I am currently working on a Dark Fantasy novel about a Monster Hunter College. The main character is going to be a student/squire who is learning to become a Monster Hunting Knight. Whilst the novel will mainly be about the monsters and the setting I do want an interesting narrative; but so far all I can think of is a generic; evil group of cultists is trying to resurrect an evil demon/god and the main character is the only one who can stop them. That being said I feel like this has been done time and time again with things like Supernatural and Critical Role (campaign 2). Throughout the plot I also intend to go deep into the main characters personal issues (fears of not being good enough to become a knight, fears of not fitting in due to his heritage, etc) which I think will make some interesting chapters. But I don't know how to spice up the main plotline.
There is only one way, really, to revive and revitalise a generic plot. Be brave and change some major aspect of that plot. I am not a fan of this particular genre, but I can think of several different things which might alter the plot enough to make it yours, and not just a rehash of somebody else's. Instead of an 'evil' group of cultists, you could make it a good group of cultists who are trying resurrect a benevolent force ...and screw up? Instead of the protagonist being the good student/squire, the protagonist could be a teacher at the college. Who is forced to assess a bunch of new students VERY quickly, to see who will be able to counteract such an evil force (if you go for the evil cultist/force option.) The student/squire could come into the school with no personal issues or fear of fitting in, etc. In fact, he could be too confident (good family connections, many successes thus far in life, etc) ...until he feels the real pressure these evil intentions bring to bear on him and realises he is going to be damn lucky to survive, never mind win. His whole outlook about himself and the world is about to take an instant shock. What if the protagonist is a student member of this evil cult—maybe a spy sent to keep an eye on the good guys? The Chosen One With Angsty Doubts and Dubious Heritage trope has been done to death. That doesn't mean it can't be done again. And maybe that's what readers of this genre want to see. But keep in mind that most 'classic' stories in a particular genre didn't follow the genre. They started the genre, by breaking away from what had been done before. Don't be afraid to turn things on the head, and try out some new approaches.
I really like @jannert's suggestions. I would also like to add that because a trope has been done, there are readers who actually enjoy tropes. This is most frequently seen in romance, however, there are also tons of other examples, Terry Brooks Shannara series come to mind as more or less trope borrowing from the success of Lord of the Rings. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't find your own take on a trope, sometimes a tweak here and there and readers won't even see the trope. Also, I like to keep in my mind a quote from The Matrix: "Some rules can be bent, others can be broken". Harry Potter is rather egregious in both tropes and writing devices most editors would tell you to never use...but J.K. Rowling's bank account would disagree with never being able to use "forbidden" tropes. I am not saying I, nor you, are the next J.K. Rowling but don't be afraid to experiment. Write the story you want to read, not the story you think others want to hear. It will come off as more authentic and ultimately I think you will find it more rewarding.
A little bit, yeah. In addition to what @jannert already suggested to give a little bit of a twist I would give the following twists: - The protagonist is not the leader of his group (a good example of this would be Lucy from Fairy Tail), you could try and play him as a different member of a group who thinks that the group leader is the one destined to defeat the Big Bad Evil Guy but he isn't (or he is and we are just watching the story unfold from a different perspective). - Don't make him the one and only capable of defeating the BBEG, either make him part of a group of people who choose to confront it or force him to do so by means other than "Destiny Said So". - If you do make him be the chosen one have a character question this and instead of giving a generic response trow out a gag and say "because the writer said so", only the character that questioned the protagonist is allowed to acknowledge this response as weird and no one else will ever bring it up again nor react to it if prompted. - Let him fail and have other people deal with the consequences, bonus points if this happens at or before the middle of the story. Remember that a the end these are things that I'd like to see in a story instead of a generic chosen one story, this does not mean that this (or any other) trope can't work, as @Joe_Hall said, there are readers that do enjoy tropes, different strokes for different folks.
What is the motivation of such cultists? Who are they, where did the practise of worship come from, how does it fit into the context? What is the entity like, why does anyone care? Similarly, who actually is your main character? What kind of heritage do they have that makes them outcast or causes them to fear being outcast? What is their demeanour, what are their interests, who are their friends, what are their skills? I would advocate for the particular utility of vibes, aesthetics and mundane things. Rather than focusing on the important stuff, which you are likely to cover already and will be affected by their place in the plot, consider the more ordinary or subjective qualities. Are they funny? Are they curious? Do they like science, or sword-fighting or television or whatever? Are they energetic? Are they positive-thinking? Are they socially adept? Taking a relatively tropic character, but making them fleshed-out, believable and their own person will make them feel less like a trope cutout. Also, why are they "the only one who can stop them?" Are they really, or are they the only one willing or the only one present? I think oftentimes it's closer to the later options. Unless the world is full of complete morons a person in training cannot be the only one capable of stopping them. So why are they then the person who gets involved? What circumstances (and possibly corruption or incompetence from others?) have made it so? You might want to focus more on those angles, since making it seem inevitable and destined tends to feel overly cliche and unrelatable, especially if you don't really grapple with the significance of that for a person's feelings. As mentioned already actually being destined for anything significant would probably be rather awkward, uncomfortable at times, and the character has cause to ask how reliable such a prophecy is, do they really know? Perhaps some people try to take advantage of the hero's significance for their ends somehow? It would also actually be really interesting to explore the possibility of a hero born knowingly the chosen hero all-along, and cocky because of it? A born celebrity? Less immediately relatable than the foisted-upon everyman but in some ways more real since, of course, most of us don't suddenly get to be important. Ego and privilege are not an uncommon, although usually at a smaller scale than this, but them having to learn some humility would be relatable too. And not in like a older-man Iron Man sort of way, more like a spoiled kid who doesn't know what they're getting into. You could even examine the way their confidence might function partially as a defensive mechanism; better to pretend you are ready for your destiny hoping you can fake it till you make it than admit you are unready? Also, why are they afraid of being inadequate? Perhaps you could make it more specific rather than just an everymanish input-reader-personal-anxieties-here thing, give them a specific reason or reasons? A story that does things for its own reasons will always stand better on its own that simply that simply follow formulas. So think about what you can do to be interesting. What would make a good story? What would be meaningful? What would be exciting? It's hard to be that original, and you don't need to be, but you want to feel distinct enough. To have a life of its own.
Plot honestly matters so little that it's negligible. The execution of said plot though is paramount. What makes the plot come alive and out of the generic is specificity. The little details of the cult, its members, the tone of the setting presentation, et cetera...that's what can make the story come out of the generic outlining stage. Do this through free-writing about it. Let the writing take free-direction and mold it into something presentable with you having specific details on the page.
The only time a plot is generic is if you don't do anything interesting with it. I'm writing a simple 'opposites attract' story which is about as generic as you can get. I'm having fun with it by making it about two thieves with opposing mentalities on thievery and have different skillsets. Overall the basic idea is generic as hell, but it seemed 'fun' so I'm writing it.
Personally, I think it's fine to have a plot that is generic. It's like going out of the house to the nearest store to pick up a pack of smokes. There's no reason you can't make the short trip interesting. Case in point: Look at how Edgar Wright made Shaun walking to the grocery store fun to watch in Shaun of the Dead. It's all about the execution.
I think that's slightly an unfair example though; a singletake long tracking shot in film demands attention from the viewer so we become invested in every nuance due to the technical difficulty and lack of familiarity with that shot (you would subconsciously pay attention more to it because these long tracking shots are very rare). In writing I am not aware of such a technique I'd love for someone to disagree and give an example so I can start to learn how to do it in my writing. But here's my favourite long tracking shot of all time: [
It may seem generic at first glance, but if you take some risk it could turn out great. The good thing about having a 'generic plot or story' is that you can take more liberties with telling that story, and it should be easier to tell. Don't worry about if it's generic or not. Can you execute it?
True, the example I quoted above is quite specific to filmmaking. The point I'm trying to make here is that there are endless ways for one to go about telling a story, and the ones with best execution will result in the best of stories. In writing, I don't think you need to grab the attention of the readers for the whole length of the prose like what long-tracking shots achieve for a scene. You have a whole book to do that. There should be a million more ways to make generic stories interesting for a book compared to films, which usually have shorter durations and demand for tighter attention-grabs throughout its length.
I think it's sort of the opposite, it's much more easier to keep a person eyes on a screen during something boring than on a book. I still think it's possible to be interested in the mundane and you are right there are multiple ways to do it. Though, I think film actually trumps the methods available to you in a book because you can do it with 2 senses (sound and visual) and variety of methods that break the 4th wall. You have a lot more control in movies as a director when you are creating stories for the audience to watch than an author because you are actually trying to create stories inside the heads of the reader. So, I think in the case of film vs books, attention span is a lot harder to fight for in a book during boring bits. But still, it's entirely possible for authors to be able to do it. Nothing is really generic as long as your execution is unique and imaginative.
