Character Conflicts http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164 stingray306 In my novel, I uses main characters such as two boys, (one of which is the main character,) an elf, a dwarf, a small creature called an imp, and a drahan girl who disguises herself as a ranger. A friend told me, as I was giving her a brief synopsis of the story, that it was too closely related to Tolkien's trilogy: "The Lord of the Rings," because of the members of the fellowship. What's your opinion? Are my characters too closely related to those who are part of the Fellowship? Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:56:48 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134416 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134416 jordan.williams42 I don't think so. As long as the characters don't show the same personality traits as the Lord of the Rings characters, there shouldn't be a problem. The plot will have to be rather different too (by which i mean, no epic journey to throw a ring in a fire, hehe it can be an epic journey to do pretty much anything else though, i guess). Anyway, there were no imps or drahan girls in the fellowship as far as i recall. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:01:48 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1136738 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1136738 stingray306 Are you sure? Does this seem too similar: ? Perk, the main character (human) is pulled from his home, a cheery town, when a disease begins to kill the people of his town. He is put in charge to destroy the disease, and others, mentioned above, decide to help with his journey. I think it is quite similar to Lord of the Rings in it's basic outline. What should I do to change it? Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:45:04 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1137517 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1137517 jordan.williams42 Ah, but it's not really is i,t because there wasn't a disease involved in Lord of the Rings. The only thing I thought was too similar by reading your synopsis is the names, they sound a bit hobbity. But as long as you make the others come along for other reasons, not that they want to help but that they want to get away from someone, or they were travelling that way anyway, or they were paid to come along for protection, it will be differant. Also, don't get them all to join at the same time. so differant times for differant reasons. Perhaps you could focus more on the disease and it kills off someone he really likes, like a parent or girlfriend or something, then it's not like he's a reluctant hero being dragged into something that really had nothing to do with him, he actually wants to be involved. I'll stop going on now, but leave you with a few questions: How will he destroy the disease? How did the disease come to be? Is anyone trying to stop him? These points are the ones you need to be careful of I think. But I really don't think you need to worry, lots of stories have the same plot if you strip things down to the basics, but it's how you write the story that should matter, not nessicarily what you're writing. For example, whenever I describe my NaNo2011 story to anyone, they say; so it's like King Arthur, isn't it? And in a way, I suppose it is, but the characters are completely differant, what happens is completely differant, and the style is differant. Anyway, I'll stop me rambling. I appologize for the spelling. Hope that helps. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:40:24 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1138966 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1138966 The_Halla If you look at it that way, there wasn't a whole lot original about LOTR, either. Fellowship quests are at least as old as <em>Gilgamesh</em>, which is the oldest story of which anyone is aware. In brief, <em>don't worry about being original</em>. That part of things will usually take care of itself, especially during the rewrites. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:00:54 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139770 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139770 stingray306 Thank you!! It gave me a lot to think about. Most of the stuff you mentioned above I had already thought about, like where the disease came from and how he will destroy it. The disease isn't really a sickness at all, yet it comes in that form. It is actually a curse used by an evil man (who is actually Perk's long-forgotten father in the end... Perk's father is a wizard who decided to use his power for evil, but this isn't discovered until the end. Perk of people had no idea it was his father.) The disease also had, like you mentioned, already killed a loved one of Perk's: his mother. Perk is required to flee his town if he valued his life, but he also wanted revenge. Clum, his best friend, had his sister killed also, and weakly agrees to help. Adoros the (good) wizard tells him more information about the one who caused so much calamity, and helps him get started on his epic journey. Now, one more thing that should be noted, is that the evil wizard (who still needs a name, any idea would be helpful also, haha :3,) has a reason for killing so many with his spells. Each victim he kills adds to his power - all the power that belonged to them is sucked from them and sent straight into the wizard himself, building up his power and strength. The wizard creates his own henchmen, creatures called burls, snolls, and urnics. As he builds up power, he begins to re-populate the world with evil creatures who are like robots who submit to his every whim and command. Perk must destroy the wizard, however, at the end, he discovered it was his father, who he had dreamt about in his many years of childhood. His mother had told him stories which were lies. And that leads up to a devastating ending. Is this too far-fetched? Also, are Perkenwise Torque and Clummifer Nook to hobbitish? I am quite fond of the names... maybe the last names need changing... Anyway, thank you so much for the help. I can't wait to put the whole thing together, for I've spent nearly two busy months preparing the outline. This will be my first novel! Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:22:40 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1140442 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1140442 stingray306 That's true!! Thanks for that point, it's relieving. I think I'm worrying too much about it. It hard being a perfectionist-writer... Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:23:42 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1140448 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1140448 jordan.williams42 Wow, that sounds really good! I wish you all the best with it. The names only seem a little bit hobbity and it won't seem as bad in the story because youre not going to be mentioning Lord of the rings. If you like the names, keep them, who knows, you might come up with something else you like better when you're writing, I do that all the time, usually because of a spelling mistake that kind of sticks. I'd like to know how this turns out. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:40:34 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1141593 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1141593 stingray306 Sweet! I'm glad it's not too far fetched and that it's actually a good idea according to another writer. Can I send you the first chapter when I'm done? Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:01:03 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1142551 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1142551 jordan.williams42 Sounds like a plan! I'll nanomail you! Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:04:15 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143763 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143763 vate stingray, have you heard about The Heros Journey? the core story that almost all legends are based on? you are writing the heros journey. as are we all... Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:10:24 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146811 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146811 edwardfjacek Sound good.I appreciate your hard work. Wed, 02 May 2012 08:38:43 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1335513 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/adventure/threads/50164?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1335513