So, I have a number of small humanoid races--anywhere from four feet tall to just a few inches. I had planned the MC of one of my many planned books to be a member of a race just a few inches tall. As I thought about it, I could see one problem--it seems like it would be kind of hard for a maybe-4-inch-tall person to interact with normal sized humans. I've thought about making this race bigger, maybe three or four feet tall. That made another problem more obvious--person from a small race goes off to save the world, sounds like Lord of the Rings.

Is it possible to do something like this without seeming derivative? Would it actually be better to keep the race a few inches tall, and deal with the problems of interacting with larger races? (Could actually make for some interesting situations, I suppose.) I've thought about making the MC and his people ordinary humans, but there are reasons related to the history of the world that humans wouldn't be living where he is. Except a few, but they're supposed to be a separate people group.

Any suggestions?

I think it would be cool to have a super tiny race, just because of all of the complications and problems that come with being so small. It would be complex to work with humans (Would they have any sort of trade between them?), but that's really part of what makes it so interesting.

I say go for it.

Echoing Rin here. I think it would be cool to have a tiny race. It makes for some nice awkward interactions, like in The Silver Chair where Eustace and Jill are in the Giant House of Harfang. XD

If someone wants to criticize you for using an idea that has "been done" before, they're going to, no matter what you do. "Small people saving their world" for values of "small" measured in inches rather than feet describes The Gammage Cup and (if I remember correctly) The Fabulous Flight, among others. (And then there was that series where all these two-inch-tall humans lived in the walls of our houses ...) But that shouldn't necessarily stop you from using "small people" of either size.

Okay, thanks guys. I think I'll keep the tiny people for now and see how it works.

Yeah, true. And I suppose there aren't many completely unique ideas, just ideas used in unique ways.

Oh, you mean The Borrowers? *Loved those books when she was little*

Kingjon has a point. People are going to criticize your work if they want to - all great books have great critics. So just write and create what you have in mind. Let the critics have a cow if they want to. It's your world and you get to choose.

I don't think so---at some point I became aware of a series of books by that name, but I don't think I ever read them.


Mm, that's going quite a bit farther than what I meant to say (and than what I would necessarily agree with). What I meant, and repeat, is that so long as you aren't actually making a straightforward copy of a large element from a classic (or, to a lesser extent, even a more recent) work, or you use it in a radically different way, you shouldn't worry about anyone who dismisses it because "it's been done."

Ah, well, pardon me for misunderstanding you.