Another Kind of Writer's Block

[kriadydragon]

I got this idea for this (original) story that happens to involve unicorns, and I rather like it because it's different, quirky, a little dark and creepy and I think I could have a lot of fun with it. But the reputation of unicorns has become this big, cutsy, fluffy rainbow-pooping, My Little Pony thing that I can't get it out of my head. Seriously, every time I sit down to ponder this story idea stuff like My Little Ponies, The Last Unicorn, Legend, The Adventures so Unico and every cute, fluffy, delicate unicorn related thing keeps popping into my head and it's getting in the way of me pursuing this idea. It's driving me crazy.

I've always been somewhat of a sucker for unicorns. Not as much as dragons - probably not even quite up there with dragons - but enough that I do try to work them into my stories now and then if I can (very rarely, but I try), and I've always wanted to do something unicorn centric.

But these days unicorns have become the stuff of horse-loving little girls and satire, of rainbows, butterflies and cuddly pink bunnies or whatever. Don't get me wrong, we had some great unicorn stuff like The Last Unicorn and Legend but even then they were these dainty, innocent things meant to be protected but mostly sucked at defending themselves. And it keeps tainting my thoughts every time I attempt to plan this story.

And I'm not sure where I'm going with this except to get the frustration of it off my chest. It's not really something I need help with - that is, unless anyone knows any stories that takes a different spin on unicorns? Not evil!unicorns, just... something else, something that isn't the cliche unicorn. I just need to keep tweaking my own story until it finally reaches a point where the cliche unicorn quits trying to jump in and take over.

Comments

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I find this topic of great interest.
Although they are definitely a part of fantasy, I still remember them from Legend, I have never have seen them as something cute and fluffy......
I guess it is why I am able to envision them in an entirely different light in a piece of ff.....similar to how Tolkien depicted elves in his LOTR saga
I am sure some were surprised given the normal depiction of them in literature etc.

[sholio]

Heh, there's a unicorn character in the series of urban fantasy novels I'm currently working on - he's a very minor character (and I haven't gotten to his scenes yet - he's in the third novel) but my general idea is that he changes between human and unicorn form (like dragons in books often do) and he's something of a sleazoid who goes around hanging out in bars and hitting on virgins ... not really dangerous, but very annoying.

The only fictional unicorn I can think of off the top of my head that isn't all sweetness and light is in a Roger Zelazny short story ("Unicorn Variations") in which the unicorn is playing chess with the main character for the fate of all humankind. It's been so long since I read it that I don't remember how it ended, but I do remember that the unicorn was basically just a regular person, albeit unicorn-shaped.

Anyway, I imagine none of that is useful at all, but I hope you do write this! Clearly there is an open market niche for it. The only book I can think of with a unicorn protagonist is The Last Unicorn, and that was ages ago. I'd love to see more books that step outside the vampire & werewolf thing that is so popular right now ... there are other mythological creatures out there, after all.

Oh, and you might check out the Wikipedia article on unicorns for inspiration; it talks a lot about the historical origins of the unicorn myth, and different versions of unicorns that might be useful to you.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

I like putting new spins on old concepts, so I love the evil unicorn idea. The trouble I always have when contemplating original fantasy, is coming up with a new spin since my brain is crammed with all the fantasy I read as a kid.

[aim2misbhave.livejournal.com]

IDK if you've read The Chronicles of Narnia before, but one book, The Last Battle, has a unicorn in it that's not fluffyness and rainbows. But, on the other hand, it's heavily influenced by Christian mythology and there's some stuff in there that can be seen as anti-Islamic or as "All good people go to heaven and if you don't want heaven you make your own afterlife" so IDK how you'd feel about that.

It seems to me that there's also a unicorn in Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust, but I can't remember too many details.

[bratfarrar]

Well, for a very much non-cutesy take on unicorns, there's always Ursula Vernon. She also has a couple snippets of fic over at DeviantArt that present yet another type of unicorn from the viewpoint of someone who's not impressed.

Re: Another Kind of Writer's Block

[simon skiles (from livejournal.com)]

Try this story:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NIFSTS/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_Tk5fob1WY3JC7

The Unicorns in it are definitely not fuzzy.