So you’ve got an idea, but then that little voice inside your head starts pointing out that trench coat wearing detectives are cliché. Or maybe it whispers- ‘does the world really need yet another farm boy king?’ The first thing I will tell you do is to stop listening to that voice. That voice is out to kill your inspiration and fill you with doubt.
However I am not here to say that one shouldn’t care about clichés and the effects they have on the people who read your stories. At this point some people say that clichés are clichés for a reason, because they work. However this begs the question, well if they work why are they so bad? Shouldn’t they just work in every story they're in? The obvious answer is that clearly they don’t or otherwise well meaning writers and your friends wouldn’t tell you to avoid them like the plague.
To explain this answer one needs to look what a cliché is. A cliché is a trope (meaning a common story element) that has become so well known it’s the first thing people think of when you mention a genre. For fantasy, some of them are farm boys, secret heirs, and magic swords. For the romance it’s the Byronic hero and the virgin heroine. Of course genres aren’t limited to a single set of story clichés, the alpha male hero is another romance cliché.
So what’s the problem? Clichés are often what get people into the genre in the first place. And you’ve probably read books where the clichés worked fine and you loved the story. But that’s just it: so has everyone else. When these elements where first introduced, or when a new author makes them popular again the genre is flooded with stories baring marked resemblance to these previous works. And because of how common the tropes have become readers are trained to expect certain elements together. The problem is that most of the books aren’t nearly as good as the original. And after a while many readers will get bored and frustrated.
The thing that most people don’t realize about clichés is they work not because of the element themselves but because of the writer and because of the story. Sure clichés are often (or were originally) set up to pull the audience in further, to surprise them, to pull their heartstrings or make them cry. But that’s ultimately not why they work.
They work because the author built a world that drew the reader in, created characters that seemed alive, because the author knew their craft. And that’s still the way to succeed with clichés today. Many writers do nothing but write within a cliché storm (romance, genre movies) but people still enjoy their work, often because their characters work (big hint to succeeding with clichés). Just keep one thing in mind when writing clichés, because they have been overused, they can have little to no forgiveness (especially plot related ones, trained readers and all) and any poor usage can make them completely lose their effect and read as trite.
Ultimately when using a cliché it’s best to look at why you’re using it. Examine your own mind. Are you making your mentor old and bearded because that’s how mentors are suppose to be or because having an aged character is the best way to tell the story you’re trying to tell? It’s there a reason for why you’re using a cliché beyond the fact that it’s cool, it’s what you’re suppose to do or you’re trying to tell story in the spirit of a previous work (which by the way is a silly reason to write a story, if the reader wanted to read that story then that’s what they would read).
In the end you need to find your own story and follow your characters to wherever the end. You’ll probably be surprised at how little it reads as cliché. Of course if you’re writing for you own enjoyment you can be as self indulgent as you want to be and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Of course every reader will have a different tolerance level for clichés. Some will actively seek out certain clichés hoping they'll find a writer that does them as well as the last big name who wrote them. (Me? I'm a huge sucker for farm boy kings and marriages of convenience - if they're well done.) I mean look at the success of avatar (which I also LOVED)...
One last note: beware of clichés revolving around physical appearance. Those are the easiest ones to change. Making your mentor character young and red headed is a simple way to avoid having someone tell you you’ve just written a Gandalf rip off.
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