Category: cliches

An exploration of cliches

cliches

Cliches: Monsters

Katie Marie

Time for a wide range of cliches!

Today I would like to return to one of my favourite topics, Cliches!

As we’ve discussed before cliches can range from phrases to characters, to scenes, and beyond. They are an overused trope and often portray a lack of original thought.

Despite that clearly negative definition, there is a time and place for cliches, particularly around certain characters, as they allow an audience to gain an understanding and expectation very quickly. So, on occasion, a cliché can be a useful tool to impart information quickly. Though it is best used sparingly and if used in relation to characters it should only be applied to very small, very side characters.

With that out of the way, today I want to talk to you about monster cliches!

With monsters being a highlight of the horror genre, certain kinds of monsters have a lot of tropes attached to them. I have already done a few letters on specific monsters, vampires, werewolves, ghosts etc. today I want to talk about a wider range of overused monsters and the even more overused tropes that come with them.

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cliches, Horror Writing

Cliche: The senses

Katie Marie

Monster Cliches

Today I am writing to talk to you about monster cliches.

These three cliches can apply to almost any kind of monster, or a protagonist having to circumvent the monster in question. They are sensory cliches, and they pop up in a lot of horror stories.

Now, like with all cliches I can understand why they are used. Like, character cliches which are used to establish character traits quickly these are used as short cuts. But like character cliches which can work well for background or side characters that you don’t want to spend tons of time developing because you’re basically using them to make a point or be cannon fodder, sensory cliches can work well in small doses.

The sensory cliches are a bit different to character cliches though, while they are used as a short cut the same way character cliches are their shortcut is a shortcut to stakes not personality.

Sensory cliches attached to the protagonist will be used as a way to raise stakes and sensory cliches attached to the monster will be used to lower stakes. As they will always be used to establish a weakness for either the protagonist or the monster to exploit.

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cliches

Cliches: Characters

Katie Marie

Lazy writing?

Do you remember when I used to write to you about cliches? I’d like to do that again, in part because it’s a lot of fun, in part because you seemed to enjoy it (and I crave positive feedback) and in part because I enjoy having a good bitch about things.

Not all cliches are lazy writing, they can actually be bloody useful when used properly (and sparingly), they are a good way to set audience expectations when you don’t have the time or space to dedicate to establishing something.

However, as I said above, this should be used sparingly and in specific circumstances, such as for low screen time side characters who serve a singular purpose and are there and gone again quickly. After all no one wants to spend ages establishing a character when they are only going to do what the creator needs them to then disappear.

Clichés become lazy writing when they are used for main or significant characters, places, plot points etc.

Previously I’ve focused my rants on specific topics, but today I want to cast a wider net, so where previously I did a blog about male characters, female characters etc today I want to touch on three clichés that affect characters as a whole.

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cliches, Horror Writing

Clichés: Vampires

Katie Marie

They vant to suck your blood.

It’s that time again when I talk at length about clichés that drive me nuts.

Today I want to look at a horror creature that has been done again and again and again, to the point where if I tried to list all the clichés I would write a book. I am of course talking about the vampire. What with it being Halloween and all.

Like with all the previous clichés that I’ve spoken about, these are caused by writer/creator laziness. Instead of trying to put a unique spin on a character the writer/creator will have a standard vampire acting in the standard vampire way. While this might be alright for a side character, as a quick and easy way to establish them without having to spend ages dwelling on a non-critical character but still giving your readers/audience a good idea of what to expect from this character, it won’t work for the main character.

The way to make your vampire character stand out is to make them different than the norm.

Take the Twilight, for example, I am well aware of the hate this series gets but when you look at the figures you’ll see that it worked very well despite the stigma. This book series sold millions of copies, got made into a series of films and made the author an absolute ton of money. All because she took vampires and put her spin on them, and while many didn’t like the new spin many did, in particular, Meyer’s target audience did.

Anyway, I feel that I’ve rambled long enough, so without further ado, let’s jump into my top three hated vampire clichés.

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cliches, Horror Writing

Clichés: Ghosts

Katie Marie

Spooky Scary Ghosts

It should go without saying really that ghosts pop up a lot in horror stories. Traditionally when a lot of people think horror they will think of ghosts and ghost stories.

This isn’t a bad thing, as ghosts can work amazingly in stories when they are done well.

A good example of ghosts being done well is the Haunting of Hill House television series that came out recently. The ghosts here were very well crafted and it was clear from the first episode that a lot of thought had gone into their conception and creation.

However, despite ghosts being excellent narrative tools they can, and often are, the victims of excessive clichés. All of which, I believe, stems from the same issue, a simple lack of thought.

A recent example of this being when I went to see a play that I will not name here (it wasn’t the woman in black, I feel the need to point that out). The story clearly established the ghost character, her motivations were crystal clear and her abilities firmly shown early on. It was pretty good if a little overdone. But right at the end everything about the ghost changed, her motivations changed completely, it went from “find me” to “join me forever” and her abilities went from “dick around with small technology within the house” to “being able to cause traffic accidents miles away”.

I remember sitting in the theatre and thinking to myself “Well, the writer clearly wanted a twist ending and just couldn’t come up with one.” I was disappointed and frustrated, to say the least. But this leads nicely into the main cliché that ghost characters suffer from.

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cliches, Horror Writing

Clichés: Villians

Katie Marie

I’m the bad guy

Today I am writing to you about a topic that I considered doing an entire series for, to be honest, I’m still considering it. Maybe next year? Consider this a teaser for a potential series and let me know what you think if you’d be interested in having a more ‘deep dive’ on the individual topics rather than the broad brush overview I’m doing in this letter.

Also, a warning, I’m probably going to talk about Thanos a lot. I won’t spoil End Game because I’m not evil, but Thanos will feature in a lot of my examples’.

Anyway, to get to the point, today in the ‘cliché’ series I would like to talk with you about cliché villains. The bad guys, the ones we love to hate, the contrast to the protagonist. So many of us love villains despite them being perhaps the worst for suffering from clichés.

I love it when you get a bloody good villain, and am heartbroken when you see a potentially good villain suffering from clichés. It makes them boring and these are your best opportunity for entertaining your reader or viewer or player. Villains are fantastic tools for creators, they can build dramatic tension, they can be hilarious, they can be sympathetic, they are probably the most versatile tool in your arsenal save from your protagonist.

So why do we use clichés?!?

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cliches, Horror Writing

Clichés: Aliens

Katie Marie

Cliche’s are in all genres, not just horror.

Today I am writing about a cliche that can span across horror and Sci Fi. Aliens.

Admittedly I tend to watch Sci-Fi more so than read it, I tend to absorb a bigger percentage of this genre via movies, games and television. But that aside the cliche’s of the genre shine through in all mediums.

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cliches, Horror Writing

Clichés: Heroes

Katie Marie

Here he comes to say the day!

Today I am writing you you to talk about some of the clichés that befall protagonists, mostly in fantasy stories. I am, of course, talking about the ‘Hero’. Fiction and fantasy have come a long way over the years, and our character development has come along with them, we now have multifaceted heroes, flawed heroes, and anti-heroes (my personal favourite). But while we’ve come along way in some respects, there are still a lot of hero clichés out there and I’m going to rant about my most hated three.

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