This is the last post in our series on stereotypes, tropes, and clichĂ©s. Since weâve already done the first two, now weâre in the home stretch!
So what is a clichĂ©? Simply put, a clichĂ© is anything that has been widely overused by many people. Theyâre predictable, theyâre unoriginal, and theyâre boring. In writing, a clichĂ© can be a phrase, such as âsleeping like the deadâ, or a type of description (comparing a personâs eyes to the ocean is popular), or even a character (gawky unpopular girl who suddenly finds out she has special abilities and now must use them to save the world? Check!). A trope, as we covered yesterday, is a specific type of clichĂ©, and the use of tropes isnât always a bad thing. Today, instead of covering trope-type clichĂ©s (characters, plot ideas, or settings), weâre going to cover the actual use of clichĂ©d phrases or description.
Weâve all seen them before. âIt was a dark and stormy nightâ, âHe was ugly as sinâ, or âWhen the going gets tough, the tough get goingâ are easy to recognize - but how about phrases like âslippery as an eelâ, âquick as a winkâ, or âicing on the cakeâ? When people canât come up with a metaphor or a simile to use, often times they fall back on clichĂ©s. If you use a couple here and there in dialogue, nobody will really think anything of it - after all, thatâs how people talk! Itâs when you use them in narration that a problem arises. Instead of using your own words and ideas, youâre just regurgitating the same boring phrases anyone could spit out, and thatâs usually not a good thing.
There are also writing clichĂ©s that have nothing to do with specific phrases and everything to do with what youâre writing. How many times have you seen somebody describe their character by having them look in the mirror? And how many times have you encountered a character who is The Chosen One in a story, destined by birth or whatever to save the world, end a war, repopulate the species, or something else along those lines? If weâve seen it once, weâve seen it a hundred timesâŠand if your story is just like one that someone has read a hundred times before, chances are theyâre not going to remember much else about it. Can these scenes and plots be done well? Absolutely, but itâs the exception, not the rule. Think about it: do you really want your story to be so much alike to someone elseâs that they canât tell them apart?
Now comes the hard part. I canât tell you how to avoid using clichĂ©s. I really, really canât. It all comes down to you: your story, your characters, your voice. Only you can write something new in your own particular, unique style. All I can tell you is to be on the lookout for clichĂ©s and try to avoid them, if you can; it gives you a chance to flex your creative muscles and describe something in a whole new way! Good luck!