Clichés

I remember when I used to use those cliches so much...and accidentally got my friend hooked on them because I didn't know any better. But now she won't stop and sometimes I just want to slap her across her face and go "Fool! Do not do that anymore!" But I can't think of a nice enough way to bring it up. x_x Because I believe she would be a wonderful writer if she would just stop. With. The. Cliches!

I think cliche's can be okay as long as it's written well.
It does annoy me though, how every Frerard has Bert as the bad guy, Gerard as the abused drug addict and Frankie as the innocent skittle kid.

Some stories with those cliche's can be really good, but the majority of the are just
'OMFGZ SKITTLES LAWLLL LETS HAVE KINKY BOYSEXXX 1!!1'

(Didn't mean to offend anyone by that.)
xoxo;

Ani.Mental:

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.

Oh God, I'm using that furshur. :tehe:

xoxo;

iono; I try to change it or just ignore it.
I try to do the opposite and just kind of make it different as of what a reader is thinking what will happen next . . .

I always wrote original/ tragedy stories.

Then I was introduced to Mibba... :roll:

Hm...do you think this is too cliche?

Boy 1 is in love with Boy 2. Boy 2 absolutely DOES NOT like Boy 1. Boy 1 turns to using his body [tehe] as a way for Boy 2 to be close to him. Boy 1 gets stood up, humiliated, etc, etc. Boy 2 still doesn't care. Boy 1 tries everything to make Boy 2 like him. Doesn't work, of course, but Boy 1 still keeps using sex as a 'bribe'. I can't guarantee a sappy, smiley, lovey-dovey ending either.

But I don't know. Any ways to make it...not cliche?

alanna?!:

Hm...do you think this is too cliche?

Boy 1 is in love with Boy 2. Boy 2 absolutely DOES NOT like Boy 1. Boy 1 turns to using his body [tehe] as a way for Boy 2 to be close to him. Boy 1 gets stood up, humiliated, etc, etc. Boy 2 still doesn't care. Boy 1 tries everything to make Boy 2 like him. Doesn't work, of course, but Boy 1 still keeps using sex as a 'bribe'. I can't guarantee a sappy, smiley, lovey-dovey ending either.

But I don't know. Any ways to make it...not cliche?

I think the only way to save the story is to put an interesting narrative perspective and setting to it. Do not let it take place in a high school. Please.

In this kind of story where the plotline is cliche-ish or weird, it's all about the writing style. I mean when you pick up a romance novel you already know the plotline, but the way in which it is told catches your attention and fascinates you.

Lovesick.:

alanna?!:

Hm...do you think this is too cliche?

Boy 1 is in love with Boy 2. Boy 2 absolutely DOES NOT like Boy 1. Boy 1 turns to using his body [tehe] as a way for Boy 2 to be close to him. Boy 1 gets stood up, humiliated, etc, etc. Boy 2 still doesn't care. Boy 1 tries everything to make Boy 2 like him. Doesn't work, of course, but Boy 1 still keeps using sex as a 'bribe'. I can't guarantee a sappy, smiley, lovey-dovey ending either.

But I don't know. Any ways to make it...not cliche?

I think the only way to save the story is to put an interesting narrative perspective and setting to it. Do not let it take place in a high school. Please.

In this kind of story where the plotline is cliche-ish or weird, it's all about the writing style. I mean when you pick up a romance novel you already know the plotline, but the way in which it is told catches your attention and fascinates you.

No high school? Too late. xD
But I'll try that in future chapters.
Thanks.

I told myself i wouldn't, but one of my characters has had a cutting problem. What is it that makes so many people write characters with cutting problems? Is it that a large amount of us writers are tortured souls and so find ourselves writing from experience?

Gah.

My Frerard(which is in fact an exception; i don't write fanfics generally. But it's the only story i have up at the moment, because i am a n00b. And so i really want to finish the story that i'm writing at the moment, so i can show that i mostly write original fiction) was meant to NOT be cliché, in that the Frerard is caused by Frerards... but then i found a couple of other stories like that and i was like "damn... " So that one, it would seem, is cliché.

xAbixisxAvant-Gardex:

I told myself i wouldn't, but one of my characters has had a cutting problem. What is it that makes so many people write characters with cutting problems? Is it that a large amount of us writers are tortured souls and so find ourselves writing from experience?

One in five teens has or had problems related to self-harming ? So if all your characters are teens there is, statistically, a high possibility that one -or more- of them will cut.
Apart from that maybe it's the wish to bring into spotlight some of today's problems, writers have always done that. And yes maybe the writing from experience thing could be true too, not only from the perspective that the author could be the cutter, but also that the author could have friends or relatives with problems.

I don't think cutting is that cliche. But making your ''cutter'' character a hot emo chick who hates her parents and loves MCR is.

One of my least favorite cliches, I think, is the dad/stepdad rape cliche. I have written it multiple times and seen it brilliantly executed just as many, but for each of the good ones I've read there are about ten that just suck. If you are going to write about rape/incest, then you need to approach it with a bit of tact. You don't just throw into this teenager saying 'my dad rapes me and I cut and I'm in love with my best friend that I'm not scared to have sex with despite the sexual abuse that occurs every other night or when my dad is high/drunk'.

Just... try for a little humanity, will ya?

I think that clichéd plots can really, really work sometimes.

It's all about character development and how you present the cliché to your audience.

This obviously does not include any story entitled My Skittles Romance or What?! Pete Wentz is my dad?!?

Because that's just... no.

What I hate is what I find cliche. When all of the adults in the main character's life are mean and they only have their friends. I hate it. It could work, but it usually just makes the character sound whiney "Oh everyone's out to get me your ruining my life."

Have done. But hate it.

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Smashed Pumpkin:

druscilla; dormouse.:

One of my least favorite cliches, I think, is the dad/stepdad rape cliche. I have written it multiple times and seen it brilliantly executed just as many, but for each of the good ones I've read there are about ten that just suck. If you are going to write about rape/incest, then you need to approach it with a bit of tact. You don't just throw into this teenager saying 'my dad rapes me and I cut and I'm in love with my best friend that I'm not scared to have sex with despite the sexual abuse that occurs every other night or when my dad is high/drunk'.

Just... try for a little humanity, will ya?

It depends on the character though.

I read a play for my drama class last year. The main female character Dulcie is sexually abused by her step-father and, as a result, she becomes sexually overt and finds any excuse to be physical with her best friend Lewis.

It works both ways; some people will shy away from any sexual contact due to the abuse, whilst others may become promiscuous because of the damage it causes to their self-esteem.

I'm talking about the badly written ones though. :tehe:

I think if you want to avoid using the cliche Mary Sue character, try throwing in some of your own personality. Not a personality as a whole, but little things, like quirky habits or food preferences.

Real personality, too. Not 'diz gurl based of meh' -.- Not every single user on here is the over done sarcastic PUNX RAWK betch with a soft spot.

I find it really hard to stay away from cliches, because I tend to stray back without noticing.

I find it really hard to write about why characters are screwed up inside (I have a story about a school for 'troubled' youth), when there are so many badly done ones, because everybody automatically thinks of the really badly written everyone hates me even though I'm perfect characters.

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My first story had a romance between a vampire and a human. In some ways, I feel embarassed that it's so cliche, but it very fun to read. At least I think so.