As the title asks. In one of my stories the main character has a father who is more or less the primary antagonist. My fear, however, is that due to things like Star Wars this is just so overdone/cliche' that it will detract from the story as a whole. Things are handled quite differently from works like star wars, mind you. Instead of starting out as a mysterious baddie or even a baddie in general the MC and their father are on somewhat good terms at the start of the story, with the father being shown to be somewhat distant/aloof but still caring about the MC in his own way. However, as the true details of his father's wickedness become apparent to the MC he eventually turns against him and finds out that he's not even his biological child but a frankenstein creation made from his father's DNA as well as the DNA of...something else.(I do not want to bother explaining all the details, would take to long.) However, despite being handled differently from the cliche' villainous father I still fear the idea of the father of the MC being the main bad guy just being too cliche. Anyway, if anybody has any thoughts and opinions on this I would appreciate it.
Well I'd say it's a cliché... but there are so many cliché that do work. It's just all about the way you write it and develop your character. I wouldn't drop a story or a a plot because it is a cliché. Everything has been done before. I don't put a book down because there is a major cliché in it.
Everything is a cliché nowadays, so I'd say go for it. As Aprella said, if it fits your story, then that's fine. And anyway, you just have to look at the world around you to see all the abusive fathers and mothers in the world.
The father is a villain. So what? Every book has a villain and the field of suspects is quite small - mother, father, son, daughter - just write it and make it great!
It's universal enough, some fathers are pretty bad. I think you shouldn't worry, just write your story.
I have two 'evil' fathers in my story. One who's really bad and dies, and one who turns out to be not truly evil but just does all the bad things relating to his kids that my own dad did. That dad sees the light in the end and changes his relationship with the kids. Those are both cliché but I hope I'm writing them as valid characters within the story line so cliché goes unnoticed.
Would it make a massive difference to change the relationship a little? For example could it be his mother? I think that would be a fascinating combination. She has a great maternal instinct for her son and wants the best for him and yet she is evil personified. Or an uncle, a cousin, a teacher/advisor. The other option is change the character. Again how would a father-daughter relationship differ? I do feel that the father-son thing is a bit clichéd to be honest, but it does depend how you do it. Most ideas have been done before. Can you make the "evil father" unique? If you can, go for it. If not, make it more unique by having it be a different relationship altogether. Happy writing Tim
There's some great discussion regarding cliché in another thread here. I suggest you take a peek and then reconsider your own question.
I wouldn't worry about it as long as the father isn't walking around in black rubber, breaths heavy and chops off the son's hand. Also, make sure the son never kisses a girl only to discover that she's his long lost sister.
I don't think a particular situation can be cliche. They've all been done before. I think how the writer handles it turns it into cliche. If the father is a one-dimensional "bad guy" who does bad guy things, wears black, sneers and utters dark idioms... it could turn into a cliche.
