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How Epics Fail

1. The world is too big to save:
(Tab)Quite simply, there never has been in written history an event that would have destroyed the entire world had it not been for one person or a small group of people. It's unrealistic. The world is simply too large. Save-the-World stories have to resort to unusual and bizarre threats. Oh, no; Earth's magnetic field stops to work!

2. Insufficient Motives:
(Tab)You have just been told that you are the only one who can save the human race. What do you do? Panic! Surely there's someone else more qualified. . .I can't take that stress. . .I wanna go home! Saving the world is a big task. Like a hot potato, humans want to pass it on to the next person. Any chance of backing out will be taken.

3. Irrelevance to the Reader
(Tab)Sure the tension may be exciting, but. . . Really, the situations inherent to such are a story are alien to the reader.

4. Too large for Life Characters
(Tab)The kind of character that it takes is simply "too large for life." Ever noticed the lack of perfect heroes in real life? And you expect your reader to care about and identify with your character? No thanks. I'm sorry Mr. Gary Stu, but we think that we can dispense with your services.

5. Enough in Existence already
(Tab)A little originality please?
I completely agree with you.
Baby, you just saved my world!

Yeah, they are annoying. I don't think I've ever actually read any "save the world" stories just because they don't tend to be the types of stories I would even bother to pick up, but I agree with you in principle.
Yay! Break out the pie!
I take it you're a fan of realistic fiction...

actually I disagree. The world isn't actually that big... anyway, in a lot of fantasy epics at least, the "known world" is a lot smaller. And I think that if they world was really, really going to end, you're not going to sit around and do nothing. I mean, I can understand there will be stress, but honestly no one is just going to sit there and say, "No, I don't think so. I'd rather die." And if they are the "Chosen One" or whatever, it's more likely they will succeed.
Yeah, I know it can be unrealistic... but isn't that the point of an epic? if you want real life, read non-fiction.
Repeat after me, kids: no single concept is inherently bad, it's how it's written.

The 'save the world' trope is overworn and inherently implausible, but I will excuse it in the right setting. It fits in perfectly in genres which already contain high levels of implausibility, such as superhero comics.

I'm inclined to agree with your points - I can remember thinking, as a young 'un, that it was interesting how the world gets saved all the time in films and books, and there's never been such an event in real life - but the concept's really not that bad if the story is otherwise compelling and fun.

Still, there are other more interesting things to be worked with, and stories more complex and deep than your typical epic quest tale are to be welcomed.
Sad but true. Saving the world is for losers.
Spatterdash
Repeat after me, kids: no single concept is inherently bad, it's how it's written.

The 'save the world' trope is overworn and inherently implausible, but I will excuse it in the right setting. It fits in perfectly in genres which already contain high levels of implausibility, such as superhero comics.

I'm inclined to agree with your points - I can remember thinking, as a young 'un, that it was interesting how the world gets saved all the time in films and books, and there's never been such an event in real life - but the concept's really not that bad if the story is otherwise compelling and fun.

Still, there are other more interesting things to be worked with, and stories more complex and deep than your typical epic quest tale are to be welcomed.


I agree - epic quests are generally boring, but can be made interesting with a little creativity.
glisandra
I take it you're a fan of realistic fiction...

Why?

Fantasy doesn't have to be about saving the world. In fact, it often isn't. You can have a completely "unrealistic" story have nothing to do with any dangers outside of the main character's head.

glisandra
The world isn't actually that big... anyway, in a lot of fantasy epics at least, the "known world" is a lot smaller.

And if we compare the "known world" to any historical equivalents, there still have never been dangers of that magnitude. And while I admit that it would be perfectly interesting for a story or two, to say that anything that isn't that is automatically delegated to the "realistic fiction" category is nothing short of stifling.

glisandra
And I think that if they world was really, really going to end, you're not going to sit around and do nothing.

Speak for yourself. If the world were going to end, I'd hide in my house, close the curtains, and hope for the best (and possibly s**t myself a little).

glisandra
And if they are the "Chosen One" or whatever, it's more likely they will succeed.

Speaking of another convention I absolutely hate...

glisandra
Yeah, I know it can be unrealistic... but isn't that the point of an epic? if you want real life, read non-fiction.

Your dichotomy of "epic" or "non-fiction" is incredibly limiting. (Not to mention that it excludes 99.99999% of stories ever written - including fantasy.)
glisandra
I take it you're a fan of realistic fiction...

actually I disagree. The world isn't actually that big... anyway, in a lot of fantasy epics at least, the "known world" is a lot smaller. And I think that if they world was really, really going to end, you're not going to sit around and do nothing. I mean, I can understand there will be stress, but honestly no one is just going to sit there and say, "No, I don't think so. I'd rather die." And if they are the "Chosen One" or whatever, it's more likely they will succeed.
Yeah, I know it can be unrealistic... but isn't that the point of an epic? if you want real life, read non-fiction.


Actually I write mostly fantasy. xd Not, the epic sort though, it's too boring for me actually. And, this may come as a surprise, but fantasy should be true to the principles of real life. Just a thought.
And it's hard to think up a reason for the end of the world. An evil invader is not the end. A great plague isn't either. The same goes for other great disasters.
And, no; teenagers could not save the world.
Mmmm, I agree in general but take slight issue with point one. This sort of stuff usually occurs in a fantasy setting, where the evils are generally a lot more direct and high-powered than any of our real-world threats (except maybe nukes, but no one ever uses those). I don't think the world is necessarily too large to save if you're talking spec-fic.

And re. point 3: This is why I write character-centered fiction. Saving the world is only a backdrop.

glisandra
I take it you're a fan of realistic fiction...

I think that if they world was really, really going to end, you're not going to sit around and do nothing. I mean, I can understand there will be stress, but honestly no one is just going to sit there and say, "No, I don't think so. I'd rather die." And if they are the "Chosen One" or whatever, it's more likely they will succeed.
Yeah, I know it can be unrealistic... but isn't that the point of an epic? if you want real life, read non-fiction.
There's a difference between "realistic fiction" and "actually makes a lick of sense".

I do get your point about no decent person sitting there and not doing anything, but how many people are actually willing to accept something like The End Of The World, especially without any real conclusive proof? Your average person would be skeptical at the very least. And yet the hero more often than not just goes hoppity-skip after the designated mentor character without more than a "Wow, really?" No one objects to heroes doing things, we just object to them being brainless sheep.
glisandra
I take it you're a fan of realistic fiction...


Sometimes, you can save the world in reality. Like, for instance, putting a stop to an imminent nuclear disaster in, say, Iran. It's completely realistic if you're into that whole "Why is the Iranian President getting better Constitutional rights than us American citizens?" thing.
Quote:
it's unrealistic
Yes, that's why it's called fiction.

I agree that there'll be no real 'end of the world' situation, but I've never seen a book with the concept of 'saving the world' taking itself too seriously. It's a concept meant to entretain (even the original, medieval concept), therefore it's not something that's going to be overdeveloped.
This is how my 'epic' is going to work.

My main character learns that his world is very small, and composed of patchwork elements that don't make much sense. He's able to remove these patchwork elements by saying that they don't make any sense, but by doing so, he's just made the world that much smaller.

This kid was born with this power -- he wasn't really chosen, that's just the way things are for him. But because of that, the world will probably be destroyed little by little, until there's nothing left to survive on. It may be easy to kill one person, but the killer who understands why this guy could destroy parts of the world so easily will begin to think like him, whether he likes it or not. The killer has the life on his conscience and will not help but ponder why he had to kill the guy, and even though it's for the greater good, he'll acknowledge that things don't make much sense either, and will start to destroy the world, too. Ideas are contagious.

I refuse to believe that in the reader's life, everything has always made perfect sense, or when it hasn't, they've always received an intelligent, sensical response; many times, they're yelled at for questioning. Life doesn't work perfectly, and though little bits of the world aren't destroyed because they make no sense, but everyone's felt punishment for speaking up, and like the main character, may have learned to keep their mouth shut in fear.

Who says the characters in the epic have to be larger than life? Let's just look at them realistically. Also, because the main character is more likely to destroy the world than to save it, he doesn't have to be a paragon of perfection like these saviors have to be.

I can't exactly argue with the last point, though, but there are also too many high-school stories, stories warning about drug use, stories about vampires, stories about World War II, political satires, and science fiction that speculates on genetics, but you don't see anyone stopping those, either.
Britomartis-the-Valiant
And, no; teenagers could not save the world.
Try telling that to Harry Potter and JK Rowling.

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