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So essentially, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend, he's just another moronic, entitled turd in the bucket.

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I had a GREAT idea for a book

Started by Cain, March 08, 2009, 12:42:32 PM

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Cain

That sounds like it could be truly hilarious.

As for the Orc nation/racial overtones thing...you may be right.  My hope was by representing them as products of their environment and culture, and the idea of the "violent, stupid orc" being akin to propaganda due to past border conflicts and wars, showing that conflict is a result of realpolitik, actual political considerations, resource grabs and religious intolerance, I might make the point clear.

The problem there, of course, is factoring in whether that will actually be noticed. Then again, so long as intelligent readers notice, and notice what I'm lampooning, it may not matter.

Tempest Virago

Quote from: Cain on March 10, 2009, 01:44:27 PM
That sounds like it could be truly hilarious.

As for the Orc nation/racial overtones thing...you may be right.  My hope was by representing them as products of their environment and culture, and the idea of the "violent, stupid orc" being akin to propaganda due to past border conflicts and wars, showing that conflict is a result of realpolitik, actual political considerations, resource grabs and religious intolerance, I might make the point clear.

The problem there, of course, is factoring in whether that will actually be noticed. Then again, so long as intelligent readers notice, and notice what I'm lampooning, it may not matter.

No, no, this is a good idea. You should do it.

I have an inexplicable fondness for orcs and goblins of all types, though, so I may be biased. I once started a story about a goblin revolution.

Verbal Mike

Of course, you could start by talking about "those evil, dangerous orcs" and slowly reveal that they are basically just another nation of humans. You need not make them very special to get the point across, since the word "orc" already evoked sufficient imagery for you. The whole thing can be accentuated by presenting typical situations where racism and multiculturalism crash (such as intermarriage in border towns between orcs and "good" humans, seen with intense distaste but basically no worse than any other marriage).
Unless stated otherwise, feel free to copy or reproduce any text I post anywhere and any way you like. I will never throw a hissy-fit over it, promise.

Pariah

Fuck. I don't mean to threadjack but I kind of have an idea that while not fantasy has a little bit to do with that last post. I was thinking of kind of a western  with a planet of the apes ending. Where we learn that it was a product of the apocalypse or something. Just an idea.
Play safe! Ski only in a clockwise direction! Let's all have fun together!

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Quote from: Cramulus on March 10, 2009, 01:29:32 PM
this sounds good, Cain. I share your distaste for fantasy lit, despite being an avid D&D player and larpwright. (lol portmanteau)

I dislike fantasy literature BECAUSE I'm a D&D player.

The fact that the elves in D&D are the same height as humans is completely unacceptable, and I blame J.R.R.Tolkien


On a more on topic note, instead of using orcs, why not just use dark elves. Personally, I've always felt that the division of fantasy elves into regular elves and evil "dark" elves was obvious apologism for white supremicism :fnord:...
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

Cain

Because Dark elves make me want to hit things, and its already been done by R. A. Salvatore and Elaine Cunningham, in a typically ham-fisted and clumsy way.

Xooxe

A few years back I wanted to write a short fantasy parody where the forces of 'evil' conquer the world, wipe out all of the heroes, and inevitably have nothing left to do - no purpose in life. Then you'd have big, nasty orcs in loincloths wandering around, dramatically expressing their existential torment. Boo-hoo.  :D

Cain


LMNO

Logical conclusion to I Am Legend* ITT.













*The book, not the movie.

Cramulus

I wrote a satirical newspaper (in the style of the Onion) about the politics of this LARP I played

one month our headline was


ADVENTURERS FINALLY VANQUISH ALL EVIL
RAPIDLY THEY BECOME BORED AND BEGIN SLAYING ONE ANOTHER


Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Continuing my earlier suggestion about the "dark elves", I think it would be funny to see a fantasy story where the rituals associated with the elf god gradually start to bear a closer and closer resemblance to those of the Ku-Klux-Klan, culminating with a ritual dark-elf lynching complete with burning holy symbols....
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

Quote from: Cramulus on March 10, 2009, 01:29:32 PM
I dislike fantasy literature BECAUSE I'm a D&D player.

The fact that the elves in D&D are the same height as humans is completely unacceptable, and I blame J.R.R.Tolkien

They really ought to be only eight inches tall... or the same height as a human, depending on which folklore you're trying to emulate.

Rococo Modem Basilisk

I'm throwing this idea out there, which is partly stolen from the film Franklyn (which is awesome btw):
Switching between the POV of a reliable narrator and the POV of the axe-crazy standard fantasy hero protagonist, portraying similar yet different universes (change the names around but make it possible to correlate the two) and only near the end reveal that the 'hero' is an unreliable narrator fighting for totally absurd delusions. Otherwise, the unreliable narrator's story should be entirely a cliche fantasy novel. The two universes can be passed off as the same place at two different times, maybe, giving the subtext that the 'hero' is living in the past.

Maybe. Take it or leave it


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

Cain

I was actually going to do something like that.  It was going to be a multiple POV story, and the "hero" was indeed one of the characters slated to get a piece of the narration - albeit at a much smaller amount than everyone else.  And it would showcase his delusions, though slowly (hence why his parts would not be as frequent).

I also drew a map today, which was fun.  I want to get the setting sorted before I put pen to paper on the detailed plot.

LMNO

That's a cool idea.  If you want to see how other writers tried to do that, check out some of Jim Thompson's novels, "Killer Inside Me" and "Pop. 1280".  Good stuff.