I've been working on the pre-writing for my novel for a long time, since I want to get everything planned out first, and then actually start writing the story. All I can say is, it is filled with strong female characters, and the racial diversity is comparable to Lord of the Rings.
Naturally, the minute after I finished reading the books, I wanted to write one of my own. The books have really influenced my works, but it's not as if I'm copying whole plot-lines and characters from the stories. My Elves are very similar to Tolkien's elves, but they have some differences. For example, my Sea Elves have hair colors and eye colors ranging from blue to silver, and their skin has a bluish tinge. My High Elves are a lot like the Noldor, and are dark-haired, grey-eyed, and pale-skinned. My Wood Elves have brown to blond hair, and brown to green eyes, and they all have golden-brown tans.
I think it's all right to take some elements from other books, like the way that I did above, but I changed mine around so that they were original in some way. I think that's the best way to do it, so that you don't feel like a copycat.
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But Melkor also was there, and he came to the house of Fëanor, and there he slew Finwë King of the Noldor before his doors, and spilled the first blood in the Blessed Realm; for Finwë alone had not fled from the horror of the Dark.
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