Modern day cliches in Fantasy

[anthorn]

Suffering through some troubles in my work got me thinking about modern day clichés in fantasy. We all know what are considered clichés of the old timey fantasy such as prophecy. THE one, etc. But what about the clichés that might have arisen since then. What in your opinion has become a cliché.


I was thinking about it when deciding on character placements when I realised one character was more suited than the other. Do you think a boy who grows up with a bunch of mercenaries even should he have influence from his mother have an aversion to sexual violence should the opportunity arises? Is the whole mercenary with the heart of gold a cliché, or can you get away with it if his mother is busy reminding him of good virtues during this outside influence.


Thoughts, opinions on your modern day clichés?

 

[Nick B]

The funny thing about cliches is that sometimes they work perfectly. While i am not a fan of stories that have the prophesised hero and so on, sometimes they work great and make for a superb story.
Merc with a heart of gold? I don't see a problem with that, it is after all a career choice, merc doesnt mean bad any more than soldier does. how the person conducts themselves in battle however can.

 

[tinkerdan]

For clarification-only because I need it. I think we are talking of tropes that become cliché when we beat them to death. Which begs a question of when does a trope become cliché and what type of medicinal writing does it take to bring a cliche back into its trope beginnings.

Tropes are what drive the stories. They are like the bread and butter of the story. But they can become overused to a point where they become too predictable. Or do they?

I suggest that it's not just that the trope becomes cliché but that there is a breakdown when the writing isn't there to support the selected trope and the writing relies on the trope to carry a thought that they can't make stick in their character.

What I would suggest is that you write the character-make them true to themselves- if they fall within the trope, then they do; and if its something they can obviously live with then it will come out reading true. If the character is objectionable to being placed into that trope then you have a neat conflict to drag them out from, which might actually be a break from the trope. (Unless that's yet another trope.)

The point is that the character is more important than any trope you try to trap them in and it's up to the writer to demonstrate the strength of the character no matter which way they go tropes-ing of to.

There are no bad cliché's; there are just poorly placed ones, framed by words that draw too much attention to the cliché and drive the reader out of the story.

If you can use it while keeping the reader in the story then it won't matter. If it looks like it will drive them out, then you either fix it or preform a cliché-ectomy.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

In a "bunch" of mercenaries, you would be bound to find all kinds of different types -- people are unique. There might be a lot of them with hearts of gold, but there would be at least one bad apple.

 

[barrett1987]

Cliches are good because its easy to turn them on their head and surprise the reader a little bit.

evil lord trying to take over the world is still very much around in modern story telling. I prefer my villains to have REAL reasons for being what they are.

 

[Glitch]

Characters all have reasons for their actions, whether antagonist or protagonist. A mercenary might have an aversion to sexual violence, but he might not be able to inflict his sensibilities onto others of his group. The plot lines arising from that could be considered cliché. Does he run off and become a force for good; does he lash out at his mercenary buddies to save a woman; does he become the leader to much anger from those who like the sexual violence.

The list goes on, but the point I am making (and others have made) is that how you write the character will determine how your story evolves. If you try to force a direction, you might loose the credibility of the character.

 

[Toby Frost]

In a word, Grimdark. But to be more specific, and assuming that we are in a pseudo-medieval setting, here are a few examples:

- All noblemen want to kill each other. Nobody is loyal to the king. Nobody marries happily. Political stability, even an armed truce, is impossible.
- Being anyone other than a lord is vile. Ceaselessly, utterly miserable. There is no source of pleasure or even solace from the horrible, endless misery of life. The only exception to the grim routine is when...
- As soon as a war is declared, everyone performs hideous atrocities on everyone else, friends and relatives included. Anything living organism is raped. Plants are generally not raped, only because nobody can find any vegetation at all in all the mud and dung.
- There are only two sorts of clergymen:child molesters and the Inquisition. Very rarely, a third type occurs: the child molesting Inquisitor. Demons are commonplace, but Heaven appears to have closed down.
- Soldiers divide into two types: terrified conscripts and invincible, soulless killing machines. No battle is complete without a lengthy description of someone's bladder failing. Armies don't seem to have logistical or supply problems.
- All poor children go to "the village school".
- The wealthy, wizards in particular, are taught in Victorian boarding schools, where life is oddly similar to life in an American high school.
- Teenagers and their problems exist.

 

[Mouse]

What Toby said.

 

[Null_Zone]

Whores with a heart of gold- They are all waiting around for some noble to get them pregnant and live off the the money bastards can make, or from a culture were the whole thing is honourable. No traumitised 14 year olds seized as loot when the settlement fell and sold to a brothel later.

Speed of communication - In some books the main industry should be providing dove/ravens to send messages. Hundreds of thousands of the things flying around to provide real time information of what you oppenents are up to.

Religion is purely superficial to the point it makes the Church of England look like a bunch of die hard fanatics who can't make toast without checking the Bible. God(s) may be constantly mentioned but no one seems to know why.

Trade - despite being a good way to become a noble because you can pay for the kings wars - isn't much of an issue. But then again this isn't a problem because farmland doesn't exist mush less fishing boats so who can buy luxuries when you are starving to death. Wilderness reaches up to the city walls, a dozen boats can feed a city of a million people and so on.

Nobles are either loyal to the point of death or will betray their leige lord immediately. Jonathan Sumption in his history of the hundred years war has some sections on the hill lords. Pay them to recognise you, pay them to fight on your side, pay them to declare war, pay them to fight the right people rather than pursue old grudges with all this money you gave them, pay them to stop fighting.

Bloodlines - Every noble family can trace their family through direct blood for millenia and they all share the dame family traits. Even Himmler didn't go that far.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I had no idea there were any cliches in fantasy...