[Pirate Jenn]

I found this list and thought that some of you may enjoy it. :)

www.enphilistor.users4.50megs.com/cliche.htm

[milamber_reborn]

Read some of it. I don't think there are many plots left if you don't use any of them.

[Pirate Jenn]

Indeed there aren't (m)any elements left. I think their point was mostly that writers shouldn't use those devices without some element of originality. It's a no-brainer point, of course, but... well, we've all read some no-brainers. ;)

I dunno...it's kinda like Dianna Wynne Jones' "Tough Guide to Fantasyland." You can't write fantasy without many of the elements she discusses...indeed, without those elements it might actually cease to be fantasy ;) (Of course we must have cloaks, taverns, castles, and inns...). :D

I enjoyed the reminder that I must have reasons for everything, particularly if it's been done to death. Perhaps there are story elements that just plain aren't necessary...or interesting enough (yet). :)

[Carmichael]

I thought some of the marks against Star Trek were a bit unfair, when they used those plot devices, no one else, with some exceptions, had been. They were still new concepts. And it doesn't differentiate between silly science and television. Interesting, though its like the fantasy version, if you get rid of those concepts, whats left for a plotline?

[milamber_reborn]

A good mix with some innovative twist is the way to go.