Clichés

I admit I've used the skittle cliché, I think, twice. But it was for fun and I'm going to try and not use it anymore if I can help it.

I think I just found the most cliche' story ever.

I couldn't even bring myself to read it. The chapter summarys were enough.
I laughed at it.
I think I'm being a little too harsh. :shifty

Here is good advice.
Do not name your character Helena in a My chem story and have her become friends with Gerard and then 10 seconds later have them have terrible sex. >.<
Thats all I've been seeing now. x__x

Well so many things have become a cliché it's hard not to use them.
I try to avoid them, and I've also started avoiding certain words and metaphors I find cliché. Like love, for one, and loneliness, and things being dead and such. And personally I just hate the whole thing about broken hearts being the point of a sentence, the expression is so overused.
I like them when they are used to point out how a situation is exactly what they are, though - cliché.

It seems like a lot of the main cliches on Mibba revolve around some type of tragedy that bring two people together..and they always seem to have a sucky life.

I had an idea, what if I was to write something reverse to that. Bring in a character with a stable life and are happy with themself. Cue the signifigant other who trys to charm their way into the others life.

And thats a very vague outline of what I'm thinking...and it sounds even worse now I put it in writing. But, what would others think?

Kiss.Me.Goodbye:

I agree with the skittles cliché, I used it once...only because it was a comedy kind of one-shot, otherwise it annoys the hell out of me and when I see it in storys it completely turns me off of it.

I also do embrace some clichés, but I don't know how well I pull them off.

Maybe its because Skittles own your face, maybe some one likes tasting rainbows - but i see the skittles thing a lot.

it would be funny if frank hated skittles in a fan-fic though.

The most common cliché I've seen is probably the 'lonely/unpopular/parent-abused-girl-meets-MCR'. >_< Dru basically wrote it down all on paper when she wrote 'Sick and Sain'. XD

I look back on one of my stories, and its about as cliché teen-fic as you can get. But hey, its exciting to write and I did enjoy the whole rehab thing and screwed up relationships. Plus, it got more readers than a few of my stories that I try a little harder on. :cheese:

How to avoid cliches: avoid melodrama.
=]
I've found that on this site, people tend to write fairytales. Some of it is supposed to be realistic, but is so melodramatic it becomes ridiculous: someone kills their self, two chapters later someone gets raped, they get a boyfriend, have a rocky relationship with lots of angst and depression and woe, arguing over tiny details as if they were teenagers although in the story they are around twenty-one, excessive badly written sex scenes, and after it all they live happily ever after.

This CAN work, if it's written maturely enough, but sometimes it really just does sound like the author knows absolutely nothing about what they are writing about, and there are so many cliches in there that it's hard to pick out something good about it. Sometimes I can read one chapter, then correctly guess how the rest of the story is going to turn out.

lolz:

How to avoid cliches: avoid melodrama.
=]
I've found that on this site, people tend to write fairytales. Some of it is supposed to be realistic, but is so melodramatic it becomes ridiculous: someone kills their self, two chapters later someone gets raped, they get a boyfriend, have a rocky relationship with lots of angst and depression and woe, arguing over tiny details as if they were teenagers although in the story they are around twenty-one, excessive badly written sex scenes, and after it all they live happily ever after.

This CAN work, if it's written maturely enough, but sometimes it really just does sound like the author knows absolutely nothing about what they are writing about, and there are so many cliches in there that it's hard to pick out something good about it. Sometimes I can read one chapter, then correctly guess how the rest of the story is going to turn out.

Ahh...realism. A trait of story-writing I'm yet to achieve.

I love reading stories that do the complete opposite of the cliches you see so much.
If I read a single story where the ending is unexpected, then my day is made.

The Brightside.:

The most common cliché I've seen is probably the 'lonely/unpopular/parent-abused-girl-meets-MCR'. >_< Dru basically wrote it down all on paper when she wrote 'Sick and Sain'. XD

I look back on one of my stories, and its about as cliché teen-fic as you can get. But hey, its exciting to write and I did enjoy the whole rehab thing and screwed up relationships. Plus, it got more readers than a few of my stories that I try a little harder on. :cheese:

Dru didn't write Sick and Sain- Fish Camp did.

Sardonic Grin:

The Brightside.:

The most common cliché I've seen is probably the 'lonely/unpopular/parent-abused-girl-meets-MCR'. >_< Dru basically wrote it down all on paper when she wrote 'Sick and Sain'. XD

I look back on one of my stories, and its about as cliché teen-fic as you can get. But hey, its exciting to write and I did enjoy the whole rehab thing and screwed up relationships. Plus, it got more readers than a few of my stories that I try a little harder on. :cheese:

Dru didn't write Sick and Sain- Fish Camp did.

And Sick and Sain is not that cliche-ish anyway.
Most good stories are not cliche, just their rip offs are.

I think the troubled girl mould is a widely used and worn out cliché now. Sure you don't want the main character to be plain and boring but you don't wanna exaggerate in describing her/his traits like, he/she can't play like 27 instruments and draw and be a poet and ..ect. (well I'm gonna go with she since -let's face it- most of our OC's are girls).
You'd think the dude fell in love with Wonder Woman!
I think you can avoid clichés by inserting as much mystery to the character itself, so the plot acquires some of its appeal since it revolves around that character. Also leaving loose ends throughout the story gives you space to develop the events and the story's background and make it more complex and original.

I think some of my material is cliché but I really can't figure out which one. I try so hard to avoid them now by avoiding thinking less about reality and more about fantasy. Instead of making the dialogue more realistic I tend to make it a bit more poetic.
And when it comes to the Skittle cliché Well, I've used it but after seeing Sardonic Grin's post here I kind of realized it was nonsense to start with

Also the random girl goes on tour with -insert band but preferably MCR- and falls in love with -insert band member but preferably Gerard- and 3 chapters later he confesses his never ending love.

The cliché where the main character is mentioned every single line and everyone has nothing to do but worry about her pisses the hell out of me though.

I don’t really have a problem with the cliché seeing as I love to read Fantasy. And fantasy is probably one of the most cliché genres you can find. It’s always all the good little kids/little people who has many childlike resemblances fighting the overpowering evil which is always one person but who has lots and lots of evil little helpers. Some persons die, the fellowships have some problems but eventually work them out and they destroy the evil power and everyone lives happily ever after. Yet I love Fantasy because of everything else that goes on apart from what's mentioned above.

Anyway, I believe my three stories here contain cliché elements but it doesn’t bother me and I don’t feel obligated to disguise them or put a twist to them. Like in my story “Billie Joe decided to shut the door to his past, once and for all” all the three band members have some cutting issues. Cutting is extremely cliché. But the reason it’s included is because that story deals with psychological illnesses (like borderline) which manifest in such actions. It is what it is and I’m fine with that.

My other Green Day story is cliché because of part of its plot. Teenage Billie Joe falling in love with teenage Mike must have been done a million times. But I like that concept. And the story is not about making them have mindless sex :wink:. It’s not that cliché.

And my third story, “A Taste of Peppermint”, which is about MCR is probably my least cliché. Yes it’s woman (not girl) meets band but she already knew Bob from before he joined the band. She’s not a fan. She’s not your typical beauty. Her parents aren’t dead and she’s not depressed. The band like her except for Gerard who pretty much hates her in the beginning. Don’t except a sappy romance. Don’t expect anything :wink:. Because even though the plot “girl meets band, band member A hates her and she hates band member A, they change their minds, they fall in love” is less cliché than “they meet and fall in love. Period.” It’s still been done quite a few times. Not that it can’t be done properly though, it’s just not that original.

You can’t completely avoid cliché unless you don’t write anything at all. But like Edgar Allen Poe said: “The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.”

I guess we’re all poetical idiots at best…

Lovesick.:

Sardonic Grin:

The Brightside.:

The most common cliché I've seen is probably the 'lonely/unpopular/parent-abused-girl-meets-MCR'. >_< Dru basically wrote it down all on paper when she wrote 'Sick and Sain'. XD

I look back on one of my stories, and its about as cliché teen-fic as you can get. But hey, its exciting to write and I did enjoy the whole rehab thing and screwed up relationships. Plus, it got more readers than a few of my stories that I try a little harder on. :cheese:

Dru didn't write Sick and Sain- Fish Camp did.

And Sick and Sain is not that cliche-ish anyway.
Most good stories are not cliche, just their rip offs are.

My bad. ._.

S'okay...

Sick and Sain is slightly cliche-ish actually, I think.
*shrugs* The whole falling in love while being completely insane. Er...insain.
But it's what you do to a cliche to change it.
The whole teenage-love-angst-Frerard-alcoholic parents is just too much.
Try just teenage-love. Or angst-Frerard. Or alcoholic parents.

God, you don't need 34567898765432456789 billion dramas...
You'll lose track inevitably.
It. Will. Suck.

It's surprising to me how some cliches are fandom-specific. It's also amazing how quickly cliches develop.

At the moment, I'm super into a very new fandom, Across The Universe. There's two LiveJournal communities for fanfiction, and I proudly say that I've read every one of the stories on either. Now, in doing that, I've noticed that in this fandom that at its oldest is about three months old, there are already some cliched plots. It seems like everyone has the same idea of what happens after or during the movie, with very few differences. I guess I hadn't realized that people seem to rely on cliches.

My stories are probably clichéd as hell. But I still love them.

Not my older ones. The oneshots.

The Brightside.:

Lovesick.:

Sardonic Grin:

The Brightside.:

The most common cliché I've seen is probably the 'lonely/unpopular/parent-abused-girl-meets-MCR'. >_< Dru basically wrote it down all on paper when she wrote 'Sick and Sain'. XD

I look back on one of my stories, and its about as cliché teen-fic as you can get. But hey, its exciting to write and I did enjoy the whole rehab thing and screwed up relationships. Plus, it got more readers than a few of my stories that I try a little harder on. :cheese:

Dru didn't write Sick and Sain- Fish Camp did.

And Sick and Sain is not that cliche-ish anyway.
Most good stories are not cliche, just their rip offs are.

My bad. ._.

I think you meant to say "What Writer in Their "Right" Mind..." and you just said the wrong title.

Fish Camp:

Sick and Sain is slightly cliche-ish actually, I think.

It isn't either.
:P

This is copy/pasted from an old journal of mine.

Oh, classic plots. There are so many. And I've used entirely too many of them.

Classic cutting bullshit.
A Manifestation of My Emotional State

Classic rape bullshit.
My Blood, That Wasn't My Brother

Classic girlfriend-cheated-on-me so I'm turning to you for comfort and we end up kissing and fucking and stuff, but we're not gay, we're just friends who happened to fall for each other bullshit.
A Ryden in the works.

Classic daddy raped me bullshit.
Nevermore, Losing the Innocence of Faith

Classic I'm married and cheating with you bullshit.
Three Hearts Beating

Classic you save me from killing myself because you secretly love me bullshit.
Nonempathetic Merry-Go-Round

Classic I'm mentally fucked up and you bring me out of my psychotic state of mind and then I kiss you and romantic blah blah blah bullshit.
Like an Angel

I'm not saying bullshit because the plotlines are bullshit. If you twist them and execute them properly, they can be your best friend.

On here, however, all the stories seem to be redundant and fuck with Gerard cutting himself and Frankie seeing it and 'let's fuck to take the pain away' and blah blah fucking blah.

The clichés I've noticed are "My ______ Romance." To be honest, I will not even consider reading it if it has those words in it. I'm sure writers can come up with something more creative. And just like every other person said, Frerard is becoming really popular, although I don't read those things. You hardly ever see any original stories anymore, and when you do, nobody wants to read them, because they're not some sort of slash. And god forbid you stick with only one point of view in one chapter. I won't read stories that have POV switches every other paragraph. Every other chapter is good, though, it just it has to be well written.

But yeah, I'd say more but everyone else said the other clichés.