One Hundred Fantasy Clichés T...

By Timegear33

164K 8.6K 3.4K

From the same writer that pointed out some of the worst tropes in popular culture in A Hundred Clichés That N... More

Fantasy; The Flawed Yet Fun Genre In Fiction
#1: Being Human is a Bad Thing
#2: Zombies Completely Wipe Out Humanity
#3: A Princess Must Always Be The Damsel In Distress
#4: The Evil Wizard
#5: Vampires Going Out During The Day
#6: De-Wolfied Werewolves
#7: The Clueless Parents
#8: The Brave, Always Successful Knight
#9 The Evil Queen
#10: All The Characters Are Eye Candy (Hot)
#11: Mermaids Are Pure Creatures
#12: A Lack of Creature Diversity
#13: The Main Character Must Die
#14: Romance Everywhere
#15: The Brooder Always Dies
#16: Animals Are Reserved Only for Kid's Books
#17: The Wicked Witch
#18: Unoriginal Twins
#19: A Lack of Family Dynamics
#20: The Lonely Guardian
#21: Endless Ammo
#22: Immunity to the Virus
#23: Too Much Action
#24: Humor is a Bad Thing
#25: Never Do Fan Fiction
#26: Always Create a Prologue
#27: Give The Main Character a Love Interest
#28: Turn the Main Character Into a Villain
#29: Secondary Characters Are Not Important
#30: The Secret Sibling
#31: The Fake-Out Death
#32: The Over-Powered Character
#33: The Surprise Villain
#34: Tonal Shifting
#35: Milking Out the Story
#36: Killing Off a Character
#37: Too Much Information Too Fast
#38: The Power of Friendship
#39: Plot Formulas
#40: Copycat Work
#41: Depressing Endings
#42: The Last Man Standing
#43: The Bland Main Character
#44: Wizard Stories
#45: Fast Weaponery Mastery
#46: Children are Annoying Secondary Characters
#47: A Small Cast
#48: The Hero is Always in the Right
#49: Humanity are Monsters
#50: Your Idea Will Never Catch On
#51: Status Quo
#52: Edgy Characters
#53: The Heroic Sacrifice
#54: The Runaway Princess
#55: Mistranslated Words
#56: Forbidden Love
#58: The Chosen One
#59: The Ex Machina
#60: The Forced Apology
#61: Long As Heck Character Descriptions
#62: The Animal Sidekick
#63: The Always Pure Princess
#64: Time Travel
#65: Multiple Universes
#66: The Mutant Minority
#67: The Body Swap
#68: Shoving Morals Down the Audience's Throat
#69: The Emotionless Loner
#70: Innocent Fairies
#71: The Warriors Effect
#72: All Supernatural Creatures Are Immortal
#73: The Name of the Monster is Frankenstein
#74: The Typical Werewolf Pack
#75: Edgy Scarred Characters
#76: Mistaken Identity
#77: Plot Holes
#78: Violence is Necessary
#79: The Skyler Perspective
#80: The Gary Sue and Mary Sue
#81: Historial Inaccuracies
#82: Love Triangles
#83: The Genocide Route
#84: The Mindless Zombie
#85: Actions Do Not Have Consequences
#86: The Tragic Backstory
#87: Be Afraid of Risks
#88: The Betrayal
#89: The Villain is Entirely Wrong
#90: The Reformed Villain
#91: Blood is Everything
#92: Not Finishing What You Have Started
#93: The Goody Two-Shoes Character
#94: Unbreakable Weapons
#95: The Villainous Protagionist
#96: The Hero Versus Villain Dynamic
#97: A Limited Target Audience
#98: Every Story Idea Has Been Done
#99: The Dark Half
#100: The Imagination Quota
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#57: The Creator's Pet

983 61 29
By Timegear33

  When writing any type of novel, we create a cast of likable, quirky characters for the cast.  While some characters are created just for the sake of moving the plot forward, others are assigned major roles in the plot.  These big name cast members are known as primary characters and secondary characters.  With those characters, extra care and attention are made to make them likable not just to the audience but to ourselves as well.  Because of this it is easy to get attached to the main cast, as if they were our own children.  It is also very easy to favor other characters over others, if the cast member in question is a combination of some of your favorite tropes in fiction.  These characters can even act like someone you sincerely look up to in real life.  The name for these favored characters are creator's pets, due to the extra attention the creator gives them versus the other characters established for the plot.

  While there is nothing wrong with loving some of your characters more than others, it can be dangerous to use this affection to give the character more screen time.  When that happens, audiences tend to become annoyed over the extra attention the character may receive.  They see an imbalance with the treatment of the cast, wanting the other characters to receive more time for character development or to have some importance in the plot.  Worse, the favored character may get a free pass from the conflict and become unrealistically loved by all of the other characters.  You may love the extra screen time your favorite character is receiving, but the audience will just become annoyed about it.  In fact, your work could end up suffering for it as the potential the plot had for other characters is ruined by the imbalance in screen time.  A creator's pet is a dangerous cliché that is similar to playing with fire itself.  Both will potentially get you badly injured, one physically and the other mentally by the hate mail you could receive by fans.

  Although it hurts, you have to treat all of your characters the same.  You may love the character and want nothing bad to ever happen to them, but keeping the storyline consistent is more important in the long run.  Think of it this way.  Would you like only to have Firestar as the main focus in the Warriors book series instead of other complex characters such as Bramblestar and Jayfeather?  Would you want story-lines only involving Light Yagami in the manga Death Note instead of the focus equalling out to L and his successors?  Would you want only Eren to be the focus of the manga Attack on Titan instead of also Mikasa, Armin, and every other human trying to survive the Titan threat?  If the answer to any of these literary examples is no, you understand why a creator's pet is such a damaging part of a story.

  Balance is one of the most important factors to consider when writing any type of novel.  It keeps your storyline consistent with strong character development on the major contributors of the plot.  Without it, the story takes a nose drive into randomness and imprisonment in deep, dark plot holes.  Characters are a huge part of this balance.  Giving one character too much focus can interrupt this balance completely.  Seeing your story as a scale that must be balanced completely half and half is a good way to see that consistency is stable.

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