Your Princess is in Another Castle...

[tjcliff]

Hello folks! Long time, no post! I popped in a while back and then I got SUPER swamped with a new job and a growing family, but I'm in the process of devoting a little more time to my writing pursuits...Huzzah!

In my time away, I've spent a lot of time in the conceptual stages of a WIP, and have enjoyed a lot of my time over at TVTROPES.ORG. For those of you who aren't familiar, it is the blackest hole of the internet, in the sense that your concept of time will stop while you twist and turn through the labyrinth of links from page to page. It's like a wikipedia for those with an inclination toward literature, but anyone can take a lot away from it.

- Anyway -

The reason I wanted to start this thread was because I've been reading a lot about plot structure and whatnot and trying to apply it to my WIP. I find myself drawn to the "Princess Rescue" story arc. There is something quintessentially FANTASY-esque about it, and I think it would be very accessible for any audience. There would be, of course, some ways I intend to make it unique, but at the base level my hero's job would be to save a princess.

With that said, I wonder if it's a little TOO accessible. Is this plotline too overdone? Some of the first stories we hear about are valiant men fighting bravely to rescue the damsel, often from the maws of the [INSERT MYTHICAL BEAST HERE]. I think everyone's biggest fear as a writer is to be boring - does this make publishers (and more importantly, readers) yawn and turn on the television?

What do YOU think?

[Kristen]

Well, to put it in TV Trope speak, if you either subvert the trope or lampshade it, you should be able to get away with it. I mean, Tangled did pretty well, and it is litterally the classic rescued princess story. As long as you can put a unique twist on it, I say go for it.

[Joel P.]

The title of your post makes me laugh, and I have to say: if that's the premise, or part of the premise, it would be very fun.

The real question I think you need to ask yourself is whether you want this to be a comedy or a serious work. If it's comedic, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to use these stereotypical elements with little to no alteration. But if you're aiming for a more serious work, the stereotypes need to be carefully dealt with and masked or subverted.

In either case, I would say it's entirely possible that there exists a special class of warrior, trained for years to do nothing but rescue imperiled female nobles.

[stormiel]

If there's a will there's a way. There are hundreds of ways to revamp that story line. As long as you don't go the Snow White route you'll probably be fine. If I see one more Snow White re-telling I'm going to disown my TV and possibly Amazon, ok we. But the princess rescue story line could be interesting in a number of ways. If you have original realistic characters and an exciting road for them to travel and something that makes your audience care you should't have a hard time finding a reader.

[fluke]

If it's comedic (and the thread title takes me there), I'd say lampshade away.

If it's serious, I'd worry less about the tropes and just tell a good story. Actually, even if comedic, I wouldn't spend much time at TVTropes. Not because I think it's a terrible thing that leads to people becoming jaded. Because it is a sinkhole of time.

Jan 24, 2014 22:42:24 GMT -5 Joel P. said:

In either case, I would say it's entirely possible that there exists a special class of warrior, trained for years to do nothing but rescue imperiled female nobles.

Stop that! I just got rolling on a serious fantasy work the other day (sequel to Rebirths) and now that's in my head!