Cliche
   1. A trite or overused expression or idea
   2. A person or character whose behavior is predictable or superficial

There is no such thing as originality. That’s what I think.

How can there be, when there are seven billion people in this world? Over time, things get overused, predictable, stereotyped, and... irritating. Then people begin stamping these things as “clichéd.” 

And that’s exactly the thing about clichés. We create them. So in turn, we can change them.

However, before I get into that, let’s define what a cliché is in simpler terms. Actually no, let me just give you an example of one I’ve seen on this site and in teen novels. 

Orphans. In most teen stories (and let’s admit it now), the protagonist’s parents are either dead, distant, unknown, or even just oblivious to what their children are doing. By creating them this way, authors remove some restrictions parents could give to their children, and prevent them from dragging the plot into a black hole. Some authors work with these orphan characters very well; they explain the effect(s) it has on the characters and there’s meaning as to why the characters are orphans. Of course, on the other side, there are authors who do this simply to attract pity, and generate a simple character background that has nothing to do with the story whatsoever. 

You know who you are. 

Don’t worry though, we’ve all brought clichés to life with our own minds and fingers. No one started off as a professional. (How would you define a professional writer anyway?) We were (and are, in my opinion) all amateurs, trying our hands at writing.

From what I see, clichés form because something’s popular and people copy that idea or character or whatever it is, in hopes that their own creation will gain popularity. Then when it does, more people start doing it which forms a world of unoriginality. 

Like I’ve said above, I don’t believe in originality. There are billions of ideas out there and they can’t all possibly be different, but the thing is, I’m only one person. I can’t live long enough to see all the stories and ideas out there. However, if I’ve seen more than ten stories that have the exact same plotline, then I know that unoriginality has basically just slapped me across the face seven times because I really shouldn’t see any more than three.

More often than not, I find myself scratching my head at a new fanfiction I discovered on AFF, wondering if I’ve already read the story before because it’s so damn common. We’ve seen it all, us readers. We’ve seen everything from the cold, calculating, delinquent player, to the bubbliest girls, to the iest of es, to the outdated “arranged marriages,” and cringe-worthy love triangles. We’ve seen it all. What makes it worse is that hardly anyone has twisted these ideas around and made it worth reading. They’re all just the same stories, regurgitated with different names and settings.

Do you know what I want to see?

I want to see a revelation halfway through a story that the delinquent player is actually a murderer and that he’s out to kill the female protagonist. I want to see that the bubbly girl who can’t stop smiling and laughing all the time really can’t stop smiling and laughing all the time because she’s so used to it, she doesn’t notice anymore. I want to hear the story of the y girl and understand why she’s so y instead of seeing her terrorize your protagonist just so I can commiserate with the latter. Screw arranged marriages. Who does that anymore? The closest you can get to that are blind dates. And love triangles? How about one that ends tragically for all three parties?

You see, the most overused clichés are the easiest to work with because a minor tweak can carve a whole new road. 

Again, the thing about clichés is that we create them. That means we can change them. 

So the next time you write a story and you come across what you think would be a cool idea, ask yourself.

Is there a purpose? How would the idea affect the plot and characters? Does it drive the plot on? Stretch the tension thin? 

And the most important question of all: Would sophomoric approve? 

A/N:
I was too lazy to write an introduction out for this one, so I’m sorry for keeping my amazing humor away from you. This chapter pretty much ended as a rant (Sorry, not sorry), but I’m pretty sure I got my point across: Clichés but they’re a barrier all writers have to overcome. The solution? 

Think outside the box.

Don’t write the same things other people are writing.