HOME | DD
WonHitWonder — A Fresh Start: 19 Cliches You May Want to Avoid
Published: 2013-12-31 09:02:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 38236; Favourites: 246; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
First of all, I freely admit that what I say isn't gospel. I am a total amateur at art and writing. I've learned everything that I know via the internet and a few drawing books. It's just that I appreciate all of the tutorials here on dA that have helped me out, and I want to put a little bit of my own methods back in.-zzzzzt-
“Greetings, human writers. It has come to the attention of Planet Zorgaborg that you humans have been abusing terrible clichés and tropes for far too long. We pirate your Earth TV shows, movies, books, and more for entertainment, and we demand better from you! Therefore, we have abducted one of your delicious tutorial writers to speak on our behalf. Should you fail to meet our demands by the end of the upcoming Earth year, we will, *ahem*, ‘nuke the sh!t out of your planet.’ Farewell, and tread lightly, humans. We are not to be toyed with.”
Well, this isn’t quite how I thought I’d be spending the end of the year. But fear not! I’ve negotiated with the Zorgaborgians, and they’ve agreed to leave our planet de-nuked if you meet my- I mean, their nineteen demands (in no real order). Why nineteen? It’s so I can pre-emptively disappoint you (and because I cut one item and didn’t have another one to replace it). So for the love of pandas, let’s stop overusing…
The Pregnant Plot Device
Let’s play a drinking game. Find an episode of a TV show that involves a pregnant woman who is not a recurring character. Watch it, skipping all the scenes in which this character isn’t present (note: this may get harder the drunker you get). Does the climax of the episode involve the pregnant woman suddenly going into labor? If so, take a shot (unless, of course, you’re pregnant). Repeat with other episodes until your blood is flammable.
Basically, this trope bothers me because it’s so easy to spot and ruins the surprise of the episode. The second I see a pregnant chick, I immediately think “Oh, so it’s THAT episode formula today? You know, I’ve seen this a bajillion times, so I don’t really need to watch it again.” It also bothers me a bit because pregnant women are often treated as devices instead of characters. The character isn’t important, what’s important is the plot complication and ticking clock that she’ll become in the climax. And when that baby is finally born, please, please, please don’t use…
The Hope Baby
I am usually a calm, rational person. Despite what you may think, I am pretty easygoing most of the time. However, when I see a Hope Baby appear in a work that I once had respect for, I WILL yell at my TV out loud. I will even leave the room if it’s especially stupid. That’s how much I hate this trope. I despise it down to my very core.
To make a Hope Baby, you start with a Pregnant Plot Device. You follow it through all the way to the delivery room as the doctor says, “It’s a beautiful baby girl.” Yes, the word ‘beautiful’ is always uttered. Yes, it’s always a girl. Watch the new mother, with tears of happiness in her eyes, whisper, “Hope. We’ll name her Hope.” Wait a moment as the real characters mumble something about the miracle of childbirth and the sublime beauty of life before the credits roll. Turn off your TV set. Now chuck it out a f*cking window. It has been sullied.
I honestly don’t know why I despise this trope so much, so vividly, and with such irrational rage and hatred. But it must die. I see it everywhere I go, like an awful stalker who just wants me to appreciate the miracle of life and new beginnings and hope (GET IT GUYS? HER NAME IS HOPE. LIKE THE EMOTION? YOU GET IT? HUH? SYMBOLISM SURE IS EASY!). This trope… it must die a slow, agonizing death if I am to ever feel HOPE again.
Sigh… at least it’s not too harmful and rarely has far-reaching consequences on a work when abused. The same can’t really be said for…
Murdered Right In Front Of Her Eyes
Hey, you know how both Batman and Dexter are characters that watched their parents be brutally murdered in front of their eyes? You know how those works usually have writers that knew what the hell they’re doing before deciding to use such a device? I bet those two things are somehow related. Beats me how though.
I see this trope a lot in amateur fiction. Like, a really worrying amount. It’s so weirdly specific, and I can’t really figure out why everyone’s so eager to use it. Maybe people think that childhood trauma = instant complexity? Maybe they’re looking for a dark, troubled, mysterious, brooding, cookie-cutter character for people to pity? I honestly don’t get it. If you’re actually going to include this kind of thing, at least have the decency to do it right for goodness sake. Real people have had to go through this, you know, and I don’t think it’s really as simple as brooding and moping. This kind of thing is BIG, and shouldn’t be used cheaply. If you’re going to do it right, exploring the far-reaching ramifications of such an event on a character and the way they interact with the world from that point forward, go ahead. If you’re just going to use it as your character’s generic Big Bad Trauma and not give it the attention it deserves, you may want to think twice.
While I’m up here on this particular soapbox, I might as well address…
Orphanization
I’m not going to go into too much detail here, because I have an entire tutorial devoted to this very trope . Orphaning your character for drama’s sake is wrong and in some cases can be kind of offensive to people who have gone through that in real life. Enough said about that. However, I have a LOT to say about…
Crazy Abuse
This pisses me off more than anything else on this list. I might even give it its own tutorial someday.
Here in the real world, there are such things as mental illnesses. They suck absolute dick. They are not fun. They are not dramatic. They are not edgy. They can make your life a living hell.
Mental illness is a real thing. Real people have it and have to live with it. If you don’t know what you’re doing or don’t have a very good reason for including such a thing, DON’T F*CKING DO IT.
This entry was waaaaaay longer, but I had to cut it down because I was getting far too pissed off and angry for what is supposed to be a fun list. Well, I’m done for now, so let’s move on to something a little less angsty, like…
Emo-Vision Goggles
Well, a different kind of angsty at least. And a funnier one to boot!
Now, boys and girls, gather around and let good ol’ WonHitWonder tell you a thing or two about growing up. There comes a time in everyone’s life at which they get hair on- no, sorry, wrong story. Let me try again. Ahem.
There comes a time in everyone’s life at which they suddenly realize that the world sucks and they think that they’re the only one who knows it. Don’t be ashamed, it happens to everyone. What’s important is that most people grow out of it, and decide that yes, the world sucks, but there’s lots of great things in it too! And that if there’s not enough great things, you can make more good things happen if you put forth some effort!
But why fix the world when you can instead just angst over it? That takes far less effort! Well, welcome to the world as seen through a pair of Emo-Vision Goggles. This is when an author (I’m gonna guess pre-teen to college-grad age) is content to spend their time moaning about the awfulness of life and thinks that they alone understand the pain and suffering and darkness and blah blah blah. It’s not the attitude that grates on me so much as the thinking that they alone know things about life that the sheeple won’t ever understand (God, I hate that word. Make it an unofficial #20 to this list). This attitude in themes and writing gets on my nerves. Not that these things can’t be explored, far from it, but it’d probably be better if the author weren’t such a condescending d-bag about it. This kid of attitude can occasionally lead to another trope that makes me roll my eyes…
You Were Right All Along!
This one’s simple. This is when a character or group of people, usually the story’s antagonists, suddenly give up a deep-seated value just because a main character gives them an impassioned talking-to. “Oh, you mean that racism and homophobia are wrong and mean and we wouldn’t like to be treated that way ourselves? Man, I guess I never thought of it that way. Looks like I’m not a bigot anymore!”
Simply put, people are stubborn and will cling to their beliefs, even if it’s against what you consider logical. It’s really, really difficult to change someone’s mind, and while you may miss out on that big victory for your character, it’s a fantasy, not reality. This counts double if the character is under the age of 20. Nobody’s going to take them seriously.
Well, now that we’ve all been cured of our bigotry, let’s take a look at…
Everybody’s Gay
Basically, in this universe, almost everybody seems to be gay or bisexual for no obvious reason. Not so much offensive or annoying as it is hilarious and baffling to me. It’s more of a logistics peeve of mine than a conceptual one. If you want a universe like this, go ahead, it’s your universe to rule over. But if you’re doing this because you think it makes your characters deep and edgy and cool because they have issues and you don’t have to work at development, refer back to my Crazy Abuse and Orphanization segments (hint: DON’T F*CKING DO IT).
On the topic of tolerance, beware the…
Super-Enlightened Past-Person
Pretend I’m writing a story that takes place in America during the 1920’s. Is it honestly realistic that someone from this time, with a few notable exceptions, is going to be a champion of civil rights? No, but understanding past viewpoints is haaaaaaard, and you can’t write a character that has outdated views and who is still likable! Basically, people from different time periods should just have all the same views that you have now, whether or not it makes any logical sense. Yay for taking the easy way out!
Again, if you know what you are doing, do it. Maybe you’re telling the story of an activist. If not, then you already know the drill. Don’t do it.
But take that spirit of political correctness too far and you might end up with the…
Gener-A-Token
Oh, tokens. It must be hard for them. Writing people of your own race is easy (after all, they’re like people or something), but writing other races? So difficult. So you include a token minority to fill up that diversity quota. But you don’t want to be offensive to anyone, so you can’t give them flaws… I got it! Bring in the Gener-A-Token! Blank smiles and blandness ahoy!
The Gener-A-Token is a token character who is not only a token, but whose personality has been so reduced and diluted that they’re just a smiling pile of nothingness whose only job is to be bland and happy while they fulfill a quota. Imagine a Stepford Wives situation, but with minorities instead of women. That’s actually pretty messed up, now that I think about it.
While on the topic of women, let’s not forget the…
Strong Woman Stripper
Writing women can be difficult. All of those reproductive organs mean that they don’t function in any way mentally or emotionally like men do. Not at all. Female hormones sure are nutty, amiright, ladies? Well, this mindset means that the results of males attempting to write strong female characters can be pretty weird, the most paradoxical of which being the Strong Woman Stripper.
This character is one that, in theory looks like a good female character. Sure, she might be a little bland, but at least she plays an important role in the story. But then, about halfway through the story, BAM! We get to see our male main character get her all naked and have his way with her. Or we just get to see her naked or topless for no reason. Or she wears “armor” the whole time that shows off her gratuitous cleavage and sideboob and who knows what else (UPDATE: there's an excellent article on the subject of women's armor here ). Because people enjoy breasts far more than they enjoy women. It’s a proven fact. Awwww, yeah.
The important part of this trope isn’t the nudity or sexuality (women can have and enjoy sex in fiction, that’s not my issue), it’s the way in which it happens. If it just happens for no adequately explored reason besides fanservice or because the male main character just “deserves” sex from the best female, then it’s stripping that female character of her independence and personality and just making her a sex toy for the male hero and the audience. That’s a little bit wrong. Well, at least it is to me.
Of course, such sexiness might just be inevitable in a universe in which…
Everybody’s Hawt
Common in visual media, this is a universe in which everyone is uber-sexy. Even the ugly people. In this kind of universe, ugliness is told, not shown, because who wants to look at ugly people, amiright? Ugly people only exist is myths and legends. You might get turned to stone if you look at one.
This is only really a problem for me if someone who is supposed to be ugly isn’t really ugly (defeating the point) or much worse, when the men of the series are allowed to be average or ugly, but not the women. Damn, the ladies can’t catch a break today, can they? Well, at least in this universe it’ll be somewhat true when they’re inevitably told…
Your Eyes Are Too Beautiful Too
Is anyone here still sober after the Pregnant Plot Device thing? Then pull out the tequila, frat boys, WonHitWonder’s got an even better drinking game for you! First, find a novel that you can read in a word processor. Then, use ctrl+f to find every instance of the word ‘eye.’ Every time that sentence is being used to describe the beauty of someone’s eyes, take a shot. Bonus Rule: take two shots if the sentence includes any of the following words:
• Sapphire, ocean, azure, sky, icy
• Emerald
• Ruby, crimson, scarlet, fire, sunset, blood-red
• Chocolate
• Topaz, honey
• Snow, vivid, depth
By now, you may be suspecting that I am trying to kill you via alcohol poisoning. And you would be absolutely correct, so if you have any sense don’t actually do this or you will end up in a hospital. But seriously, am I sick of hearing about how beautiful someone’s eyes are, especially using the above words. They’re clichés that keep getting recycled over and over, even though some of them don’t even make that much sense. Seriously, have you ever seen anyone with eyes that are the color of real, honest-to-goodness sapphires? Then why does everyone in the fictional world with blue eyes have them? I only know two people that I can honestly say have really pretty eye colors, and I wouldn’t use any of the above words to describe them because they don’t make sense.
But even if you use this trope, don’t worry about it! You can still count on there being…
No Consequences Because You’re Awesome
A silly, silly trope that’s been around forever. This is when a main character does something against the rules, but then suffers little to no punishment for it and is sometimes even rewarded for it (100 points to Gryffindor!). Man, I wish I could invoke this trope in real life.
Professor: “You cheated on my final exam so that you wouldn’t get kicked out of school and could therefore participate in and win the big game for the whole school?”
Me: “Yup.”
Professor: “Well it was important for your character arc… I guess I’ll let you off the hook this time.”
Me: “Rad.”
It’s just a convenient excuse to not have to deal with the consequences of someone’s actions and ensure a happy ending for everyone. This kind of thing almost NEVER flies in real life, kind of like…
Bullsh!t Science
Look, I don’t demand that every story 100% adheres to science. Would Superman be a better story if all of his organs immediately ruptured due to inertia or whatever and he died? I doubt it. However, some fantasy and sci-fi writers prefer to make their stories sound a bit more scientifically plausible, which is a commendable idea. But pretty often, they find something that they can’t explain, and instead of just leaving it alone, they come up with some ridiculous explanation that makes absolutely no sense. If magic is a more pleasing explanation than what you’re saying, you may have a problem.
Like that infamous scene in Independence Day when an entire spaceship was brought down with a Mac computer. How the hell did that work? Do the aliens use Mavericks? Why do they use coding that humans invented? Do they have Wi-Fi? Why couldn’t the writers have just had Randy Quaid fire lasers into the exhaust ports a la Star Wars and give us an awesome explosion instead of a ridiculous non-scientific science answer? The world may never know.
And honestly, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because I haven’t even talked about…
WTFuture?
This is when sci-fi makes an ugly clash with history. It’s one thing to make up a future based on current trends, but it’s another to just make stuff up. I’m talking about futures in which America sings the praises of communism, everybody willingly gives up their smartphones and spends their time outdoors, and the Cubs win the World Series. All in 20 years. Now, if the author can explain how all this happened in such a short period of time, that’s fine. But more often than not they’ll say, “History’s for neeeeeeerds, I’ll do what I want!” If your story’s supposed to be silly, then go for it! An unrealistic future can be really, really funny. But if you’re expecting to be taken seriously, maybe you should ask the history nerds for help.
But scholars, you aren’t off the hook either. Yes, we all know that…
I Attended English Class Once!
I hate when books name-drop classic works that everyone had to read in high school. Especially in teen fiction. Especially when it’s only popular with teens because a movie version recently came out *coughGatsbycough*. Nine times out of ten, it just doesn’t work. This is usually because the author doesn’t really understand the book in a literary way, but wants to sound smart or wants a character to sound smart. Behold:
“‘You know what?’ I said to myself. ‘This is just like The Catcher in the Rye. I am just like Holden Caulfield. I hate everything too, and no one else but me realizes how fake the rest of the world is. If only they weren’t such sheeple! Man, it’s so hard being so friggin' DEEP.’”
Congrats on missing the entire point of the book there, genius.
The other pitfall is that it expects the reader to have read and comprehended the book that’s being referenced. Well, unless the point is to appear smart or associate yourself with much better books to pretend that you’re also a good book *coughTwilightcough*. Man, I need to get that cough checked out. Now before you yell at me in the comments, this can be used well by actually smart authors. But haven’t we had this conversation, like 16 other times in this article? I thought we were past that in our relationship. You already know what I’m going to say. I’m not saying it again.
Well, I would do it if you called me a loser enough times. But that might make you a…
Stock Bully
Loooooooser! You’re just a little chicken, cheeeeep cheeeeeeeeeeeep hahahahaha. Seriously though, why are most bullies terribly written? They have no motivation besides being a d-bag. This bothers me a lot because it’s a missed opportunity to get some insight into the mind of a bully and why they do what they do. That might be helpful in preventing and stopping bullying here in the real world, but so few people actually make believable bullies.
And honestly, why should they? The Stock Bully isn’t a character, he’s a plot device. A cheap antagonist that everyone will immediately recognize and dislike. Never mind making an antagonist that has an ounce of complexity or who has reasons for doing what he does, however twisted they might be. That sounds like effort. Stock Bullies forever!
And finally, I'll get my revenge on those nasty bullies with the last item on the list, because I’ll have you know that…
My REAL Parents Were Freaking Awesome
Related a little to Orphanization, this is the point at which the generic orphan character discovers that the parents that they had never known were super important and super awesome! They were rulers and celebrities and badass rebels and spies and so much cooler than parents really have any right to be. Well, before they were brutally murdered, that is. They’re always brutally murdered.
Most parents, as well as most people in general, are lame. How many times have you ever read a book in which an orphan discovers that their parents were just regular ol’ sanitation workers or some boring job who weren’t ready for a child and gave them up? Nope, it’s always badass rebel spies and murder. Nobody’s ever seen that before. It’s really unique, I promise.
Well, that concludes my list of clichés that I could happily go the rest of my life without ever seeing again. And I said I wouldn’t say this again, but I will, in nice bold lettering:
These are just my own personal preferences. You do not have to agree. Tropes are not inherently evil and can be used successfully by skilled authors in a variety of situations.
Well, that’s about it. Everyone, have a great new year. And as always, the Zorgaborgians have advised me to give out my disclaimer:
Never, ever forget: I might be wrong. I try not to be, but nobody's perfect. Art is one giant matter of opinion. Feel totally free to disagree or to only utilize the bits that you agree with. If you found this helpful, disagree with me, or just prefer another method to my own, feel free to tell me about it in the comments. After all, I'm here to learn too.
Related content
Comments: 78
I agree with most of these. 
Reading the last cathegory about perfect real parents I immediately remembered Harry Potter's parents.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
BS Science is definitely the worst one to me.
Also; One day I hope to see a film where the bully is explained. Most bullies don't just bully people to be bullies, either it's a popularity contest (Ever have a group of people you hate with a passion?), or something actually happened that makes reasonable sense and catches the reader off guard, making a great story. Heck, it would be cool to have a bully as the protagonist, where he reports his abusive parents and turns around his life or something.
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
Going to the Eye's as Beautiful part of the guide, I normally write for my OCs, ex: "Anya's crimson eyes seemed almost black at night" or when I'm explaining someone's eye-color, "Bianca has magenta eyes that she got from her father" Would that be considered Cliched?
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Okay, this is late, but no, this isn't cliche. If that's the only sentence on their eyes, then fine, but when you say "Bianca's eye's shimmered in the moonlight, illuminating her magenta eyes and giving them an aura that glowed on her cheeks. The hue seemed like portals leading into her soul, almost preventing me from looking away." THAT'S cliche. And since you only placed the colour name and didn't become poetic over them, then you're fine. Now, let's say you're like me where this is a bad habit I have because I like to be descriptive, but there is still a fine line between 'This isn't so bad' and 'Why did I do this?' This little piece of advice helps me prevent from doing this. Their just eyes. Everyone has them at one point or the other and even though they have a unique eye colour, you can't treat them like you're describing a house's plumbing.
Hope I helped! xD
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
About the "No Consequences Because You’re Awesome" thing:
1) It exists in reality (personal experience)
2) but it requires some extraordinary kind of awesomeness (something higher than just "the star of the school") at least if it is earned by personal achievements (otherwise it may be a bit different plot)
3) you still can run into someone immune to this trick...
4) and its usefulness is limited anyway - the maximum level of problems being neutralized is much lower than the actual achievement (another option: informal permission to bypass some rules as long as the results are good because you've proven your ability to operate slightly above these rules - screw it up and you'll have all the consequences on you)
5) you can actually play an interesting plot with it, if a character used to abuse this thing accidentally goes beyond its protection...
6) but I agree that just invoking this out of nowhere to neutralize major trouble is a cheap deus ex machina
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
This is very helpful. I think I avoid most of these cliches by keeping my character average and mostly uncool, although there was one exception where this nine-year-old characters has two older brothers--one's a popular, athletic jock and a much older one's is accomplished rock and roll musicians, but they're also cocky, cynical and can be a bully - mostly to people who annoy them.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
My problem is that every time I try to create a villain, I end up making them with real personalities and flaws and virtues and so on, so then I end up sympathizing with them just as much, if not more than, my main characters. Sigh. XD
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
This isn't necessarily bad. In my current work, the villains are deep, true characters with motives and personalities, and the main characters suffer a lot of lash back and guilt because the villains, really, think they are on the right side. The distinguishing feature is that the villains use dark or extreme means to win while the main characters are more passive. I love when deep characters are created as villains instead of stupid devilish-grin mustache men. As long as you make their views believably bad and have a reason for it (Which isn't insanity or abuse, hopefully), I love those characters.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
i try as hard as I can to avoid most of these cliches:
Pregnacy plot device: I try only have important characters get pregnant in the first place and not have their babies at inconvenient times. That's just stupid and overdone.
The hope baby: Right now I'm working on this story involving a baby, but when it's born it just causes complications rather than creating peace... Like getting the main characters banished from the village. And having to live in the wilderness for a year with an unwanted baby.
So magical.
The dead parents: I particularly like this one so long as one of the parents are still alive and it really screwed with the main characters head. Like one of my characters is incapable of talking about his problems so they just bottle up, and another character keeps picking bad boyfriends because of the lack of a motherly role model.
General-a-token: God I hate this one. I hateithateithateit!!! Though I only have a few 'minority characters, I don't use them as 'black comic relief' like Hollywood always does... No. No. Just....no. One of my minority characters is poor enough that his bed is riddled with bedbugs. That kind of in depth stuff should be evenly distributed to ALL the characters. Not just the white ones. (Sorry if this came off as offensive. It's like... 4:35 where I am and my vocabulary is dwindling.)
Eyes: I use this too, but not to emphasize how beautiful the character is, so much as how much the other character obsesses over her. Like he's trying to convince the reader on how amazing she is.... Or convince himself... Or whatever....
I think cliches are okay to use as long as they don't look like carbon copies.
It gets boring.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Might as well just not write at all, it all has been done before!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It's not the originality of the content that matters but the author's recombination and execution of it. There's still a whole world of stories out there waiting to be told!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes, my point exactly. The above statement was meant as a sarcastic remark at the above work. I should really translate my point of view on "cliché" to English one of these days.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Yeah can't argue with those, however there is something I'd like to say about the bit at the end.
Cliches don't work, tropes do work. In fact if you have ever been to the TV tropes website you'll see things that have been used dozens of times in ways that work.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I love TV Tropes, I've wasted many a night there
Thank you for the clarity. I usually use cliche to mean something overused in the same way over and over and a bad trope to be something that isn't so common, but not something that I personally enjoy seeing. But I like the distinction that you've made there, it's a helpful way to think about the two
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You're welcome, I think the best way to look at it is like this:
Cliches are terrible and should be avoided
Crutches happen when someone relies on a good idea too often
Tropes get used when someone uses a good idea in the correct manner.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I need to get that tattooed on my arm, that's a great way to define those
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'd say print it out very nicely and frame it, easier to read that way.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
you know, that bully thing makes me think of one of my characters, who's a father and a total jerk to his youngest child.
but at least there's reasoning behind that.
I really liked this article ^^
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Glad you liked it! Hope your story goes well!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
haah me too.
too many in the works XD
and no motivation to do any of them!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
When presented with calling the baby of the plot Hope, Mom says "If you think I'm calling my daughter that, I want a divorce."
It's a fantasy series that is very well written. It's got every basic form of objectionable material in though, if that's a dealbreaker for you.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Sounds fun. What do you mean by objectionable material?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Sex, violence and language.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ah, that stuff doesn't tend to bother me then. I thought you meant objectionable as in "objectionably terrible tropes"
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I've read the whole text (a bit hard for my brain but I nailed it, yay!) and I wanted to say just a little thing: I love how you write! It's so genuine and ironic but deeply true... I'm sure you'll have a bright future
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you very much! I really appreciate that
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Zorgaborgs ? They sound like something from Futurama.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ha, I take that as a compliment! I watched a lot of Futurama when it was on!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
They still rerun it on the Comedy channal and maybe on the Cartoon Network late at night.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I read this because as someone who would like to become a better writer I like to read any writing advice I can find to consider if I want to employ it. (I don't think it's a good idea to always just go with whatever others, even professional writers, tell you is good, because that way you may take too much authenticity and personality out of your writing.)
First of all I would like to say I appreciate your effort. It is good that anyone even wants to try to help others. And knowing what people think is overdone in fiction is always handy. If you are open to criticism though, I would like to suggest that this tutorial could be absolutely marvelous if you would add some more support to some of your opinions. See, at a few instants you add articles to explain the point further, or an example. Yet, for many I find there to be a lack of it. I think examples and more so examples of how it could perhaps be approved, could really lift this tutorial up way high.
Once again though, I think it is really cool that you are even trying to make tutorials. As you would see, were you to go to my gallery, I haven't written any because I wouldn't even know where to start. (:
I also have a question. With WTFuture, do you mean stories which create this or that unrealistic near-future setting without the setting actually mattering much? (Sorry, I know that probably sounds vague but it is the best I could do to describe what I mean.) Because I think there is also a type where the author has come up with this weird futuristic setting that does not sound very plausible, but that is still okay, because the created world seems to have to serve as some sort of metaphoric setting - very likely to shed light on a social issue. (I got that feeling a bit from H.G. Well's The Time Machine, although that may be because more than a hundred years after the book was written it just seems so off compared to where we are now that it becomes hard to believe the author really thought that was a possible future.)
Oh also, real life sapphire eyes? Check out actor Chris Pine - being the sometimes a little too eager-to-believer that I am, I'm assuming that the people who've said his eyes are not just edited to look like that were telling the truth.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
Elijah Wood is also supposed to have crazy blue eyes in real life.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thanks for the constructive criticism! I struggled a bit with the length of this one, because it came out to be 11 pages long and I wasn't sure whether or not people would read something so long. But thank you for your input! I'll try to look it over and see where maybe I can add some support without extending the length too much.
And for the future thing, I mostly mean where it isn't explained at all. In The Time Machine, the idea is a little extreme, but works because it's a cautionary tale. The theme itself is the explanation, and the strength of the theme more than makes up for the unrealistic nature of the world. I usually get bothered when the future is unrealistic for no good reason and its unrealistic nature adds nothing to the literary or entertainment value of the book.
Thanks for such a long, well-thought-out comment. I really appreciate it!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I know I've been guilty of a few of these...
You struck a good tone, here--frustrated (maybe a little angry), but humorous all through. (I don't feel guilty about doing some of these, but I do feel driven not to do it again!) I thoroughly enjoyed this guide.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm happy you enjoyed this! I worked really hard on the humor aspect of this one, I figured people could use a good laugh to send off 2013!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hey, I'm glad the Zorgaborgs aren't killing us all for the eye thing alone. It's amazing how much purple prose you can see around the descriptions of attractive characters even in works that tend to not be all that descriptive when showing... Well, everything else. Hurts my brain.
I hate WTFutures. Divergent was clearly not written by someone who was terribly knowledgeable. Really poor world building with a nonsensical political and social system.
Communist futures make sense if the book was written at a time where communism was valid concern (but once they take it to the extreme that everybody has to where the exact same clothes it loses plausibility (I get doing it in animation or movies where there is a budget but seriously people)).
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm a very visual person, description has to be really good for me to appreciate it. So when a writer goes on a purple-prose-athon, I mentally check out and find myself looking for where on the page the story continues. And for futures, I get it if a story wants to make a point, but there has to be an explanation, like how 1984 was kind of a highly exaggerated version of current trends at the time it was written. A bit unrealistic, but so poignant that it doesn't even matter that it's a little extreme.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Fantastic points. I might have to go through my stories to see if any of them fall into these.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! Don't forget that none of these tropes are inherently bad, just that they are often abused and can detract from a story when used wrong.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Welcome. And I totally agree with you.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
It's okay if you hate tropes, everybody has their pet peeves. But I felt like you were more like 'these need to DIE' more than 'You must write them better or you'll fall into these traps'.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
These are just my preferences. I've noticed that a lot of these tropes are abused more often than they are used well, but like I said, if you know what you are doing, then go ahead and use them.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It's okay, I was just remarking the flaw of the tutorial. The rest is fine, 'cause you're mostly right.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No prob. Thanks for the constructive criticism by the way, I don't know if I came off a bit harsh in that last comment. I'm trying to get better, so I'm happy that you gave me your viewpoint
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I don't think you were, but that's my view.
I'm glad I could help
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
| Next =>