Some tips on what not to do when writing a fantasy story. Be that Novel or short story writing or just for fun.
Writers Cliches
By Random Fella.
This is just an Article for those would be writers who claim to have written the best story of all time. Bah! As a writer myself, it makes me sick to see these upstarts pout their crap in my face when all i can see is Cliche after cliche. It’s disgusting.
For those of you who are unaware of what a Cliche is and if you don’t know then why are you bothering to even write! A cliche is a writing element that has been overused in certain styles of writing. Fantasy has MANY cliches. Some which are good and others that are terribly horrible.
Having a few cliches is ok just as long as they aren’t over written, but having to many and having some seriously obvious ones will ruin your fantasy.
Here they are, the cliches to avoid when writing.
–Teenage Hero. A teenage hero adds something for readers to relate to. But sometimes it can be annoying to see a teenager saving the world in every single story. Add an older character for more in-depth creation and development. The Teen hero gimmick is old and tiring and not one to be relied on for to many writings.
–I am the Chosen One. The Chosen one is a Cliche where the title character is always considered the one to save the world from utter destruction even though there are other stronger people who can do the job better.
–Magical Item. Take Final Fantasy for this. Magical items are needed to save the world. In this case, Magical Crystals are needed to be gathered together to give the hero ultimate power. This is also a tiring cliche but one that adds adventure.
–Orphans are royalty. The title character is Orphaned because his Parents were killed or he was artificially created and magically appeared in a tiny little village where he lived his whole life. At the end of the story it turns out this character is a Prince or a God.
–Females have no Game. Females in several stories have been portrayed as weak and in need of a mans assistance. Why not create female characters who are strong enough to take care of themselves? This adds realism to the fantasy story. Why depend on a man in a world of monsters?
–I advise you to watch the Adviser. An old but epic cliche. The Evil King is in fact not truly evil but just misjudged because his trusted Adviser is the real bad guy here. Its a cool Cliche but it has been used many times. You just cant trust the smart guys.
–Big Guys aren’t smart. A sad cliche stating that big and strong people HAVE to be dumb and slow. I’d like to see you say that to Gadwin and his Dragon Cut technique or Lian Shu the Dragon Hunter.
–The Annoying Character. The title characters best friend is usually portrayed as obnoxious or just straight up annoying always getting into trouble or just doesn’t stop talking. Sometimes it is the title character e.g. Naruto.
–The guy gets the girl. The Hero after a long journey always gets the girl in the end. This doesn’t always have to happen. If the story was good enough, you can make a sequel where he gets the girl but loses her. Again, Final Fantasy comes in but not as a Cliche. FF7 had the title characters love interest killed off by the main Villain. Now THAT was good writing.
–1,000 years of war/ peace. Why does it have to be Thousands of years since a war or some shite happened? Whats wrong with 50 or 100? That would be more realistic telling the readers that the world is very dangerous.
–Ancient Guide. The Ancient Guide is a cliche where an Ancient Warrior or Priest teaches the hero and n the end he doesn’t measure up to the heroes strength….even though he had Centuries to become powerful.
–Ancient Seal. The Ancient Seal is a cliche where the enemy is sealed for thousands of years but is about to return only to be stopped by the heroes. Ancient Seals cliche adds a good suspense for readers who want to know more about this powerful foe.
–The Heroes are always White and come from Europe. Suikoden 2 and 3 fixed this cliche up nicely. For instance, in S2 the hero is a Youth Soldier who was raised in a Kung Fu environment. In S3, the Hero comes from a small tribe of Fire Worshippers. The cliche is lame and annoying. You can create a fantasy from other cultures other than European. Such as
–Rise of so an so. A cliche title that is very lame. How does this sound for a title? Bible Tales, the Rise of Jesus or Comet Boy, Rise of the Flame Champion. It is an attempt by writers to make their titles sound more attractive but it is greatly over-used by lower writers.
–The Last name is EVIL! Thats right, Good guys dont have last names. So if a Good guy has a last name, beware! he’s really EVIL! Every Villain Is Lemons!
–Never ending army. The Bad guys will always have like a million soldiers working for them. Many of them are recognizable by the armor they wear.
–Villains are good looking. Writers seem to love making their ad guys more good looking instead of looking monsterous.
–Never bring advanced technology to a Sword Fight. An old rule where even in an advanced society, everyone still uses Swords for some reason.
–Bad guys are unstoppable until the power is unleashed. The Villains for some reason cannot be stopped even when they lose or when they are caught because they can suddently teleport. CHEAT!
–The Title Character is invincible. The Hero can survive an explosion that killed the most powerful warriors in the cities.
–Gold is stronger than Steel. Golden Weapons for some reason are much better than Steel weapons. Logically, Gold is to heavy, to soft and to valuable to use as a weapon.
–The girls dont get the guy. Female characters for some reason will never fall in love at the end of the story but all males do. Hell in Fanfiction, Males fall in love with Males 0_0 but not the same for females?
–Elves and Dwarves are Racist. Magical Creatures like the Elves and Dwarves will always hate each other and point out their racial differences. Hell Humans get caught up in it!
–Ultimate Power on top of a mountain. Emo Characters like Cecil or Goku will always be lame and boring until they discover that they can become super powerful by going through a difficult training on top of a mountain.
–Badguys can transform. Many Villains have the ability to transform into their ultimate form and show off their true power.
–Resistance is Futile. In all stories, the Good guys army is always weaker than the badguys army no matter how Zealous the good guys are.
–The Three Stooges. The good or bad guys normally have a team of goofballs who can be quite annoying. Kinda like Zapp Brannigan.
–Evil Team. The Villains work in a team of 10 or more people. There is the strong guy, the pretty guy, the demented guy and tghe boss who is freakishly strong. They like to dress it dark cloaks.
