It was a dark and stormy night. Or maybe it was a dream. No, the alarm clock was ringing while a pregnant woman was running away from some bad people.
The female character was gorgeous though she didn't think so -- she has captivating blue, no, brown eyes. And a bust that would put Paris Hilton to shame. And super fit (in which case she has no bust) but still elfin and delicate. She's super nice and the world simply doesn't understand her. But she's also tough and got serious sass/daddy issues.
The male character was troubled -- probably off to save the world. And has piercing blue eyes and dark hair. He's capable of some pretty amazing gymnastics. Because that's how he rolls. Literally. he prefers to parkour everywhere. He's a surprisingly sensitive chauvinist. But he's hot enough that it doesn't matter to the ladies if he keeps abusing them. *Sigh* Such a dreamy superstar -- who's also a vampire-werewolf medley.
And while these two are clearly at the peak of their mental and physical development, they are in high school. Seventeen tops. Or they're in another universe where they're going to overthrow the evil emperor/king/overload/Klingon even though they can barely articulate their own thoughts properly.
If your story fits these lines, it had better be a satire. Because otherwise, it's just painful to read.
These, ladies and gents, are cliches. If you have this many in one story, it's not a story. It's a crying shame and a waste of words.
So how do you make your story different? Well, it's not easy. It's much easier to just use cliches with abandon and come up with a decently popular story *cough*Stephanie Myers*cough*. To make your story unique, you need to do several things.
You need to present your story in a unique way. Perhaps your perspective on the story is sort of bizarre and neat (Imagine a love story told by a hamster or something. It's the same cheesy story but how cool would it be to hear the hamster's ideas as he's watching the story unfold). Maybe your writing is extraordinary and that's your hook. Either way, there should be something about your story that catches the reader's eye.
That being said, if there's a sudden influx of love stories told from a hamster's perspective on Wattpad, I'm taking the credit.
Another thing you need to do is make sure your characters aren't types. Types is a term used for a character in a play that, well, is a type. They have a certain set of characteristics and they are utterly predictable. For instance, the mother type. Likely female with children, is a mother hen, chatters obsessively about her children's accomplishments, and seems to be much stupider than she actually is. You know exactly what's going through her mind.
But what if you suddenly take that mother type and change her just a bit -- her passion for her children has so consumed her life that she is willing to kill to provide her children with the things she thinks they deserve. She'll even frame her partner, whom she is only dedicated to because of the children, of the crimes. Now she's not a type. She is an individual. Though she has the same motivation as a type, she has broken that mould and become her own unique person (also taking credit for mother serial killers).
Another great way to create an individual is to give them faults. For instance, they value honor above all else. Yet, they doubt their own motivation because of peer pressure and can go against their own values because of the overwhelming pressure. Or the character is a strong individual who is incredibly driven. Yet because they feel so out of touch with humanity, they may exhibit extreme kindness to things or people that they deem worthy.
Essentially, be unique. Create something new. It can follow an age old formula but if you make it different it won't be a cliche.
