Hmmm.
I've spent a lot of time World-Building, and only finally getting around to writing (in any "real" publication-hopeful sense of the word), I've been toying around a lot with trying to come up with a plot. As a new and budding writer, Plot terrifies me. I still struggle to come up with interesting stories that are filled with "need" and "suspense" in an interesting not overdone fashion.
But apart from all this, after reading this thread, I've come upon a sort of difficulty—I have a fairly elaborate world which is specifically Tolkienesque Fantasy (Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, Dragons, yup). Granted, it's a completely new creation, with several twists of its own (and some completely new races/creatures, etc.), but escaping the "Tolkien stereotype" is impossible with this world.
Will it and should it be held against me or my writing? I admit that it's not the most ultimately Creative—Tolkien did something incredible with his Fantasy. He took common English mythology (lore/stories/superstition, in addition to actual mythology), and transformed it into something new and wonderful. Now, for an American (particularly raised as I was), this is all but impossible. Tolkien was raised with those stories as a boy. I was raised with Tolkien, Heman, and X-men as a boy. I have done a deal of studying mythology on my own, as well, and the Tolkienesque interpretation of Elves and Dwarves appeals to me. Using orcs may be unoriginal, but I find Joran's "Trollocs" at least as unoriginal (that's a particular bone I have to pick with Jordan—names such as Artur Pendraeg, Bel Tine, Shai'tan, Dha'vol, etc., are all much more bothersome for their real-world similarity than interesting. I would have preferred he kept "Arthur Pendragon", "Beltane", "Satan", "Devil", etc., than twisting the name just so—as if they were his own).
I cannot do for myself what Tolkien did for himself and be completely "original". Perhaps an Asian person could, or an African, or a Native American. But I cannot. So I do not attempt to. I world-build, and in great detail, but I build off Tolkien's work, changing it where I feel, adding to it, taking away from it… using it, in other words, somewhat as he used the mythologies that came before.
Anyway, back to my point: Should it be considered to be "unoriginal" or somehow inferior to world-build a new world which is still quite Tolkienesque? Or must every Fantasy writer who wants to avoid being tossed in with D&D or Warhammer novels have a completely different arsenal of races and monsters, etc.?