows up in my fantasy works. This is probably one of my bigger faults in my stories instyead of using the usual fantasy style (though there is no 'correct' style.

Would combining a little of my manga elemnts be a bad thing for my serious fantasy works? I know I have alrewady combined fantasy with my manga and it has been okay.

[Maikadilwen]

But you can't be focusing on more than one

Says who? [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
I'm working on 3 (yup!) different stories that have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Though one IS my main project, I still work on the other two whenever I get the chance. Which isn't very often for the time being... [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

[littlemanpoet]

I agree with Maika, Lila. Whatever elements make up your particular soup of story, are yours. Write and draw whatever comes to you do write and draw, and do so unabashedly. Come revision time, then you start cutting out what won't work for that particular story.

Whenever you get an idea, write it down! You never know when it'll come in handy.

[Starbreeze]

I am working on two stories, and have ideas for at least another 5 written down. I find that once I have created a world and possibly a history, all sorts of scenarios pop up and there is potential for a decent series of books - if only I can get the first one off the ground...

[NazgulNumberTen]

i have bacis ideas for 16 books, with more that will be devoted to the history of the world i have created for those 16 books.

[dragongirlG]

If I have more than one idea bugging me, I just write out both as much as I can, and then I usually choose a primary project for myself. Whenever inspiration comes for either I write it down so as to not lose it, but I like to focus on one mainly.

[dragongirlG]

I have a question for you guys about characters. What are your characters based on, physically and emotionally? Why are their pasts the way they are?

For me, the physical features of my character Ariadne are based on a doll that I had used for a project in the end of May. I did it subconsciously; I did base her hair on mine and such, but normally I would never put tan skin on a character. Then I only recently looked at the doll again and realized that I had done it. Of course, it all goes into the context too; in my story Ariadne has to have these features to make her an outcast.

As for her past, it was easier for me to portray her emotions since I know what it feels like to be a loner and outcast - all of my best friends have moved at least every three years, and my two closest ones right now might move next summer!

I'm also working right now on introducing another character, Aidan, and I based his features on a picture of former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter that I saw in a recent issue of Time magazine. Yes, that's weird, but I just saw the picture and thought - "That's Aidan!" Don't worry, he's not going to be anything like Nick Carter in personality [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Saxony Tarn]

"on what do you base your characters," she says...

oh, does that open up a can of worms! (some stories i couldn't publish w/o the "characters" giving me permission first!) Going to need a big glass for this one!

|_|)

Fodder for the Character Souffle Molds: People i know... people i don't know... people i'd like to know... people i wish i didn't know... people i'd hate to meet in a dark alley at midnight...

|____| <-- toss all of the above in blender, hit "Frappe" & let it rip, then pour the result into mold & bake until it gels. Then eat, or is that, write?

Probably the best example is in the fanfic i'm sort of stalled on at present. After seeing in a sudden flash of insight many salient elements of several characters from others' work that i'd admired, several characters from my own works, and the personality quirks & attitudes of my last three, oh, let's call them, 'romantic interests', embodied in a certain Tolkien-property character, i determined that such a revelation made me eminently qualified to write about this (colorful adjective deleted) character. Trying to write it FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE was sort of a "walk a mile" exercise to make it more challenging.

Other characters will just walk on and suggest themselves without me even having to audition for them. i love those, but the danger with them is that if they start out as bit parts and get more camera time, they may steal the story from your intended stars (for example, Skheel the half-Orc will be rewarded for her patience with the sequel...)

Speaking of which, LMP & Naaramare, i know you're both busy, but when you have a chance i'd love to get your input on that story (and i know i gave both of you the link) as i'm expecting to get two radically different yet equally logical interpretations from you...

s.t.

[littlemanpoet]

ST: Yes, I've been thinking about it every time I see the internet icon for it on my desktop, and say to myself, "I really need to look past page 2 of that sometime." The one time I started it I was overtired and well, I went to bed after 2 pages. Please accept my heartfelt apologies for watching too many videos (4 to 6 hours per week) with my better half. I owe Naaramare my review of her ch. 2 and Araleithiel my review of her revision of something new she's working on and I owe myself a completion of my revision of my own ch. 3. You're up after that. Okay?

dragongirlG: Quite an interesting question! Okay, in my new lizardbrain story, since it's based on dreams, I guess you could say every single character is a reflection of some aspect of myself or my memories of family, friends, etc. That's pretty much the case for TID also. O., (seeker of adventure and "something more")and W., (self-esteem problems and seeking personal meaning) are two sides of me, but O. is a little bit of my oldest brother, for obvious reasons. They look nothing like me or my brother, though. G.'s firey red hair is just because I have a thing for red hair. Long red hair. Mmmmm! P. (intelligent, sensitive, perspicacious) is based on a college lady (kind of an old flame) from long ago, and also on my wife. Strange blend, that. Megan (Celtic, musical, deep) is positive anima. Melanie (willful, strong, smart and cruel) is negative anima. Dr. W. is an old college prof. whom I really liked. R. (loyal, wise, virtuous - he'd make a great knight) is kind of based on a friend, but only his happier qualities. Hmmm, does R. have any weaknesses? Only Aragorn's kind as JRRT describes him between Moria and the Falls of Rauros.

So what about Tolkien? What were the bases for his characters? A self professed Hobbit, I'd say there was a plentiful tithe of Bilbo and Sam in him, even some of the Gaffer. Did he base Gandalf, Aragorn, or any of the other LotR characters on people he knew? Or were they products of his keen, deep, and wide imagination?

[ August 16, 2002: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]

[Naaramare]

::hides from both lmp and Saxony:: Ermmmm . . . I have an excuse! I really have MEANT to read and review at least six hundred different stories, but what time I haven't been working has been absorbed by MYST: Exile or writing random BrM based vignettes (which can be found at first link below). Bad Naaramare. ::hangs head in shame::

As for where do my characters come from . . .well, a lot of them come straight out of real life, and a couple are real-peoples' ideas of their ideal mates that I've then gone and seriously messed about with. ^___^

[ August 16, 2002: Message edited by: Naaramare ]

[Dimaldaeon]

Hmmm Fionavar this is actually quite similar to the pronouncation of Finnabair (The daughter of Queen Maedb of Connacht) she was the one who "convinced" all those warriors to fight CúChulainn in single combat

[Lila Bramble]

Yay! Character questions! I love my characters!

The physical descriptions of my characters ALWAYS come from my friends. For example, Lila looks like me a few years back bfore I went into the gothic look. Ardanansa, Boranielle, Iris, tigerlily, Esmerelda...they're appearences come from people I know so making their descriptions will be easier to create.

As for the personalities, I don't do the same thing. I always make compatible and non-compatible personalities. I always make rivals (two people who NEVER get along, who most likey never will,) the two ones who feel an attraction that are always together, the close friends, and the ones who like each other but won't admit it (loosely in child's words.) Tehn each of these characters cross groups and make oridanry friends for the most part, and always make the characters human (ie, quarrels, fights, love.)

[Starbreeze]

Hmm, characters eh? Well, all in all they are based on my friends or other people I know. I don't know if this is wise, as it does cuase problems when it comes to killing them off, and I won't be able to say at the front of the book " the characters in this book bear no resemblence to real people living or dead, and any likeness there of is purely coincidental" - but even if I try not to they still end up like my friends.

[Feanaro]

It doesn't matter so much if they are or aren't based upon people you know, so much as whether it's known that the characters are based on specific people. Let's face it, inevitably some of our characters are going to take on the characteristics of the people we see everyday in our lives.

[Saxony Tarn]

Ah, LMP & Naaramare, you're both heartily forgiven (given that my Monday evenings are being usurped by a different group, this one with more homework, but it's for my job so i'm not complaining!) -- !! (and then there's Bor'chan, who has been siphoning my creativity off the story, but that's been quite worth it. Need to go back and elaborate on that armor-repair scene, now that i've made a mailshirt to scale...)

i too am rather behind in reading for FWW when Yahoo wasn't letting me access files from post notifications, so what i've been doing is reviewing the new stuff as it comes up and as Yahoo lets me view it (it still is tetchy...)

here's a new spin on that character question -- now that you have your character, how do you keep them interesting? How do you avoid your characters turning into Mary Sue and Captain Err-Not, all too perfect people that readers get bored with after awhile, and their counterpart Flaw-Man and Angstina who never show any positive growth?

And that related cardinal sin... how do you resist the temptation to favor one character over the others for unspeakable sentimental reasons that have nothing constructive to do with the plot? (after Goethe's having to cut several otherwise delicious scenes from his first play once he realized that he'd fallen in love with his villainess and was letting her take the plot off on a tangent, i name this malady "Adelheid Syndrome")

:: pouring another round as you share your tales of trials and tribulations... ::

|_|)

s.t.

[NazgulNumberTen]

how do i keep my characters intersting?
plot twists, trouled pasts, ever evoling emotions and relationships. i basically try to entertain myself with them.

[Feanaro]

Check that. Second time reading through I realized my error in terminology. Forgive me, but it was late at night. Rather than having an incomplete or incorrect theory, I have modified and made the proper corrections.

In order for your character to be interesting, you must know them fully. You must have every detail about their lives mapped out. This will save you alot of time in future when confronted with that ever-so-frquent "I don't know what the character should do in this situation." If you know your characters inside and out, you find they will be more interesting just from being more realistic.

Now then, on to the flawed point I made last night. I said a character should have a ruling emotion.. I was wrong. A character should have a ruling passion that drives his/her every action. I think this is an easy enough concept to grasp, but I shall further elaborate. This passion is made up of many things including their dominate emotion and their past. In my previous post I substituted "passion" for "emotion", and got carried away on a midnight tangent.

Want to avoid a Mary-Sue? Naaramare's right. There is no one trick to make your character more realistic--it's more of an ability if anything, and one I find difficult to explain. If this is the one point that you find hard, well, I don't know what to say other than give your character some reasonable flaws--either in their personality or physically. Physical flaws don't necessarily mean lack of beauty and whatnot, but an ability as well. Perhaps the character isn't as good with a sword, or combat in general.

Lastly, if you do favor a certain character (perhaps the villain) over the others, why not make the tale from two points of view? R.A. Salvatore has done this with great success. He shows what both sides are doing at the same time, which really helps to build up the climax/final confrontation, because you already know what the strengths/strategies of both sides are. He does this in a very nice method, by alternating between the protagonist and the antagonist from chapter to chapter. If you do the chapter by chapter method, there is less risk of one character going off on a long tangent.

It is a rule that in every piece of dramatic writing, the main character must change as a result of the developing plot. If the character doesn't change, then your work is not a dramatic story. It is this change that also helps to keep the readers interested, as they see your character grow from the circumstances around him/her.

[ August 17, 2002: Message edited by: Feanaro ]

[Naaramare]

There's no trick to writing realistic characters as opposed to Mary Sues. I find I even disagree with Feanaro: no person has one ruling emotion. I mean, look at me, for an example. At times, I'm ruled by love; at times, by anger, at times by fear . . .some people are perpetually grouchy, but that kind of "ruling" makes for very two-dimensional characters (I see it a LOT in High Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, and it annoys me.)

People. Aren't. Simple. Ever. Your average person is a wonderfully conflicting ball of every emotion that a sentient being can possess, and there's almost always (except in very rare circumstances like moments of pure terror) six or seven of those emotions working at once.

For an example that shall startle some people, we shall take my character, Puck. He's currently being motivated (oooooh, motivation!) By what?

My gods, the list. In one instant, he is being motivated by fear, love, resentment, hatred, unadultered . . .well, puckishness, superiority, amusement and protectiveness.

And this is one of his moments of simple motivation. We're not even going to get into the complex situations.

All my characters are like that, because people are like that. Big, conflicting balls of a thousand motivations and emotions. The person who's ever-so-reasonable to most of the world may, for whatever reason, be unable to see things from her sisters' point of view.

Even my villains hold complex motivations . . .SICK complex motivations, but complex motivations nonetheless (some of the things they've done make me want to be sick, and I'm the one writing the story!) Any time things seem simple, throw in a complication. Eventually, you will be as messed in the head as I am.

As to focusing too much on one character . . .no one can do everything, so to each person the job that they're suited. The Elven Queen is a horrible leader, but a stellar administrator; she does the paperwork, her husband makes the speeches. To each what they are suited for! ^^

[Thinhyandoiel]

I agree with both Feanaro and Naaramare..in an odd sort of combination way. I don't even know if I'll be able to pull this off. Let's see...

With Feanaro's POV, I also take a dominant trait, and this trait is usually one of my many (as am very complex person whose mood changes at the drop of a hat), and let that trait rule over the character most of the time. For example, Deomer. Loyal, chivalrous, 'I stand by my king' sort of knight. In his own country, he'd just be like everyone else, almost a clone. Eck...scary thought, now that I think about it. A thousand Deomers...*muses on that for a moment* Still a scary thought. Don't think I could handle that, no matter how I love the guy. Anyways. Where was I? Ah. Place Deomer with much more complex character such as Aven, and I have oodles and oodles of material to work with. Keeps Deomer's character from going stale, and also keeps the plot moving. Hurrah!

Though, Naaramare is also right. People are complex beings. We change. People change us. Events change us. Getting only 4 hours of sleep will change us (if only for a little while). Change is the key word here. I like to see my characters change, the way they react to different situations and people. It's interesting...and serves for some very interesting and humourous conversations. (ie. my earlier mention parchment tiff) [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

It's like that for everyone, I'm sure. And it makes the story more believable and entertaining. To think any of the hobbits would have stayed cheerful and happy, smoking their pipeweed and reciting anecdotes and singing throughout the ENTIRE Lord of the Rings trilogy is just silly. I loved it when Sam and Gollum were arguing over tatters, or when Legolas and Gimli were counting Orc heads, or when Merry met Theoden King, or when Aragorn met Theoden King's Sister-daughter Eowyn...(random thought...wierd way of describing relations in that country...hmm) [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

So basically, to sum this rambling up. To keep characters interesting, I introduce them to other characters. It is people, or the lack of people, who make us who we are.

[ August 17, 2002: Message edited by: Thinhyandoiel ]

[Lila Bramble]

One thing I do not to make my characters boring would be not always have them the same. Females emtions can be driven by *that* time of the month, makign them hard to get along with, or making them stubborn or very emotional. That's always fun!

I never, never, never make any of my characters even seem perfect, or fearless, and if one day I do, I'll amke it a cover and their true self revealed in a very embarrassing moment.

The romance always have flaws, and sometimes if the girl gets a little too prissy or her actiosn change preppy, the gusy leaves her for the unliekly girl who always walks in the back.

And sometimes, even enimies can get so frustarted they just give up on each other (ie, Sam and Lila in a later tale not published yet)

[Nar]

Characters, hmm. I think all of Tolkien's characters 5 feet and under (i.e. Hobbits, including borderline cases like Bullroarer, Merry and Pippin-- can't remember their exact heights) were based on real people, friends and relations-- it's just because all the trekking they do over hill and marsh feels so much based on experience. The friendly banter between the Hobbits is so convincing!

I'm not at all sure about the Dwarves.

I have a persistent fantasy that Gandalf was inspired by Tolkien's magnificent spinster aunt who took him on a hike in Switzerland and thereby gave the storm giants of Hobbit fame to posterity. No textual proof, though, that's just my fantasy.

Other than Gandalf, I think all characters over 5 feet (saving Hobbits) were based on parts of Tolkien himself and were inspired by characters in all the ancient literature he read --and also the languages he studied. There's a great quote in Tolkien's letters in which he scornfully explains why Theoden HAS to say 'Thus shall I sleep better' (referring to his death) and would NEVER EVER say 'Thus shall I lie in my grave [more quietly]' (approximate quote) --apparently a warrior king of Theoden's time would literally think of death as sleep and only a maudlin modern would dwell on 'poor me in the cold ground.' That's a complex character point-- impressive, isn't it? --and it seems to be based on what Tolkien read of old kings, Anglo-Saxon and such, and what he had absorbed of their thinking.

As for my own technique for character, I'm just going to quote myself from a post elsewhere:

I often start a character with a real person I've met-- just as a seed, to start with a piece of reality-grit in all its stubborn, surprising integrity. Sometimes more than one person. Once I've got my bit of grit, I begin smoothing in the rest of the character around that bit of real-person grit as I write the story. This smoothing largely comes out of some aspect of my personality because I 'm the one writing the character's actions and dialogue, I'm running his/her reactions to the current situation in a corner of my mind and writing down the results of my character-simulation. So it's my own mind, a part of me, filling in the rest of the character around the original bit of grit. Hopefully I end with a pearl, but you never know!

[ August 18, 2002: Message edited by: Nar ]

[NazgulNumberTen]

all of my characters are based off of real people. they are...
Drayken: Me. ok, not really me, a darker version of me who my dramatic ramblings have been replaced with a lifetime of pain and suffering.
Talidor: my 5th grade teacher. He was acually the one who started my writing. this character is my homage to him.
an as of yet unamed bard: My 8th grade history teacher, a link to the past.
Kaius: My friend chris. his inner intellagence is shown in this character and his wild side is refected in the son of Kaius, Kairen.
there are some more too, but im gettintg pretty tired [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
all names copyright nn10 2002. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[littlemanpoet]

I like Feanaro's distinction between emotion and passion, which makes Naaramare's comments regarding character complexity most agreeable, as well as Feanaro's ruling passion idea. In TID, O. wants to live life BIG and REAL and ZESTY./ W. wants to build an identity./ G. want to - well, I ain't tellin' yet./ R. wants to grow in wisdom./ P. wants a strong and blossoming marriage with O./ Mg. wants to be in Aelde./ Ml. wants to RULE!/ Dr.W. wants to get save Aelde for the good guys. But the emotions run the gamut.

[Lila Bramble]

In my lighter tales the emotions and characterestics I have discussed in earlier posts are used, but in my more dramatic stories there is war with torn feeling and feelings of abandonment, cruelty, weariness, fear, and many more 'fun' elements to work with.

One of my favourite ideas is to make a devestating and bloody war between two rival races, but in the middle is a cross-race (man/elf, meejah/kala, vammpire/man, ect...) romance that makes things a whole lot harder, espically them. I'm trying to pick between a few different groups of characters to pair that idea with, but its hard because I love all my character! [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

I also plan to write a story on a 'vilaniess,' one thought to be cruel but has her own emotional reasons for her actions, but now I ahve to figure out what they are! I have drawn two outlines for her, either a futurestic modern-fantasy vampire or a pre-modern vampire. Hmm...I'd say pre-modern because it would be fun sicne there are no guns and other things to weaken her. And its fun to have a rampaging femal vampire cauign destruction until an assasign mission to kill her leads to an unexpected romance...

Argh! I gotta stop that 'forbidden romance' stuff in my stories!!!

[Saxony Tarn]

Forbidden Romance should only go if it's a cliche, Lila -- if you can put a new spin on it by all means write it! i should e-mail ya to tell ya what evil idea popped into my head over the weekend -- i think that of my two next projects after "Trust Me", one may be losing its spot in line to the other...

Which is after all one way to make characters interesting -- and keep readers interested -- put them in a steady flow of odd situations and see how they get themselves out of 'em. (Not rock after rock after hard place, but at a decent pace so they don't have too long to rest on their laurels and get complacent) It's that sort of "conflict" that reveals character.

As far as avoiding Mary-Sue and PerfectMan, we as authors have to be willing to detach ourselves and actually let -- or make -- the characters suffer a bit. (sort of like overprotective parents!) Someone reading Ace of Cups told me that Kieter was coming across as "too perfect", so i re-examined his structure, found some cracks in him that had potential, and started designing plot complications and twists to exploit those weaknesses. i'd like to think it's made him more easy for readers to relate to (as in, yeah, i know a Type-A workaholic nut like that!)

(and now if you'll all excuse me, Faramir is making a very convincing speech about why his "What-If" story should be written next, and Skheel is showing A LOT more fang than usual... i think i have a character-revealing conflict developing... key to the wine cellar's behind the bar -- !!)

|_|) <-- have a drink on me!

s.t.

(although i may well give in and write it (much like i gave in and began writing "Trust Me") -- it may even give me an even better appreciation of his character by the time he makes it to the screen! Currently i (still) think Faramir was a classic case of Adelheid Syndrome on Tolkien's part (even though i've been trying to work with him in a tale about his bro) but after i've hiked a few more miles in HIS boots and can put him in situations and have readers think, yeah, we can see him handling that event that way, who knows?)

[Eol]

What I have found to be simple is writing what and who you know. Many of my personal experiances have been used to develope my characters. Eventhough those situations may not exist now, they were used to help the character to become who they are now.

I have also used characteristics of my friends and family to develope personalities on different characters.

Are any of you writing serious fantasy? If so, how have you dealt with the temptation to be imitative of Tolkien? How long have you been working on your story, and why? What pitfalls have you faced and how have you overcome them - or not?

I am writing a fantasy thatI just startd two days ago. It was influenced by J.R.R. but it isn't going to be much like it. I just get writer's block, but I'm doing good so far.

[littlemanpoet]

Welcome, JFB. Have a foaming cup of wonder on the house.

::the brooding bard pours a stiif one and sets it before the newcomer::

%%%%
|%%|
|%%|\
|___|/

(I couldn't seem to get the hole out of the glass so I had to add foam) [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

If you describe your writer's block, you may get some help from the friendly regulars around here. By the way, what's your story about? If you care to look at page 12 you'll find an index of the previous 11, after which you're on your own.

S'pose it's time I did another index? (agh! it'll have to go to item #26 on my to-do list)

[ August 23, 2002: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]

[ August 24, 2002: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]

[Starbreeze]

Welcome JFB! |_| on me! (to keep you going) I would only be too happy to help with your writers block, its a nightmare but once its over you'll find that you write better than ever.
Have you ever heard the phrase "a change is as good as a rest"? well, if writers block really gets to you start on a new story, or try a poem, and when you go back to the first one it will really start to flow.

I have one page written down of a story called "The War for Hebloht". It looks to be very promising. It was hard to try and not imitate Tolkien, I really like his morals and way of writing. But I found that when I'm making up what I'm writing, it's a lot more fun than a fan fic. If I was writing a fan fic based on LotR, if I slipped up, I'd get lots of angry protests from Tolkien fans. But with writing you make up, you can't slup up!:-)

[Lila Bramble]

I can actually say that writers block is something I've never expirenced. Actually, I'm having trouble with all my flowing ideas right now. I'm writing my fanfiction and my novel and 3 ideas for other novels, and I haven't come short on anything! mayeb its just my youth and I should appreciate it while I can...