darkSpyro

For my English class I have to write a story, but I want to avoid putting a cliché in it.
What are some clichés to avoid?

Best friend who has no development who dies

few days before retirement, but dies.

The solution to impossible problems is friendship, love or both.

Liar revealed

Police Cheif puts to opposes together. The Buddy cop movie

you should like, have two sides, right like, maybe there's a fence in a hill with two sides, but the catch is that, get this, the grass ISN'T greener on the other side, it's the exact same shade of green!

would it be a cliché if the narrator was dead the whole time and the majority of the story is a hallucination while the brain shuts down?

The Secret is Inside.
Character can't do something by the start of the movie but will do it before the end
Villain leaves hero to die

I don't know, watch Foodfight and avoid everything there. Or don't watch it and save your eyeballs.

Quote: Ash Starkindle

would it be a cliché if the narrator was dead the whole time and the majority of the story is a hallucination while the brain shuts down?

Nope, it would actually be amazingily origional.(Pardon my grammar)

Some other ideas would be.
Have the main character actually be the villain the entire time
Have every character die by the end of the story
Have the least important character be the only survivor

Quote: Ash Starkindle

would it be a cliché if the narrator was dead the whole time and the majority of the story is a hallucination while the brain shuts down?

no but it is a dick move, it's a cop out, like oh it was a dream the entire time and literally nothing mattered at all and all the sacrifices made to get to the end goal werent even real

Characters who don't have an attraction towards each other romantically end up falling in love, often teased with certain moments. They hug, then let go looking in opposite directions and such.

Two main characters of opposite genders get in a relationship by the end of the story, when romance isn't the focus of it.

The last teammate betrays the party, willing or unwillingly.

Character seems like a normal, everyday-person at first but then becomes a hero by the end of it.

Thanks for the input guys.
The prompt is that I have to make a character go swimming, when they come up they have to be in a jungle.
My main plot line is that I fall into the pool during gym class after I get pushed by a classmate. I come back up in a jungle. Animals almost kill me, blah blah blah... I fall into another pool of water. I'm in front of my house, I walk in and my family's all crying because I ended up dying the whole time.
Yes, I'm making myself the main character because I think I can write it out skillfully, and I feel it would be more relatable and heart wrenching.

Quote: Ash Starkindle

would it be a cliché if the narrator was dead the whole time and the majority of the story is a hallucination while the brain shuts down?

Not the first part, but yeah, the second is kinda cliché.

You have to write about something that has no relationship issues, no marriages, no getting kids, no moving in together and no traditional relationship problems (romantic, professional, personal) between people. You need to forget about everything about lazy writing, embrace the artistic nihilism and create something of artificial but non-pretentious meaning.

i mean tvtropes exists for a reason

Quote: HIR

i mean tvtropes exists for a reason

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...TropesAreNotBad

Sorry not sorry.

Quote: Drawdler

For video games: Big Bad has two or three forms fought in succession.

God I'm tired of this one.

Dunno, I like multiple phase bosses - when it makes sense and looks cool. Something like breaking a villain's power suit or proceeding to fight his entire fortress or ****ing Jergingha can be amazing and a climax on its own.
However, when your random sorcerer turns into a giant monster, and then a pretty boy, or a weird amalgamation of symbolism, you're just using that trope for the sake of it and it actually takes away from the drama.

AHHH WONDERFUL 101! AHHHH THAT FINAL BOSS!


NOW I FINISH MY TASK AND END OUR NIGHTMARE FOREVERRRR

You becha. Jergingha is a little too busy to be better of a boss battle than Jubileus from Bayonetta, but it does the escalation and doesn't stop. Another example is the true final boss from Asura's Wrath, but like the rest of the game it sacrifices gameplay for style.

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: HIR

i mean tvtropes exists for a reason

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...TropesAreNotBad

Sorry not sorry.

i see you fam

In all seriousness, I don't mind clichés as long as they're entertaining to me. Is that an unpopular opinion? XP

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: HIR

i mean tvtropes exists for a reason

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...TropesAreNotBad

Sorry not sorry.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...BadWritingIndex
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...iscreditedTrope

additionally

Quote: HIR

i see you fam

In all seriousness, I don't mind clichés as long as they're entertaining to me. Is that an unpopular opinion? XP

That's the point. A cliche is overused, but if you make it entertaining, or put a fun spin on it, it's doing its job.

I really want to just mention already, it's HUGE spoilers for Persona 5, and believe me if someone explicitly spoiled you, you don't actually know this one yet, so don't look if you plan on playing or aren't at November 22nd yet.

The hero's parents are dead.

If I had a nickel for every time I've seen that, I'd be rich.

Quote: Skyhunter

The hero's parents are dead.

If I had a nickel for every time I've seen that, I'd be rich.

Just watch Bambi or the Lion King over and over again

Quote: King-Pen Krazy

Quote: Skyhunter

The hero's parents are dead.

If I had a nickel for every time I've seen that, I'd be rich.

Just watch Bambi or the Lion King over and over again

bambi doesn't count b/c his mother was alive for 95% of the movie.

Quote: parisruelz12

Quote: King-Pen Krazy

Quote: Skyhunter

The hero's parents are dead.

If I had a nickel for every time I've seen that, I'd be rich.

Just watch Bambi or the Lion King over and over again

bambi doesn't count b/c his mother was alive for 95% of the movie.

But they still died, so it counts

Amnesia.

The stock shounen hero (overly happy, overly stupid, overly angry and vengeful, overly lacking in personality, etc.).

There's also the Dulcinea Effect (another motivation for the stock shounen hero) and there's the Third-Act Misunderstanding (or the Liar Reveal) that halts the story for a sad montage with whatever song. Usually done romantic comedies and Dreamworks films.

Just avoid Mary Sues and you should be fine.

Quote: AdamGregory03

Just avoid Mary Sues and you should be fine.

Before the inevitable assumptions about Mary Sues and Gary Stus comes up, the term has been narrowed down over the years, so a character without explained flaws doesn't actually make them automatically one. Listing these as I saw a lot of people mention Stealth Elf from Skylanders Academy but she actually suffers from underdeveloped character.

A Mary Sue usually has two or more of these:

-Wish fulfillment. It's a self insert of the author, or a position/place/person the author wants to be or have.
-Eclipses the story. "Good" characters love this character, "bad" characters dislike this character or criticize them. There's no inbetween, and they don't have to be neutral, villains or heroes specifically. However, a despicable villain usually has irrational hate over this character even if they've never met before.
-Hodgepodge of powers. This obviously only applies to sci-fi or fantasy. They're either a hybrid that has the powers of both species(or more!), they either had modifications that remove their weaknesses of a common species, or mix powers of other characters in a fanfic with less or none of the drawbacks. For cosmetic purposes, expect them to also mix and match appearances as a hybrid or from other popular characters. This is where "rainbow eyes" or "uses every element for no good reason" usually applies.
-No flaws. This is the big one. This character is all good, at least on the author's vision I've seen some morally ****ed up Sues, all the time. Their drawbacks are "clumsy" or "shy(as in they mumble occasionally and aren't really shy)" or "apologizes a lot". They have no real issues or conflicts on their life that aren't caused by their opposition, physical, mental, or social. A character that isn't mentioned to have flaws like SE isn't this specifically, it 90% of the time has to be overcoming EVERY flaw they could have no biggie.

There are a few more, but I just put the most glaring characteristics in here.

Woah Bifrost, have you ever thought of doing some writing? Really dude, I know you take this from TV Tropes and stuff, but I really think you (and some other people here) have knowledge to - I wouldn't say doing a full work - but something small. Even reviewing seems like something you could do.

I do in fact. Issue is to stop writing random scenarios in the notebook and actually writing my darn book ideas. Even if it'll never make money outside of a game or an editor picking it up, I love exploring characters, both in art and prose.

Oh nice. I'm still trying to get better on the subject just so I can better appreciate my hobbies (films, games, shows...), but I also wanna use some knowledge to my personal projects.

Quote: Lunarz

Quote: Ash Starkindle

would it be a cliché if the narrator was dead the whole time and the majority of the story is a hallucination while the brain shuts down?

no but it is a dick move, it's a cop out, like oh it was a dream the entire time and literally nothing mattered at all and all the sacrifices made to get to the end goal werent even real

If it's a short story it doesn't matter, and if it's a feature film it's fine if done really well.

If it's a long running TV series though then that's ****ed up.

Quote: Ash Starkindle

Thanks for the input guys.
The prompt is that I have to make a character go swimming, when they come up they have to be in a jungle.
My main plot line is that I fall into the pool during gym class after I get pushed by a classmate. I come back up in a jungle. Animals almost kill me, blah blah blah... I fall into another pool of water. I'm in front of my house, I walk in and my family's all crying because I ended up dying the whole time.
Yes, I'm making myself the main character because I think I can write it out skillfully, and I feel it would be more relatable and heart wrenching.

Insert slight allusions or references to things associated with death during the story. If there's no hint at all and suddenly there's death then it looks like it came out of left field and wasn't quite planned.

Maybe while in the jungle you see a swan, raven, or other animal associated with death or the end, but not the jungle, and this curious case leads you to feel like something may not be quite right. Maybe also include an additional place or two before going back to your home.

It seems like whenever many writers want a character to seem more relatable or sympathetic, they suddenly turn out to have kids, even if they do not act like they do otherwise. If a villain just killed or attempted to kill a bunch of people, pulling that trope will generally makes me like them considerably less, for they probably are using this as justification for being evil. It's like they expect the audience to be like "Hey look, a picture of this villain's daughter. He must not be so bad after all." I am more likely to think, "I hoped his motives would made more sense." or "This doesn't make this guy a better person. If anything, it makes him an even worse person."

Another one:
Character has magic powers
Another character dies
First character cries
Second one is ressurected

Hero loses initial confrontation -> hero trains or goes through some other empowering experience, possibly with a montage -> hero wins rematch

Or, alternatively...

Hero is getting beaten to a pulp and all hope seems loss -> something triggers a change in the hero's mental, emotional, or physical state -> hero opens a can of whoopass and soundly defeats villain

And sometimes you even see both at once (such as Star Wars)

Although I have to admit that I love both tropes.

"whats plan B?"

"...THAT WAS PLAN B!!!!!!"

Power of Friendship.