The dragon Haku in Spirited Away is a great example of an original dragon. It is obviously of the dragon family but looks totally different than anything previously created.
Heart of Sword wrote:a. Avoid any creature that, in a movie, could be played by a human actor with minimal make-up, such as elves, hobbits, and dwarves.
Heart of Sword wrote:a. When writing the plot for a story, never read or watch ANY fiction one week prior to beginning. Instead, focus on books that improve writing skills.
Heart of Sword wrote:b. The phrase "everything has been done once" is NOT true!
Ashley wrote:I'm going to challenge that. Haku is a lot like the Chinese/oriental dragons. Just look at some asian art and it's clear where the influence came from.
Heart of Sword wrote:Suppose we're all in someone's dream and nothing is real. Suppose that this person abruptly wakes up and we're all...well, no longer existant... [/morbid mood]
kaemmerite wrote:Oh, you mean like the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening?
SirThinks2Much wrote:Or take a classic stereotype (say, a girly-boy bishie magician) and give it the real-life treatment (have people actually confuse him as being a girl, with comic and/or integrity-threatening results).
Isn't the gender confusion thing also overdone, though?
SirThinks2Much wrote:I haven't seen any in popular fantasy lately.
SirThinks2Much wrote:1. Give your protagonist a true sense of purpose, whether stated or unstated. This is much better than having him simply float along and simply react to situations he's drifted into. One who is stuck with a sinister magical object you inherited from your uncle and then going off on some quest just because some strange wizard told you to is not always the most engaging of protagonists. Note however that whatever purpose your character has, it may change as the story progresses. This is not a bad thing, and in most cases shows the development of the character. Drifters have their place, but as I said earlier they can be somewhat uninteresting. Comic relief, maybe.
UC Pseudonym and Ashley are right, everything has been done, so writers these days get inspiration from other writers and write works which are somewhat similar to those authors.
Heart of Sword wrote:List goes on and on. If these recent titles are totally original, there are definitely stories that haven't been done yet.
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