Clichés In Fiction, Yuk!

[-Carlos-]

Clichés should never (ever!) be used when writing prose.

Your view?


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[beer good]

What do you consider a cliché?

 

[-Carlos-]

A phrase that is used so much that every time you hear it, it makes you dizzy. There should not be any room for it in fiction. In my eyes clichés in fiction just don't mix.

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[Anamnesis]

What if a character is making fun of a cliché?

 

[beer good]

So, Aqua, any particular clichés you yourself dislike?

 

[Lincoln Rhyme]

What if a character is making fun of a cliché?

Harry Dresden does that all the time. It's like a badass 90's or 80's movie.

 

[-Carlos-]

I just feel that clichés in fiction are lame.

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[chiangmaifalcon]

I am tired of stories about big evil government agencies. especially the CIA. it is not that these outfits never do wrong, but in books and movies lately they are always worse than the terrorists or whoever they are fighting against. And also anytime there is a character who is a woman or member of any minority group, they are automatically geniuses and saints. I know this is politically correct, but for anyone with experience in the real world it is nonsense. There are evil, stupid people of every race, sex and nationality. Just as there are good and smart ones.

 

[sparkchaser]

I just feel that clichés in fiction are lame.

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What is your most loathed of the fiction clichés?

 

[Polly Parrot]

I am tired of stories about big evil government agencies. especially the CIA. it is not that these outfits never do wrong, but in books and movies lately they are always worse than the terrorists or whoever they are fighting against. And also anytime there is a character who is a woman or member of any minority group, they are automatically geniuses and saints. I know this is politically correct, but for anyone with experience in the real world it is nonsense. There are evil, stupid people of every race, sex and nationality. Just as there are good and smart ones.

You forget that those women are usually awesomely hot.



And Aqua, what clichés are we talking about here? You could've at least come up with a few examples. You know, for discussions' sake.

 

[-Carlos-]

What is your most loathed of the fiction clichés?

Oh I can't think of one...but any would do.

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[chiangmaifalcon]

Yes I forgot about that. The women are all centerfolds and the men are all male models. Have these crime story writers ever been in an actual police station? The guys are usually bulked up on donuts and the women are scarier than anyone else there, including the criminals.

 

[Litany]

Oh I can't think of one...but any would do.

They're so irritating you can't think of any?

 

[Landslide]

 

[Litany]

A depressingly common theme.

 

[sparkchaser]

*sigh*

 

[sparkchaser]

Question for our esteemed poster from Miami: at what point does a trope become a cliché?

 

[chiangmaifalcon]

I don't much care for trope, but I don't mind liver with onions.

 

[sparkchaser]

Oh I can't think of one...but any would do.

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What about the "what I was looking for was right in front of me the whole time" cliché?

 

[Eva]

Sometimes a poster just can't win for losing.