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In my Wip I have a char who is raised by animals. So would any of you look at it and say it's (Tarzan/Jungle book/whatever) all over again? Keep in mind this is not in a jungle setting.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Depends on what you do with it. If no jungle -- well, that will help distance it from the Jungle Book and Tarzan. But there are other animals rasining human traditions as well that might be brought to mind.
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The "wolf-child" is actually more of an archetype than a cliche. But do your research, this really does happen so there are (a few) checkable facts that you need to address.
On the other hand, if you just draw all your information from fictional sources, then yes, it will be cliche.
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Search for "feral child" on Google, you'll find what Survivor is talking about. Golly, just start with http://www.feralchildren.com -- Lots of info there.
If your character is an eskimo or other Native American, it's probably a cliche. But then, so are warriors who ride dragons, wizards with long beards and pointy hats, and elf-maidens who wander the forests alone at night. Any of those can be made into interesting stories.
quote:What kind of animals is he raised by? If it's wolves or apes, you will be bordering on cliche. If it's penguins or prairie dogs, and you pull it off, you may be a genius :-)
PLEASE, let him be raised by penguins!! That would be SO cool. I would buy that book on the premise ALONE!!!
Or goats! Goats would work too, as everyone knows the secret equation to the universe is a follows...
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From what I see Wolves or dogs are the most common to take children in. But it would be good fun with Penguins, but wouldn't they freeze to death?
Actually the kid is raised by attack dogs, domesticated but vicious. They were supposed to kill him but didn't.(I'm still working on why.) So funny isn't what I'm going for here. More like a horrible act of child abuse.
And I think I did see someone on the site raised by goats.
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Absolutely not a cliche. Would you consider Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land" a cliche? As it turns out, he had the idea for this when his wife suggested doing a modern take on Mowgli with a 'raised by aliens' twist. It turns out to have been his most important work. And I don't recall anybody dismissing it as being derivative.
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