SKIP AHEAD:
Cliches—Relatable, But Bad
A cliche is "a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of orginal thought." Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but I'm gonna be a loose cannon and open this can of worms: sometimes we need cliches; they ain't all bad. My lack of original thought has been confirmed, or maybe I'm just thinking outside the box.
By nature a cliche is negative, but much like head hopping, a cliche can be unmade through the opinion that it is not a cliche. That it is not just commonplace but exactly what is needed, an unoriginal phrase or idea that is shared by all of us. It's relatable.
Tropes—A Cliche With A Top Hat And A Monacle
Tropes are complicated cliches. A cliché in a top hat, holding a monocle and smoking a pipe. Stare at it too long, and you realize it's just another bloke with more gilding.
Most stories will use some kind of trope or tropes, there are so many of them, and at this point, they are unavoidable. A trope in itself is a common or reoccurring theme, motif, or characterization used in storytelling. They tend to be larger story elements rather than single cliched lines. That they are larger gives them more room for the all-important original, though. Sure, it's a story about a chosen one, orphaned by who the prophecy foretells will defeat the big bad evil, but he's also a boy wizard attending a school called Hogwarts. Unoriginal, zested up with the original.
Some media actively uses tropes to inform their story, breaking the fourth wall with a wink and nod and direct reference to the trope it is dipping into.
Tropes and The Genres That Love Them
Some tropes are downright offensive and frowned upon, and some are expected. Some are offensive and yet expected. It depends on the genre of book. Tropes and book genres go hand in hand. No one is overly surprised when they stumble upon the arranged marriage trope in a historical romance or fantasy book. Still, it's not as expected in a contemporary mystery novel or thriller. The happily ever after trope is basically a requirement for every romance novel and is near-to-required in a lot of fantasy and YA books.
I relied heavily on Reddit for these lists, so many thanks to all those tireless heroes of writing advice and questions. Historical fiction tropes were admittedly a struggle. And many on my list are more akin to plot holes rather than tropes and could even be stretched to flat-out inconsistencies.
Tropes Loved By All Genres
Abnormally skilled teens
As the prophecy foretold
Damage ideation—specialness resulting directly from abuse
Incompetent adults, all of them, every single adult is incompetent
Mary-Sue/ Gary Sue
Misunderstandings that could be solved with a single conversation
The chosen one
The refrigerated women
The reluctant hero/ heroine/ themeroine (Personally, I blame the refusal of the call for this trope)
Tragic backstory
Ugly duckling to swan through a makeup over
Horror Tropes
'Sexy' writing style with a brutal storyline
Animal killings
Everyone dies except the hero/ heroine/ themerione
Fake-out death
Haunted house
Isolation
It was all a dream
Never-ending night
Phones that don't work for x reasons
Small-town horror
The real monsters were the ones we made along the way
Twist endings
Unreliable narrator
Mystery Tropes
Alcoholic detective
Cynical detective with a dark past
Cynical detective with a heart of gold
Energetic go-getter rookie
Female murder victims murdered in brutal ways
Incompetent police
Innocent characters that lie for no reason
Mentally ill/ LBGTQ+ did it
Refrigerated women
Sherlock Holmes in a different hat
The best friend sidekick
The butler did it
Twist ending
Unreliable narrator
Romance Tropes
Abuse as love
Arranged marriage
Bad boy with a heart of gold
Clumsy female protagonist
Enemies to lovers
Fated love
Love at first lust
Love at first sight
The love triangle
The ugly ducking character transforming into a swan (the makeover scene)
Science Fiction Tropes
Abandoned Earth for unspecified/ vague ‘reasons’
AI—Robots have souls to
AI—What is love, strange human?
Amnesia/ memory loss, so the main character has to have the story explained to him/ her/ them
Analogies for social/political/economic paradigms
Call a rabbit a "Smeerp"—Taking an existing word and making it sound more 'spacey.'
Convenient communication device that lets everyone understand each other regardless of language
Descriptive/ flowery language that is vague and explains nothing
Earth humans are the best and coolest; everyone else sucks. 'Merica!
Everyone, everywhere, regardless of space and time, speaks the same language
Evil government overlords
Female characters that lack any depth
Good versus evil
Guns, but more modern, but still basically guns
Magic masquerading as unexplained advancements in technology
Space aristocracy
Stakes that are too big (the word is ending, the universe is ending, evil shall reign eternal)
The doodad that does cool tech stuff but isn't explained
Fantasy Tropes
Abuse as character building/ specialness
Age gap 'romances' (4000-year-old vampire/ wizard 'falls in love' with a teenager)
Damsel in distress/ heroic man
Elemental magic
Fantasy masquerading as romance
Good versus evil
Idealized poverty
Magic has died out
Magic tied to emotions
Male/ female friendships are forbidden without romance
Medieval setting
New found power discovered at the EXACT right moment to win the day
Noble/ special bloodlines (frequently related to magical ability)
Orphaned hero/ dead parents
Royal Bastard
Secret Heir
Dystopian Tropes
Evil/ corrupt governments/ leaders (apparently, there is no future except one where the government is even suckier than the current ones)
Good versus evil
Incompetent adults
Love triangles
Minimal world building
Multiple POVs (usually third person limited with chapters written in different perspectives)
Prophecies
Ragtag group of teens
Romance tropes dialed up to 11
Romanticized hardship
Soulmates
Specialness/ Chosen one
Teenage led revolution
Ugly duckling to swan through a makeup over
Unrealistically over-developed skillset (fighting, magic, leadership, hunting, etc.)
Historical Fiction Tropes
Arranged marriage
Everyone is clean
Horses/ carriages are cars that use hay instead of petrol
Idiot female protagonist
It's romantic, not gross
Modern standards of beauty applied to historical stories
Plucky female protagonist
What racism? Never heard of it.
What sexism? Never heard of it
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