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No

18 (50%)

Total Members Voted: 36

[Vector]

I find your gender-stereotyping for the various elements kind of interesting.

Not that you can't, just that I figured I should tell you those genders and ways of matching temperament to element have been done buckets of times.

[Loud Whispers]

Depends on how decent the first few chapters set up the book to be

Definitely doesn't sound like something I would read without this thread popping up first though, although I don't know your writing style or anything so I'd give it a chance :]
(I smell a few cliches btwD:)

[Flying Dice]

Depends on how decent the first few chapters set up the book to be

Definitely doesn't sound like something I would read without this thread popping up first though, although I don't know your writing style or anything so I'd give it a chance :]
(I smell a few cliches btwD:)

Pretty much this, though I'd probably be too busy throwing even more of my money at Pterry to notice anything new. 

[Silleh Boy]

When it comes to writing and literature, a lot of plots and ideas have been done to death already, so it's hard to come up with anything that people don't already feel they know well enough from the past ten things that had a similar theme, or something that's innovative without seeming too out there for people to relate to.

It's sadly a lot easier to say "I know this type of idea" and "I know these stereotypes" from an overview of things than it is to have faith in the author's ability to make the idea work, to have the story be gripping in whatever manner.

While the idea may not be anything that hasn't been seen before, if you let others dictate to you that this isn't going to work and you believe them, then you'll never give writing it a chance to see if you yourself are happy with what you're producing - If people can make a name from schoolboy wizards and sparkly vampires, then you have a chance to make a name from this.

At the very least, if you believe in your idea, in what you have envisioned for this, then you should get it at least in part down on paper¹ so you can see if you like where it's going or not.

While it's not quite on the same scale, if I'd given up thanks to my lack of faith in my own writing while producing the fine² work I did on the forums at some point, then i'd never have had the chance to find that as poor as I thought my writing and work to be, that there were people that after reading what I wrote, had faith in my ability to entertain them³.


If you wrote it, it may not be my cup of tea, but i'd give reading it a shot to see if I'd enjoy it.
Dismissing something before you've seen it after all, isn't very fair.


¹ Or some suitable digital medium equvilent to paper.
² Crap
³ I think I need to thank these people in an appropriate thread, now I think about it.

[Dutchling]

As long as your characters are more important than the plot I doubt your really terrible plot will prevent your book from going into space.
And I think it is Njet.

Also, I voted yes assuming you are a decent writer.

[Telgin]

I agree with most of what has been said here.  The idea doesn't really wow me, but I think perhaps it's just because maybe I'm not part of the target audience.  I also get turned off the moment I see the idea of multiple elements being assigned to special people.  It can be done without boring me, but it's tough.

I'm in the same boat as you though.  I've been aspiring to actually break into published fiction some day for a few years now.  I just royally suck at coming up with plots, so I haven't actually gone anywhere with it.  My attempts at making reasonably new plots just come out boring.

[Max White]

... IDEA IS MINE! STAY OFF IT!!!

... I honestly like this idea better than OP's

...I honestly agree. But I don't think I could write that complicated of a story. Seven characters in this one, total. Everyone else is dead. The fifth-most important man in the story is a airport attendant in Russia. Everyone else is a main character or far away.

I'm pretty sure it has also been done by somebody sometime. Can't think who and where right now, but it sounds second hand.

[FuzzyZergling]

Question: Have you read Homestuck?

As to answering your question, I have absolutely no idea if I would read something like that or not without actually reading some of it.
I mostly judge what to read based on reading the first few pages.

[fqllve]

It's not an idea I'm personally interested by, no. But I do think it is the kind of idea that will appeal to a substantial audience.

However, I'd say the best way to make it work would be to completely scrap your ideas on characters and instead base the ways your characters act on the way people in the real world act, then go back and justify that according to their element. That way the characters will really outshine their elemental affiliation. That's really the key to YA success, characters the audience can respect, admire, and imagine themselves as. Young adults are looking for idols.

Again, really? Couldn't we have seven elements having incredible powers over teenagers, so that these deity like figures must try to manipulate otherwise normal kids into cold blooded killers and use them as pawns in their sick game of chess?

Haha. I... actually wrote that story. It was the first "serious" thing I ever wrote. I am somewhat embarrassed by it these days.

[Powder Miner]

Can I suggest not making Dark evil?

Dark is near -always- evil, and it might just be me, but (at least imo) stories that have dark being not actually evil are pretty good.

[King DZA]

If I somehow managed to obtain your book free of any material price, I would give it a chance.

[The Fool]

If you do go the route of dark as evil, have the character be normal for a long time. Something like emotional trauma, differing opinions, a second personality created by the elemental, and being separated can lead to being evil over time, but not instantly. Nothing is stopping the water elemental from drowning people, or the fire elemental from burning people. Unless the dark elemental is a homicidal maniac from the start I would build that up in your character development. Having a main adversary (or at least an initial one) can help if you want to go this route.

[Max White]

Really, again? Why not have the protagonists assigned elements based on personal weaknesses, rather than strengths? The 'dark' guy is in fact the friendliest and most outgoing, in a similar manner that the 'water' guy can't swim. The given elements aren't just some two dimensional window to express a shallow character arch type, they symbolise internal conflict and struggle.

It is still bullshit, but more stylised bullshit, at least to the level that you can trick the average twitard into thinking it is good, and look much those sold.

[Karnewarrior]

Can I suggest not making Dark evil?

Dark is near -always- evil, and it might just be me, but (at least imo) stories that have dark being not actually evil are pretty good.

I thought about it but the Dark Elemental was best suited emotionally.

I've been considering adding in the Japanese Twins earlier. One of them is a Dark Elemental who's certainly not evil. She's sorta batman-ish, to be accurate.

But they're supposed to come in during the sequel, along with more elementals in general. They honestly work better second-generation, especially since the light one is the one that starts tempting Water out of the closet. They would work well enough in the first generation, though I don't know how much they would clash. Conflict between the main cast is paramount and while they would break down with Fire, Water, and Air that's only three out of then 8 heroes. The others would be perfectly accepting, which wouldn't make much of a story. They work to well as glue.

Therefore Dark is presumed evil until book II at which point I also have another red herring to subvert expectations.

Gah. 'Ritin be a hard thing to do.

Really, again? Why not have the protagonists assigned elements based on personal weaknesses, rather than strengths? The 'dark' guy is in fact the friendliest and most outgoing, in a similar manner that the 'water' guy can't swim. The given elements aren't just some two dimensional window to express a shallow character arch type, they symbolise internal conflict and struggle.

It is still bullshit, but more stylised bullshit, at least to the level that you can trick the average twitard into thinking it is good, and look much those sold.

Well, the Element is assigned mostly due to personality. The Water Elemental was born in a desert (iraq) but because she's a leveling force and can take but hardly ever give ground she gets water. Her stubborness is a part of her persoanlity and is reflected by her element, instead of the other way around. So while she is a water elemental she actually can't swim, never having had a chance to do so. She can breathe underwater though, so she can learn quickly.

If you do go the route of dark as evil, have the character be normal for a long time. Something like emotional trauma, differing opinions, a second personality created by the elemental, and being separated can lead to being evil over time, but not instantly. Nothing is stopping the water elemental from drowning people, or the fire elemental from burning people. Unless the dark elemental is a homicidal maniac from the start I would build that up in your character development. Having a main adversary (or at least an initial one) can help if you want to go this route.

I was thinking about this. She's definitely not obviously evil. She's a bit sadistic, and certainly a bluh bluh huge bitch, but she's hardly the one you'd expect to have a meatlocker full of corpses. There's certainly more likely canidates around. Air is outright stated (by herself no less) to be insane. It isn't until the first main character death they know who did it.

If I somehow managed to obtain your book free of any material price, I would give it a chance.

I wanted to try putting it online and going for the donation route, but decided against it. I live sparsely, but not that much.

Can I suggest not making Dark evil?

Dark is near -always- evil, and it might just be me, but (at least imo) stories that have dark being not actually evil are pretty good.

Dark as an element isn't. It's the girl with the power who's evil.

[Max White]

Ok, new idea. Everybody follows the standard 'Save the world! Power of friendship! GOOOO Captain Planet!' type of ass hat personality, except for one guy who has to put up with it all, and it basically Karkat.
It would be called 'Karkat in MLP'