Where is the line between "trite" and "timeless" story elements?

All in the way the author writes it.

Or on how the reader reads it

Some tropes I love, others I hate. My Old Man loves stuff I would not touch with a pole.

Unless you're doing SERIOUSLY cliche stuff* an adding NOTHING new, I wouldn't worry about it

Make it your own, then own it



*orphan finds sword, and also finds out he is secretly the son of the king. *eyeroll* But you could do something with that if you know it is cliche and make it your own. That trope was old in the sixties, but see Star Wars....

RCtheBanditQueen said:

What do you all think? Just curious.

Click to expand...

It's all in the execution.

I think "trite" is also culturally relative. If you grew up in a culture that has formal coming of age rituals (a la debutantes or quinceañeras), you're going to find those tropes to be overused in part because your senses are dulled to that type of stimulus. For people who didn't grow up with those traditions they will seem like exotic, timeless rituals, and make for a more engrossing story.

I went to college with a woman from Ethiopia. I had the honor of standing next to her the first time she saw snow. I'll never forget the look on her face. As a Russian transplanted to Canada, snow is something I take for granted; I'm surrounded by it six or seven months out of the year. I hardly think about it. But for her, seeing tiny petals of ice fall from the sky was nothing short of a miracle.

Perspective. And letting the reader live a character's experiences and emotions. I think that's what draws the line between "contrived" and "timeless."

It's all in how well you tell the story, and the originality you add to it.

I think it's one of those things like "obscenity."

You know it when you see it.

I feel like when you're writing about the human experience there isn't much you can write (meaning theme) that is 100% original. For instance, I am writing a children's book with the theme of a grandparent dying. Nothing new there, grandparents have been dying since the beginning of time. lol. However, I feel pretty certain that I'm doing that theme in a way that it hasn't been done before. So, as far as determining when something becomes "trite", I don't know if it is something that can be clearly defined. Also, I think it depends on what is "in" at the time (kinda like fashion).

Depends on how much you are willing to suspend disbelief and how convincing the writer is. The writing has to be good but you also have to be open to not viewing it as trite before you start reading.

One of the things I like about writing for children is that they don't know the cliches yet. This doesn't mean you can just write the most hackneyed cliche thing for them, but it may mean you can be the standard they hold that trope to later on. The editors and agents know all the tropes and cliches after all.

Put it on your Don't Worry About This list.

Excellent writing can rescue many a clichéd plot. But a lot depends on how well the writer knows their audience. There are trends in clichés - an idea that was perfectly allowable once may be insufferably boring now.

Some clichés are actually a positive - the romantic happy ending, the explorer finding the lost treasure, the detective solving the crime. The in joke in apocalypse fiction about tins of peaches.

The astute writer gets to know his or her audience. Read the same stuff that they read. Watch the same films. Play the same computer games. Or at the very least be aware that they exist.

That will tell you what is hot and what is not. And that in turn tells you which elements are fundamental and which are eye-rolls.

There are no hard and fast rules because fashions change. The thing that should remain constant is the importance of understanding the audience.