Your least favorite cliches

[Scribble]

"Least favorite" doesn't necessarily equate to "bad". I think we all get tired of certain things. What I do love is when someone comes along and revamps an idea, makes me love a story that contains exactly what I found to be so tiresome.

I found vampires tiresome by the early 90's. Then came along Bryan Lumley with his Necroscope series and Agyar by Steven Brust.

It actually turned me back onto them for a bit and I ended up reading Anne Rice's books. I am now sick of vampires again, thanks to Twitlight.

 

[Spider]

And I was having a good day until I saw this thread....

Sorry about that, Tom. Better luck tomorrow

 

[Penpilot]

Another cliché that makes me tick is "the orphan farm boy who gains great magical power to defeat the supreme bad guy." *Thinking Eragon here*

In broad strokes, that's the hero's journey story, and according to scholars, it's been around since the beginning of time. The reason being is it resonates with humanity, so I doubt that will ever go away.

 

[Philip Overby]

Phil, here is a cliché a dare you to find done well and if you do, I shall bow before you as a mighty and all powerful god...

Writer says, "Look at how diversified I am! I have a gay character! I shall now kill them off in the next few chapters to create sympathy for said gay character." *cough* Sookie Stackhouse *couch*

This trope, more that any other, gets me steamed.

Maybe I'm reading the wrong books/watching the wrong TV shows, but Lafayette (on the "True Blood" TV show) is a pretty interesting gay character in my opinion. I'm not sure that's who you're talking about though.

I'm not sure writers put in gay characters to say "Look how diversified I am!" Or maybe they do. I don't know. I haven't seen this cliche' enough to be able to point out an example that works.

 

[Philip Overby]

"Least favorite" doesn't necessarily equate to "bad". I think we all get tired of certain things. What I do love is when someone comes along and revamps an idea, makes me love a story that contains exactly what I found to be so tiresome.

I found vampires tiresome by the early 90's. Then came along Bryan Lumley with his Necroscope series and Agyar by Steven Brust.

It actually turned me back onto them for a bit and I ended up reading Anne Rice's books. I am now sick of vampires again, thanks to Twitlight.

I agree that "least favorite" doesn't mean "bad" either. I'm not the biggest fan of vampires. They range from 1=mind-numbingly boring to 10=insanely cool. I see their overall appeal though and don't think they need to be done away with altogether. There are always cycles. Right now we're in a "zombie cycle." That will end, and we'll probably be in a "werewolf cycle" or a "vampire cycle" or a "sasquatch cycle" soon enough.

"I love you sasquatch!" Luisa squealed, clutching his well-combed fur.

"Raaaaaawwwwwwr!" The sasquatch's love-call echoed through the valley.

"Sasquatch in Love" Philip Overby (2014).

As far as vampires go, I particularly liked the ones in "30 Days of Night." I thought that was a pretty awesome concept. And the artwork is pretty unique as well.

 

[Mythopoet]

I recently read Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard and thought his version of vampires/lamia/nephilim was fascinating.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Maybe I'm reading the wrong books/watching the wrong TV shows, but Lafayette (on the "True Blood" TV show) is a pretty interesting gay character in my opinion. I'm not sure that's who you're talking about though.

I'm not sure writers put in gay characters to say "Look how diversified I am!" Or maybe they do. I don't know. I haven't seen this cliche' enough to be able to point out an example that works.

Lafayette on the TV show is the producers reacting AGAINST the author. Harris actually kills him off pretty darn fast, which is why I love the show, bur hate the books. Also, in the books, Terra is a white bimbo.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I agree that "least favorite" doesn't mean "bad" either. I'm not the biggest fan of vampires. They range from 1=mind-numbingly boring to 10=insanely cool. I see their overall appeal though and don't think they need to be done away with altogether. There are always cycles. Right now we're in a "zombie cycle." That will end, and we'll probably be in a "werewolf cycle" or a "vampire cycle" or a "sasquatch cycle" soon enough.

"I love you sasquatch!" Luisa squealed, clutching his well-combed fur.

"Raaaaaawwwwwwr!" The sasquatch's love-call echoed through the valley.

"Sasquatch in Love" Philip Overby (2014).

As far as vampires go, I particularly liked the ones in "30 Days of Night." I thought that was a pretty awesome concept. And the artwork is pretty unique as well.

By the way, "Sasquatch in Love" made me laugh hard enough to bring the dog running.

 

[Abbas-Al-Morim]

- the chosen one
- village boy becomes awesome magical warrior in the span of a few months
- the big bad villain who's evil because he's evil and he likes evil
- the main character who's just 100% good because he's such a nice guy. Self-righteous bastards.
- the main character's village is attacked at the end of the first chapter (when I was young almost every story I wrote had this)

 

[Tom]

I agree that "least favorite" doesn't mean "bad" either. I'm not the biggest fan of vampires. They range from 1=mind-numbingly boring to 10=insanely cool. I see their overall appeal though and don't think they need to be done away with altogether. There are always cycles. Right now we're in a "zombie cycle." That will end, and we'll probably be in a "werewolf cycle" or a "vampire cycle" or a "sasquatch cycle" soon enough.
I'm currently developing an idea for a vampire story called Frostbite. After reading the first three chapters of Twilight (and then hating it and putting it back on the Salvation Army store shelf) I wanted to prove that vampires can be cool if you write them the right way. Hopefully.