How acceptable are book "reboots"?

[WillAdams]

There's an interesting example of this in the literature, Poul Anderson's _The Broken Sword_ --- when it was re-printed later in his life, the author felt obliged to touch it up some, improving the sword-fighting scenes (he'd spent decades of his life since writing the original participating in the S.C.A.) and removing the appearance of a being, replacing him w/ an impersonator (another character from the story). Recently the original was re-printed, and I've been meaning to find time to read it in a close comparison w/ the touched-up version I read.

Also, C.J. Cherryh chose to markedly change the ending to her _Dreamstone_/_Tree of Swords and Jewels_ duology when it was re-printed --- I've consciously chosen to not track down the newer version, 'cause I'm worried about it detracting from the very moving / poignant original.

[Steven Lake]

Originally Posted by teh603

I'll be honest, I'm considering resetting my fantasy world to something more Tolkein-esque. Given how I've been stuck at one sale for a year or two, it can't hurt, can it?

I'd say go for it. The further I get into this, the more problems I find that I didn't catch when I originally wrote it. So really I'm glad I went back and worked on this. It's slowly becoming more of the story I originally envisioned it to be without all the newbie writing issues.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by teh603

I'll be honest, I'm considering resetting my fantasy world to something more Tolkein-esque. Given how I've been stuck at one sale for a year or two, it can't hurt, can it?

Sometimes, I can't abide another Elf that wants to go West...

Also, I intend to majorily put my world upside down, by having people with Asian sounding names in the West, people with Greek sounding names in the North, and others with Celtic names somehwere around the location of Japan.

I think many fantasy worlds bear too much resemblance to our own world, with regard to locations and customs. In a fantasy-world, an Asian-like culture does NOT have to be in the East, for example, black people don't all HAVE to come from the south... and so on.

Also, many worlds lean too much on Tolkien. Elves don't HAVE to be in the West, don't HAVE to have their own home to which they want to return all the time (even further West), Dwarves don't NEED to be stone-loving, hammer-wielding fighters that live under mountains.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Also, many worlds lean too much on Tolkien. Elves don't HAVE to be in the West, don't HAVE to have their own home to which they want to return all the time (even further West), Dwarves don't NEED to be stone-loving, hammer-wielding fighters that live under mountains.

If they don't live under mountains and deal in stone and metal, then how are they dwarfs?

Tolkien didn't invent/define dwarfs, he just used the pre-existing mythologies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_(Germanic_mythology)

[gmw]

To add to what eschwartz already said: if you're going to use dwarf or elf, then do so in order to borrow from people's existing expectations - at least to a certain extent. This does not say they cannot have variations on the traditional theme (eg: your vampires can be shiny ), but the traditional forms are the starting point.

Or to phrase this in the reverse: if you start by calling something a dwarf or an elf then the reader will automatically attach certain attributes that you then have to turn if they don't fit. If there is nothing traditionally dwarf-like or elf-like about your characters then you would be better off avoid using that term.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by gmw

Or to phrase this in the reverse: if you start by calling something a dwarf or an elf then the reader will automatically attach certain attributes that you then have to turn if they don't fit. If there is nothing traditionally dwarf-like or elf-like about your characters then you would be better off avoid using that term.

This. Some deviation is normal, if it is drastically different, call it a different name. Obviously its your book, you do want you want, but in general anything you call "elf" should mostly fit the "elf" stereotype for best results when attempting to communicate to your reader. The goal is to tell a story so well your reader is lost in it. Anything you put as a barrier to that (as in non-elf,elves) just makes your job that much harder.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

This. Some deviation is normal, if it is drastically different, call it a different name. Obviously its your book, you do want you want, but in general anything you call "elf" should mostly fit the "elf" stereotype for best results when attempting to communicate to your reader. The goal is to tell a story so well your reader is lost in it. Anything you put as a barrier to that (as in non-elf,elves) just makes your job that much harder.

You're quite right of course, but I'm still of the opinion that not every Elf or Dwarf has to be an exact copy of the Tolkien Elf or Dwarf

I'm in complete agreement that you shouldn't be describing a short, stocky fellow, about 4 to 5 feet high with a beard woven into braids, wielding a hammer and an axe, and then calling him an Elf. That's too big a difference

Still I'm of the opinion that there can be considerable variation between Elves, in such a way that they're not all carbon copies of the Tolkien ones. They can still be easily recognizable as Elves.

[eschwartz]

Generically speaking, what would you say an elf is? There seem to be a few opinions I have come across.

Dwarfs are of course short bearded folk who are masters of mining/smithing, and probably like axes (and gold), which still leaves room for Tolkienizing or not.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Generically speaking, what would you say an elf is? There seem to be a few opinions I have come across.

For appearance, between 160cm and 180cm tall, looking somewhat like this:



But, with (much) longer hair and a lot more emotions

As for all I care, Elves don't always have to be some sort of god-like esoteric super-beautiful creatures, who are always better at anything than anyone else, who want to go West to their home island all the time. And they also don't have to lament about the past all the time as if they're in the middle of a manic depression.