Cliches

[Tari]

Cliches are usually shunned away as bad but i found them quite helpful.

for example. i was doing an excercise at a workshop and i couldn't think of a beginning so i used the old "the dark clouds shadowed the blood red moon" (or something along thos elines) and from there built an excellent piece with two great characters. When i went home i got rid of it and edited and worked ont he piece and it is now the prologue for my next novel.

But the cliche got me started. i don't mind using them as a starter if your stuck but like i said most people say they're bad. what do u think? are cliches worthy of their reputation?

~ Tari

[pcarney]

Well they are 'cliches' for a reason - they work. They work so well, they are overused. I would worry about using them too often, but I wouldn't kill a story just because it contains one.

[JamesL]

Whether cliches are bad largely depends on the particular cliche used and the extent to which they are used in the same work. For example, if you only have one real cliche in your work - for example, a magical weapon - then this is normally acceptable. It is fantasy/sci-fi after all. However, if you make use of a large number of cliches then you have problems. If your book sees a young, innocent farmworker go on an epic quest to find a magical sword and save the world by defeating a powerful 'dark lord' then this makes your work look like a load of regurgitated drivel.

The thing to remember with cliches is that they've been done many times before and probably much better than you could ever do them. For that reason alone it is worth steering clear of them where possible.