: Re: How To Avoid Using Cliches In Storylines? How is it possible to avoid cliches in storylines that you are writing? Obviously, there are external sources of influences as you read more and more.

Cliche characters lack depth. Come up with strong motivations, fears, desires, etc... and think about the implications to the character's behavior due to these factors. Don't write the perfect "good guy" or the purely evil "bad guy." Make them interesting. Give the character an unusual trait/history, and make it important to the story.

Cliche themes shift with the zeitgeist. Vampire movies/stories have become cliche, thanks to Twilight. Zombies are cliche as well. If you're going to write for one of these genres and want to avoid being cliche, approach the story from a fresh angle. Sean of the Dead (zombie/rom-com) and Zombieland (zombie/coming-of-age) are examples.

Keep in mind that cliche stories can be successful. See Avatar. It's Dances with Wolves set in space, with fairly shallow characters and a predictable ending.

There's a good podcast by the Writing Excuses guys on avoiding cliches.

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: Your readers will have to relate to the protagonist, even if they disagree with his moral stance and actions. He needs clear goals and obstacles that stand in his way to establish conflict.

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: Software for analyzing a manuscript? I would like to get a better picture of a manuscript I've written, especially in regards to word usage patterns and potentially overused terms. I'm curious

: Re: How To Avoid Using Cliches In Storylines? How is it possible to avoid cliches in storylines that you are writing? Obviously, there are external sources of influences as you read more and more.

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: Your readers will have to relate to the protagonist, even if they disagree with his moral stance and actions. He needs clear goals and obstacles that stand in his way to establish conflict.

: Please help me improve this sentence... In a first-person narrative, Iâ€™d like to use the following sentence: It took me nearly a decade to write this script, and now Iâ€™d pitch it to

: Software for analyzing a manuscript? I would like to get a better picture of a manuscript I've written, especially in regards to word usage patterns and potentially overused terms. I'm curious

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