Searching for "keys"... is it Cliched?

[lonewolfwanderer]

Just as the title says... I'm just wandering how cliched that type of plotline is?

 

[Tecdavid]

Keys, as in, something to unlock something else? Well, plenty of sories revolve around characters searching for an object, but it's what takes place during that search that matters most, I'd say.

 

[tinkerdan]

I don't know if it's cliché but I'm doing it all the time. Am I living a cliché.

No question mark means I don't want an answer.

Depends yes on keys. If it's like the keys in a hunt like a mmorpg it might just make your work look like an mmorpg.

If it's the entire plot I hope the characters can keep it moving for you.

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

Well, it's just an idea i'm playing with to expand my WIP... The pendant my MC is given, is one of 12 needed to break the seal on the 13th Kingdom. But it allows for a few other things: I have in mind a betrayal, he could meet some of the other key characters needed for the 2nd part, and so on.
But ultimately, it allows me to expand the story... rather than just- MC gets pendant; MC finds origin; story done.

And Tecdavid, it's not really to 'unlock' anything... it's more to break a seal, as i mentioned above.

 

[Phyrebrat]

It's a trope that only becomes clichéd if you handle it badly

 

[Tecdavid]

There tends not to be much difference between breaking seals and unlocking doors in fantasy universes, really.
But again, as long as the journey to claim this Key contains more than the journey alone, then I doubt readers would mind at all. The simplest plots can be made appealing with the events that surround them and the characters that make them.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

These are sometimes known as 'plot coupons' - collect the lot to proceed to the end of the novel. Best avoided.

 

[SevenStars]

Create wonderfully interesting protagonists and a fascinating story that captures my imagination and the key will be just fine, I'll be dying to know all about it

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

Okay, i've scrapped the key idea. The pendant itself is still a key, but i think having it more like a "compass" will be a better idea, where the pendant guides him to where he needs to be. All i need to do now is work out how it will guide him...

 

[ratsy]

I have a compass in my WIP...but no keys.

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

I have a compass in my WIP...but no keys.

Aww man, does that mean the compass idea is even more cliched? Well, the pendant isn't a compass compass... it's just an object that leads him to where he needs to be. I just haven't figure out how yet...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Honestly, everything is cliched. The epic quest, the prophecy, the truth hidden in dreams, the chosen one...

It's about how it's written. Cliches happen but, like sevenstars says, make us care about the characters, make your world come alive, and we'll follow. At this stage, it's more important to do that than try to reinvent the wheel -- you can come up with a device to wow us on the second revision!

 

[Mr Orange]

what springs said... compasses, keys and pendants are all cliched to some level. my suggestion to make it completely not cliched would be to make his talisman a radioactive mouse whose back half is a a bowl of soup...

or ride the cliche and write a damn good story that will drag us along from start to finish before we realise what's happened...

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

what springs said... compasses, keys and pendants are all cliched to some level. my suggestion to make it completely not cliched would be to make his talisman a radioactive mouse whose back half is a a bowl of soup...

or ride the cliche and write a damn good story that will drag us along from start to finish before we realise what's happened...

The radioactive mouse could make for quite the comedy.. Okay, i will ride the cliche. I suppose in this day 'n age, there is very little that hasn't been done.

 

[Juliana]

Honestly, everything is cliched. The epic quest, the prophecy, the truth hidden in dreams, the chosen one...

It's about how it's written.

This. Perfectly said. I don't mind a good cliche as long as the story is good.

 

[tinkerdan]

Keep the key and have a compass in it and then have someone break the key and then after all the frustration and death over that; he'll find out that the compass is what he needed all along.

The moral of the story is the compass. It's a moral compass.

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

Keep the key and have a compass in it and then have someone break the key and then after all the frustration and death over that; he'll find out that the compass is what he needed all along.

The moral of the story is the compass. It's a moral compass.

That's not bad, i do like that...

But if it's a compass, it wouldn't be how we know of compasses. Sure, it guides him in the right direction, but it has no dials or arms or anything pointing anywhere, which complicates things a little. At the moment though, William and Asha have no clue what it is, so i have time to figure it out. All i know is that it glows brighter whenever William touches it...