Posted: January 20, 2025
No matter how hard you try, cliché will fall into everything you write. That’s just the truth of the matter. The way to avoid boring cliché in your writing, however, is to twist it into something new. Take something that has been overused and tweak it. The same can be done with overused tropes.
Some stories you may want to write won’t do well. The epic fantasy genre is already oversaturated with stories, and if you add one more cliché-riddled rehash of the same old story, what’s there to draw in readers? To be successful in the writing world, you want to be unique, interesting, luring. To do that, you need to be different.
Take a look at the list below. These are the most common clichés, the ones that pop up when you search “most common clichés in writing”. Some are tropes, some are lines of description, all of them are well known and over done.
Sometimes, you want to include a bit of cliché, but it should never be the main focus. The Chosen One, for instance, can be used really well, but it can also make your reader groan in frustration. The Love Triangle can very easily go one way or the other.
While you can never fully avoid cliché, there are ways you can make sure it doesn’t hinder your writing.
We call a story melodramatic when the characters are surface level—the protagonists are too obviously a hero or victim, and the antagonists are pure evil. A surefire way to avoid this is to give your characters layers. Don’t make a storybook evil villain like Voldemort; don’t make a rudimentary damsel in distress like Bella Swan. While these characters are okay, they lack depth.
Writers draw inspiration from the world around them, so it’s nearly impossible to write a story without borrowing something or other from stories that you love. However, copycats never get far. You don’t want to write a dystopia just because you loved The Hunger Games, nor do you want to write a magic school fantasy novel just because you liked Harry Potter.
Try this writing exercise: write two pieces—one to bore your audience, and one to excite your audience. Take about a minute on each of them, then read them aloud, preferably to another person.
You may find that the exciting one isn’t so exciting. That’s because when we try to be exciting, it doesn’t come across as sincere. If you’re trying too hard at something, it’s not authentic. Don’t fill it with clichés that your audience will be familiar with, nor follow a generic step-by-step of “how to write an interesting story”. Try, instead, to just write the story that you want to tell and worry about making it interesting later. You may find that it’s already interesting without even trying.
“Do what is right, not what is easy.” A great quote about life, but also in writing. As a writer, you may be tempted to take the easy way out in a chapter or a scene, but you have to think about your reader instead of yourself. What does your reader want to see? Do they want you to solve problems with convenience? Probably not. You have to take a different path, be creative rather than passive.
What is “substance”? In this case, it’s what makes your story unique. You’re not putting together a bunch of familiar pieces into a Frankenstein’s monster puzzle, but rather taking what’s been done and reshaping it for your own purposes. Give your writing meaning and a goal--something to accomplish—and the rest should fall into place.
The best way to avoid your typical “oh, here we go again” is to take your reader by surprise. Perhaps your Chosen One is not actually the chosen one, but they’ve answered the call anyway. Perhaps you’re starting the book with “happily ever after” and telling what happens afterward.
Like how authors turn tropes on their heads to surprise their reader, you need to do the same—with tropes, with descriptions, and with your writing in general. Some writers will use Satire for this; they’ll use clichés in a way that’s purposeful and poking fun at them. Others will inverse a cliché or use a red herring to make their readers think. Whatever you choose to do, be confident with it.
Sometimes, you want to write what will sell, what is popular right now. For every popular book out there, you know that there are however many spinoffs trying to claim a little bit of its success, but there is a reason that those don’t do well. It’s because they’re not unique. They reuse tropes and clichés and ideas.
Step away from that. You don’t want to write a story that someone else has already written. Don’t choose a topic just because it’s inherently dramatic or controversial or because it comes up in conversation.
Sometimes, the idea for a grand adventure pops into your head that you just have to write, and you do, but after a while, you may wonder what the point of the story is. It may not do well. It may just be another run-of-the-mill adventure—so what makes it special? The message. What lesson do you want to impart on your readers through this story? Remember, fiction is just learning through imagination.
For example, one story I’ve had on the backburner for a while started with a single scene: the main character wakes up to find herself in the bedroom of a small child and finds out that she is that child’s imaginary friend. In reality, she was a real person; she is in the hospital, dying, and the story consists of an adventure that she and the little girl take to get her back to her body. The lesson, however, is about letting go. For the little girl to let go of her imaginary friend. For the main character, perhaps, to let go of life.
This story is mine, something I want to tell. You, as well, should be sincere in the story you want to impart. Have you learned any important life lessons that you want others to share? Have you gone through struggles or experiences that may help people? Write about that. It doesn’t have to be your life story, but it should be sincere. Sincerity fights mediocrity.
That said, there’s no way to actually avoid all cliché in the world. You’ll end up using them one way or another, so use them well. Let them be a hint of familiarity in your story to give your reader a sense of comfort. Let them think “I know this!” as they explore your foreign world.
How to Write in Multiple POVs
How to Do Book Research
Writing Compelling Villains
Writing Good Characters
D&D Alignments for Writing Characters
How to Write Tropes Well
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