Elder the Dwarf
Maester
How about the dark being/lord/enemy guy who is invincible except for one spot/weapon/weakness that is a glaring hole in his armor? That one is pretty bad to me.
-
Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!
The Biggest Cliche
- Thread starter Sir Tristram
- Start date
arbiter117
Minstrel
It is this: Farmer lives with uncle (and other relatives) mother is dead, father is unknown. Farmer discovers destiny and meets "that old guy". Uncle and relatives are killed unexpectedly, forcing farm-boy to flee with that old guy and learns more about his destiny along the way. Introducing the love-interest, establishing her as both beautiful and rape/kill-able by every bad guy ever, but she is saved before the deed is done. Love-interest is kidnapped by the Dark Lord and that old guy is killed. Farm-boy, and possible allies he finds along the way, go to defeat the Dark Lord, fighting his inept Dark minions of Death along the way.
Dark Lord, or other arch-enemy, turns out to be farm-boy's father. Farm-boy is conflicted but defeats the Dark Lord. (if its the evil second-in-command who is the father, then evil #2 is converted to good and dies destroying the Dark Lord).
But hey, this story (or parts of it) probably lies beneath most stories. What makes it different is the writer's intricate web of sub plots that makes it exciting every time! hooray!
Dark Lord, or other arch-enemy, turns out to be farm-boy's father. Farm-boy is conflicted but defeats the Dark Lord. (if its the evil second-in-command who is the father, then evil #2 is converted to good and dies destroying the Dark Lord).
But hey, this story (or parts of it) probably lies beneath most stories. What makes it different is the writer's intricate web of sub plots that makes it exciting every time! hooray!
Anders Ämting
Auror
I see I misspoke. I meant it as: "If it's still being widely used, it's probably not the biggest cliché."
However, I do think you have it backwards. Just becuase it's widely used doesn't necessarily make it a cliché to begin with - that's just a trope. (Which can still be a cliché depending on how it's generally regarded or used.)
Basically, it becomes a cliché when people in general start to notice, avoid, complain about and/or make fun of it.
grahamguitarman
Sage
I'm a little confused, where in the above sentence does it say I believe that widely used automatically equals cliché?
My point was that overuse of a cliché does not make it cease to be a cliché, not that a trope is automatically a cliché.
I accept that your original sentence was miss-written and therefore understandably misunderstood by me. But please refrain from attributing ideas and concepts to me that I have not specifically expressed.
Elder the Dwarf
Maester
So... Star Wars?
It sounds like Star Wars to me.... but okay I want to do another that I've read too often:
Someone hates their life, and reads a book or imagines something... then weird events happen and they are magically transported to a place where they are no longer a dork that gets bullied, but the savior to a weak race of people or for whatever reason the key to saving the world.
Ick, I am all for imagining, hell, I write stories about people and places that don't exist, but there's no way in the world I'd believe that being transported to a new world would make my life better. It would just freak me out.....
Someone hates their life, and reads a book or imagines something... then weird events happen and they are magically transported to a place where they are no longer a dork that gets bullied, but the savior to a weak race of people or for whatever reason the key to saving the world.
Ick, I am all for imagining, hell, I write stories about people and places that don't exist, but there's no way in the world I'd believe that being transported to a new world would make my life better. It would just freak me out.....
HA! I just thought of two books and two movies that fit the cliche I mentioned above. It's almost like a game, trying to guess whether people are mentioning these with specific stories in mind, or whether it's truly just a mention of the over-used cliche's that are roll-your-eyes bad.
Okay so I just want to put it out there..... Magic Kingdom for Sale.... Sold! was this cliche done pretty well. I enjoyed that series. I don't want to mention the one I remembered that did it poorly, just in case other people liked it.
Okay so I just want to put it out there..... Magic Kingdom for Sale.... Sold! was this cliche done pretty well. I enjoyed that series. I don't want to mention the one I remembered that did it poorly, just in case other people liked it.
Lord Darkstorm
Sage
Witch world took someone from our world and put them in a fantasy world. Although back when it was written I don't think it was cliche.
Androxine Vortex
Archmage
Anything that relates to:
-The Chosen One
-Ancient Prophecy
-End of the World scenario
-Unlikely Hero
-The only one left with a certain power (or only one who is good)
-The Chosen One
-Ancient Prophecy
-End of the World scenario
-Unlikely Hero
-The only one left with a certain power (or only one who is good)
Kaellpae
Inkling
Klee Shay said:
It shall be done.
Dreamer
BeigePalladin
Sage
the biggest fantasy cliche ever? easy:
a world with elements remenicent of the pre-industrial world where certain people -refered to as "wizards", "witches" or what have you. The world will often have a feudal system of govornment. something will occur there.
Though as long as it's written well, this dosen't matter
a world with elements remenicent of the pre-industrial world where certain people -refered to as "wizards", "witches" or what have you. The world will often have a feudal system of govornment. something will occur there.
Though as long as it's written well, this dosen't matter
Saigonnus
Auror
LOL... I think the "chosen one" is pretty cliché as is the "Dark Lord" but with your own spin on it, either one could be considered not AS much of a cliché. The farmer that changes the world is likely just as cliché and a story to back that up is "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan.
Benjamin Clayborne
Auror
The Wheel of Time (at least, the first books) demonstrate that it's entirely possible to start with the "farmer-who-changes-the-world/chosen one" cliché and make a very good story out of it. I don't think there's necessarily virtue in avoiding those kinds of clichés just for the sake of avoiding them. If you're a bad writer, avoiding clichés isn't going to make your writing any better.
BeigePalladin
Sage
precicly. something is only clich if it is both overused and poorly executed. If it's well written, not matter how common the concept is, it is not a cliche as you can enjoy reading it.
especially since every origion is a cliche (and the few that aren't are used more often without people throwing a paddy)...
Saigonnus
Auror
I agree with everyone here in that just because it's a cliché. doesn't mean you cannot use it for your story and make something wonderful out of it. My WIP is a boy who is a simple farmer; though with a different twist. He inherited the farm from his dad, but doesn't do much with it; leasing the fields to his neighbors and raising only what livestock he needs to live off of. That isn't the focus of the story; It just gives him a basic background.
