Overworked Themes

[euclid]

I came across this list while researching possible markets for one of my short stories.

http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common.shtml#top

[JulieHowe]

Thanks for the link!

[kuwisdelu]

Phew, I'm 0 for 37.

Well, I have some of 6 and 26, but they're not the main point of the story, so I think I'm good.

[ChristineR]

Wow, I'm surprised I don't have any of them. Some of them are pretty specific though. For example, I have a protagonist who is wronged and takes revenge, but he isn't put through "humiliation after humiliation" and while he actually does murder someone, it's not the person who wronged him and the murder is for other motives.

[willietheshakes]

You know what? I've used at least six of these. And made them work.

Overworked themes and approaches are only a problem if you don't do anything decent with them. Hell, boy-meets-girl is the oldest story in the book, but damned if it doesn't still work.

[kuwisdelu]

You know what? I've used at least six of these. And made them work.

Overworked themes and approaches are only a problem if you don't do anything decent with them. Hell, boy-meets-girl is the oldest story in the book, but damned if it doesn't still work.

Yeah, the only real problem with everything listed is when they are the *only thing going for the story,* which the editors make sure to point out.

More than half my stories are "boy meets girl," but I'll be damned if that's all there is to it.

[BigWords]

More than half my stories are "boy meets girl," but I'll be damned if that's all there is to it.

Bobby Evans turned a decent profit on Love Story, which has at least six or seven overworked ideas running through its' core. If the story can surpass the individual elements which make up the work then there is nothing to be worried about.

[backslashbaby]

I love this list :D

I have a little of 6 and 21, but I added vampires, so I should be OK :D ;)

[Cyia]

I am not getting rid of my twist ending. I luvs it. :D

[cptwentworth]

I thought all of the ideas could make for possible good stories, but I'm not an agent/editor/publisher who has to read the same rigamarole over and over. And over.

[finnisempty]

Great list with the exception of #28 about strange things happening without explanation. Consider the absurd.

[DavidZahir]

In general that is a good list. Ditto the one about Horror storie (http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common-horror.shtml)s.

[Brutal Mustang]

A few things on this list are absolutely ridiculous.

[Monkey]

Number Four, example C...

In the end, it turns out the protagonist is insane.
What if, in the end, the writer's insane?


Great list, thanks for linking it!

[defcon6000]

Yeah, the only real problem with everything listed is when they are the *only thing going for the story,* which the editors make sure to point out.
They point it out too.
Protagonist is a bad person. (We don't object to this in a story; we merely object to it being the main point of the plot.)

All technology is shown to be soulless; in contrast, anything "natural" is by definition good. For example, living in a weather-controlled environment is bad, because it's artificial, while dying of pneumonia is good, because it's natural.
Lol! I'd love to see a story where people dying of easily curable diseases is the preferred over health care.

The main point of the story is for the author to metaphorically tell the reader, "Ha, ha, I tricked you! You thought one thing was going on, but it was really something else! You sure are dumb!"
*cough* M. Night Shyamalan *cough*

Awesome list! Thanks for sharing. :)

[Strange Days]

As an attempted writer - have none of those points in my story.
As a reader/spectator - absolutely disagree with a few points:
Number 21. - Sorry, Voltaire and Michael Moore...
Number 7. - Sorry, Clockwork Orange...
Number 2. - Sorry, My Left Foot...
Number 6. - Sorry, Leo Tolstoy...
Number 9. - Sorry, Angel Heart...
Predictability is not allways bad: if you see Mickey Rourke starring in the movie - you expect him to die in the end. And you will be disappointed if it doesn't happen... :D

[Kitty Pryde]

But none of those examples you give are science fiction/fantasy short stories in magazines. The list points out that not all of the things listed are "necessarily bad". It's simply a list of stories one magazine gets way too often (and which clearly don't work for them).

As an attempted writer - have none of those points in my story.
As a reader/spectator - absolutely disagree with a few points:
Number 21. - Sorry, Voltaire and Michael Moore...
Number 7. - Sorry, Clockwork Orange...
Number 2. - Sorry, My Left Foot...
Number 6. - Sorry, Leo Tolstoy...
Number 9. - Sorry, Angel Heart...
Predictability is not allways bad: if you see Mickey Rourke starring in the movie - you expect him to die in the end. And you will be disappointed if it doesn't happen... :D

[Strange Days]

But none of those examples you give are science fiction/fantasy short stories in magazines. The list points out that not all of the things listed are "necessarily bad". It's simply a list of stories one magazine gets way too often (and which clearly don't work for them).

Clockwork Orange and Angel Heart fit sci-fi and fantasy/horror genres to a good degree. Not a magazine format, though, but still... I just think, that working on a mainstream pop-theme (like many of the ones in that list) gives some false self-"excuse" to some writers not to work on actual writing too much - the topic will sell itself just by being mainstream. So, that's why, I believe, the majority of the submissions with the said plots turn out to be of a poor quality. Quite a few of those topics can be done a fresh way. :)

[Polenth]

Clockwork Orange and Angel Heart fit sci-fi and fantasy/horror genres to a good degree. Not a magazine format, though, but still... I just think, that working on a mainstream pop-theme (like many of the ones in that list) gives some false self-"excuse" to some writers not to work on actual writing too much - the topic will sell itself just by being mainstream. So, that's why, I believe, the majority of the submissions with the said plots turn out to be of a poor quality. Quite a few of those topics can be done a fresh way. :)

The list is what it says: a list of themes they see too often. They're not claiming the themes are automatically bad, that there haven't been good stories with the themes, that you can't write a fresh take on the themes or anything like that. All they're saying is they see them too often (sometimes because the theme has been done well before, so everyone copies).

[knight_tour]

The only one that fits my story is the D&D one, though I didn't have D&D in mind when I wrote it. I was more after mashing together what I love about Tolkien and George R.R. Martin. This magazine's editors (and most agents and publishers these days) may not want any traditional Tolkienish fantasy stories, but I feel there are a great many readers out there who do like it (the very vocal haters around here not withstanding). I am writing for myself and for the readers who actually do like this type of fantasy.

[Libbie]

Terrorists (especially Osama bin Laden) discover that horrible things happen to them in the afterlife (or otherwise get their comeuppance).

Oh...groan. Really? They see this a lot?

[Libbie]

Number 7. - Sorry, Clockwork Orange...


Er -- "Alex is a bad person" isn't what A Clockwork Orange is about.

"Alex should be free to choose whether to be good or bad" is what A Clockwork Orange is about. And it deals with that theme gorgeously.

A story that only says "Protagonist is such a bad guy, aren't you amazed?" would be incredibly dull and I wouldn't want to publish it, either.

[Xelebes]

Oh...groan. Really? They see this a lot?

I think you would be surprised. I found it is quite common for male writers like to mix in political views into their writing. Not a smattering of politics but a smothering.

[Dawnstorm]

Not a smattering of politics but a smothering.

"A smothering of politics"

Has a ring to it. :D

[Tara Stone]

I'm surprised a lot of these are overused; some of them are things I've rarely seen (like 23... is that actually a common plot?). A bunch of them, though, are things I've seen way too many times. I'm thoroughly tired of 15, for instance. And 6, but mainly because I vigorously disagree with the premise and don't like having it shoved down my throat.

26 could describe my favorite book... except that the revenge isn't the main point of the story.

I'm pretty sure the only two of these I've used are 9 and 34, so I think I'm okay.

[The Otter]

Number 13: "The author is apparently unaware of the American constitutional amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, and so postulates that in the future, American punishment will be extra-cruel in some unusual way."

I find this remark odd. Are they suggesting that the constitution has never been disregarded and WILL never be disregarded by lawmakers? Maybe it's an overused theme, but I don't think it's at all implausible that it might happen.

[knight_tour]

I agree. All empires fall; there will come a time when America crumbles.

[Polenth]

Number 13: "The author is apparently unaware of the American constitutional amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, and so postulates that in the future, American punishment will be extra-cruel in some unusual way."

I find this remark odd. Are they suggesting that the constitution has never been disregarded and WILL never be disregarded by lawmakers? Maybe it's an overused theme, but I don't think it's at all implausible that it might happen.

My assumption was they meant stories where the US is the same as today. And tomorrow, they pass a law introducing the death penalty for dropping litter. Everything else stays the same and everyone is okay with the new law.

That's not the same as a major shift in government, where all the rules change and people ride across the wastelands of New York on decaying motorbikes. Or a story where the government tries to enact the littering law in today's world, and gets the sort of reaction you'd expect.

[Fuchsia Groan]

Oh...groan. Really? They see this a lot?

Martin Amis published a story in The New Yorker, no less, with the "Mohammed Atta gets his comeuppance via supernatural means" plot. It was a beautifully written story, but I couldn't help groaning at the pat, wish-fulfillment ending.

[shaldna]

I find these sorts of lists slightly annoying in that while they generally list overused ideas, they tend to put people off using an idea and giving it it's own spin.

I think that it's not the idea or theme that is overused, but rather the way in which the writer uses it.

[Miss Plum]

Did this one look familiar to anyone?
Creative person meets a muse (either one of the nine classical Muses or a more individual muse) and interacts with them, usually by keeping them captive.I've only seen it once, in a movie called The Muse (except the blocked writer didn't keep the Muse captive).

[Polenth]

Did this one look familiar to anyone?
I've only seen it once, in a movie called The Muse (except the blocked writer didn't keep the Muse captive).

I've read a few muse stories published in magazines and painful numbers of them on people's websites, blogs, etc. One of the big issues is it's often the writer writing about themselves (the same also tends to be true of stories about overcoming writer's block and other writerly preoccupations).

One of the published muse stories I read, the muse stole the person's creative energy. I expect the magazine that brought it thought it was a new take, though it wasn't. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (episode: The Muse) did the whole muse stealing energy thing, so it's a pretty mainstream idea.

[M.Austin]

This list gave me so many ideas!!!!!!! I've got a new story planned out already!

(kidding)

[Newyorkknicks07]

hmmm...i've seen a few of these used (and used a couple of them myself), and i have to say, the result hasn't always been bad.

Cliches are workable if what you have is good.

[DustyBooks]

So what if the protagonist is a bad person, but is also a creative who was having trouble creating, and they traveled to another planet where they met an inspiring Muse who was really an alien who pointed out numerous absurdities about human behaviour, but it was all a dream induced by the unethical experiments of an evil doctor, who in a surprise twist ending was only trying to create a way to escape from soul-deadening office life but without resorting to the highly controversial VR, which since he's obviously from the future even though none of the other characters figure it out, he already knows will result in AIs getting loose on the Net and other unforeseen world-devastating consequences?

[euclid]

So what if the protagonist is a bad person, but is also a creative who was having trouble creating, and they traveled to another planet where they met an inspiring Muse who was really an alien who pointed out numerous absurdities about human behaviour, but it was all a dream induced by the unethical experiments of an evil doctor, who in a surprise twist ending was only trying to create a way to escape from soul-deadening office life but without resorting to the highly controversial VR, which since he's obviously from the future even though none of the other characters figure it out, he already knows will result in AIs getting loose on the Net and other unforeseen world-devastating consequences?

Sound plot, but is this a bit of a run-on sentence?

[MisterNMissy]

I will be disappointed if I ever read a book and it was all a dream. Ugh. lol at 14 that's how most shows portray Native Americans.