#y'know the one who either died trying a while back or whatever and the protagonist learns of this and defeats whatever evil they couldn't

[timmisny]

lately i've been feeling like i've hit rock bottom, but everyday it seems there's still a few feet left to go.

[plasmamuffin-blog]

Worst Fiction Cliches

In writing, a trope is basically any element of a plot, story, or even real life. So, for example, having one character that causes most of the problems(a big bad) is a trope. A cliche is a trope that has been grossly overused.

It's impossible to make a story without tropes, and tropes aren't inherently bad, but it isn't impossible to make a story without cliches(at least major ones). Sometimes certain cliches are ok to use and won't necessarily lower the quality of the work, but others are far too overused to be of any value. These are those cliches.

Warning: Spoilers for Harry Potter ahead. Proceed only if you've either read all the books, or never intend to do so.

1. The Prophecy

This is the number one WORST cliche ever, as it essentially spoils the entire plot of the series from the get go and serves as a cop-out for providing actual reasons for the events of the story. Never, under any circumstances, use this cliche unless you plan to do it MUCH differently than others have or are making a comedy.

2. The Chosen One

This is a subcliche of The Prophecy, but just as annoying. When you have one character that is prophesied to be the hero/defeat the big bad/save the world etc, it makes that character "special" through no merit of their own and makes their success inevitable and predictable. Not things you want in any story.

3. "I will kill him myself!"

So the hero is captured by the bad guys. He is at their mercy, and they have no reason to keep him alive. so what happens? The big bad insists that his minions let him kill the hero because revenge or something. This is commonly used as an extension of plot armor, as it gives the hero more time to escape. Example: In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, voldemort has harry tied up, wandless, bound and gagged, and he still escapes because voldemort wants to kill harry himself and so not only unties him, but gives him his wand back. This happens so many times voldemort is no longer seen as an actual threat and as more of a pathetic wannabe villain. Just kill him already! Crabbe had the right idea.

4. Stormtroper Marksmanship

The villain's legion of deadly minions. Powerful. Ruthless. Willing to let the good guy live because the villain apparently wants to give him plenty of time to escape. And unable to hit the side of a barn even if they're inside it. Either they'll be shooting at the hero and always hit other people, they'll miss by a few miles, or their bullets(lasers, whatever) will whizz past his head without doing any more than ruffling his hair. Why? Plot armor. If the bad guys were to actually hit the hero, either they would be able to capture him, or, depending on the lethality of their weapons, they would just instantly kill him and end the series in a boringly efficient manner. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of making them seem like blind nincompoops, so don't do this.

5. Monologues

The hero is captured by the villain. His death is near. And what does the villain do? Why, he tells him every aspect of his eeeevil plan in order to show how clever he is and give him more time to escape, of course! This cliche is so popular because people like to show their villain's plan to the audience, but it just makes the villain look stupid as it is essentially the fiction equivalent of criminals posting their crimes on facebook. Realistic? Yes. A good way to make your villain more intimidating? No.

6. Climactic 1v1

When you're at the final battle, The readers expect a show. They want the hero to fight the villain mano a mano, face to face. Exciting? Yes. Realistic? Not in the slightest. For example, in the final harry potter book, harry and voldemort stand around amiably chatting while spectators from both sides look on helplessly. Because, y'know, people in wars will always stop to watch the two opposing generals fight each other in hand-to-hand combat rather than just killing each other from a safe distance using guns, so it's totally realistic! Spoilers: no it isn't.

7. The Love Triangle

The Love Triangle is like the bermuda triangle: You can't escape it. It rears its overused head in all types of fiction, even video games. Bonus 'Ugh not this again' points if the two love interests fight each other for the subject's affections. Usually involves two guys who like the same girl. This isn't even realistic as relationships don't really work that way in real life. The only love triangle i thought was done well was in the hunger games, and that was because the two guys involved didn't fight each other but left it up to the girl to decide, and even discussed the matter calmly and civilly. Finally, some intelligence!

8. "Strong" Characters(jerks)

Often, especially in young adult/teen literature, the author will make the main character "Strong". These characters are their own boss, don't show weakness in the form of those pathetic 'emotions', and treat everyone they meet like they had just insulted their mother. These characters are almost never nice, never cry(because we all know strong people NEVER cry), only make friends(no, wait, friends are for the weak, these are acquaintances) that are also jerks, and exhibit all the signs of a bully. And we're supposed to like these guys.

9. Dead/Abusive/Absent Parents

In books where the protagonist is below the age of 21, their parents are usually either dead, abusive, or absent. this is to allow their kids to go gallivanting around saving the world without that pesky "family" thing getting in the way. If you took the bodies of all the dead parents in teen fiction and laid them end to end, you would have enough to get arrested, because hauling around the dead bodies of fictional characters is pretty suspicious. What authors should try to do instead is actually think of a reason for why the parents aren't involved in the whole saving the world thing, or better yet, make them help! We need more protagonists with living, supportive families.

10. "He didn't pity me. I would have been disappointed if he had."

"Strong" characters seem to be physically allergic to pity in any form, and will sometimes go as far as to physically abuse those who attempt to offer it, choosing to instead channel their grief into a pointless-yet-awesome fight scene to show how "tough" they are. Seriously dude, your parents just died. Me trying to comfort you is a sign that i care about you as a person and want to help, are you saying you don't want people to actually care about you?

"Yes!"

Why is this guy not the villain?