Hello there, YWS!
I’d like to address a situation that I’ve noticed a lot around here- cliché stories. Lots of newer writers often feel discouraged because the only storylines they can think of are already overused and worn out. And a lot of stories seem to be boring, shallow, and hollow- just a bunch of action scenes strung together with no real meaning. I’ve seen it a million times- “Your plot is too cliché, you need to come up with something more original.” “That’s too common and boring. Come up with something new.” “That sounds like a bad story; it’s been used too many times. You need something original to be a good writer.” Is it true? Does the success of a story rely on its originality? Well, to answer that, let’s take a look at some real examples.
Let’s start with what has to be the most cliché storyline in existence: a young, quiet squire goes off on an adventure that involves gruff,
revenge-driven dwarves, magical elves, and dueling wizards, along with a fire-breathing dragon that gets woken from its long slumber on the top of a deserted mountain that it killed everyone to get possession of, and the quiet little fellow ends up being the brave hero of the quest. The quest itself revolves around a magic item with immense power, and of course the epic chase across the entire known world as the good-guy party fends off attacks from evil goblin-like creatures, who happen to be the minions of the evil wizard mastermind who’s trying to take control of the world, who also happens to be one of the “good guys.” And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without a little romance thrown in. So there we have one of the most common, overused stories in existence. It’d be impossible for anyone to actually make this into a good story, right? It’s been used too many times to become great or famous.
Well, let me introduce you to probably the second most famous author of the English language (respectfully stepping down for Mr. Shakespeare). His name is John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Sound familiar?
J. R. R. Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, but today he’s most commonly known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I’d give you a summary of those novels, but I might as well just copy-and-paste the above paragraph, so why don’t you just save me the trouble and go back to reread it instead? Thank you most kindly for your consideration.
So, what sets Tolkien's novels apart from the thousands of other fantasy works out there? A lot of the fantasy stories I see today are basically identical to each other, with the exception of names. The characters aren’t actually characters; they’re just peopleless names to attach to pointless lines and overdramatized fighting scenes. The entire story is comprised of these pointless lines and overdramatized fighting scenes, with nothing else but pointless lines and overdramatized fighting scenes. Tolkien didn’t used pointless lines and overdramatized fighting scenes with peopleless names attached to make it all seem a little less random. What he did was write it like normal life, only with more adventureness and magicness and made up creatures and fighting and escaping and drama, but basically pretty realistic. And guess what? Life isn’t about dramatic swordfights and fistfights and magic staff duels. It’s not about events. It’s about how individual people react to the world around them. It’s about cause and effect-- chain-reaction, not chain-of-expected-events.
Also, people's reactions aren't always predictable, and they're not always based on logic. More often people are guided by emotion, past experiences, random whims and adrenaline/getting carried away in the moment. They don't always take the time to think things out rationally.
So, basically what Tolkien did was write about real people (not random names) dealing with the real world (not the world dealing with them), and added a little humor and a lot of songs. Ta-da! Classic epic complete.
Now, I’m not trying to say that everyone should go and find the most overused, cliché storyline that can think of and write a book on it. And I’m not trying to say that if you write a story about characters with realistic personalities that react in a realistic way to dramatic events with a humorous tone and a few songs that you wrote yourself, it will automatically become the best, most famous story ever. That’s not the point at all. There are several factors that determine the quality of a piece of writing. These are just a few starting tips. What I’m trying to say is you shouldn’t let words like “cliché”, “overused”, or “too common” hold you back from being a brilliant writer. But instead of writing that cliché story everyone expects from the description, write your own, unique story. Blow them away with your ability to be original with even the most common plot.
Also, writing unique short stories with overused plots is a great way to open your mind and think more creatively. It can help with writer’s block.
I hope this has helped you in some way. Good luck out there, fellow writer!
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