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MakingFunOfStuff — MOST COMMON CLICHES IN STORIES
Published: 2012-09-18 20:27:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 36169; Favourites: 657; Downloads: 30
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CHARACTERS:Crazy, psychopathic, murderer ladies
Sexy, butt-kicking girls
Crazy/random/hyper self-inserts
Depressed emo/goth/always-dresses-in-black types
Angsty/moody/hot teenagers
The brown-haired girl with no personality
The mean, popular, snobby girl
Unreasonably cruel bullies out to make life harder for the main character
The best friend (if they were a good character who *happened* to be a best friend they wouldn't have to be described as this)
Fun fact: Making victim OCs is cliche
Another fun fact: how someone dresses is NOT their personality
Yet another fun fact: People who claim to be random really are not and they know it.
Super bonus fun fact: A character's breast size need NEVER be stated. The end.
Super de duper bonus fun fact: Please, spare us the paragraphs on what the character looks like. It is a story, not a fashion show. A few sentences with mentions of hair color or other select features you find necessary to point out(KEYWORD: NECESSARY) are perfect. After all, how many paragraphs did JK Rowling describe Harry in? And yet we all know what he looks like... Plus, there are always these things called *pictures* you can take advantage of! especially on this fine art site
Super de duper bonus fun fact part 2: When you're describing a character (or explaining a background, etc.) you don't have to do it all at once. Pace it reasonably throughout the story or it will become too overwhelming for the reader. Think of creative ways that make describing things seem more necessary. Example: She pulled out a piece of her curly orange hair.
BACKGROUNDS:
Turned crazy from being abused
Turned depressed from being abused
Turned anything from being abused
Family was murdered
Anything to do with a fire or a car crash
Anything that was invented for the purpose of making the audience feel bad for them, just to get their family out of the way or just for the sake of being dramatic/emotional.
PLOTS:
Over-dramatic/emotional scenarios specifically designed for "fluff" (aka unbearable corny-ness that you will someday wake up and realize you feel like complete fool for writing)
Making it up as you go (aka no plot)
Romance/romance related
Fun fact: Dramatic scenes do require more skill to write than casual scenes and most of the times less is more. If you base a whole story on the most dramatic/emotional things you can think of you WILL regret it.
I repeat, less is more (I don't necessarily mean less dramatic scenes, but also less drama IN the scenes too. The less drama, the more surprised we'll be when your character pours out their heart or whatever, so save the drama for when it's really important).
Another fun fact: There is this come in handy-ish thing called suspense. Drama is the anti-suspense. Create a suspense that the drama can have fun destroying, because drama without suspense is dead. It needs something to feed on.
I know you're dying to get to the part where your character is sobbing their heart out, but let the readers get to know them first, or they won't care as much (if at all...).
In most cases the only way for us to get to fully know them is through light-hearted, casual, every-day scenes and situations (sometimes far more than just the dramatic ones). It's up to you to make THOSE interesting too, you know.
(Also consider whether the sobbing their heart out part is too corny or not. A lot of the times it really is. Be careful).
Example of over-dramatic/over-used scenario (a short and undetailed one to be precise): Your character is completely distraught and broken. They sit in a corner with their arms around their knees sobbing. Then their boyfriend comes up and comforts them.
If you have an emotional/dramatic scene like this think very carefully: Is this the kind of thing I want my grandchildren to see in years to come or is it something I'm going to want to burn in humiliation?
Yet one more fun fact: Stories don't HAVE to have romance in them *shockety shock shock*
The last fun fact: Don't look up to animes when you write. Things that pass in anime don't always in literature. They're all full of Mary Sues for one.
THINGS THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE "RANDOM"
Llama
Pie
Ninja
Saying "I like *insert type of cute food/animal/object here*"
Barfing rainbows
Basically anything else you got from internet memes or fads
OTHER
Lyrics/links to songs (sorry, but music is personal and no one is going to think of it the way you do. Plus, adding lyrics that you didn't write in the middle of a story is unprofessional)
Rewriting a story just to add a love interest
(anyone who writes down scenes of a movie word for word frankly has no life)
Sex, drugs, alcohol, racial issues (basically anything you can report someone on clubpenguin for talking about)
Fun fact: The more swearing in your writing the more immature it sounds. It's a scientific fact.
(Granted, it could be realistic if it's the way of a certain culture etc., but I think it's safe to say: leave that to those who know what they're doing).
EDIT:
Please, read my new post: How Not to Tell a Story
makingfunofstuff.deviantart.co…
Comments: 459
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J.K. Rowling may not have described Harry's appearance in detail, but she did have gigantic info dumps at the beginning and end of each book, and I found that a lot more irritating. I don't see what's wrong with describing someone's appearance in detail, because it gives me a better idea of what a character looks like.
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It might depend how the author handles it.
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Yes, but that's true of almost everything in literature.
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I don't think everything is subjective. You'd have to explain your reasoning.
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What I mean is, almost any trope, cliché, etc. can be good if the author is good enough to pull it off.
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Yes, but I also think you can break the rules better if you know them.
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Absolutely. Bucking the rules or following them, I don't care, as long as the author is good. But I can't say that J.K. Rowling handled her info dumps well. I will say that the books were originally intended for kids (at least the early ones were), and I don't think a kid will mind, because the info dump explains everything that happened. (Apparently Barty Crouch Jr. is a real blabbermouth under the influence of Veritaserum.)
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Fair point about J. K. Rowling.
And yeah, I think part of being a good author is being able to embellish or manipulate reality (which you can do better the more you understand it).
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So what about you, then? Do you like breaking the rules or following them? (I'm just curious.)
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Hmm...
Every individual situation is different.
Sometimes I realize my story would be better if I followed some rules (like using less adjectives). But sometimes an adjective can be used to give a sentence a certain ring to it.
There's so many different situations, I'm not sure if I can answer which I do most. I try to do whatever helps me achieve the goal I have for my story. As long as you have a certain standard you're reaching for, I think it's easier to use good judgment about when to break the rules or not. If you're trying to write a story similar to something else, say Lord of the Rings, odds are there are specific rules it would be wise to follow if you expect your story to be met with the same type of response from an audience. As long as you don't use "it's just my style" as an excuse, and are being wise in your judgment, I think you have to take each individual situation as it comes.
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Yeah, I agree with that.
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I have a rich,mean,snobby,bully character but she has a reason for it
1.Her parents don't spend time or much less care what she does,so whenever she is upset,they ignore her and give her money and then leave.
2.She never really express her feelings so she bullies to cover up her feelings or take her anger out
3.No one ever taught her what is love so she just flirts and tries to steal other people's date and thinks that's how it goes,and since she's insecure about her real look,and she's popular,she dresses up with revealing clothes,and people like her dressed like that.
4.She is jealous of a lot of people because she sees that they have people who love and care about them,but she don't
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I just have to say, this was REALLY helpful to read!! Every time I think of writing a fanfiction or something I always can't resist having a self-insert. But I kept scrapping them because they were on their way towards heckin TONS of cringe and cliche. This gave me all sorts of ideas to avoid LOL
But again, thank you!! This is important to me and it means a lot. Thank you for making this!
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Self inserts are usually the best part of writing fanfiction!!
BUT, the same thing that makes them good makes them cringey and cliche the next morning, LOL.
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Pfff isn't that the truth lmao XD
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It is fun to reverse gender roles and literally everything you see in MakingFunOfStuff's list
#MaleTsundere
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I break Cliches a lot.
The brownhaired girl with no personality?
Me: The brown haired girl with multiple personalities. (I've seen the no personality brown haired girl cliche so much lol)
The goth who dresses in black
Me: I'll make my goth wear pink! (Goths who wear black are too depressing (even for me) lol)
The mean popular snobby girl
Me: I already have Jeanine? What do you want? (Yeah, that cliche will be eternally unbroken)
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o hey lol how r u doing
(and yes i beak cliches a lot too lmao)
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I'm pretty good. Just got back from a 16 day trip in Japan
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Im a bit new to writing fan fictions and I just wrote a couple chapters of an MLP one. Ive noticed a couple of the things on the list that I sorta did and others I don't care about and never plan to put them in any of my fan fictions. Anyone have advice to make my future chapters better and less.....filler?
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I wonder in what kind of context you consider alcohol/drugs being a cliché or an element of an unprofessional writing? I think that they might not work out well for the story, if some (younger) writer who has no experience or knowledge about them decides to add them there to make their character "badass". On the other hand, in my opinions, a writer who really knows how those substances affect their user could use them as a really interesting way to support the story (for example make their user end up in different situations because of them affecting their behaviour or create a surreal feeling to the story by describing the world from the point of view of a person who has used LSD or cannabis).
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It's more common in nonprofessional stories written by beginners as a way of being "edgy." Other than that I haven't read any stories about it, however.
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I once read a book that was about an ex-heroin addict's memories and involved naturally using that substance, I thought it was interesting to find out about her experiences, and of course, the drugs were the main theme there. In conclusion, maybe, if the descriptions of using alcohol/drugs really are necessary for the story or add something interesting to it, they are fine but on the other hand, if the writer just throws those topics there for the sake of having them in the story, then it doesnt work out well?
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Aaahhhhh thank you. I hate it when people just barf a paragraph of description. I usually just skip the whole thing. When I write a description, I point out the obvious at first, then as things are looked at more, actions are done, things are said, then I add a little bit more if it's necessary to the topic. Nobody cares if the carpet is brown and fluffy. I also try to add the characters thoughts on everything around them.
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The main problem, especially with creepypasta OCs, is how they try to use their tragic backstory (of which copies completely off of Jeff the Killer's story, of which was already bad,) as an excuse for them to kill innocent people who haven't accomplished their dreams, and then to make the reader feel more bad for said killer. You can't get a life back, once it's gone. I really love the cliches this points out when it comes to OCs.
It's still alright to use cliches, but try to use them carefully, and creatively for that manner.
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is it bad i havent made any of this but i have too many inspirations from anime?
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It's like looking back at all the old works I wrote when I was a teenager. XD
Awesome list, I hope it gets through to some writers out there!
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I like this list, but you forgot something.
THE OVERLY POPULAR/HOT GIRL WHO RULES THE GODDANG SCHOOL
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"Is this the kind of thing I want my grandchildren to see in years to come or is it something I'm going to want to burn in humiliation?" Is something I think of regularly and the main reason that I rewrite... ALOT. So, quite accurate!
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Thanks for the comment!
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I need you to look over all of my characters XD (because my plot works more with the character than I realized)
But it's always good to have some insight on these things... especially since I'm an amateur and I want to be an author
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I admit I write, and enjoy writing, fanfics. And I know that they're just little outlets for fun and developing writing style, and that most of them I'd never let see the light of day, but I think that even fanfic writing can be artful. You're borrowing a world, a lore, and some of the characters, but you can still make the art.
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"BACKGROUNDS:
Turned crazy from being abused
Turned depressed from being abused
Turned anything from being abused"
these are all things that can happen to abuse survivors like ... are u saying that an abused person whos depressed because they were abused is cliche and trying to be funny and random because if so thats really rude ....
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That's not what the article mean. Of course things will happen when a person is being abuse. What "cliche" here is meaning the drama is being overused. And just to let you know, yes, people are using the abuse topic to turn their character into the center of the attention. Rather than letting their character fighting with their own mentality and develop their own feeling, many Mary sue author turned their character into a victim and let other characters shelter these Mary-Sue
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to be fair the "random" type characters are usually used in humor stories
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Is this an okay amount of description for a character's looks - "Looking into the mirror Victor notices he looks a mess, short dark green fur sticks out in odd positions, dirty and matted blackish green hair hangs low and looks greasy"
In the beginning of the story i did this - "Victor stands up and stretches, leaning forward as his wings burst out from his back and stretch as far as they can go"
I didn't mention the color of his wings, since i don't think that's to important. Note that i placed those descriptions in separate paragraphs, those two scenes are probably around ten to fifteen minutes apart in the actual story.
Are they good? i hope people can imagine what he looks like alright with those descriptions. If not i can always link them to his ref sheet, since that's the best place to see what he actually looks like.
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im no writer but if i read that first sentence id think its a bit of a run on sentence but its good and the second one is really good, it lets the reader know that victor has wings
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"Yet one more fun fact: Stories don't HAVE to have romance in them *shockety shock shock*"
YES THANK YOU
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A couple years ago, I wrote a fan fiction that I thought was REALLY good. I read this, and then went back to the fanfiction to read it, and then I had a cringe attack and thanked the fandom gods that I didn't post it on the internet.
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I hate how everybody always has those depressed "BAWWWWW FEEL BAD FOR ME" characters.
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Omg, advice really. In truth, my fic is clich. I believe I rushed it a lot. I'm glad i found this. Now i can refix my work. Thanks so much, i'm laughing so hard at myself. You're an awsome advice giver in a very comedic way.
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Question; could the breast size technically be stated if the size makes the OC's back hurt? I know people who have large breasts who have back problems due to having large breasts.
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