What is the worst Charcter Cliches you can possibly name?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Fullmetal Xeno, Jul 23, 2011.

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  1. Faust

    Faust Active Member

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    I hate archetypical good guys that always win. How is there much room for character development with that state of mind? It would cause you to a) have to constantly raise the bar against yourself, b) create equally powerful bad guys and/or c) repeat the same theme with little variation. Of course the opposite of this is equally depressing and that's a good guy that never wins...at all.

    I love a story that's full of powerful, action packed highs, and humanly revealing lows.
     
  2. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    In a similar vein- I also don't like it when a hero's all 100% squeaky nice. He never does anything wrong or thinks anything wrong and treats himself like a god among men.

    Just because you're a good guy doesn't mean you don't have moments of weakness that reminds the reader that you're human.
     
  3. godsandgenerals4ever

    godsandgenerals4ever New Member

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    My 2 cents on this

    Worst cliche character? Hmmm ...

    The bad guy/evil thing which seems to die but comes back at the end. (For a sequel, one supposes.) Done to death a million times if you ask me.
     
  4. lostinwebspace

    lostinwebspace Active Member

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    Oh, man. I did the chosen one cliche. He wasn't quite the chosen one, but someone had foreknowledge that he'd be important and so engineered his involvement. (The foreknowledge wasn't gained through prophecy, though; it was through time travel). Hope that isn't quite the same thing.

    I like when these cliches are used in comedy for the purpose of making fun of them as a cliche. But everywhere else... yeah. It's as cliched as a horror movie where everyone gets knocked off one by one.

    Or the character who can do impossibly lithe or accurate things: dead-on marksmanship a la Wanted (seriously? Curving the paths of bullets?) or unreal stunts that only Spider-Man could coordinate.

    My (least) favourite cliche is the character who is framed for a crime he/she didn't commit. It's been done well, but it's also been done to death.
     
  5. Mallory

    Mallory Contributor Contributor

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    ^^ Oh yeah. The ones where every single bit of evidence points towards the good guy, when it's obvious all along who the actual bad guy is.

    I'm thinking of H.P. and the Chamber of Secrets here...........

    No one has mentioned the cliche where there's an elderly mentor who is serious, often gruff at times but with a quirky sense of humor nontheless, who teaches the MC to overcome great odds, then dies. And his death is a splash of cold water into the reality of life and death for the MC. Haha, every time I see a character like this, I can see it coming....
     
  6. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    And you find yourself screaming "Yoda!!!!!"
     
  7. Faust

    Faust Active Member

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    While Yoda fits, I always end up thinking of the character Brom from Christopher Paolini's Eragon...Unless Yoda was the inspiration o.o
     
  8. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Actually, I figured Obi-Wan was the inspiration for Brom kicking the bucket, not Yoda. (Since they were two old men, one of the last surviving members of their own warrior elite, has been waching the hero from birth...)

    But I wouldn't be surprised if Eragon's elf mentor kicked the bucket too. I mean, the parody of the series calls Eragon's elf mentor "Elfyoda".

    Here's one that just occured to me: In almost every disaster movie where some horrible, horrible man-made thing is about to happen that will take the lives of potentially hundreds of innocents, there's almost always this corporate executive (who is somehow responsible for this disaster in some way) that will always, always value the reputation of his company and his stocks (note that it's always a man) over human life.

    In addition to that, the protagonist is a grizzled man with a wife and child and he must prove himself to them.
     
  9. Boriol

    Boriol New Member

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    ^ I usually brush that sort off as political stories trying to prove that their side is the ultimate good and that the other side and everyone in it is evil.

    That reminds me of that one movie awhile back about Reagan's stance against Russia getting America nuked. Because of the movie, people started thinking Reagan was evil BECAUSE OF SOMETHING A GUY PRETENDING TO BE HIM DID IN A WORK OF FICTION.

    I don't care which side it is. I dislike political movies.
     
  10. Nom_de_Schlock

    Nom_de_Schlock New Member

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    The alcoholic private detective!
     
  11. Mikeyface

    Mikeyface New Member

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    You forgot the murdered wife and child that drove him to said alcoholism. Cheapest. Revenge. Story. Ever.
     
  12. lostinwebspace

    lostinwebspace Active Member

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    How about the social reject who finds some way to get into the "in" crowd and suddenly becomes the most popular kid in school to the chagrin of his old friends, who then resent him for leaving them. He learns a powerful lesson about who he really is, of course.
     
  13. Hope2321

    Hope2321 New Member

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    Lol fair enough, anyone ever seen Black Lagoon? (its an anime) and you'll get a general idea of what he's on about... although id have to agree and disagree with this statement. I mean tough girls in stories are usually coming from rough backgrouns, itd be a boring story without a bit of blood and bone.

    Badass Chicks in stories always end up being goody good or the same as they are just less prone to snap someones neck off! lol. I do find it annoying in stories when characters cant even guess "what situation" they're in.

    Like "Where am i? I dont know which world im in"

    Like as if! you know the main characters who always transport to other worlds and doesnt understand or belive it? then spends the rest of the story learning how he got there and the relation of it to his life?
     
  14. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    Those are both Swedish writers. Swedes have a penchant for down-to-earth crime stories, for some reason.
     
  15. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    Yup I know they're both Swedish (sorry I re-read my post and realised I may have implied that they're Brits lol). Yeh they do have a very down-to-earth style, but one that I can actually enjoy.

    I mean, I'm from England and English crime has never interested me much - too cold, too gritty and generally difficult to understand unless you really concentrate (and I do watch/read crime drama/fiction purely for entertainment rather than for analytical purposes!).

    But the Swedes - they somehow manage to engage me. Or maybe I just haven't given a good British crime writer a proper chance (I mean, it's true that I haven't even read Agatha Cristie before yet...)

    I was talking about "perfect" characters today with a friend (and I guess perfect characters are also a kind of cliche) and I've seen it work in Miyazaki movies. I know that's not books but it's still an art form. I was analysing it today - I watched Princess Mononoke last night and I realised just how perfect the male MC is, and yet he's far from annoying. He's noble and you're utterly in love with him, and somehow it just WORKS. He fits, he's exactly what the story needs. How often do you see a cliche character work well? (film or literature)
     
  16. Clint_Regan123

    Clint_Regan123 New Member

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    I think that Prophecies can be used effectively if it leaves an area of doubt whether the prophecy can be fulfilled for the good of the Protagonist or if there are twists in the prophecy.

    Again, I dislike it when people say "You are the only one that can defeat..." without giving any reason why other than Prophecy.

    I think mythical swords, magic etc. can be used if they are not the main drive of the story. Like ten thousand people running around the city looking for a mystical sword...

    :D
     
  17. lemurkat

    lemurkat New Member

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    In many cases, cliches DO work - less people want to read a story about an ugly prince or a deformed princess, do they just? (Although now I kinda want to do so). And look how popular "twilight" is, yet it is one of the most cliched books in the world. And Eragon. Neither are good writing, and both are frequently bad-mouthed here, but they ARE very successful.
     
  18. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    According to one definition, it's only a cliché if it's ineffective. If you manage to breathe life into the chosen-one-with-the-sword-of-power-who-is-destined-to-defeat-the-evil-wizard-and-free-the-people and make it engaging, it's not a cliché any more.
     
  19. EMSchell2009

    EMSchell2009 New Member

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    Yup to the tune of about a dollar a glass.
     
  20. lemurkat

    lemurkat New Member

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    Cliche-with-a-twist, maybe?

    I guess that describes my novel. I mean, it's the story of the illigimate heir to the throne being hunted down by the ursurper and having to hide out with a closed community that is sort of like a religious sect.

    All it needs is a prohecy, but I can't quite stomach the thought of throwing one of those in.
     
  21. WriterDude

    WriterDude Contributor Contributor

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    Haha, you should read The Atlantis Code and The Lucifer Code. To spoil the first one a bit, a linguistic professor is investigating an old mystery (yeah, about Atlantis.) One of his (many) ex-girlfriends is killed, and it's clear the murder is tied to the mystery. Her sister is pretty pissed off about it and pretty much threaten the guy to tag along and solve the murder. So far, so good. But the guy already has a girlfriend, and they have sex pretty much all the time.

    Then late in the story, he argues with his girlfriend, and she doesn't want to have sex with him that night. No worries, there is that other woman. Sure she has hated him through the entire story (logically, her sister died because she knew him), but she has no problem sleeping with him anyway. Then he meet the other woman the next morning, tells her he didn't do anything wrong (!), she accepts it (!) and they get back to the mystery solving like nothing happened. It's ridiculous and manages to ruin both female characters and the story.

    Even then I read the next book too for some reason, and he does the exact same thing there. Except then it's "Hi ex-girlfriend, we were dating many years ago, but haven't had any contact since. Oh, and you've been married for years, until your husband died recently. Want to have sex?" "Sure thing!" *groan
     
  22. mugen shiyo

    mugen shiyo New Member

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    I hate the uber-powerful bad guy who never seems to be able to walk up and destroy the little guys causing him so much trouble until they walk up and kill him.

    The "Ring" complex where one item can save the world or grant total dominion over EVERYTHING.

    The Jesus, savior-thing where everybody is waiting on this one guy/boy/girl to save them all from disaster.

    More recently, the anguished hero. The dark, torn guy with a raincloud over his head.
     
  23. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    One of the stories I don't like to read about is a coming-of-age story about a disabled kid overcoming impossible odds to meet his/her goals. Anyone who doesn't support the kid is EVIL (or is just a jerk) and their side is never explored and are only there for the kid to outsmart. Said kid is too perfect, no human flaws whatsoever.

    Yes, I get the message, but sometimes the way that message is told just makes the protagonist unlikeable in my book.
     
  24. mugen shiyo

    mugen shiyo New Member

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    ^ sounds like the underdog story. Like Forest Gump, except Forest never seemed like an underdog to me. Just underestimated.
     
  25. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Hey, don't get me wrong, I like underdog stories, just done well. As in, I want to see the opinions of both sides and the kid's own personal opinions.
     

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