Dungeons & Doldrums

8 February 2010 | Filed Under Creativity, Tales from the Author's Desk 

At some point in the fantasy writing universe, everyone decided it would be awesome to write a high adventure story about a boy who was secretly a king team up with fighters, thieves, mages, and priests to defeat the villain taking over the medieval-based world. Since when did we (the writing community) allow Dungeons & Dragons to overrun our creativity?

Don’t get me wrong. I love playing D&D and other rpgs. But I am so tired of seeing the same plots over and over again. And if it’s not the same plot, it’s the same setting with the same characters. Thieves with hearts of gold, priests questioning their god(s), mages learning to harness their ultimate powers, etc. I’m sure these were good characters at one point (maybe in the mid-fifties), but now they’re just dull cliches.

Cliches can have their uses, however. For my NaNoWriMo novel, I took those basic characters (prince, mage, thief) in the medieval setting, and turned them on their head. I had the omniscient narrator of the story step up and take over the novel. Granted, I could probably do a lot more with it than I did, but that’s for editing to sort through.

But glancing through other books, where did the creativity go? It’s like people just gave up and decided to follow Tolkien’s example, complete with elves, dwarves, and orcs (which can also be found in D&D).

Please, do yourself and your readership a favor: take the time and effort to build an original world.

Comments

4 Responses to “Dungeons & Doldrums”

  1. Sara on February 8th, 2010 9:20 pm

    There is a sort of sick pleasure though to reading the same sort of fantasy novel over and over again… It’s so hard to find a “good” non-traditional fantasy that isn’t just some completely urbanized modern fairy tale.

  2. jajohnson7 on February 8th, 2010 10:50 pm

    Too true. If you ever find one, let me know!

  3. Will on February 26th, 2010 6:13 am

    This whole post is absolutely true of good D&D campaigns, as well. I’ve never been more bored than with a by-the-book, dull-as-dishwater description of elves, humans, and dwarves fightin’ some dragons. That’s why I stick with playing monster races, or adding quirks to my characters, or just finding DMs who can create. My favorite D&D campaign was a world the players made themselves, before jumping forward in time thousands of years and seeing how the (unique! interesting!) races had progressed in the (bizarre! exceedingly magical!) world. Anyway, it goes both ways, is all I’m saying. No one likes basic boring elves no mo’.

  4. Jenn on February 26th, 2010 6:46 am

    That actually sounds really awesome! Speaking of good twists, I also like Order of the Stick’s Snarl plotline. You get the crazy parody of the mundane with the stereotypes, but also a cool threat to the world.

Leave a Reply




  • Welcome

    new haircut

    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

    You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or email me at:
    jennifer.a.johnson7 at gmail dot com

  • Official Progress


    4/21 segments

    A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.

    Status: Second revision



    1,639/70,000 words
    A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.

    Status: First draft



    1,087/70,000 words
    When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?

    Status: First draft





  • All writing, unless otherwise specified, is the property of
    Jennifer Johnson © 2010