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Cliche Plot/Shallow Action/Adventure Stories



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Sat May 31, 2014 7:30 am
KaiTheGreater says...



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! ;)
Formerly DragonLily and RoseAndThorn
  





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Sun Jun 01, 2014 7:52 pm
Prokaryote says...



... though, really, to anyone reading this, do not write another medieval monomyth. You aren't creative enough. I don't think anyone is.

I would also dispute the notion that Tolkien wrote about "real people."
  





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Mon Jun 02, 2014 2:18 am
KaiTheGreater says...



I agree about the first part. That was just to illustrate my point.

About the second part- I didn't mean actual real people. I just meant realistic people. Although I suspect you meant something else...

Also, my laptop screen was at a weird angle and I didn't see the white turn to grey on your post, so I was kinda confused for a second... *random*
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Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:32 pm
Rosendorn says...



I'm going to point out one little thing that makes me look at this article sideways:

Tolkien popularized those cliches in the first place.

He was the codifier for fantasy, especially high fantasy, and his writing was so good everybody copied him in a watered down version. The genre "fantasy" didn't exist in the format we know today until Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings. The plot was not mainstream until he came along.

By pointing Tolkien out as the best example of the cliche fantasy plot, when it wasn't a cliche fantasy plot when he wrote the novel (archetypal, yes, but this seems to focus on the elements within the archetype), you're not really saying anything other than "the original was the best for [reasons]".
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:23 pm
Messenger says...



@Rosey%20Unicorn you just stole the words out of my mouth
  





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Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:48 pm
KaiTheGreater says...



Bleh. I knew someone was going to have to point that out...

Would it have been any less awesome if it hadn't been the first? It's not the fact that it was written first that made it so popular, but the fact that it was written well. As you said, everybody else tried to follow Tolkien with a watered-down version. What I was trying to say that the extra water doesn't make the pure essence of awesomeness any less awesome, and I think it's still possible to write a story without all the extra water...

...Or something like that....

*shuts up now*
Formerly DragonLily and RoseAndThorn
  





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Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:27 pm
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Rosendorn says...



Ahhh, I getcha!

Basically, you were trying to point out what Tolkien did right in order to be so popular? I sort of got that in the article, but it was really tucked away at the end.

For me personally, I think it'd be better if you spent less time describing the cliche itself (it's half the article), and spent more time dissecting what Tolkien did right and the knockoffs do wrong (which is the last quarter of the article). Then, you're establishing the quality of Tolkien's writing, without making it look like he rose head and shoulders above the rest of an already established genre.

When writing tip articles, it's important that the tips take up the majority of them, preferably broken up by headings. Then people can skim and get the gist really quickly, and you're being as efficient with words as possible.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:25 am
KaiTheGreater says...



Okay, thanks for the advice! :)
Formerly DragonLily and RoseAndThorn
  








Spend your days thinking about things that are good and true and beautiful and noble, and you will become good and true and beautiful and noble.
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