Portals to another world -- cliche or imaginitive?

It's called Fushigi Yugi. It's awesome but can get a little Mary Janeish.

rosemerry said:

... A book is the portal. When you read the book you get pulled into...

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Sounds like what happens in Neverending Story--kid gets pulled into the book when he starts reading it. Kind of a cool idea.

peevy said:

Sounds like what happens in Neverending Story--kid gets pulled into the book when he starts reading it. Kind of a cool idea.

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Cornelia Funke's Inkheart turns the idea on its ear--when Dad reads out loud, his voice is so magical that characters pop out and come to life. So then the MC has to learn how to do it in reverse so everybody can get back into the book where they belong.

Rather than use a portal or doorway I've used a mysterious disappearance from a locked room , as in the Sherlock Holmes locked room syndrome. The room is a trophy room and full of stuffed animals. With a ghost kicking around it creates an atmosphere.
But the point is to get people not to believe in it and then to catch them out...

Carrie R. said:

I agree with most everything said -- I love a unique portal story. But I also remember someone (agent blog maybe?) that questioned why you need the portal and why not just start in the other world?

I also know that Rachel Vater hates portals (not that it matters...)

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That was Kristen Nelson. I can find the link if you want to read it.
Some of my friends and I were talking about portals the other day. Two of us said that if we came across a portal, we'd jump in without hesitation. Our third friend said she'd throw in a cat first!

You too! I would totally go through a portal and then I would probably die.

ghost said:

That was Kristen Nelson. I can find the link if you want to read it.
Some of my friends and I were talking about portals the other day. Two of us said that if we came across a portal, we'd jump in without hesitation. Our third friend said she'd throw in a cat first!

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Oh, no, not a cat, they never cooperate. If it was any good on the other side, the cat would just wander off and never tell you!

A little brother would work, though.

or a well trained dog.

rosemerry said:

or a well trained dog.

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I wouldn't trust my dog. I've seen the things she thinks are good to eat....

In The Book of Kells by RA MacAvoy, they send a chicken through first.

Evaine said:

In The Book of Kells by RA MacAvoy, they send a chicken through first.

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Did it come back as an egg?

Weatherby said:

Obviously, there is much more to the story than just the journey to an unknown place. Still, there remains the question: Just how many times can this device be recycled before young readers hurl our books to the ground and cry, "Enough! I need originality!"?

What's your take on the portal-to-another-world plot backbone?

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If the book is interesting, the reader will not hurl it away. Portals to another worlds are traditional. Such as Elves, Dryads, dragons, knights etc.

As for me, I try to use those traditional things in a somewhat experimental way, just to make my stories fresh.

Besides, how can you possibly deliver your characters to some other fairy world without a portal? By bus?

ghost said:

Some of my friends and I were talking about portals the other day. Two of us said that if we came across a portal, we'd jump in without hesitation. Our third friend said she'd throw in a cat first!

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I've been thinking about this for a loong time and I was always a little worried about my tendency to choose death and disaster in a fairy world over normal life. A portal? I'd jump head first into the sea if someone persuaded me it was a portal (maybe I'd learn to swim first, though.)

I don't think something as universal as a portal can be overdone. I mean, it can be done in so many ways that you stop thinking of it as a portal. Besides, a portal means connection between the real world and the fantasy realm, and I've found that adds wonder to a story. You can read and imagine that everything is true, that all that wonder is hidden somewhere and you must only find a book/a train station and open your eyes. There's no other way to get that feeling. Of course there's the LotR way where everything's tinged with melancholy of the past, but that's a completely different sort of wonder.

I don't think portals will ever become too cliche to be used. Unless a lot of people start writing Harry Potter rip-offs using the same portal over and over again until they've bored the audience to tears. And maybe not even then.

There are only three unbreakable rules in writing. Unfortunately, nobody can agree as to what they are.

You can start your story with "Once upon a time..." if you can make it work.

Portals are great. To suggest dropping them would be like saying, "Monsters have been so over-used. Best not use them." Substitute "monsters" with virtually any other element in books and it all applies.

Make the story unique and yours. Write what you like to read. Period.

I really wish there was a portal under my desk right now.