What is a Cliché?

A whole diffrent way of looking at things!

Admit it, many of us have heard this term but few of us really know what exactly a Cliché really is.

It seems to be this big bad evil dark cloud that hovers over our work like some hungry beast ready to strike.

Well, maybe not, but unless we know what a Cliché is, we just will end up worrying if we are putting them in our own story.

Well with that in mind, this is where the air gets cleared.

What is a Cliché and how do they work and where do they come from.

A cliché is an idea has already been done as good as it is going to be done or something that everyone uses.

Basically it boils down to the idea that it has been done before, better.

The qualifier “better” is very important here, which is not surprising, because ideas that have been done very well are also very well known. The more well known an idea the more they touch us to work upon that idea, but the more people will recognize it and know that it did not originate with you.

Revision does not change the Original!

Another down side is, well known ideas touch a lot of people all at the same time and along with some good works that were inspired by the ‘originator‘ or the most famous person to use that idea/concept or phrase (normally the idea in question was used to obtain their current level of fame, but that is not a requirement), there comes a mountain of mediocre and even some really poor imitators that just rip off the idea.

We as writers and storytellers need to come to terms that people as they read our works will see directly and distinctly where we pulled our inspiration, or at the very least who influenced us the most. The down side to this is that the more our work imitates our inspirer or incorporates a well known idea the more cliché it becomes.

After all, readers do not live in a bubble, just like writers do not.

Think of it like telling a joke and then prefixing the joke with ”Stop me if you heard this one before“.

There is a good chance that your audience has read the same books and stories you have, so they know if they have “heard that one before” and in doing so will let you know by saying your work is cliché.

See more Variations of vader's helm at the Vader Project

Cliché is NOT the same as bad!!

It means that the idea is easily recognized to have been done by someone else (or might feel like ‘everyone else’ use that idea, as the case might be, example – Lord Vader’s helm)

Now, there is another side to this: There are a lot of times something is called a Cliché when in fact it is not.

For Example: Vampires are NOT cliché. Elves are NOT Cliché. They are no more cliché then a steel sword or a car.

You would not imagine taking someone serious who said “OH no ! He has a CAR In his story, and what do you know, it goes forward when you hit the gas and stops when you hit the break, and I bet the front tires are hooked to the steering column to direct it, that is soo cliché!”

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So why do we take person seriously when they say the same thing about vampires? Well that is beyond me. Maybe it is high time we don’t.

Also I would not think to say something like “Oh they are using steel swords! That is soo cliché why not use swords made from Jello!” but we do just that when we deal with many established “Fictional” creatures, like Fairies, Aliens, Dragons, Vampires, Zombies, and the list goes on and on and on. You get the idea.

Also, Settings in and of their own right are not Cliché. From medieval castles on rolling hills to intergalactic space battle ships, none of that is Cliché, that is like saying “Oh man, a big city, that is so Cliché!”

Just because you set a stage does not mean they have anything in common, nor are they over used. There is no setting that has not been used, from oceans of post apocalyptic sand to vast cities of glass and steel that raise to the stratosphere, from space ships to submarines, from the time of man first harnessing fire to keep himself warm to when man is harnessing the power of Black holes to power anti-warp-matter-converters to power space stations bigger then planets. It has all been done and then some. None of that is Cliché.

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That is just scene setting.

What you DO with it is what makes it cliché or not.

Also there are traditional legendry stories that no matter how hard we try can never be cliché, because they are epic stories that deserve to be retold for eternity.

The downtrodden nobody becoming somebody, from Cinderella to Harry Potter this is the story of hope and will remain eternal in our talespinning. It is immortal! It is not Cliché!

Someone that would say it is has no clue what the true nature of what Cliché really means!

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Stories about finding love, loosing love, overcoming obstacles and physical disabilities, from falling from greatness to climbing the ladder of success, these are the stories of hope and they are as timeless and eternal as life itself.

How you tell the story is what makes it Cliché or not.

This is what separates the creative from the rest of the pack.

When we can look at these devices and tools, these scenes and settings, plots and stories told of past and present and then churn them in our minds and create something fresh and new.

Our minds are not voids, but from a bit of chipped stone we made the knife, from the knife we made the sword and from the sword we made light-sabers!

That is Creativity! And even if we can see the progression there is No Cliché there!

Write Creativity!