How to avoid tropes and cliches?

[Set2Stun]

Trope = good
Cliche = bad

This is basically what I popped in to say. Tropes are fine. In fact, plenty of agents on their MSWLs will have a list of "Tropes I Like" and sometimes a list of those they do not like. Using tropes doesn't prevent one from being original in their work, and it makes the story more accessible to readers.

Clichés, on the other hand, should be avoided whenever possible. Opening chapters with a character waking up, ending a chapter with a character passing out/being knocked out, "it was all a dream," "people were the real monsters all along," etc. That kind of stuff can take a hike !

 

[writersaurus]

Wow, there are a lot of valuable insights and opinions here. Thanks, guys. Maybe we just have fun with our writing and not worry too much.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Exactly. A trope can be anything that works, from the "Chosen One" idea to the "Protagonist is a Shitty Person, so Let's Mess With His Life to Teach His a Lesson" plot.

What tricks do you employ to avoid tropes and cliches? Like putting a werewolf on a spaceship? or having vampires in a futuristic world of flying cars and laser guns? Or having zombies possess the ability to perform sonnets? (Okay, that last one was a joke ).

These sound like you're trying to avoid tropes to the point where they break completely.

Werewolves, vampires and zombies are not tropes, nor are spaceships, laser guns, flying cars, or sonnets. They're just story elements.

If you have a werewolf in a spaceship, or a vampire with a laser gun, or (for that matter) a sonnet-performing zombie, they need to make sense in your story world. Ask yourself these questions:

- Where did these guys/gals come from?
- How did they become werewolves, vampires, or zombies?
- How does being a werewolf / vampire / zombie in your story world differ from the ordinary werewolf / vampire / zombie?
- How did they acquire laser guns, spaceships, or the smarts to perform sonnets?
- Does any of this break your story world?

As long as it doesn't, write what you like.

I'm writing a werewolf and several zombies into my story, but only because my setting is medieval Iceland, so they make sense because Scandinavians are familiar with the notion of being a werewolf or a zombie (aka draugr). But I'm subverting them in little-but-crucial ways that make all the difference.

 

[writersaurus]

I had an idea where a zombie rockstar resurrects the dead with a mystical guitar. A 'Return of the Living Dead' kind of deal.

 

[ps102]

Everything has already been written

Not really. There will always be something new to write. It doesn't matter if a story has a trope in it. A trope doesn't define the story as a whole. It just means that it has an element found in other stories.

You can totally wrap a trope in originality, not necessarily by subverting it. Whether people will end up enjoying the result is a whole other matter though.

I'm already writing in a bit of a weird way because I'm nuerodiverse. Nuerotypical individuals are not likely to write like me. Not that this is a bad thing in any way, shape or form. We're just different and that's totally okay.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I had an idea where a zombie rockstar resurrects the dead with a mystical guitar. A 'Return of the Living Dead' kind of deal.

Terry Pratchett did a similar thing with Soul Music. In the climax,

Spoiler

Death (aka the Grim Reaper) ends up playing a mystical guitar to kind-of sort-of raise the dead,

but otherwise it's similar.

But if you do it in a good, original way, there's no problem.

 

[writersaurus]

Terry Pratchett did a similar thing with Soul Music. In the climax,

Spoiler

Death (aka the Grim Reaper) ends up playing a mystical guitar to kind-of sort-of raise the dead,

but otherwise it's similar.

But if you do it in a good, original way, there's no problem.

lol

 

[Also]

So which is it when Han tells Leia, "You've changed your hair." Or is that intentional humor of the self-parody variety?

 

[Naomasa298]

I had an idea where a zombie rockstar resurrects the dead with a mystical guitar. A 'Return of the Living Dead' kind of deal.

Well, another of my WIPs is a girl who resurrects the dead because of the beauty of her voice.

 

[Night Herald]

What tricks do you emplore to avoid tropes and cliches? Like putting a werewolf on a spaceship? or having vampires in a futuristic world of flying cars and laser guns? Or having zombies possess the ability to perform sonnets? (Okay, that last one was a joke ).

I don't avoid tropes, I love them and I lean into them all the time! My only "trick" is trying to use them in fresh and inventive ways. I'll put a handful of discordant ones in close proximity and see what strange music results. Sometimes I'll challenge myself to un-clichify a cliché or make a "writing no-no" work for me. I'm personally super fond of dream sequences, which might be considered cliché, and I'll put at least one in every major project I do. Those are among my favorite chapters I've ever written, so at least to my own mind I'm doing something right.

Another trope I use a lot is necromancy and necromancers, there are three prominent examples across my two main novel series alone, but in each case I feel I've manage to do a unique enough spin to make it worthwhile. They're all extremely unalike in terms of personality, have radically different ethics when it comes to raising the dead, do it for different purposes, have different power levels and so on. The mechanical practicalities of necromancy also vary according to setting. I don't have zombies doing sonnets, as far as I can recall, but I've got things like skeleton dance crews and zombie butlers rattling and shuffling about the place.

I think that you can write just about anything in a way that isn't clichéd. As long as you do it with heart and authenticity and some skill, a measure of originality and minty freshness will naturally shine through. Sometimes all you need is a gentle twist, while at other times you have to give it a good half-hour in the centrifuge. Context is king, I've heard, and the devil is known to reside in the details.

 

[Stuart Dren]

I think when someone's trying to avoid "tropes and cliches" they're trying to avoid overly derivative writing. Usually that stems from a limited range of mental source material. Read more fiction, read more history.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I think when someone's trying to avoid "tropes and cliches" they're trying to avoid overly derivative writing. Usually that stems from a limited range of mental source material. Read more fiction, read more history.

Exactly. I had an idea -- one which I didn't pursue -- of a twist on the story of Dido and Aeneas, in which (spoiler alert)

Spoiler

Aeneas (the jerk!) doesn't leave her to found Rome, and she doesn't kill herself, so there's no wars between Rome and Carthage,

and everybody lives happily ever after, the end. =P

I didn't write it, though, because I'm not sure how many people know the original story of Dido and Aeneas ... *worried* ... unless you're European, of course, or know your classical mythology.

 

[Rad Scribbler]

Coming in late, well extremely late, on this topic.

One question: Would it be wrong to include an occasional Cliche' in your writing provided it fits / supports. The reason being, people sometimes use cliches in everyday speech.

 

[X Equestris]

Would it be wrong to include an occasional Cliche' in your writing provided it fits / supports. The reason being, people sometimes use cliches in everyday speech.

Not at all. Most cliches become cliche because they were effective, and they can still be used effectively if you use them sparingly or put a little spin on them.

“Character wakes up” openings may be cliche, for, example, but there’s nothing wrong with them if you can make them interesting. “The Return of Sir Richard Grenville” starts with Solomon Kane awoken by the ghost of an old friend, who warns him a band of cannibals is coming to kill him; that’s a very different beast from a character who wakes up and goes about their utterly mundane morning routine!

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Not at all. Most cliches become cliche because they were effective, and they can still be used effectively if you use them sparingly or put a little spin on them.

“Character wakes up” openings may be cliche, for, example, but there’s nothing wrong with them if you can make them interesting. “The Return of Sir Richard Grenville” starts with Solomon Kane awoken by the ghost of an old friend, who warms him a band of cannibals is coming to kill him; that’s a very different beast from a character who wakes up and goes about their utterly mundane morning routine!

Or unless he does go about his utterly mundane morning routine ... until the council tries to demolish his house ... and it spirals out of control.

"People of Earth, your attention, please..."

Coming in late, well extremely late, on this topic.

One question: Would it be wrong to include an occasional cliché in your writing provided it fits / supports. The reason being, people sometimes use clichés in everyday speech.

Like X Equestris said, you can use the occasional cliché, no problem. If you put your own spin on them, they're especially effective.

And if you have a character who's not an original thinker (or crooked, or just plain slow), he can even talk in clichés (or mix his metaphors). Here's a masterclass on how to do that.

As Ernest Bevin, Labour Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Commonwealth, said about the idea of a Council of Europe in 1948: “I don’t like it. If you open that Pandora’s box, you will find it full of Trojan horses.”