Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Opinion Needed

This is topic Opinion Needed in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Joe (Member # 1412) on :

Do you think its possible to write a childrens story about a child who travels somehow to a magical place and reluctantly embarks on a quest there to save the magical place without just being another clone of "The Phantom Tollbooth" "Peter Pan" "The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe" "A Wrinkle In Time" "The Neverending Story" and countless others stories of the same premise?

Posted by uberslacker2 (Member # 1397) on :

Is it possible to write a story about a character who suddenly finds himself in a strange world where justice is not the same concept is was before and a great empire/evil horde threatens everything without making a clone of LOTR and countless other fantasy stories?

In answer to your question: yes I believe it is. It may take some changes and a whole lot of good writing but I believe it can be done. Just don't make it a wardrobe that gets them into that world :-D. I think it could be done if you want to work at it

IMHO
The Great Uberslacker

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Do you mean without being a clone of all of them at the same time? Or do you mean without being a clone of any of them individually?

Or to put it another way, do you consider all of those stories to be clones of each other?

Obviously, if these stories are considered clones of each other by virtue of being about [a] child[ren] who travel[s] somehow to a magical place and [perhaps] reluctantly embark[s] on a quest there to save that magical place, then the answer is that any story that shares the stated element must also be considered a clone.

If they are not all clones of each other by virtue of sharing the above stated plot element, then it was obviously possible for someone to write a story that was not a clone of any given one of them by virtue of sharing that element, and thus there is no reason a priori to believe that it has become impossible since any particular one of these stories was written.

In any case, whether you believe that all these stories are clones or not, I would be more concerned with making sure that if I ended up writing a clone of one (or more) of them, it was a clone of, say, C.S. Lewis's stories and not "The Neverending Story"

Posted by Narvi (Member # 1376) on :

I would say that it is possible, but more difficult than in most other forms. The format is constrictive, and a young target audience tends to work against subtleties (not block them completely (think Harry Potter), but make them more difficult). There are probably four variables that control such a story:

What is the magical place's essence?
What is the hero's character?
What is the danger?
Why is a foreign child more able to save the place than a local adult (or local child)?

Any of these can be ignored or patched with a cliche, but the more of these that you provide interesting, original answers to, the more interesting and original the story will be.

Posted by Joe (Member # 1412) on :

Well I had an idea, I wanted to kinda make it a mixture of child literature and adult literature. I wanted to include magical fairy type stuff and nazi third reich type elements as well "The Army Of The Apocolypse" as it will be called in the story

And to answer the earlier question, yes I sorta consider those books/movies I mentioned to be kinda similar, I am just afraid of people saying. "Oh so this is just like _______" like they did when I told them about my last story idea which was about a guy who got to relive the worst week of his life due to a magical airline ticket and everyone was like "its just like groundhogs day!" and I was like ughhh! no it isnt! And as a result I never really got started on the last one, I got in the mood to do this story and I was dreading the "oh this is like alice in wonderland!" people....

Thanks for the input

Posted by Liza (Member # 1123) on :

Joe,
I wouldn't worry about how people characterize your story. Most people need a reference point, so if they say "it's just like..." it doesn't really mean it is exactly like it, there are just some similar elements. Even if you TRIED to write a clone of those books, you would be unable to do it. You are you, and your style and ideas will be markedly different.

I have read countless novels based on the Arthur legend. They are all about the same basic story. Are they clones? Absolutely not! And I love every different version. Kids who like fantasy and time travel will like your book, if it is exciting and the characters interest them.

Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 1198) on :

Having similarities with those books is not a bad thing, though.

How many times have I heard someone say "Oh, you liked Harry Potter? Have you read The Golden Compass? Or the Wizard of Earthsea? Or Ender's Game?" Or people say "You liked Lord of the Rings.... have you read [insert really long epic fantasy series name here]?"

If it's a good story, it's only helped by its relationship with other good stories. If it's thinly veiled plagiarism, that's a different story. You don't hear people saying "You liked Star Wars... have you seen Independence Day?"

If it's a worthwhile story in its own right, and it isn't just playing on the conventions of the genre, then it's a good thing when it conjures fond memories of other books the reader has enjoyed.