Melanie Nilles

From Dictionary.com:

cli·ché:

1. a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse…

2. (in art, literature, drama, etc.) a trite or hackneyed plot, character development, use of color, musical expression, etc.

3. anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.

—Synonyms: platitude, bromide, stereotype, commonplace.

Join any critique or writing group and eventually the term comes up in conversation. In any genre you will find cliché’s. In fantasy writing especially they are easy to spot (mostly because of an overabundance of Tolkien wannabes)–elves, dwarves, and the heroic journey to name a few. Read enough fantasy and eventually you’ll be able to spot the most common. Here’s a fun link to a quiz–The Fantasy Novelist’s Exam. I haven’t found anything like it for science fiction, but some of the questions can apply to that also.

How do you make your work original? That’s a good question for an agent like Miss Snark, Kristin Nelson, or Rachel Vater. (See my links to theright.) The short answer here is to read and avoid the common elements you find in other stories. The subject of originality can by found on every writing forum on the internet. It’s what writers strive for, although sometimes out of the ether of creativity come similar stories by completely different writers who have absolutely no contact. Let’s just call that the Twilight Zone How it happens, we can only speculate.

What’s original when nothing is anymore? Put a new twist on an old plot. According to the Internet Public Library, there are seven basic plots:

1. [wo]man vs. nature

2. [wo]man vs. [wo]man

3. [wo]man vs. the environment

4. [wo]man vs. machines/technology

5. [wo]man vs. the supernatural

6. [wo]man vs. self

7. [wo]man vs. god/religion

Every story has an element listed here, or perhaps multiple plots or subplots. It’s how we build on these basic plots that makes our stories original.

Take dragons, for instance, since so they are popular for fantasy (because so many people think they’re cool). I like dragons and so do many people I know. With books like Dragonology and the Pern novels, we are exposed to a couple different ideas of dragons. But a writer doesn’t have to conform to someone else’s ideas of what a dragon should be. I like the idea of intelligent dragons, so the dragons in my Legend of the White Dragon series are intelligent. I also like the idea that they never give a straight answer (because they are so intelligent) so my dragons speak in rhyme and riddles. That isn’t true of every writer’s dragons. I could go on in detail, but I’m just using this as an example.

Medieval fantasy? That’s a cliche, but still popular. However, a wide range of fantasy subgenres exists–contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, high fantasy, epic fantasy–pick one or create a new one! Science fiction is the same–cyberpunk, space opera, time travel, etc.

Don’t be afraid to stretch the envelope. Write what you would want to read. The market may not be ready for it, but it is always open to new ideas.