Cookie cutter stories. 
Copy cat fantasy. Repeating romances.
Last week I discussed tired clichéd phrases and comparisons.Peas in a pod similes and metaphors.
But clichés happen in storytelling too.
Boy meets girl. They detest each other. Something happens to the one. The other can’t bear to stand by hating and rescues the other. They realize they love each other. It was destiny. The fillers are just as cliché. Just as predictable.
Fantasy. One humble, gutless or shy hero. One nasty as heck villain. One goal–to attain something or somewhere before the other so the evil git doesn’t destroy the world. End=hero, still humble on pedestal. Oh, and maybe throw in a girl to protect. Possible slight variations, but again cliché, predictable.
The names change, not everyone is red-haired, but basically cookie cutter cut-outs. Some people don’t mind if all they want is escapism for a few hours.
But the multitudes want something more. Twists, turns and that “Oooh, I did NOT see THAT coming.”
And so even though they were about to see if their spouse or brother left them any mango chip, avocado muffins, they tuck their feet up for another chapter. And another.
And they don’t hear their stomach growl in the stillness because in that chapter the hero starts acting like the villain and the villain has an attack of conscience and you still can’t put the book down cause–wow–you want to see where this goes and how it pans out.
Clichéd story frameworks are crutches. They can be starting points, because as every writer learns there are only so many plots all told. But what do we do with them? Yes, there are few plots, but that doesn’t mean also few stories.
The story is what we do with that plot, where we take it and the characters. Think of the most interesting or influential people in history. Think of the class clown in your school, however long ago. Why were they interesting? Because they dared to be different, to take a different road, to say the unexpected. They were not white stormtroopers, mindless clones.
For example, dragons in story have been cast as brutal and also benevolent, but nearly always large, magnificent, and powerful. Where would a story go with a dragon who was large, yes, but cowardly and had stunted wings of different sizes. He can’t bear a hero on his back to glory. What would he do in battle? This then affects the hero. How does he react to this pathetic sample of dragon kind? How does his reaction affect the rest of the epic journey?
And here’s a big one. What if the Boy wasn’t tall and handsome? Or the Girl slim and beautiful? Why can’t writers portray heroes/heroines who stutter, or limp or have a scar or are even just plain? Nondescript, easily forgotten?
Twist it, distort it, throw everything and everyone in your stories for a great roller coaster loop. Characters in these circumstances will really have a tale worth telling and reading and will stay in the mind much longer than those interchangeable princes and princesses in fairy tales. Remember, “Once upon a time” and “Happily ever after” are clichés too.
Seeking alternatives to clichéd writing, is how we develop our unique writer’s voice, that voice, that writing style and story style that makes a reader say not “I liked her book” but, “I like her books, I love this author, I love her way with words!”
Here’s an exercise. Using all these words in a 10, 15, or 20 minute do-or-die, write-off-the-cuff, free-write. Just fly with it and don’t think too hard.
mammoth, skiing, hail, garage, mechanic, perfume, conservatory. 🙂
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I
I took the one less travelled by
And that has made all the difference”
–Robert Frost
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Ink & Attic 