[lacorte]

What would our ideas be of an original plot? As Bardos mentioned in "Advice on Eddings", it would be great to hear all your ideas of original plots.

I haven't read a great deal of fantasy, but my idea of an original story would have to follow the lines of:

A group of young lads (possibly lasses too) who don't know each other are conscripted into a victorious army, and forced to fight across a continant. After a while they lose heart and break away from the army and have to find their way home while fighting the natives, press-gangs and army they deserted. This could then lead onto revenge plots and maybe even the "classic chase" after treasure.

I know that this has probably been covered somewhere, but it's original to me. How about your ideas?

[JohnH]

Original huh? Not sure if there are any truly original stories. Everyone is inspired by something.

But here goes:
Heroine is a ninety year old woman. Can't fight, does not hhave any magic, just is so darn ugly that swordsmen flee in horror and sorcerers stumble in midspell from shock and end up bursting into flames (the result of starting a spell and not finishing).

The woman joins a bunch of short dumpy unattractive rather nasty people up to no good, overthrowing the handsome prince his beautiful but spirited wife and the royal couples' venerable yet irascible advisor and court sorcerer.

The woman lives happily ever after with the prince as her miserable minion; the princess deciding that she was better suited to marrying the new tyrant as she likes silks better than rags. The old lovable grouch of a wizard ends up warming the old woman's hearth for about two hours or so (combustible wizards tending to burn longer than the average log).

[Bardos]

An original plot would be one with NO teenagers in it.

Simplistic example:

The four Great Kingdoms of the Continent of Xill find themselves in sortage of Ki'iv, a rare metal used in magical rites, and especialy in the summoning of daemons from the Outerlands. So sorcers of all kinds and forms try to seduce, persuade, intimidate, and convince kings and queens of the kingdoms to traverse the Eastern Sea and find a new land, said in legends it's full of Ki'iv...
The problem is, what they'll find there - apart from Ki'iv.

This is no child story. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Bardos (edited October 09, 2001).]

[Penumbra]

The amazing Karn of Wiblex, wronk-bearer for Lord Arsenil, awakens in sweat one morning to find that his Chevenage has mysteriously fallen off during sleep and is nowhere to be found. What to do? Suddenly, inspired by a previous night's interlude with Mullick, his slave blade, he is inspired to cut a notch in the mystic troil of Cellowitch, if even she happens to be watching.

[matthewajg]

I attended a convention last weekend where one panel discussion involved "Underutilized themes/plots in Science Fiction and Fantasy". For the most part, we were only able to identify a few things which have been underutilized, but many agreed what they had seen enough of...apocolyptic fantasy where peasant boys turn out to be the savior of the universe (and D&D style, five mis-matched adventurers, treasure hunting, swashbuckling stories). People want stories that involve magic, but which have some aspects of gritty reality. The epic struggles of good versus evil, where good usually prevails is getting stale. PROBLEM - that is a key theme in the human psyche and obviously has translated well into fantasy where that struggle can play out. You want an original plot? They're tough to come by, since most of fantasy is based on or borrows from the rich heritages of ancient human cultures. I am writing a new book now, and I KNOW that I am borrowing from many sources in doing so. Audiences have expectaions when they come to a fantasy novel, you do not have top do something totally different every time. Reinventing the wheel is all fine and good, but it's still a wheel! Tell a story, make sure it;s your story, and tell it well. Take a lesson from George R.R. Martin who in his FIRE AND ICE series borrows from the entire gamut of fantastic history...using history and literature as a guide (note things like 'Lannister' instead of 'Lancaster')...but his skills as a storyteller and writer make his books ultimately readable and incredibly gripping.

[Barbarossa]

Regarding some of the above posts I have to quote Terry Pratchett:

If you put one slice of Zorkle meat between two slices of Pwok it's still a sandwich.

[ChrisW]

steven eriksons Malazan series is pretty original. More than Martin anyway who's only orignal idea is to kill lots of people you think are important.

[Lord Raoul Za]

How about the story where the Moogle and the insane members of the Covenant of Valiance attempt to undermine teh good, honest lords of the south with sweet talk.

after worming their way in, they start to undercut the price of ale, leading to a group of dishonest monks creating a new drink. this drink is actually addictive, and the entire populace goes nuts when the evil doers confiscate the supply, leading to general turmoil, and eventually armageddon.

[Shehzad]

At the risk of causing trouble (but I couldn't resist) http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

More than Martin anyway who's only orignal idea is to kill lots of people you think are important.

That's one more original idea than Jordan has http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Sammie]

I remember reading somewhere that there were only seven different stories and that all stories were just these seven retold in different ways. I think one of them was 'Cinderella' Does anyone know what the others are s'posed to be?

Sammie