Most writers have a good idea of what a cliche is. Something that's overused in writing. You might be able to point out a few cliches, too. Things like: the love triangle, an all powerful dark lord, and a hero who was a nobody before the story started, but is now a flawless superhero. Now, those are all pretty bad but, there are more modern cliches that have shown up as time has passed. Some things that used to be considered cliche aren't even seen that way anymore. You might want to familiarize yourself with these new cliches and try your best to avoid them.
The Quiet Character
I noticed that this type of character was showing up a lot more recently. Especially in video games. In video games they're not really detrimental, but in stories they can be the absolute worst. The character's personality usually consist of being quiet, yet somehow being able to do literally everything that everyone else can do even though they're practically mute. Other characters who talk to the quiet character can usually understand exactly what their thinking, as if they can read their mind.
I think the reason this character has become so popular is the way they can be flawless without seeming flawless. This character usually says nothing or close to nothing throughout the story. This makes it impossible for them to make mistakes with their words. They don't make other characters sad or angry because they never say anything. However, even with this major advantage, they still seem flawed to most people. This is most likely because of the assumptions most people make about quiet people. It's easy to assume that if someone is quiet they are therefore also shy, unconfident, and awkward. The idea that quiet people have these traits makes many people think that if a character is quiet they must also be shy and unconfident. However, these characters don't actually have these flaws because if they did they wouldn't be able to do everything that everyone else can do. They would be shy and unconfident, except they're not.
These characters are simply overused because being quiet is usually considered kind of quirky or special, and quirky or special characters are usually liked by readers. It's something to make the character unique without doing the hard work and giving the character an actually unique personality. If you want to make a quiet character you need to give them a personality other than just being quiet.
Everyone Needs a Motive (Especially Villains)
This is extremely popular right now, except most people think of it as a good thing. I think in a lot of cases it is, but you should understand when your going to far with it or overusing it. Giving every character a motive is seriously not needed. I know most people don't go giving every single one of their characters a motive, however, they often do give their villains a motive. This can end up working wonderfully or not-so-wonderfully, so let me explain how to do this well.
Let me give two examples. One will be a good example of character motive and the other will be a bad example, I'll start with the good example. Let's say there is this villain in this story that wants to close down all of the fast food restaurants in his city. Now, in this case we know that this guy wants to close down restaurants, but we don't know why. When your trying to determine if your character should have a motive, ask yourself why you would want to do what your villain wants to do. If you can think of an answer you should give that character a motive. In this case it would be important to include a motive for this villain. Let's say a few years ago the villains father was plagued by bad health and it turned out his many heath problems came from the fast food restaurant that the villain often brought his father food from. When his father passes away and the villain finds out why his father got so sick he becomes overcome with anger and guilt. That is why he is so intent to shut down all the restaurants in his city.
Now comes the bad example. You'll start understanding everything after you read this part. Let's say there's this army general/dictator that wants to completely erase a certain religion using violence and power. Now, I'm sure if you went and tried to ask yourself why you would want to completely erase a religion, that you wouldn't be able to come up with a reasonable answer. I mean, erasing an entire religion by force is violent, and just messed up. In this case you can leave out a motive for this villain.
Now, read this next sentence slowly otherwise you'll have a stroke, I know because I almost had a stoke while writing it (I'm joking, but seriously read the next sentence slowly). You may be asking why you should give a character a motive if you can think of a reason you'd want what they want, or why you shouldn't if you can't think of a reason you'd want what they want. Let me explain. Think of the things you have done in life and consider how what you did affected other people. Did you break a fancy vase, or did you never use a gift that was given to you? It could be anything really, that affected someone else. You might be able to think of something and you probably know why you did it, and you can understand it as a reasonable reason to do something. Now, think about people in real life who have done horrible things. People who have caused wars, hurt people, or caused a lot of violence on purpose. Try to think of reasons why they might have done what they did. Do you understand why they did what they did? Most likely not, because they didn't exactly have a good reason. A lot of people in real life who did really bad things were motivated by simple things like biases, power, or money. They might have even made their choices just because they were meanspirited, sadistic, or insane. This is precisely why you should only give a villain a developed motive if you can understand why they want what they want. Okay, I've explained this to my best ability and I've already spent way too much time on this one cliche, so let's move on to the last cliche.
The Chosen One is Bad
The chosen one cliche may be the most well known cliches of all. There are some very popular stories that have used this cliche. It may even be because of those stories alone, that this trope had become such a well known cliche. However, is it really all that bad? In reality this cliche could be twisted and turned in so many ways that it would be unrecognizable as a cliche. You can very easily use this trope and make it original and unique. How do you do that? Let me explain.
The only reason people see the chosen one trope as bad, is because the said chosen one is usually a poor kid who suddenly gets all powerful when he is told that he's the chosen one. What's even worse is the way everyone else bends over backwards to help and protect this one kid even if he's not likable. Who wouldn't hate a character like that? What this shows, is that the chosen one cliche isn't about the chosen one at all. The only reason it's connected to the chosen one is because it has that words "the chosen one" in front of the word "cliche". In reality what makes people dislike this trope is the character themselves. It doesn't really have anything to do with the character being the chosen one. The character is a Mary Sue. They never suffer, everyone loves them for no apparent reason, and everything goes their way. It just so happens that a lot of authors make Mary Sue characters while also using the chosen one trope, giving this trope a bad name.
Well, now that we know that this cliche isn't all that bad, you might be wondering how you can use it in your own stories. Really, all you have to do is make sure your supposed chosen one isn't a Mary Sue. If you can manage that than your story will be decent. However, let's say you want to put a original twist on this trope, or your story in general. Let me give you a couple of tips. You could playcharacter'sth the character's situation. You could have a chosen one who everyone believes in at first, but then they realize he doesn't actually have any special abilities or powers. A story could also be about a chosen one who believes that he is the chosen one, but no one else thinks he's the chosen one. If you want to try something really different you could have a villain that is the chosen one. There are tons of options you could go with while using this trope, so don't be discouraged by other authors who tell you that this trope is cliche or unoriginal.
Closing Remarks
Well, that's all the advice I have to offer. I hope it helped you out. I have a decent amount of experience with writing, (especially creative writing) so feel free to comment any questions you have regarding storytelling and writing. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next time.
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Oh, I forgot to mention how I'd been gone for a super long time. Eh, oh well.
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