What Are Your Cliches to Avoid?

[Jordygirl]

Is there already thread "Cliches to Avoid"?

I think it was Scrawler (I think) who asked this question in another thread. I don't know if there was one, but there is now.

What are the cliches you see all-too-often in novels, whether they be plots, characters, phrases, or what-have-you.

[triceretops]

For me, a cliche premise will kill a novel before an editor/agent gets to the middle of the query letter. So I pay heaps of attention to my idea before I even start the book. There is no more "write what you know/love and go like hell" for me anymore. The idea of the book should be summed up in a tag/hook line, with enough "wow" factor to draw interest. Hard to do, but necessary for me. I have adopted the rule of no info dump or backstory in the beginning pages.

Though I've used flashbacks before, I'd like to avoid them altogether if possible.

No character dumps. I'll now sprinkle my little people like seasoning throughout the text.

Tri

[akiwiguy]

For me the one that drives me nuts is...

The detective with a bit of an alcohol problem, who always gets the lady, but of course for only one night in a seedy motel. Naturally, she understands as he says goodbye. With typical female insight she understands that his tough exterior masks a wonderfully complex inner self, if only it could be reached. Well, we don't really read that, but why else would one have such a romantic interpretation of a one-night shagging from an alcoholic? Or could it be his chiselled features which one could assume includes one hell of a...

[Jordygirl]

A few of mine. (Mostly found in YA since that's what I read/write.)

1. A story based around Miss Popular whose life, as some "lowly" loser finds out, is actually really hard. Insert eating disorder/alchohalic parent/domestic violence/abusive relationship here. (exception: Perfect by Natasha Friend)

2. A re-hash of the Cinderella story, which I hated to begin with. (exception: If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? by Melissa Kantor)

3. Unpopular kid really, really, really wants to be popular then when she finally is she realizes popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be.

4. Girl crushes on hunky, hot, amazingly popular guy. Said guy turns out to be a jerk and girl realizes she should have been with her best guy friend all along.

5. Mean popular girls.

[RG570]

Aside from minor tics like having your characters constantly gazing out the window, lighting cigarettes, or making coffee, I'm exhausted with the whole cliche/originality dichotomy. After hearing so much moaning from agents and editors on blogs about this or that, then seeing nearly every book in the genre currently out there being full of the same things, I have given up on it.

Every fantasy publisher is still churning out quest stories. SF seems to be hammering the same tropes, despite all this cliche controversy. So I'm at a loss about the whole thing. I guess I'd still avoid things like vampires and farmboy saviors, but I never liked those things to begin with.

But then, I'd be fine with writing a cliche story if I thought I could write it well enough. I'm more concerned with execution than the idea. Probably not the best approach, though.

[Jordygirl]

I'd be fine with writing a cliche story if I thought I could write it well enough. I'm more concerned with execution than the idea. Probably not the best approach, though.

Execution over idea. I agree. But still I always feel a little guilty when I write anything cliche. It's like, "c'mon, you can think of something more unique! different!" So I basically try to stay away.

And oh yeah, the whole farmboy savior thing is a cliche to avoid too. (exception: The Princess Bride)

[Mel]

Doesn't really fall into the cliche slot but, when an author uses a repeated word throughout. Such as, silky, velvet, or any other type. It's easy to tell which word they are enamored with. One, two tops is enough for me. All that repitition makes me start shaking my head and wish they had found some other words that mean the same thing.

[Shady Lane]

Aside from minor tics like having your characters constantly...lighting cigarettes, making coffee

Ahhh my God. That's a Shady book in a nutshell.

[JoNightshade]

I too despise the "quest" and "farmboy becomes hero" stories that so dreadfully dominate half of the fantasy shelves. Except... I love Star Wars. Sorry, I just do.

My other pet peeve is not necessarily regarded by most people as cliche-- because it occurs in every single frickin book (almost) where the main character falls in love: two handsome/beautiful/interesting/amazing/nominally flawed people in the starring role, and REALLY, ACTUALLY interesting people as the sidekick/secondary characters. I don't care about the heroes. Example: Memoirs of a Geisha (don't kill me, I acknowledge that this was a good book)-- I don't care what happens to the main character and her gentleman friend. I want to know what one-armed Nobu does after she stabs him in the back.

I want to know if the bumbling science whiz sidekick ever finds someone who loves him for who he is.
I want to know how the wizened old woman with no teeth feels about being called a witch.
I want to know what the aging king does when his son goes off to fight the dragon. Etc. etc.

It's like everyone has this tendency to make their main characters bold and wonderful, and then surround them with truly interesting people that only get a page or two here and there. I almost always feel cheated by this.

So yeah, I like to say I write the sidekick's stories. :)

[Jan-Tosh]

I'm really sick of fantasy stuff that's just rehashed Tolkien crap. Can we make new fantasy that doesn't have elves, dwarves, animal people, and wizards? Please?

[Shady Lane]

Jo--sidekicks are my favorite parts, too.

That's why my main character is NEVER my main character. He's just telling someone else's story.

[Devil Ledbetter]

A dead body in the opening scene. Really, how often does anyone come across a dead body? But we're supposed to be excited, curious and enthralled by yet another corpse lounging about in an opening scene.

[Red Robin]

I want to know how the wizened old woman with no teeth feels about being called a witch.
Sweet. I actually have a scene planned where this will be answered- She gets pissed off, and now it'll cost you!

I don't know if this is a cliché or just a pet peeve, but I hate names (of anything) that are unpronounceable, filled with unnecessary y's, diphthongs, apostrophes and other junk. Sometimes I'll flip through a book, and if I come across a warrior princess named Ael'Mygrae-Layn or some crap, its a no go.

[aadams73]

I don't know if this is a cliché or just a pet peeve, but I hate names (of anything) that are unpronounceable, filled with unnecessary y's, diphthongs, apostrophes and other junk. Sometimes I'll flip through a book, and if I come across a warrior princess named Ael'Mygrae-Layn or some crap, its a no go.

This is my pet peeve too. Back on the shelf it goes if there's any hint of this.

[scarletpeaches]

I avoid cliches like the plague.

[Willowmound]

The powerful, wise old wizard.

There's Gandalf. You can't top him. Please stop trying.

[scarletpeaches]

Looks like Dumbledore was a mistake, then.

[Willowmound]

Kinda was.

Though I enjoy Harry Potter anyway.

(I was even reading HP before the craze -- way back when only the fist two were out. You may touch me.)

[RLSMiller]

Kinda was.

Though I enjoy Harry Potter anyway.

(I was even reading HP before the craze -- way back when only the fist two were out. You may touch me.)

:roll: Leave my Dumbly-dorr alone! Hasn't the man been desecrated enough?

[Willowmound]

He's dead now, so he won't care what we say.

[scarletpeaches]

Nice of you not to bother with spoilers.

[seun]

I don't know if this is a cliché or just a pet peeve, but I hate names (of anything) that are unpronounceable, filled with unnecessary y's, diphthongs, apostrophes and other junk. Sometimes I'll flip through a book, and if I come across a warrior princess named Ael'Mygrae-Layn or some crap, its a no go.

Same for me. I skimmed a Fantasy book that came in last week. I saw four names made of apostrophes and consonants all within two pages. It just made me think it could have been any other Fantasy book.

For my own work, I know I keep returning to the theme of reconciliation and a character trying to make amends with a past event.

[Button]

. Example: Memoirs of a Geisha (don't kill me, I acknowledge that this was a good book)-- I don't care what happens to the main character and her gentleman friend. I want to know what one-armed Nobu does after she stabs him in the back.



I totally dug Nobu. The ending made me wanna reach out and squuweeezzzeeee him. ;)


Anyway, pulling us back out of HP before that debate starts up again, I don't dig...

Stuff that 'magically' appears that is critical to the plot and took no effort for the MC to find.

Whiny kids. (I read kid's books) If I wanted that, I'll join real life, thank you.

And yeah, hate the kid turned world hero part. Why does he have to be king of the world after?

Kids that say "I'm a kid, I can't do this!" When in the world did any kid admit the was a kid and he couldn't do it? (Except when it came to chores. ;) )

Uh... That's all I can think of. I'm going back to the couch to do some napping work now.

[Willowmound]

Nice of you not to bother with spoilers.

Oh, screw 'em.

[Anne Lyle]

I'm really sick of fantasy stuff that's just rehashed Tolkien crap. Can we make new fantasy that doesn't have elves, dwarves, animal people, and wizards? Please?

Assuming that by "wizards" you mean Tolkien/HP-style guys with beards and pointy hats waving wands, there's plenty of "new fantasy" around already (some of it quite old) - you just have to comb the shelves of a big Borders or some such for a while. E.g.


Carol Berg - the Rai-Kirah Trilogy. Dominant culture has supressed magic use, but there are "demons" who drive people insane and have to be fought secretly by shaman-like warriors

Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates (time-travelling through seedy 16th-18th century London), The Drawing of the Dark (gargoyles and magic beer in 16th century Vienna), On Stranger Tides (pirates and voodoo)

Michael Scott Rohan - Chase the Morning (and its sequels) - urban fantasy, swashbuckling immortals literally sailing into the sunset

Ellen Kushner - Swordspoint (and its sequels) - swashbuckling and intrigue, no magic at all


As for things that make me put a book back on the shelf (or throw it down in annoyance if the author/publisher sneaked it past me by not mentioning it in the blurb), it's mainly stuff I read a lot of when younger and don't care for any more: dragons, telepathically-bonded animals, quests, telepathically-bonded dragons, cultures based on some fuzzy romantic notion of Celtic history, quests to find dragons, kid comes into magical powers, quests to save the world for Dread Evil, kid discovers telepathic bond with dragon...

You get the idea :)

[Andre_Laurent]

Doesn't really fall into the cliche slot but, when an author uses a repeated word throughout. Such as, silky, velvet, or any other type. It's easy to tell which word they are enamored with. One, two tops is enough for me. All that repitition makes me start shaking my head and wish they had found some other words that mean the same thing.
This drives me nuts. I'm reading a book where this character has "grimaced" half a dozen times over three pages...now I'm looking for the damn word as I read...just so it can annoy me some more.

[Andre_Laurent]

A dead body in the opening scene. Really, how often does anyone come across a dead body?
I have...it sucked.

[Vandal]

The hooker with a heart of gold.

The world is full of them, right?

[Anne Lyle]

A dead body in the opening scene. Really, how often does anyone come across a dead body?

Well, the dead body being found some time after the murder is pretty much essential in detective fiction - otherwise there'd be no mystery. However...

But we're supposed to be excited, curious and enthralled by yet another corpse lounging about in an opening scene.

I know what you mean. It was new and shocking when Dorothy L Sayers began one of her books:

"The body without hands lay in a small boat floating off the Suffolk coast..." (or something similar)

But 75 years later, it's losing its shine as a hook. Personally I like to get some grounding in the setting and characters before someone is bumped off, but maybe that's more typical in historical crime, which is read for the milieu as much as the mystery?

[Niteowl]

Doesn't really fall into the cliche slot but, when an author uses a repeated word throughout. Such as, silky, velvet, or any other type. It's easy to tell which word they are enamored with.

I just finished a book where the author really liked the word "effulgence". Holy hells, you can NOT use that word more than once in a novel, it sticks out like Trekkie at a Star Wars convention.

[Button]

Carol Berg - the Rai-Kirah Trilogy. Dominant culture has supressed magic use, but there are "demons" who drive people insane and have to be fought secretly by shaman-like warriors
Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates (time-travelling through seedy 16th-18th century London), The Drawing of the Dark (gargoyles and magic beer in 16th century Vienna), On Stranger Tides (pirates and voodoo)
Michael Scott Rohan - Chase the Morning (and its sequels) - urban fantasy, swashbuckling immortals literally sailing into the sunset
Ellen Kushner - Swordspoint (and its sequels) - swashbuckling and intrigue, no magic at allYou get the idea :)

Try the Johnathan Stroud "Bartimaeus Trilogy". Might be more interesting to some of the Young Adult/Middle Grade fantasy readers. Magicians that use demons to do their dirty work. And those demons have attitude.

[alaskamatt17]

I'm really sick of fantasy stuff that's just rehashed Tolkien crap. Can we make new fantasy that doesn't have elves, dwarves, animal people, and wizards? Please?

As redfox pointed out, there's plenty of fantasy that isn't rehashed from Tolkien, although I don't think milieu is the best standard for dismissing a book. Tad Williams and George R. R. Martin have both done wonderful things in pretty standard medieval settings (although Martin dispenses with the elves ). Wizards, dwarves, and elves can also exhibit a wide array of traits and flaws. I don't hear too many people complaining about the widespread abundance of humans in mainstream and literary fiction, and I'm fairly certain that human characters are far more common in those genres than dwarves and elves are in fantasy.

[JoNightshade]

I just finished a book where the author really liked the word "effulgence". Holy hells, you can NOT use that word more than once in a novel, it sticks out like Trekkie at a Star Wars convention.

I too eschew the use of five-dollar words, particularly more than once. I have been known to shriek in horror upon discovering the repetition of a descriptive word. Like nails on a chalkboard.

[Stew21]

Regarding the mention of smoking as cliche': Well I can sort of see that, but my character, who isn't a smoker, takes it up suddenly. Everyone around him knows he doesn't smoke and ask him about it constantly. He can't really answer them regarding this for the first 1/3 of the book and then finally we understand what is happening to him and the purpose of it. It frames one of his lessons. Necessary. (and hopefully hopefully hopefully NOT cliche' in how it is used.)

I believe that even things that seem cliche' or things that seem like a bad way to start a story, when done with good reason and written well, can work.

[Devil Ledbetter]

Why exactly is smoking a cliche? A lot of people smoke.

[cjmouser]

I can't stand comparisons. I know there's a better word but it escapes me at the moment ...

Her hair was like ....

Her smile shone like ...

There's no way to put anything at the end of either of these two beginnings that would sound good.

(shudder)

Now if a writer says ... "he was grinnin' like a possum ..." that, I like and can relate to.

Dean Koontz uses the word "preternatural" at least three dozen times in every book. I think he thinks it's his signature word.

[Devil Ledbetter]

I can't stand comparisons. I know there's a better word but it escapes me at the moment ...

Her hair was like ....

Simile

[Lindo]

One that always screams "amateur" to me, but you run into a lot is "the best". He was the best swordsman in France (I wonder how they decide that, and if doping is permitted) she was the most beautiful woman in town, he was the most gifted mathematician, she the worst slut... this is the most overused cliche in the world.

[Scrawler]

Cliches? Or just things I'm sick of:

- The evil, abusive tyrant of a boss who makes 20-something MC's life hell, yet MC refuses to quit because she will be promoted to Company President by the last page.
- 30-something couple living together with so many problems they should break up, but "accidental" pregnancy solves all. Glowing romance blooms.
- Variation on above: single woman knocked up due to 1 night stand will be "supported" by gaggle of best friends. Group parenting.
- Chicks in chick lit who don't eat. "When the clock struck midnight, Tiffany realized she hadn't had a thing since that cup of black coffee at 7am."
- Amazingly wonderful, wealthy boyfriends with an average best friend who MC falls for on the last page.
- A MC who buys top-notch designer clothes and shoes and wonders how she'll pay rent on her NYC studio. Designer name dropping.

Bah.

[RG570]

Why exactly is smoking a cliche? A lot of people smoke.

Well, I didn't mean that smoking itself is a cliche. But it's how you use it in the story that might be.

Like as a lazy dialogue beat, where you have characters lighting cigarettes and staring out the window in every conversation. It's different than, say, having someone light a cigarette to calm down after nearly being hit by a car or something like that.

[cjmouser]

That's the word ...

[Devil Ledbetter]

Well, I didn't mean that smoking itself is a cliche. But it's how you use it in the story that might be.

Like as a lazy dialogue beat, where you have characters lighting cigarettes and staring out the window in every conversation. It's different than, say, having someone light a cigarette to calm down after nearly being hit by a car or something like that.Oh good. That's a relief. I've used it the second way you described. Since I have a character who smokes, hearing that smoking was a cliche concerned me.

[maddythemad]

The rich, bratty, spoiled girl who's completely mean to everyone with absolutely no redeeming qualities, and yet she's Popular and always flanked by a bunch of followers.

[Chasing the Horizon]

There aren't many clichés that bother me if they're handled well. But there are a few that no writer can do good enough to make me read.

In Romance:
A heroine who acts tough and feisty for most of the book, but ends up in a situation she absolutely must have the hero rescue her from. (I actually don't mind a heroine who openly depends on the hero. I just don't like denial)
Repeated references to the hero's amazing muscles/body. Yeah, he's hot, I get it already.
Sexy vampires. Sorry, but I don't find sucking blood appealing.

In Fantasy:
Medieval settings.
Having any MC related to the royal family of some kingdom (particularly when they don't know it.)
Having creatures that are clearly elves, dwarves, dragons, etc. but steadfastly refusing to call them what they are, and making me remember some made-up word for a giant flying creature with scales that breathes fire.
Names I can't pronounce on the first try (even worse, names I can't pronounce period).

There actually are a lot of cliché elements in my writing (it's fantasy, with dragons! :D ) But I've also mixed in a lot of elements that are very rarely seen in my genre. More than anything I think the tone and characters are unique (seem to have carried over from all my reading in mainstream fiction and horror). I also make fun of the clichés frequently.

[kimb68]

I don't know if this happens much in books but just about my most hated cliche in movies is when the main character has a cathartic cry at the end, miraculously curing his inner turmoil caused by (pick one):

- post-traumatic stress disorder
- sexual abuse by trusted priest
- distant mother
- abusive father
- death of child
- failure to rescue brother from sinking boat
- attempted suicide

Instead of how things work in the real world, which is that traumatic events usually stay with you forever and you just learn to cope.

[underthecity]

The Good-Looking Charismatic Bad Guy. How can he be evil? He's so good-looking and so well-spoken!

And Stew:
Regarding the mention of smoking as cliche': Well I can sort of see that, but my character, who isn't a smoker, takes it up suddenly. Everyone around him knows he doesn't smoke and ask him about it constantly.

When did you read the first few chapters of my book? This is, like, what I have too.

allen

[Stew21]

And Stew:


When did you read the first few chapters of my book? This is, like, what I have too.

allen


How funny! Isn't that weird? I guess its one of those things that people either do or don't do, so for a "don't" to suddenly start seems a good way to characterize some sort of trouble.

[scarletpeaches]

Dean Koontz uses the word "preternatural" at least three dozen times in every book. I think he thinks it's his signature word.

Bit like BTB with her mullioned windows, overstuffed sofas and obsession with the word 'bucolic'.

[BenPanced]

The coming out story.

A young gay man from a midwestern city (generally regarded as a small, hick, hayseed, one-horse town) goes to a larger metropolis. He discovers drugs and disco, only to find there's this Unknown Gay Plague ravaging his friends and everybody's dead from AIDS or AIDS-related complex by the end of the story.

Seriously. I once held two books side by side, and they both followed this formula, except one was set in New York, the other in Los Angeles; the drug of choice in one was cocaine, the other crystal meth. Pretty much the same story in both.

[Melanie Nilles]

I'm really sick of fantasy stuff that's just rehashed Tolkien crap. Can we make new fantasy that doesn't have elves, dwarves, animal people, and wizards? Please?

It's out there. You just have to dig with a backhoe rather than a kid's plastic shovel.

(btw, I avoid elves and dwarves like the plague when it comes to my stories--too sick of seeing them everywhere!)

[Niteowl]

I don't know if this happens ...:
...
- failure to rescue brother from sinking boat



You read faaar too many stories based around the ocean, me thinks :P


(btw, I avoid elves and dwarves like the plague when it comes to my stories--too sick of seeing them everywhere!)

How can you avoid them like the plague?! They are either light and airy, full of magic, wonder, and great hair, or they can swing a mean ax. How, oh how can you write any fantasy without them twanging their bows, drinking their mead and playing opposite to each other like some sort of Tolkien inspired "Odd Couple"?
(were you thinking Walter Mathau as the dwarf too? How odd!)

[Anne Lyle]

(were you thinking Walter Mathau as the dwarf too? How odd!)

:roll:

I'm not sure why that made me laugh so much - the sudden image of Walter Matthau in a horned helmet, I think :)

[vvgooding]

I don't know why characters can't cry quietly. Not everyone makes loud, heart-wrenching sobs of anger/sadness/rage when they express their grief.

[Red Robin]

Laziness.

That's what it all boils down to.

Beyond unpronounceable names I can't think of a cliché that I truly hate. When a cliché appears, it is often followed by poor, dull unimaginative writing. Throwing in elements that seem novel or exotic are particular offenders, because nothing is novel and exotic anymore. Weird names are particularly common in bad fiction.

I would read a story about a hooker with a heart of gold if it was well written. The cliché would quickly be forgotten.

I had originally planned on writing a fantasy novel with elves, dwarves and orcs, and I'd call them that too. The are NOT exotic, and I figured that so long as they were well developed as characters that it would not matter. I dropped that story because it was over-hackneyed young farmboy discovers magical powers and fights the evil liche-lord... fortunately I came to my senses.

Now I'm writing an elfless, dwarfless fantasy novel. But the MC's culture is heavily based on Celtic culture. Cliché? Oh well.

Oh... let me add one more almost unforgivable sin- exchanging one common word for a similar but unconventional word. This is lazy exoticism at its worst.

see - glimpse
throne - couch
day - cycle

Yes! Couch/Throne! If you wasted $1 and 30 minutes of your life trying to read Janet E. Morris' High Couch of Silistra you know what I'm talking about.

[althrasher]

The unpronoucable names is a big one. And of course, the "damsel in distress." We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much.

[Mike Lynch]

The hot, nubile babe that eventually is attracted to the slovenly, slacker guy.

The whiny son/daughter of a privileged upbringing crying about how terrible his life is. He/she is eventually forced out into the cruel world, and becomes a better person for it in the end.

You have 100 martial arts villains attacking the hero one at a time. And in the same vein, none of them seems to see much use for firearms. You take your gun out and shoot the hero. Problem solved. The bad guy wins.

The hero who almost gets the bad guy at the beginning of the story, only to finally stop him at the end.

The annoying, wacky sidekick who seems to add absolutely nothing to the plot, has just the right information/gizmo at the most crucial point in the story and saves the day. The same can be said for any James Bond movie. That special device he gets from Q that has absolutely no purpose in the world, is exactly what he needs to get out of the villian's clutches...and then gets the babe.

These are some of the cliches I could think of I find annoying.

Mike

[WordGypsy]

You know that scene in Indiana Jones where the ninja guy comes out all hands and swords and Indiana pulls the gun and just shoots him dead? I always loved that scene cuz it was so NOT CLICHE. Come to find out they all had the sh*ts real bad and Harrison Ford was tired of shooting that day so he ad libbed that part and everyone loved it so much they kept it!