I need some new plots for my fantasy stories .... help!?

Question

I am devoted to writing and need new ideas fast! I love to write about fairies, Elves, and magical worlds. I'm working on a few novels, and need ideas on creative plots, because I can't think of any swashbuckling and adventurous ideas at the moment!

Answer 1

Unfortunately, inspiration is almost always internal. What inspires one person may be a complete turn off for another. I can give you a few books with writing exercises and ways to stretch your creativity.

Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy (by the editors of Analog and Asimov's) is a collection of essays from the top names in the field. Some are writing exercises, others are tips on world-building and working with different fantasy races. Very interesting.

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (by Orson Scott Card) is this prolific SF writer's personal approach to writing. I found some of the exercises interesting, but others uninspiring for me personally. Still, it's a good read for your field.

The Writer's Idea Book and The Writer's Idea Workshop (by Heffron) are filled with good ways to gain inspiration or flesh out ideas you're already toying with.

The best advice I can give you is to avoid the old cliches in the genre (young lad from modest beginnings is the only one who can stop imminent doom through use of magical object or secret royal bloodlines). There's so much in modern fantasy today that's just rehashed again and again until it's just pointless and predictable. Elves and fairies abound, what makes yours interesting and new? Give them a culture different from what's so typically seen (the tall, fair, graceful elves, for instance, have become stereotypical since Lord of the Rings; what happened to the short pranksters of yore?). Beyond that...if you're really having trouble coming up with anything that seems new or exciting to you, perhaps its time to step out of your genre, at least for one short story. It might help you gain perspective. And taking elements from one genre (for instance, the character-driven emotion of literary fiction) and placing it into another (oftentimes plot-driven epic fantasy) might give you something new and exciting to work on. Once again, you need to find what interests and inspires you, no one can do that for you. And in the end, if you're not inspired, write anyway. Even if you think it's horrible, at least their words on a page. And who knows, years down the road you may find something incredibly endearing in that rubbish bin...

Answer 2

Really, stay away from Elves, unless you are going to do something radically different from Tolkien's because they have been done to death and you will not get accepted.

Look at Eragon, same exact elves, and the only reason his book was published is because his mom owned the company.

This is something you need to come up with on your own, don't expect handouts your life, you need to work hard at it.

Understand too that this isn't an easy career, it is hard and competitive, some authors are even driven to suicide. You won't make much money and you'll likely never be famous, but you can always try. Not trying to be mean, but it's honest.

Answer 3

Go back and watch all the movies you loved as a child, not like Disney, but the cool/scary ones. Throw in a few of your favorite childhood books, build a fort under the dining room table or backyard with pen and paper or laptop. Add caffeine, sugar, and alcohol as needed. Good luck.

Answer 4

Here's a list of 36 plots for role playing games. It might inspire you.
http://www.rpglibrary.org/articles/storytelling/36plots.html