10 Cliches in Writing: Get Ready to Feel Conviction. . .

[DuLake]

This article. (It's a list of ten of the most egregiously played out plot devices in storytelling. Guess how many I abuse in the first two chapters of Rattle alone?)

 

I counted 8 that I've used in the last six months and I'm sure I used all ten in the last three or so years. How many have you committed? Of course, all rules are meant to be broken, when have you seen some of these work out well? What are some cliches that you've found to pervade story?

 

I think the biggest one that I noticed he didn't hit was amnesia. I feel like a lot of authors throw in amnesia to help the reader identify with the main character (well, hell, it looks like I know everything he does already!), but it's pretty much always ridiculous. Of course, amnesia isn't nearly as simple as the authors makes it out to be, and it always comes out a bit cliche. Every time I even see the word "Amnesia" I think of "All My Circuits" from Futurama.

[† Emotional Outlet]

I haven't done the mirror cliche since middle school, but I know it's a tough one to get away from in first person, haha. How will the audience know exactly what shape the protagonists eyes are if they aren't looking in a mirror!!

 

But I've probably done them all because I was once 13.

 

Anyway, I don't think any of these things in themselves are bad, only when they're poorly written. I'll read about a loose cannon cop on the edge who describes herself in the mirror and has hot, filthy sex with a magical racial stereotype in her dreams after discovering she's the chosen one meant to save the world from destruction and she's only got ten days to do it, but her parents have crippled her mind to the point that she can only speak in My Little Pony and Homestuck references, not to mention she suffers frequent blackout headaches during vital plot points--I'll read it as long as it's well-written, haha.

 

What I'm tired of seeing in stories are bisexuals who are either depraved sexual predators or are basically prostitutes with hearts of gold (another tired trope). Just any introduction of a non-heterosexual/non-cis character tends to put me at edge because I don't know if that character is going to be treated like a normal person, if they're just going to be used a plot device to convey some moral, or if they're just there to help prop up the main heterosexual couple's storyline.

[DuLake]

I'll read about a loose cannon cop on the edge who describes herself in the mirror and has hot, filthy sex with a magical racial stereotype in her dreams after discovering she's the chosen one meant to save the world from destruction and she's only got ten days to do it, but her parents have crippled her mind to the point that she can only speak in My Little Pony and Homestuck references, not to mention she suffers frequent blackout headaches during vital plot points--I'll read it as long as it's well-written, haha.

 

^Might be the best run-on sentence ever.

 

What I'm tired of seeing in stories are bisexuals who are either depraved sexual predators or are basically prostitutes with hearts of gold (another tired trope). Just any introduction of a non-heterosexual/non-cis character tends to put me at edge because I don't know if that character is going to be treated like a normal person, if they're just going to be used a plot device to convey some moral, or if they're just there to help prop up the main heterosexual couple's storyline.

 

This reminds me of a short film script that someone asked me to read recently. The main character was meant to be a gay little boy, but came out like a little girl with a penis. Scratch that, I don't actually know any little girls that act as girly as this kid did. I just don't get how writers (especially gay ones!) can't seem to pick up that homosexual characters should be just as rounded as anyone else! [/rant]

[† Emotional Outlet]

That loose cannon cop is my original character, do not steal, my dad is a lawyer.

 

I remember reading once from a blogger who reflected on the fact that she only ever read half the crap she did simply because she was starved for some representation. There's a webcomic I read that has a bit on that phenomenon. "Even if it was boring and cliche and poorly written, I'm guaranteed at least all the other lesbians in the world will devour it."

 

Before the paywall went up, I was reading Dangan Ronpa Zero, a light novel that takes place before the first game. So far it seems to have a character suffering from anterograde amnesia, which to me is way more interesting than the typical "I lost all knowledge of my past self but am still able to speak perfect English and generally function as a normal human being".

[DuLake]

Before the paywall went up, I was reading Dangan Ronpa Zero, a light novel that takes place before the first game. So far it seems to have a character suffering from anterograde amnesia, which to me is way more interesting than the typical "I lost all knowledge of my past self but am still able to speak perfect English and generally function as a normal human being".

 

Christopher Nolan's Memento is the same sort of thing in film version, and pretty darn good at it too (though only once, I don't think I would ever watch it again). Anterograde is interesting stuff, because it's fresh and based on reality. Hollywood amnesia. . . I can't say anything more.

[† Shazi]

people use magical black people in their stories? wow that's rediculous. does having someone drunk enough to get a fever in the snow and pass out for three days count as a cliche? I mean she was under care for the three days before she woke up and never got head trauma (i'm trying to justify using the cliche XD)

 

any dreams i have used in my stories have been filler XD generally mean nothing other than to serve as character development as they are memories rather than "I am the chosen one" type dreams

 

good to know that the villain in my story isn't a cliche (for the most part) he had excellent parenting and education. he's just genuinely a crazy prick.

 

HAHAHA i have multiple POV characters so I had another character POV describe the main character, i am a smarty pants

 

(all in reference to Aishod if no one has read it)

[† Emotional Outlet]

I think the cliche of having a magical POC is largely because people are awful. Like I get that it's shorthand for someone who's ~exotic~ and ~mystical~, but mostly it's just racist and terrible, haha. It happens a lot, though. Enough that it's in this old list about how to write a mystery novel--not that you shouldn't have POC in your story, but that they shouldn't be used as plot devices and serve no other purpose in the story.

[DuLake]

people use magical black people in their stories? wow that's rediculous.

 

(all in reference to Aishod if no one has read it)

 

On the first account: Have you ever seen the Green Mile? Or the Matrix? Or Forrest Gump?

 

Pretty much every story written by Stephen King and any role Morgan Freeman has every played. It's sneaky and pervasive. And it's not always magical in an actual magic sense. Technically, even Freeman's Lucius Fox in the Nolan Batman films are a magical negro, since he shows up with great magic devices for his white master with no thought of reimbursement.

 

On the second account: AH! I've got to start reading Aishod!

 

 Enough that it's in this old list about how to write a mystery novel--not that you shouldn't have POC in your story, but that they shouldn't be used as plot devices and serve no other purpose in the story.

 

Haha! That list is fantastic!

[Pinkie Pie]

 

Anyway, I don't think any of these things in themselves are bad, only when they're poorly written. I'll read about a loose cannon cop on the edge who describes herself in the mirror and has hot, filthy sex with a magical racial stereotype in her dreams after discovering she's the chosen one meant to save the world from destruction and she's only got ten days to do it, but her parents have crippled her mind to the point that she can only speak in My Little Pony and Homestuck references, not to mention she suffers frequent blackout headaches during vital plot points--I'll read it as long as it's well-written, haha.

Challenge accepted tbh.

I was guilty of the mirror one a few times back in high school but I've since tried to get away from it.

[† Shazi]

 

people use magical black people in their stories? wow that's rediculous.

 

(all in reference to Aishod if no one has read it)

 

On the first account: Have you ever seen the Green Mile? Or the Matrix? Or Forrest Gump?

 

Pretty much every story written by Stephen King and any role Morgan Freeman has every played. It's sneaky and pervasive. And it's not always magical in an actual magic sense. Technically, even Freeman's Lucius Fox in the Nolan Batman films are a magical negro, since he shows up with great magic devices for his white master with no thought of reimbursement.

 

On the second account: AH! I've got to start reading Aishod!

 

They are sneaky! I forgot about green mile and the matrix. Little lost on Forrest Gumps magical black friend?

 

Please do, there's probably lots of cliche's in there that I didn't recognise, Like the main character being "The chosen one" but i tried to make it so she was the one chosen by the guardians purely because she was there at the time and willing rather than "destined to be great"

[Pinkie Pie]

Bubba. He and Forrest went into the shrimping business together. I have some problems with Forrest Gump because he managed to get into every historical event ever, but that's another topic maybe.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Tropes aren't necessarily bad, you can definitely have fun with them by subverting, averting, and inverting, haha.

 

The only thing I remember about Bubba was that he talked about shrimp a lot and was somehow key to Forrest's development as a character despite getting very little of his own.

[DuLake]

They are sneaky! I forgot about green mile and the matrix. Little lost on Forrest Gumps magical black friend?

 

Please do, there's probably lots of cliche's in there that I didn't recognise, Like the main character being "The chosen one" but i tried to make it so she was the one chosen by the guardians purely because she was there at the time and willing rather than "destined to be great"

 

Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue? I'll be honest, I just wikipedia'd the last one. It also mentions Rhafiki, haha!

 

I feel like that's playing with the cliche though, and that sort of thing is just fun, like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or something.

 

EDIT: Thanks to Pink and EO for the save, haha.

Edited April 28, 2013 by DuLake

[† Shazi]

They are sneaky! I forgot about green mile and the matrix. Little lost on Forrest Gumps magical black friend?

 

Please do, there's probably lots of cliche's in there that I didn't recognise, Like the main character being "The chosen one" but i tried to make it so she was the one chosen by the guardians purely because she was there at the time and willing rather than "destined to be great"

 

Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue? I'll be honest, I just wikipedia'd the last one. It also mentions Rhafiki, haha!

 

I feel like that's playing with the cliche though, and that sort of thing is just fun, like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or something.

 

EDIT: Thanks to Pink and EO for the save, haha.

 

Lion king is set in africa.. in all honesty they should ALL be african, not just Rhafiki but whatever.

[DuLake]

Lion king is set in africa.. in all honesty they should ALL be african, not just Rhafiki but whatever.

 

It's also Hamlet, so I can kind of see it. It's definitely a stretch though.

[† Emotional Outlet]

I have seen Lion King gijinkas and there are people who have drawn the characters as white. They have reasons like "well, Nala has blue eyes" and "Simba's voice sounds white". Scar, by virtue of being evil, is often drawn with dark skin.

 

That's a bit of an aside, though, haha.

 

One of the things I sort of struggle with is that, for me, the "default" isn't white, it's ambiguously brown (and bi-/pansexual, but that's beside the point). A lot of my characters in my head are mixed, but I don't really make any effort to point it out because it feels artificial to do so beyond a mention or two. I've read some people find that leaving these things in the air to be almost as bad as just saying that everyone is white, but I don't know if I buy that.

[DuLake]

I'm a pretty close-to-home writer, so almost all my characters come out Caucasian males just out of college. That said, I'm also a fan of minimalism, so I almost never describe my protagonist in any major detail, often without even giving them a name. The character will be much more empathetic if people project there face into the story.

 

Granted, I also benefit from writing mostly modern earth based stories. I don't really know how that would work as much in something with a built-world.

Edited April 29, 2013 by DuLake

[† Emotional Outlet]

Same, haha. I'm used to living in populations of mostly ambiguously brown people (North Dakota was a huge culture shock for me, let me tell ya), so that ends up showing in my character creation a lot. And I'm often told I don't describe my characters enough, so to hear that it's "bad" not to identify your characters makes me feel a little personally slighted, haha. I did have a friend tell me that he's never read a story where his enjoyment was ruined because the writer did not go into explicit detail over ethnic hair care, but the way some people act, I feel like if I don't translate every cultural aspect into my writing, even for a fantasy story, I'm being naughty.

 

That aside, here's the TV Tropes page for Magical Negro. Interestingly, Rafiki is listed (with no explanation), but Bubba isn't.

[DuLake]

Same, haha. I'm used to living in populations of mostly ambiguously brown people (North Dakota was a huge culture shock for me, let me tell ya), so that ends up showing in my character creation a lot. And I'm often told I don't describe my characters enough, so to hear that it's "bad" not to identify your characters makes me feel a little personally slighted, haha. I did have a friend tell me that he's never read a story where his enjoyment was ruined because the writer did not go into explicit detail over ethnic hair care, but the way some people act, I feel like if I don't translate every cultural aspect into my writing, even for a fantasy story, I'm being naughty.

 

I've heard that sort of thing before, but I feel like, if it's not pertinent to the story, it shouldn't really matter. I mean, if you're writing a story involving racial issues -- which is probably most stories -- it needs to be mentioned, but if it's not affecting the story, then who cares? Granted, it also matters on genre too. For example, a lot of fantasy and science fiction readers are looking for thick blocks of details that would be shunned in more literary writing (which is the biggest reason you have relatively little crossover between hard lit and hard SciFi/Fantasy). Take Asimov, he is a scifi god, but his work reads like a term paper. On the other hand, reading the flowery prose of the Great Gatsby would give some SciFi readers (read: my sister) a coronary.

[† Shazi]

i agree with the idea of if it's not important to the story, why mention it? if that bluejay sitting in the tree that is particularly blue today is relevant  add it, if it's not why bother mentioning the over saturated bluejay sitting in the tree being over saturated