#10 Battle of Cliches:
Every single plot that you have come up with, every story that you have written since your childhood, all of them have clichés up to a certain extent (believe it or not, it’s true). The most common one, which all the books have, is the naïve girl falling for the bad boy/bad alpha/dangerous vampire/ and yours truly sexy shadow hunter (Jace I love you! Lol! *whispers* only you though Jamie Campbell, not Clary :P) *ahem* so yes, all those awesome ideas will be cliché up to a point. BUT it doesn’t mean you have to run away from them or hate them or make them your enemies.
Personally, I LOVE clichés :D why you ask? Well, because readers love clichés. No matter what they say or how they interpret a book, if it doesn’t have a happy ending, if the girl doesn’t end up with that boy, do you think the reader would like that book? This is excluding those books that have a sad ending because the story needs it. Now, the way you use these clichés in your story matters a whole lot more then you hating on those cute clichés. The trick is to add good twists and turns in the novel so that the reader forgets about the cliché you have hidden in there.
I have lost count of the number of clichés I have used in my stories (there are many >-< !) but I take care that they aren’t repetitive. Be careful about that one – no story should have clichés back-to-back or else it becomes boring. Your story becomes predictable and the reader would stop reading it, the minute they find two or more of the clichés in a paragraph.
I have this obsession for ending chapters with cliffhangers and trust me, it helps a lot in generating interest amongst the reader – you would want them to keep asking what next, right? What twists awaits them :)
The many newbies on Wattpad curse clichés and yes, I understand why. I do agree some of the stories on Wattpad have overdone them, BUT that doesn’t mean you can’t use them. Just tweak them a little, add a few funny moments and viola! Even the most common cliché turns into something new ^^ !
That’s the power you writers have ^_^ ! It is your story isn’t it? You can do whatever the hell you want with it. Why not create new theories of your own and if need be, use a few clichés to help you gain more readers.
For instance, instead of your werewolf getting injured by silver, you could write they are healed by it (lol! Why not right?) Try to break out of the routine introduction of your characters and do something different. The same is the case with clichés – they might be clichés to others, but to a writer like you and me, it is a new challenge to change it so much so that only the bare traces of it remain and the rest of the cliché is twisted to suit your needs *winks* So how about it? Go try it out and tell me when you do! ^-^
Post your thoughts in the comments section below, I would love to hear from you'll :P !! - Sanya