I've got no idea where my story will go. I thought maybe the main character lost his memory and as the story goes on he get hints and dreams of his past where he was actually evil and cruel but at presant his friendly and helpful.

Anyway that idea seemed a bit cliche. So I need your help.

(Sorry for double posting but I wanted to put this in a seperate post. These are the items I'm trying to follow on how to write a good fantasy noval, I'm probely going to break these items a bit but oh well)

These are the exact words used in the book about the Belgariad so you might get a bit confused at some places.



"Alright then, for item number one, I chose paganism. (Note that Papa Tolkien, a devout Anglo-Catholic, took the same route.)
Item number two on our interim list is 'The Quest'. If you don't have a quest, you don't have a story. The quest gives you an excuse ti dash around and meet new people. Otherwise, you stay home and grow turnips or something.

Item number three is 'The Magic Thingamajig' - The Holy Grail, the Ring of Power, the magic sword, the scared book, or (surprise, surprise) THE JEWEL. Everybody knows where I came down on that one. The Magic Thingamajig is usually, though not always, the object of the quest.

Item four is 'Our Hero' - Sir Galahad, Sir Gawaine, Sir Launcelot, or sir Perceval. Galahad is saintly; Gawine is loyal; Launcelot is the heavyweight champion of the world; and Perceval is dumb - at least right at first. I went with Perceval, because he's more fun. A dumb hero is the perfect hero, because he hasn't the faintest idea of what's going on, and in explaining things to him, the writer explains them to his reader. Don't get excited. I'm not putting Garion down. He's innocent more then stupid, in the same way Perceval was. Actually, he's fairly clever, but he's a country boy, so he hasn't been exposed to very much of the world. His Aunt Pol wanted him to be that way, and Polgara has ways to get what she wants.

Item number five is the resident 'Wizard' - Merlin, usually, or Gandalf - might, powerful, and mysterious. I scratched that one right away and went with Belgarath instead, and I think it was the right choice. I've got a seedy old tramp with bad habits - who just incidentally can rip of the tops of mountains if he wants to. I chose to counter him with his daughter, Polgara, who doesn't really approve of him. That sorcerer/sorceress (and father/daughter) pairing broke some new ground, I think.

Item six is our heroine - usually wispy blonde girl who spends most of her time mooning around in a tower. I chose not to go that route, obviousl. Ce'Nedra is a spoiled brat, there's no question about that, but she is a little tiger when the chips are down. She turned out better then I expected.

Item seven is a villain with diabolical connections. I invented Torak, and he served out purpose rather well. I even managed to give him a fairly believable motivation. Milton helped on that one. Torak isn't exactly Lucifer, but he comes close. As usual, he has a number of evil underlings to do his dirty-work for him.

(Stay with me. We're almost done.) Item eight is the obligatory group of 'companions', that supporting cast of assorted muscular types from various cultures who handle most killing and mayhem until the hero grows up to the point where he can do his own violence on the bad guys.

Item nine is the group of ladies who are attached to the bully-boys in item eight. Each of these ladies also needs to be well-defined, with idiosyncrasies and passions of her own.

And finally we come to item ten. Those kings, queens, emperors, courtiers, bureaucrats, et al who are the governments of the kingdoms of the world.

Fin

Like I said I'll bet a million bucks that ypu guys didn't understand half the stuff written there but the layout is seeable. Use it becuase it wasn't fun writting all that up.

I understand, cos I've read those books ^_^

how about he dreams of an evil guy, for example (doesn't have to be dreaming) and he thinks (and the book leads you to believe) taht it is someone after him. So he eventually goes to fight them, and then, in a dramatic way, finds out that this tyrant is infact HIM, ordering deaths and so on...

Hey that's good. Maybe I could do it like he was like possessed and ordered the death and when his like unpossessed he discovers these death or something. Dunno.

I understand too, but why not get away from the obvious and use life as a reasion to travel and the magical thingamajig found later?

(BTW if you ever mention the Druid merlin as a wizard again WE ARE GOING TO HAVE WORDS)

I think it sounds good and because of that I have learnt how to spell thingamajig whoo!

That makes sence but the life thing...... now your going to hit me over the head with something and say "Is there a brain in there a all" or something close to it anyway. -_-

GC, the text with Merlin in it is copied from another source, I believe.

Druids are cool, especially in NeverWinter Nights

eheh, please don't kill me GC :(

You really need another twist too....maybe...hm... I dunno

he never sees his own face and kills his good twin?

Twins are overdone too, aren't they?

His son? hm

Dunno I think I'll have to ponder on this more.... when I've got time.

If you actually read any HISTORY books you would know that Merlyn (to give him his name spelt right) was a well known historical figure-- a high druid. he was also supposedly the teacher of Arthur and trained him for five years in the druid ways which would have made him a bard so there!!!!

so...he used arcane magic rather than natural magic? And sang?

sorry, D&D obsession

*Sigh* No Druid magic, or what you would call magic IS natural, the first qualification in a Druids training is the Bard ( 5 years), from what I remember you learn the oral histories of the order and learn to play an instrument, the next is the ovate (11-13 I think) then it is the druid which takes a total of 20 years, then only the best, wisest and strongest Druids are nominated for the position of high druid. I am sad to say that I no longer know the current high druid of britian's name......

:blink: cool, you know a lot...ooh

No I dont *blush*

more than me, and I get fed with useless and random info by my dad :blink:

I hate to break it to you but this isn't a D&D or history discussion and surely its up to Grogdon if he uses the name Merlin/Merlyn.

well yes but that was written by hang on... *goes to look for the book* .... David and Leigh Eddings in The Rivan Codex.

I knew that. I was pointing out that David Eddings (and, i presume, his wife) used it as an example and many fantasy books use him as a wizard)

Dont do it! Ignore her!