The (Complete) List of Cliches

[Lumen_Astrum]

After browsing through the forums, some writing questions I have read, I realized that one problem that writers fear about is... a cliche. Well, we are all afraid that our story is too common, that like a magic show, we might get our audience bored by doing the same tricks that other magicians do. So what is a poor thing like us to do? Of course, to be able to avoid something, we should first know what we are avoiding.

From several sites that I researched from, I found some cliches. Sorry, because I'll be copy-pasting the things.

Information from strangehorizons.com

~ Person is (metaphorically) at point A, wants to be at point B. Looks at point B, says "I want to be at point B." Walks to point B, encountering no meaningful obstacles or difficulties. The end. (A.k.a. the linear plot.)

~ Creative person is having trouble creating.
a. Writer has writer's block.
b. Painter can't seem to paint anything good.
c. Sculptor can't seem to sculpt anything good.
d. Creative person's work is reviled by critics who don't understand how brilliant it is.
e. Creative person meets a muse (either one of the nine classical Muses or a more individual muse) and interacts with them, usually by keeping them captive.

~ Visitor to alien planet ignores information about local rules, inadvertantly violates them, is punished.
a. New diplomat arrives on alien planet, ignores anthropologist's attempts to explain local rules, is punished.

~ Weird things happen, but it turns out they're not real.
a. In the end, it turns out it was all a dream.
b. In the end, it turns out it was all in virtual reality.
c. In the end, it turns out the protagonist is insane.
d. In the end, it turns out the protagonist is writing a novel and the events we've seen are part of the novel.

~ An A.I. gets loose on the Net, but the author doesn't have a clear concept of what it means for software to be "loose on the Net." (For example, the computer it was on may not be connected to the Net.)

~ Technology and/or modern life turn out to be soulless.

a. Office life turns out to be soul-deadening, literally or metaphorically.
b. All technology is shown to be soulless; in contrast, anything "natural" is by definition good. For example, living in a weather-controlled environment is bad, because it's artificial, while dying of pneumonia is good, because it's natural.
c. In the future, all learning is soulless and electronic, until kid is exposed to ancient wisdom in the form of a book.
d. In the future, everything is soulless and electronic, until protagonist (usually a kid) is exposed to ancient wisdom in the form of a wise old person who's lived a non-electronic life.

~ Protagonist is a bad person. (We don't object to this in a story; we merely object to it being the main point of the plot.)
a. A person is told they'll get the reward that they "deserve," which ends up being something bad.
b. Terrorists (especially Osama bin Laden) discover that horrible things happen to them in the afterlife (or otherwise get their comeuppance).
c. Protagonist is portrayed as really awful, but that portrayal is merely a setup for the ending, in which they see the error of their ways and are redeemed. (But reading about the awfulness is so awful that we never get to the end to see the redemption.)

~ A place is described, with no plot or characters.

~ A "surprise" twist ending occurs. (Note that we do like endings that we didn't expect, as long as they derive naturally from character action. But note, too, that we've seen a lot of twist endings, and we find most of them to be pretty predictable, even the ones not on this list.)

a. The characters' actions are described in a way meant to fool the reader into thinking they're humans, but in the end it turns out they're not humans, as would have been obvious to anyone looking at them.
b. Creatures are described as "vermin" or "pests" or "monsters," but in the end it turns out they're humans.
c. The author conceals some essential piece of information from the reader that would be obvious if the reader were present at the scene, and then suddenly reveals that information at the end of the story. (This can be done well, but rarely is.)
d. Person is floating in a formless void; in the end, they're born.
e. Person uses time travel to achieve some particular result, but in the end something unexpected happens that thwarts their plan.
f. The main point of the story is for the author to metaphorically tell the reader, "Ha, ha, I tricked you! You thought one thing was going on, but it was really something else! You sure are dumb!"
g. A mysteriously-named Event is about to happen ("Today was the day Jimmy would have to report for The Procedure"), but the nature of the Event isn't revealed until the end of the story, when it turns out to involve death or other unpleasantness. (Several classic sf stories use this approach, which is one reason we're tired of seeing it. Another reason is that we can usually guess the twist well ahead of time, which makes the mysteriousness annoying.)
h. In the future, an official government permit is required in order to do some particular ordinary thing, but the specific thing a permit is required for isn't (usually) revealed until the end of the story.
i. Characters speculate (usually jokingly): "What if X were true of the universe?" (For example: "What if the universe is a simulation?") At the end, something happens that implies that X is true.

~ Someone calls technical support; wacky hijinx ensue.
a. Someone calls technical support for a magical item.
b. Someone calls technical support for a piece of advanced technology.
c. The title of the story is 1-800-SOMETHING-CUTE.

~ Scientist uses himself or herself as test subject.

~ Evil unethical doctor performs medical experiments on unsuspecting patient.

~ In the future, criminals are punished much more harshly than they are today.
a. In the future, the punishment always fits the crime.
b. The author is apparently unaware of the American constitutional amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, and so postulates that in the future, American punishment will be extra-cruel in some unusual way.

~ White protagonist is given wise and mystical advice by Holy Simple Native Folk.

~ Story is based in whole or part on a D&D game or world.
a. A party of D&D characters (usually including a fighter, a magic-user, and a thief, one of whom is a half-elf and one a dwarf) enters a dungeon (or the wilderness, or a town, or a tavern) and fights monsters (usually including orcs).
b. Story is the origin story of a D&D character, culminating in their hooking up with a party of adventurers.
c. A group of real-world humans who like roleplaying find themselves transported to D&D world.

~An alien observes and comments on the peculiar habits of humans, for allegedly comic effect.
a. The alien is fluent in English and completely familiar with various English idioms, but is completely unfamiliar with human biology and/or with such concepts as sex or violence and/or with certain specific extremely common English words (such as "cat").
b. The alien takes everything literally.
c. Instead of an alien, it's people in the future commenting on the ridiculous things (usually including internal combustion engines) that people used to use in the unenlightened past.

~ Space travel is wonderful and will solve all our problems. (We agree that space travel is pretty cool, but we'd rather that weren't the whole point of the story.)

~Man has an awful, shrewish wife; in the end he gets revenge on her, by (for example) killing her or leaving her.
a. Man is entirely blameless, innocent, mild-mannered, and unobjectionable, and he kills his awful, shrewish wife entirely by accident, possibly in self-defense, so it's okay.

~ Some characters are in favor of immersive VR, while others are opposed to it because it's not natural; they spend most of the story's length rehashing common arguments on both sides. (Full disclosure: one of our editors once wrote a story like this. It hasn't found a publisher yet, for some reason.)

~ Person A tells a story to person B (or to a room full of people) about person C.
a. In the end, it turns out that person B is really person C (or from the same organization).
b. In the end, it turns out that person A is really person C (or has the same goals).
c. In the end, there's some other ironic but predictable twist that would cast the whole story in a different light if the reader hadn't guessed the ending early on.

~ People whose politics are different from the author's are shown to be stupid, insane, or evil, usually through satire, sarcasm, stereotyping, and wild exaggeration.
a. In the future, the US or the world is ruled by politically correct liberals, leading to awful things (usually including loss of freedom of speech).
b. In the future, the US or the world is ruled by fascist conservatives, leading to awful things (usually including loss of freedom of speech).

~ Superpowered narrator claims that superhero stories never address the mundane problems that superheroes would run into in the real world.

~ A princess has been raped or molested by her father (or stepfather), the king.

~Someone comes up with a great medical or technological breakthrough, but it turns out that it has unforeseen world-devastating consequences. (Again, this is a perfectly good plot element, but we're not thrilled when it's the whole point of the story.)

~It's immediately obvious to the reader that a mysterious character is from the future, but the other characters (usually including the protagonist) can't figure it out.

~Someone takes revenge for the wrongs done to them.
a. Protagonist is put through heavy-handed humiliation after humiliation, and takes it meekly, until the end when he or she murders someone.

~The narrator and/or male characters in the story are bewildered about women, believing them to conform to any of the standard stereotypes about women: that they're mysterious, wacky, confusing, unpredictable, changeable, temptresses, etc.

~ Strange and mysterious things keep happening. And keep happening. And keep happening. For over half the story. Relentlessly. Without even a hint of explanation.
a. The protagonist is surrounded by people who know the explanation but refuse to give it.

~Author showcases their premise of what the afterlife is like; there's little or no story, other than demonstrating that premise.
a. Hell and Heaven are run like businesses.
b. The afterlife is really monotonous and dull.
c. The afterlife is a bureaucracy.
d. The afterlife is nothingness.
e. The afterlife reunites you with your loved ones.

~ Brutal violence against women is depicted in loving detail, often in a story that's ostensibly about violence against women being bad.
a. Man is forced by circumstances or magic to rape a woman even though he really doesn't want to, honest.
b. The main reason for the main female character to be in the story, and to be female, is so that she can be raped.

~ Evil people hook the protagonist on an addictive substance and then start raising the price, ruining the protagonist's life.

~ Fatness is used as a signal of evil, dissolution, and/or moral decay, usually with the unspoken assumption that it's completely obvious that fat people are immoral and disgusting. (Note: This does not mean all fat characters in stories must be good guys. We're just tired of seeing fat used as a cheap shorthand signifier of evil.)
a. Someone wants to kill someone else, and that's perfectly reasonable because, after all, the victim-to-be is fat.
b. The story spends a lot of time describing, over and over, just how fat a character is, and how awful that is.
c. Physical contact with a fat person is understood to be obviously revolting.

~ Protagonist agrees to go along with a plan or action despite not having enough information about it, and despite their worries that the thing will be bad. Then the thing turns out to be bad after all.

~ Teen's family doesn't understand them.

~Twee little fairies with wings fly around being twee.

~ Sentient toys, much like the ones from Toy Story, interact with each other.

~ In a comedic/satirical story, vampires and/or other supernatural creatures come out publicly and demand (and/or get) the vote and other rights, but people are prejudiced against them.

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Information from gointothestory.com

“Always try the cliché first,” Roman Polanski said to me when I confessed I didn’t know how to approach a particular scene. “It usually works. That’s why it’s a cliché.”

As is true of most aphorisms, especially the wittier ones, his advice is helpful in almost all situations, but when wrong it’s disastrous. That’s why Polanski included the clever exception, “It usually works.”

Sadly, for those who are busy sawing off their feet to escape the trap of clichés, every story is chock full of them and sometimes depends on an especially hoary one. The solution, to borrow another aphorism, is to aim without aiming. What really makes a work original is you. It is the writer’s particular experience and sensibility that infuses a cliché with the oxygen rich blood of its original life.

The same caveat applies to the famous advice given to all neophyte writers, “Write what you know.” The implication is autobiography in some form: memoir, fiction in which you are the main character, stories about your family, your background, someone you know well. But the advice is too banal to be useful to a young writer without an obviously compelling story to tell.

What if you are unlucky enough not to have endured the Holocaust, witnessed Apartheid, or been sexually abused by your father? What if you feel that the world you know, although thoroughly unpleasant, is also very dull? Or has been written about so well by another that you have nothing to add?

It’s hard to conceive of someone who could work for at least a few hours each day for months and years on the same story without it being close enough to their life experience to fuel their commitment. When a writer chooses characters that seem far away from what he or she has direct experience of—say Updike’s first novel, The Poorhouse Fair, about the elderly residents of the Diamond Home for the Aged written when he was twenty-six—it’s rarely their first writing. Updike had been publishing in The New Yorker for years and before that in the Harvard Lampoon. Besides, the setting of Poorhouse, its social milieu, the old folks themselves, were people and a place Updike did know well.

And who knows the world of The Hobbit better than Tolkien? One can argue that fantasy and science fiction novelists write more out of what they know than any autobiographical writer. They are the creators of everything in their work and can’t be disputed as inaccurate by a reader, except when they internally contradict themselves, whereas readers of realistic fiction may compare their world to the book’s and quibble about whether authors really do know what they claim to.

“Write what you know.”

But what do you know? Is it compelling? I don’t mean to your readers. To you. You will keep company with your writing longer than anyone else. (Unless you’re Tolstoy and your wife copies all your manuscripts by hand seven times over.)

If your subject doesn’t involve emotions, ideas, truths and lies that delight, frighten, soothe and enrage you, how can you expect it to fascinate a stranger? Whether you want to entertain or to provoke, to break hearts or reassure them, what you bring to your writing must consist of your longings and disappointments.
Other cliches he notes:

“Know your audience.”

“Write what you want to read.”

He concludes:
Over time, if you work hard and write what obsesses you, there will be readers who will want to live in your peculiar universe, and precisely because what you have provided is rare they will be all the more grateful for your creation.

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Information... from you! :O

None yet. That means if there is a cliche I forgot to write, please add it here.

[Lumen_Astrum]

Information from businessknowhow.com
These are some cliche ideas.

Needle in a haystack
Time is of the essence
Don't count your chickens before they hatch
Cute as a button
Bring home the bacon
High as a kite
Hard as a rock
Selling like hotcakes
Thin as a rail
Heaven help us
Food for thought
Talk is cheap
Dark as night
Open like a book
Soft as a feather
Sour grapes
White as snow
Wedded bliss
Pretty as a picture
If the shoe fits, wear it
Not what it's cracked up to be
Run its course
As plain as the nose on your face
Wolf in sheep's clothing
All bark and no bite
Pain in the neck
It takes guts
He said a mouthful
All that glitters is not gold
All the tea in China
Let sleeping dogs lay
Stubborn as a mule
Blood on your hands
Hit the ground running
Rake him over the coals
What's new under the sun
He's got cold feet
Bring home the bacon
I haven't a clue
Get a handle on it
Lend me an ear
What goes around, comes around
A stitch in time saves nine
Pure as the driven snow
Wise as an owl
Makes my blood boil
Necessity is the mother of invention
He has the Midas touch
Scratch the surface
Ring around the collar
Still waters run deep
In a rut
Fallen on hard times
An accident waiting to happen
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
Kill two birds with one stone
Eyes that pierce right through me
Have your back to the wall
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
A chink in the armor
Got his second wind
Soft as silk
Back to square one
Put a bug in her ear
By the book
Out of the mouths of babes
That's the way the cookie crumbles
It'll put hair on your chest
Sticks to the ribs
Steal his thunder
Bury the hatchet
Put your money where your mouth is
Money doesn't grow on trees
Where there's a will, there's a way
Where there's smoke there's fire
Get your foot in the door
Throwing his hat in the ring
Nose to the grindstone
Put your best foot forward
A square peg in a round hole
Can't fool mother nature
Bald as an eagle
In the prime of her life
I'm at loose ends
Like walking on eggshells
Fine kettle of fish
Penny pincher
Hear a needle drop
Sly as a fox
Big as a house
Fast as lightening
Curiosity killed the cat
Blind as a bat
Bad to the bone
Soft as a baby's bottom
Time stood still
The love of my life
Beached whale
Sharp as a tack
Clear as glass
Quiet as a mouse
Pretty as a peach
Happy as a clam
A step in the right direction
Quick as a wink
Been there, done that
Avoid it like the plague
A walk on the wild side
Back to the drawing board
Like a three-ring circus
Sweep it under the carpet
Lie like a rug
When hell freezes over
No guts no glory
I feel it in my bones
That's beside the point
With bated breath
Bored to tears
Share and share alike
A gut feeling
Hold your horses
Off his rocker
Older than dirt
If you play your cards right
Walk on air
Be that as it may
Love it or leave it
Stand on your own two feet
Tongue-in-cheek
Bust him in the chops
Ill -gotten gains
Take a hike (go away)
A tough nut to crack
You can hear a pin drop
I hope to hell
A square peg in a round hole
Raise the roof
Keep up with the Joneses
A day late and a dollar short
Fast and furious
Time has passed him by
At his fingertips
Feast or famine
Make no bones about it
The time of his life
Green with envy
Fools rush in
Bought it for a song
Pillar of the community
Keep your eyes glued to the TV
Don't judge a book by its cover
Little pictures have big ears
Proud as a peacock
Love triangle
Time will tell
Play it by ear
Silly as a goose
He hit bottom
Go that route
Cool your jets
Too close for comfort
Break the news
Go whole hog
Fall on deaf ears
Up the river
He's not up to par
Lost your marbles
It's the last straw
Spit and polish
This neck of the woods
Puppy love
Down on his luck
Money to burn
Put your best foot forward
Practice makes perfect
On the ball
Fine as frog hair
He's just small potatoes
All fun and games
Cried all the way to the bank
Sleep on it
Fast and furious
Opened a can of worms
Run of the mill
Year in and year out
Butter fingers
Cream of the crop
Short and sweet

[SmileyFace]

Holy, crap. 0___0;
wow, that is a very long list...

I like how at the end you put in the extra part.
Makes me feel better knowing the fact that I have a few of those cliches. D:
*Goes into a corner to cry.

[Mirage]

Are those really list of cliches? Sounded more like list of things the writer don't like to see in a story. =w=;
It's fun to read though. =3

[Radhreni]

Haha, the Strange Horizons list is a classic. I think this is the first time I've seen it pop up outside of writing fora/sites, though. They also have a horror list, though it's shorter (and horror's not their main focus anyhow).

@Mirage - the SH list is what the editors of that publication don't want to see. However, since it's a "greatest (worst?) hits" compilation of what they see over and over in the slush piles, it's not a bad barometer for clicheness. (Also, since it is from the slush heap...it's also a list of stories they've usually seen done badly.)

[kinougames]

This is a fabulous list, but I sort of also agree with starting with cliches.

I'd just never show any of my old stuff to anyone cause I sort of knew they were bad.

I'm really glad, though, because the two games I've written thus far, the second of which is pretty long only has one thing on the list (that is mentioned as great when done right). :< A game I've planned for the future has another one...sort of...in a minor side plot, so I'm glad I managed to avoid it all for the most part. D:

[KimiYoriBaka]

I heavily agree with the idea of starting with cliches, and even more so about the part afterwords. I was actually just telling a friend I'm working on a game with my thoughts on originality. Specifically, I told him I consider originality the bad idea that overambitious people get while trying to make their work stand out.

Of course, I don't think originality is a bad thing in and of itself, but it generally doesn't work out well when people actually put effort into it.

Also, I think most of those "cliches" in that first list are perfectly good ideas. I mean, really, how can you discount revenge completely? That tells me the compilers of that list were being too hasty.

[kinougames]

To be honest, I wouldn't call a list of cliches written by a publishing company that probably sees a gazillion stories a week hastily put together...

[gekiganwing]

Also, I think most of those "cliches" in that first list are perfectly good ideas.

'Cliche' is currently defined as "...an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel." (stated at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clich%C3%A9 ) You can find fan-made cliche lists for a wide variety of media forms and genres.

That said, I don't think we should assume that a cliche is always bad or never useful. With creativitity and thought, many things considered cliche can be made interesting again. It takes time and talent. Also, it never hurts to look at where the idea started, and it may be wise to deconstruct and/or reconstruct the original idea.

TVTropes currently states that "Tropes Are Tools, not clichés. They are plot devices and progressions (similar to but more defined than literary devices) that have been around for a long time because they work, and there's no inherent loss of complexity through the use of them..." (see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... inYourLife ) The same site also informs us that tropes are neither bad nor good.

[Mirage]

I personally think that limiting what you can write is a bad idea to begin with.
It's not about the idea, it's how you write those ideas. If you are a bad writer, it doesn't matter if you have the most original idea out there. Same goes with a good writer, who can turn boring ideas into something special.

Like that famous Chinese phrase, good artists don't blame the brush. =)

[Lumen_Astrum]

Yes, I kinda agree myself in the first list that they are VERY good ideas... but yeah, somehow, I've seen them a bit too much~ =.=''''

[Tachyglossus]

I just have to say that I adore clichés. I love having things to roll my eyes at. What I really love is something so absolutely full of clichés that you aren't sure if it's a really bad attempt at a serious story, or a very good satire/farce.

However, there aren't that many ultimate cliché's. Some may have complained that some of the clich

EDIT: Woah, weird! It just randomly submitted my message while I was still typing it! Okay, back to writing!

Some may have complained that some of the ones listed don't seem overdone, or seem like a reasonable plot device for a story. However, to these people who have compiled a list of things over done in their rejects, it qualifies for them. Different mediums, heck, even different genres within those mediums have their own set of clichés.

The second list is more or less hackneye (arg too lazy to look up the proper spelling - don't worry, I have my sister to punch me in the arm for it!) phrases that I would be more wary of in poetry or short prose than an actual story. Especially if these phrases are found in dialogue or the POV is first person, in which using these common phrases have just become instinct. Of course... using too many of them in close proximity could get tiring in any medium.