Cliches in Storywriting

“See, Red? When life hands you lemons, you know what you gotta do now."
"Yes, Mr. Cliche. I know what I have to do. I make lemonade."
"No, you scream ' you, lemons!”
― Priscilla Glenn, Back to You

“A cliche is a cliche because it works”
― Feige Gornish

“The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication.”
― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

 

When I was a kid, my grandpa used to say "There is nothing new under the sun" meaning that everything that will be done has either been done or is based off something that has already been done. Which leads me to today's ranting: I love cliches!

I read a lot of stories here on AFF and there are generally 3 types of stories I read over and over:

1. The rescuer story - One of the leads is in danger/poor/sick/unpopular and the other lead is able to pull them out of their life position and they live happily ever after.

2. The Iove/hate story - The leads, through some form of misunderstanding, come to hate each other at first, but then through a series of close calls and coincidence, fall madly in love.

3. The Us-versus-The World story - The leads are in love and the world is trying to pull them apart and by proving the virtue of their love, they are able to overcome the obstacles and stay together.

Are these types of stories overdone? Yes. Does that mean we should do something different? Not necessarily. I don't think the problem is that the format is played out. The real problem is that we are not building on these basics to form our own narrative. For example, if you write a love/hate story, through in a little AU that demands the couples interactions so it won't seem so forced (but wait...won't that be forced??? Yah, shut up). Here is an example:

Lee Seunghyun has hated Kang Daesung since their trainee days because they were always being forced to perform against each other. However, when the opportunity arises to become members in the same band, both have their own reasons to join and are determined to fight for their position.

Or, rather that changing the situation, change the world they are in. That is the beauty of AU's. They allow you to explore an old dynamic in a new world. Here is another example:

Hwang Chansung is desperate. The last ship off of the planet is leaving in three days and with it, any hope he has of seeing his family again. Rebels have overtaken Beta-18 and because his boarding school didn't hear about the rebellion until their side had lost the war, he had no idea his family had been evacuated. He and his band of friends are the last colonist left and their only hope is a young rebel leader named Ok Taecyeon who will provide them with escape...for a price.

My main point is that cliches aren't wrong. They can be your friends and rather than complain that certain fandoms are built out of cliched stories that all sound the same, start writing but make your cliche the star amongst a galxy of similar stories. You can do it!

 

 

“I know, I know…there’s something cliché about that. The heroine initially wanting to clobber a protagonist male, but later realizing that he’s grown on her and she actually really likes him. Technically, I’m not supposed to find that appealing. But maybe real life is a lot more cliché than anyone wants to admit. Or maybe there’s just a fine, subjective line between the cliché and the poetic.”
― Angela N. Blount, Once Upon a Road Trip

P.S. Photos are great inspiration for stories so get on Tumblr and start looking. For instance, what story do you think that this picture is telling:

Leave your answers below!

 

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Wolfburglar #1
S!!!!
shining_writer #2
Cliches are fine with me. It's just the overall message that they portray, the way authors write their stories are not realistic. Unrealistic stories turn me off, an exception would be AU stories.
2PM2PM2PM #3
I love cliches. I want to write them all and become the most clishe-ed writer on AFF. That is my goal lol.
peachysoo #4
Cliches are not always bad, but when they are executed the same way over and over again, they become boring and stale. So if someone is going to make a cliche story, they're going to either have to make the characters a lot more interesting, do some world building to interest their readers, focus on their writing style, or a little of 2-all of those options. Because those are a few pf the only ways that an author can make cliches interesting and fun to read and not as boring as people make them to be. Especially since all of those things can bring something new and interesting to the table despite their being cliches in the story. So if someone decided to focus on their characters a bit more, it's more likely for the readers to feel more attached to the characters and what's going to happen to them rather than the person that just writes cliches and doesn't really expand on the characters they are writing. Just like in world building, I'm going to be a lot more invested in the fic that takes place on a space ship with space pirates and stuff with the same cliches rather than the overused high school plot that people like to write about.

What it all comes down to is how the person writes those cliches and how they give those cliches some pizzazz, because 9-10 times, a reader is probably going to be more invested in the fic that uses some of those options rather than the person that uses the same formula over and over again, never bringing anything new to the table.

(I like cliches and some of my favorite fics have a ton of cliches in them, but the stuff that makes me want to read them is how well the characters are written and how much I relate to them or the world the story is set in. They may be cliche, but the rest of the fic's components make up for the cliches.)
daringdarkangel5 #5
Omgoshh!! I was thinking about something that in the shower that clichès started to arise as well. And now I saw this post. Haha. But, "the same old typical stuff" sometimes can be narrated in a certain way only by the person who decide to share their stories!! Perfect timing to get stir more thoughts...
P.S. that picture-/wipes sweat of forehead/!! But to me, I felt that it was their way to evoke jealousy in their lovers' hearts.. a way to get noticed in a different way by the guys they lovee!! ;-)
FullmetalTitan #6
I never thought for a minute cliches were a bad thing: Sometimes the best stories that have been written were plots that have been used before. Look at Romeo and Juliet for example, it was a typical love story but left a huge impact on many people and it's still well known even to this day. Pictures are also my inspiration that and listening to music, or simply talking to people ^^ You can get inspiration from just about anywhere really. Kind of bugs me, when people say 'No cliche's are bad you should stay away from them' ....then what are we supposed to write? We're not all as original as we might claim to be and using an overused plot isn't always bad, since you can spice it up a bit and somehow make it your own.
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