Critique my idea?

[Glory to Alexa]

-=Thread needs to be edited for style and clarity. I'm on it.=-

Elves.

I love them. Just one problem. I'm getting tired of the regal, semi-divine elves seen in the fantasy I read and write. I need to start working with a new type of elf:

First, they be incredibly beautiful. (Of course I know that is already true about most elves. Let me continue.) They are not only beautiful, they are somewhat promiscuous and accepting of nudity. Next, they are protective of nature, yet fond of technology (This is the modern day. There be no magic to play with.). As a result, they are very fond of things like hydrogen cars and recyclable materiels. Subraces, like Dark Elves, are simply separate ethnic groups, like how white people and black people are separate, but of the same race.

Elves love to drink, dance, swear, party, blare their rock music, get tattoos and piercing, and generally enjoy life. This is a major part of elven culture. Dangerously load punk rock/metal/country/rap/pop is fun. Wild dancing is fun. Being as vulgar as possible is fun. Public fornication is fun (and legal!). Contact sports are fun. Drunken parties are fun. However, the loud, boisterous side is not the only side elves posses. Elves are also big fans of the less in your face arts, and have been know to listen to quieter forms of music at times, too. Elves are generally well educated in the fields of music, history, literature, and art, less so in the fields of math and science (As a general rule. There are elven mathematicians and scientists.), which gives them a very undeserved reputation for stupidity. Drama and romance stories are very popular among the elves, as are action and war stories.

As for outsiders elves are generally friendly towards foreigners unless given a reason to act otherwise. However, once angered elves make incredibly good soldiers, as all adult elves train for warfare and keep an assault rifle handy in their house. This tradition stems from frequent foreign invasions. Many elves take this even further, becoming professional soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marines. The art of warfare is constantly romanticized in elven culture. What do you expect?  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

Hmm... could be interesting, depending on what they're in/how the story is written.

All in all, I'd like to see more.  

[Only Sissies Write]

You can - nay, you should - do whatever you want with elves. Cliches get boring after a while. To stand out, take the basic elements of elves (love of nature, beauty, and having a good time) and do something new with it. You've put them into the 21st century and taken away their magic. The only thing I'd change is to make them more educated in science, namely biology and environmental sciences, to tie in with their love of nature and understanding of life.

Let's see a new kind of elf.

Elves, dwarves, vampires (especially vampires), etc. are all horribly stereotyped and cliched nowadays.  

[Creator of Destruction]

New takes on classic ideas are always a good thing. It's part of why Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series was so popular--the elves in that story were badass police officers. wink I say, go with it. It sounds like a good starting point for an urban fantasy.  

[SpunkMonkey]

Glory to Alexa

-=Thread needs to be edited for style and clarity. I'm on it.=-

Elves.

I love them. Just one problem. I'm getting tired of the regal, semi-divine elves seen in the fantasy I read and write. I need to start working with a new type of elf:

First, they be incredibly beautiful. (Of course I know that is already true about most elves. Let me continue.) They are not only beautiful, they are somewhat promiscuous and accepting of nudity. Next, they are protective of nature, yet fond of technology (This is the modern day. There be no magic to play with.). As a result, they are very fond of things like hydrogen cars and recyclable materiels. Subraces, like Dark Elves, are simply separate ethnic groups, like how white people and black people are separate, but of the same race.

Elves love to drink, dance, swear, party, blare their rock music, get tattoos and piercing, and generally enjoy life. This is a major part of elven culture. Dangerously load punk rock/metal/country/rap/pop is fun. Wild dancing is fun. Being as vulgar as possible is fun. Public fornication is fun (and legal!). Contact sports are fun. Drunken parties are fun. However, the loud, boisterous side is not the only side elves posses. Elves are also big fans of the less in your face arts, and have been know to listen to quieter forms of music at times, too. Elves are generally well educated in the fields of music, history, literature, and art, less so in the fields of math and science (As a general rule. There are elven mathematicians and scientists.), which gives them a very undeserved reputation for stupidity. Drama and romance stories are very popular among the elves, as are action and war stories.

As for outsiders elves are generally friendly towards foreigners unless given a reason to act otherwise. However, once angered elves make incredibly good soldiers, as all adult elves train for warfare and keep an assault rifle handy in their house. This tradition stems from frequent foreign invasions. Many elves take this even further, becoming professional soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marines. The art of warfare is constantly romanticized in elven culture. What do you expect?

Your elves and their partying sound a lot like dwarves. No offense. Just thought tha tI would point that out.  

[The Original Jbird]

Elves?
Hasn't been done to death. It could be interesting ;D

 

[Mia_MaxRide]

Excellent. This is a... far out idea with the origional twist still there. if you keep the basic ideas of the elves, the grace, the engery, and adapt or evolve the rest of it, you have a winner. Characters and figures need to evolve, thats what makes them stick with us.  

[Lottielight]

I agree, bringing elves into the 21st century is a brilliant idea. I like the elimination of magic, its a good twist and keeping the elven love for nature ensures that any reader can connect with the basic principles of elves.

smile I look forward to seeing what you do with this idea.  

[Moniquill]

This sounds really interesting and like a VERY fun read - but I'm wondering about the sustainability of the society; this might just be skewed toward the description, but they sound like they've got a very 'cheerfully band of soldiers' thing going on, which doesn't leave a lot of room for things like kids (where do children slot into this society? What constitutes adulthood?)

Also, tangentially; if you're looking for solid examples of environmentally conscious design this documentary series: http://www.hulu.com/design-e2 covers it in SPADES. (I'm lifting from it extensively in my Steampunk AU for the projected development of NDN cultures that are not conquered/genocided in my alternate timeline.)  

[Stoobs is back]

If you're going to take the idea of elves and bring it into the modern (I assume Earth-like) world, be careful how you do it.

How did they evolve? How long ago did they and humans diverge from their common ancestor, and how did this affect development of the two species?

Has there been a history of warfare between elves and humans, or between alliances of humans and elves against other humans and elves?

Can they cross-breed with humans? How does elven society see this?

You said they are promiscuous, and 'fornicate in public'.
Are your elves at a high risk of STDs? If not, why? Do many fights start because of how many partners an elf will take?

What is their child-rearing behaviour like? Who acts as the father figure for a child - the biological father, or whoever the mother happens to be 'fornicating' with?


You have an interesting idea, but to bring it over from the realms of 'modern' fantasy into an alternate history sort of idea, which is what you seem to be going for, then these and more issues about how society and every day lives work within elven society need to be addressed.

Good luck cool