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Topic:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. [Locked] |
Yossarian_42  Title: RUSH > ALL
Posts: 1,046
Registered: 2002-2-28 11:23:20
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
We sort of get the farmboy opening for five of the main characters in Wheel of Time. The fact that we get all five of them together makes it a little less onerous.
I ended up finishing The Warded Man when people insisted to me that it was good. I got to book two and was glad things were finally moving along and the goddamn thing started with an entirely new child character. I visibly seethed.
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If I have burnt my bridges I will walk on water.
If you're on the shore, then you're sure not me, oh
My seething wrath and urge for blood is fueled by searing hate.
I'm X X X bitch, triple X rated.
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Kordirn Title: Pirate Prince
Posts: 1,513
Registered: 2004-4-19 01:15:26
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
While it worked well in Wheel Of Time... A couple years ago I tried to read the first book of the Sword Of Truth. The farm boy opening was quite horrid in that book, but that is only one of the myriad of problems in that god forsaken series. I got maybe halfway through that book before I threw it down in disgust.
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Lyndrek  Title: Moderator
Lynx Mod
Posts: 679
Registered: 1999-11-22 12:41:54
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
How do you suggest people start a fantasy novel?
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Yossarian_42 Title: RUSH > ALL
Posts: 1,046
Registered: 2002-2-28 11:23:20
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
How about by not using the same tired tropes everyone hates?
Hell, you can have a farm boy opening if you leave out some of the onerous crap. Don't have a goddamn travelling entertainer that the whole town flocks to. Don't spend an entire chapter on how the inn is the biggest building in town. Don't bore us to death with the provincial farm girl the main character has a crush on but isn't destined to be with.
Instead of coming up with one unique idea and then writing the same crap everyone before you wrote how about coming up with a series of new ideas?
-----signature-----
If I have burnt my bridges I will walk on water.
If you're on the shore, then you're sure not me, oh
My seething wrath and urge for blood is fueled by searing hate.
I'm X X X bitch, triple X rated.
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vn_jurojin  Title: Insolent Insomniac
Posts: 205
Registered: 2001-12-20 03:26:39
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
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My personal favorite fantasy beginning: A 60 year old veteran tells death to go bugger himself after getting a warning then walking all the way to a fort/castle to kick some ass. (Legend, Gemmell)
*edits* apparently my spelling and grammar suck before noon.
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vn_jurojin Title: Insolent Insomniac
Posts: 205
Registered: 2001-12-20 03:26:39
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
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One example of doing the farm boy trope right: Skip it entirely. One good one has a boy/young man arriving at his destination and then gradually fills in the (somewhat tragic) details of how he got to his destination as the story unfolds. (Talion: Revenant, Michael Stackpole)
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poenadare  Posts: 381
Registered: 2001-11-5 08:09:53
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
Anyone notice that when it comes to movies the farmboy trope is replaced by the suburban slacker trope? (Bill & Ted, etc.)
You've got to give ERB credit. John Carter just willed himself to Mars, basicly. It was like 5 pages of background and then zap he's fighting nasty dudes and wenching!
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Yossarian_42 Title: RUSH > ALL
Posts: 1,046
Registered: 2002-2-28 11:23:20
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
Every genre has its annoying over-used tropes mostly because that is the most convenient thing for an uninspired and uncreative writer to come up with.
Every time I start a movie and the main character is a writer or an ad exec I know I'm in for formulaic garbage. The only reason they even use ad exec is because it is the corporate version of writer.
I'm also extremely skeptical every time I open a book to a private investigator; heaven forbid they take the training wheels off.
-----signature-----
If I have burnt my bridges I will walk on water.
If you're on the shore, then you're sure not me, oh
My seething wrath and urge for blood is fueled by searing hate.
I'm X X X bitch, triple X rated.
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vn_jurojin Title: Insolent Insomniac
Posts: 205
Registered: 2001-12-20 03:26:39
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
Yossarian_42 posted:
How about by not using the same tired tropes everyone hates?
I'm guessing you are wrong here. I'd venture to say that the average fantasy reader doesn't care one way or the other as long as it's a good story. Some might even say that more people like the farm boy trope than dislike it, especially since it is so used and so many popular fantasy books use it.
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Yossarian_42 Title: RUSH > ALL
Posts: 1,046
Registered: 2002-2-28 11:23:20
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Date Posted:
9/5/11 5:58pm
Subject:
I refuse to ever suffer through another farmboy fantasy opening. |
Everyone who matters.
-----signature-----
If I have burnt my bridges I will walk on water.
If you're on the shore, then you're sure not me, oh
My seething wrath and urge for blood is fueled by searing hate.
I'm X X X bitch, triple X rated.
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