𝓐𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓪 - ɢᴜɪᴅᴇ ᴄᴏʀɴᴇʀ [Closed]

☛What is cliche? How to avoid it?☚

Cliché is the antagonist of good writing.

We, as writers, are acquainted to kill clichéd phrases in sentences. But that's not the only placethey can hide—they can tarnish the voids between the words, too.

Clichés can infect storytelling strategies. Need to build some conflict? Have a time bomb with a digital readout slowly ticking down to zero! Is your narrator a dick? Blame it on scurrilous parents!
Want to get all writerly in conveying the plot? Put it in a dream!

These are storytelling devices that pop up again and again, crutches for the writer to lean on and help move the story along without actually having to extend their ability What follows are, to my mind, the worst of the bunch.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A CLICHE?

Cliches are two-fold. A cliche can refer to an overused phrase or expression. But anotherdefinition for the cliche, and the one that we'll rely on in this article, is a worn-out idea that
should've been put to bed a long time ago. Here's why you shouldn't use cliches in your writing:

● It muddies your story's originality - It's hard to read a story that's riddled withcommon slang and overused ideas. Using cliches can dilute your story and makeit sound pedestrian.

● It robs your reader of a fresh way to see something that's otherwise ordinary - You have a golden opportunity to help the reader see the world from a newperspective. Don’t squander that chance by relying on common expressions or ideas that have long since lost their originality.

● It degrades your writing ability - You must push yourself to write different andoriginal content that elevates literature, even if only in a small way. If you’rerelying on old ideas, you’re not challenging yourself and you’re not improvingyour selected genre.

● It makes you lazy as a writer - As a writer, you deal in words. You're tasked with coming up with inventive turns of phrases. You're an innovator and wordsmith.

• You shouldn’t rely on another's ideas, but rather you should build on them,reimagine them, or better yet, come up with ideas that no one else has considered.

Here’s a look at the most overused literary ideas. How to avoid them?

1. The love triangle::
One of the most common cliches in all of literature is the love triangle. Two lovesick puppiesvying for the affection of one character. However, if your genre requires that you use this cliche, at least turn it on its head.

Instead of following the predictable pattern of the protagonistchoosing the one that he or she has the most chemistry with, try something unusual like not introducing a love story at all, or allowing the protagonist to choose the wrong person, only to regret it in the end.

2. The chosen one::

In the chosen one cliche, only this one person can change the world. The fate of the entire world rests on this one character (who’s usually in his teens or early 20s).

3. The 2D heroine::

She's tough as nails. She's mad as hell. She's a maneater. Unless you want your heroine to sound like the lyrics of a 1980s song, you have to avoid this two-dimensional stereotype. Strong
women don't have to be physically strong or display traditionally masculine qualities to be
"strong." But that also doesn't exclude this type of woman from being a heroine.

4. The Abusive parent's cliche::
The bad parent is a common cliche in writing that's used to explain away poor choices. However, there are plenty of people who don't become evil because of past wrongs. For this
reason, you need to rely on characterization, mainly personality, instead of the default bad parent cliche.

6. First-person pov describing themselves in mirror.

First-person, third-person— each point of view has its perks. But when it comes to describing a
protagonist, it's a lot easier to do so when writing in the third person. As the narrator, you're able
to objectively describe every character in your story, including the protagonist.

However, when you're writing the story in the first person as the protagonist, self-descriptions get tricky. How do you do it without making the narrator-protagonist sound self-indulgent or self-effacing?

Cliches were not always cliches. Once upon a time, they were each fresh ideas. Just like those
writers of yesteryear, you can come up with your own unique spin on storytelling. Challenge
yourself to come up with different ways to tell a timeless tale.