Clichés

by Arget Hackslayer

Cliches

In my experience, one of the most common pieces of advice handed out to fledgling fantasy writers is to stay as far away from clichés as possible. People fail to realize, however, that in this day and age, just about anything can be considered cliché if it is executed poorly. Further, this advice has become so commonplace and used so often that it has, in itself, become cliché.

What I mean is simply that, in an effort to avoid many common fantasy clichés, writers have inadvertently created a whole new set of clichés which are just as tedious to read about as their older counterparts.

As you can see, this quickly becomes a confused mess of what to do and what not to do. I propose that writers forget what people tell them to do and not to do and instead use their instinct.

Still, leaving it at that would make an incredibly short and rather pointless article, so let’s instead ask some questions and see if we can come up to a solution to this mess.

--What is a cliché?

Wikipedia’s definition works rather well here:

“The term cliché (or cliche) is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. It is generally used in a negative context.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliche

Quite simply, a cliché was powerful and awesome at one point in time, but the awesomeness faded because everyone jumped on the bandwagon.

--Why do people still use clichés, if they’re so bad?

Some people don’t know any better. Some people don’t realize that what they’re doing is cliché.

Then, there is that special breed of person who sees a cliché and uses it, but, at the same time, uses it in such a new and inventive way that it can hardly be considered a cliché.

Remember—the cliché itself isn’t bad, because the only reason it gets used over and over again is because people liked it so much that they wanted to see it again.

This does not mean, however, that they want to see the exact same thing. They want to see a new spin to it—the same basic concept, but interpreted a different way.

--So, what’s the conclusion here?

Clichés aren’t automatically okay to use, but don’t automatically shy away from them, either. Listen to your characters, and if they require you to write a cliché situation, do it—but do it with grace. It isn’t the cliché itself, but the execution of it that matters.

I do have one word of warning, though: cliché descriptions do NOT apply to the above rule. A good writer can give depth and feeling to clichéd plots and characters, but clichéd descriptions are a different ballgame. They’ll mark you as an amateur in the eyes of anyone with any experience whatsoever.

Don’t wax poetic about Character A’s hair, and don’t carry on about your character’s intense, brooding eyes. Write things the way people will really see them. Don’t try to idealize or sugarcoat.

In the end, it all comes down to personal judgment. No one can tell you what will work best for you. Decide for yourself what is best for your story.