Oh look - Variation of my General Rant!

So. Cliches.

No one likes cliches. Those that do are able to turn their mind off - or enjoy annoying those around them. I don't know.

Of course, also take into account that cliches have become so because they WERE liked so...  I supppose ever 'kill the cliche' prompt there is will become a cliche itself eventually. Life has a habit of doing that - repeating itself.

But that is beside the point.

Cliches. (I will stay on track - just you wait....)

Reading the starting post was...amusing. Also because a large majority of that I do myself. Annoyingly so.

I mean, not all of it obviously - but just because it's not a cliche for everyone else doesn't mean it's not a cliche for me. For instance, I might not go the obvious cliched way and shove romance into the story - but.....I also never write it. (Well, it's in my idea list, but it hasn't actually been written.... And so doesn't count.) I'd definitely avoid the obvious cliche of a teen with a destiny to save the post-apocalyptic world, but I have a really bad habit of giving my characters almost superpowers and intelligence.

My characters tend to repeat. I have trouble remembering to keep them separate - to write  a dumb character, to write a weak character, a greedy character, a indecisive character, an angry character..... I might not always go the most obvious way, but I have my own very cliched paths.

It annoys me.

I'm trying....  *sighs*  (and then people wonder why I don't think I write well.....)

I'm not going to write a whole list - I can find something wrong with just about EVERY written aspect anyway.

But I will address a few things.

STOP WRITING PREDICTABLE HEROES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good gracious!! Give them depth, flaws, mistakes, optimism, integrity, honour, chivalry, love, sorrow - BUT STOP. REPEATING. YOURSELF!

If you put the hero up against the villain, you had BETTER make sure the hero wins on his own merits and not JUST because he's the hero. If you give him a love interest, why don't you try NOT having any large relational issues due to his hero status?? Hmm?? If you give him a parent, let's have the death be on good terms and completely unrelated! Or not have the hero so overreact! I don't care!

Yes. I prefer the villains. BECAUSE THEY'RE GENERALLY MORE THOUGHT OUT! Well, that and I don't like or believe in fairtyale endings which is generally what the hero gets.....

People put thought into the villains, the antagonists. They realised that they were just writing cardboard cutouts and they corrected the cliche. Now it's become as bad as of cliche in the opposite direction.

And I suppose I write more antagonists than I do villains. Because there aren't supervillains in the world - people that just...are always evil. (Well, there are but, on the whole....) There is an AWFUL lot of grey area.

Authors

MLaw

lindahoyland

Sarah Newman

Christy Newman

Brandon Sanderson

Jane Austen

JRR Tolkien

C.S. Lewis

Lemony Snicket

Arthur Conan Doyle

Dorothy Sayers

Dr. Zachary Smith

Elenhin

Shakespeare

Off the top of my head I'll leave it at that..... And that's not in any order, just as I thought of them.

Because I don't know if I COULD  use his avatar...

MLaw: technically writes fanfiction, but good gracious he is VERY good. He's actually one of the people that shaped my writing, albeit probably more....subconciously than obviously. Most of his stories that I read focused on Ilya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo from the Sixties television show Man from U.N.C.L.E. - moreso on Ilya than Solo. He took the characters and what canon their was, and explored what their history would have been in real life. Not making it up or picking and choosing - he researched Russian and the culture and the history, and built the characters using that. I do a poor description of his work... The stories explore the character and the friendship between Ilya and Solo. AND! No. Slash. Ever. I love it....  That's irrelevant....  *smiles* His stories were a pleasure to read for the characters, and for the history, and just for the well-shaped world. I hadn't watched the show yet when I first read his stories, so on their own merits, they were good.

and because I didn't want to use her avatar...

Lindahoyland: Fanfiction again. Yes, I know - not exactly countable; but still.... She...was not someone I expected to read and only found through another author. (Sue me, I have few new authors that don't repeat....) The reason I read her stories is because of a series she did in LOTR, building up the characters after the end of the book - building up the Gondorian characters after the end of the book. She focussed on Faramir and Aragorn and those surrounding them, and did a..several book series that explored Aragorn establishing his rule, Faramir and Aragorn's friendship, a betrayal for a good end, and the fixing and worth of trust. Again, poorly summarised. Her stories were surprising because LOTR is a fandom I generally steer clear of. VERY clear of. But I have reread her stories and they are well worth it. Again, focusing on friendship, and building the world Tolkien started - I really wish her stories were in paper form because....they're good. In my humble opinion.

because I didn't want to start in the middle of the series with a picture....

Sarah Newman & Christy Newman: I'm going to stick them together because they've cowritten a few books and I tend to just think about them together. I'm also going to go look up her name again because I've a feeling I'm misspelling it... Yep, I misspelt it. *sighs* Their books have been...interesting to read. They keep getting better and better with each new one. Basically every story focuses on friendship or family, and illustrates a Biblical verse or just salvation in general. That has even gotten added better in each book. Some of the books were exactly as I expected, others were carried through by the excellence of the characters, and others I found myself very surprised to have enjoyed. I find it very interesting where they set the stories - almost in another world, almost familiar....  It's easy to imagine. And I honestly can't decide if I like their cowritten or singly written books more - both have their pros and cons. Regardless, I can easily reread their stories and that's often all that matters.

Because this is the book I have and love.

Brandon Sanderson: If you have heard of the Alcatraz Smedry series then you are familiar with him. If you have not, go read it because you are missing out terribly. Are their cliches? I think the series is a satire of cliches. Literally. It has ....it is VERY hard to describe without spoiling. Suffice to say that it is NOT whatever you're expecting (that I can basically completely guarantee) and that it is hilarious and just...An absolute pleasure to read and I really need to find the rest of the series past the first book. But if you want a book sans cliches? Definite read that one.

Because Cushing's was NEVER RECORDED

Jane Austen: Mostly just makes this list because it's a romance book (Pride and Prejudice) but....I loved it. It was more about friendship than anything else - mostly because the 'lovebirds' hated each other through most of it....  But it was very well handled. And well-written, witty. It's....tasteful. It's tasteful. Not too cheesy although a satire in a way - but well done.

Because.

JRR Tolkien: First - did you expect him to NOT get on this list? Second - it was an exploration. it wasn't just a quest or a story focusing on a hero going on a quest to destroy an evil artifact to save the world: it was about people fighting to save their world. About failures and sucesses and in the end good wins. But everyone fought. (he's basically just an excellent author...)

 C.S Lewis: For whatever reason, I can only think of the Space Trilogy and Screwtape Letters now. Instead of a cliched story where aliens land on earth (he didn't agree with Wells....) humans go to space and mythology is mixed with the Bible and I ADORE that trilogy. Screwtape Letters is just creepy though.

Lemony Snicket: Oh, this one I cannot recommend enough. Unless of course you don't like extremely well-built weird worlds.... At which point do not read this series and go watch the happy elfe or Nick whatever his last name is in Grimm.  The Series of Unfortunate events is, in many ways, extremely predictable. But well worth reading just for the author's self-insertion if not the crafted world. Are there cliches? Undoubtedly. But Snicket is an author I've the feeling includes them on purpose. (Just read the back covers of his books at least - that's amusing enough!)

Arther Conan Doyle: Maybe he doesn't exactly count given he is the forerunner of his genre basically but.... I love the way he writes his stories. And Watson isn't a dumb companion either. He's intelligent on his own - just he's not Holmes. Both are flawed, even Holmes makes mistakes; and the stories study humanity. Not to mention, they're really cool characters and cases.

And Petherbridge is the best.

Dorothy Sayers: If you like ACD, you'll like her. If you like characters and mysteries, you'll like her. If you like Percy Blakeney, you like her's. Lord Peter Wimsey is a noble Roaring Twenties Sherlock Holmes. He solves cases in the most...foppish way, but hides the sharpest mind inside. He is a good man - broken in some ways, but he is a good man. (For anyone that gets sick of me saying I don't like romance, feel free to remind me of Harriet Vane and Wimsey. Because apparently I do enjoy romance. Just not...the cliche version of it.)

Dr. Zachary Smith: Another fanfiction authoress but....so. well. done. She writes in a basically dead fandom of Lost in Space and does these epic novellas with stories centering on Dr. Smith. They expand on his canonical character, taking into account the pilot episode and his character in the first series, and show his relations with the Robinson family in an excellent and not cheesy way.

Elenhin: ...fanfiction offers very, very good authors, alright? *smiles* She writes many stories, but her two best in my opinion are The Biggest Treasure and The Not Yet Requested Copy  The first was written to explore the character in The National Treasure as she pointed out that both protagonist and antagonist do the same. things. Just the protagonist suceeded. *rolls eyes* Anyway, she wrote a story exploring Ian Howe's character, and giving him a family, and a backstory, and it is a DELIGHTFUL story to read. And I love reading family stories where the parents are so good with children....  The other story started off as a oneshot where Faramir can speak Quenyan and makes a copy of a document for Aragorn before the King can ask him for it (she's the authoress that led to Lindahoyland), and ended up growing into a really long story of oneshots that show Faramir and other characters in LOTR learning earth languages, knowing obscure languages, and basically just discussing languages. I enjoyed it as well because of the insight it gives into the characters. Not just a bunch of languages - it shows friendship and personality and family. And addresses important issues like that NOTORIOUS item that DISAPPEARS from PLAIN SIGHT RIGHT when you need it. (No one knows what I'm talking about....right?")

Shakespeare: ....obviously. And in no case am I counting Romeo and Juliet ever. But the only cliche I can think of is that EVERYONE. DIES. Or there's about a million misunderstandings....  But no cliches.

So there you go. Some of the best authors I know and have actually read. I'm sure there's more - but I can't think of them at the moment.

.....and that, that is exactly why I want to hide my stories - because compared to them? Compared to even the girls that aren't as established or as well known as even Austen or Sanderson or Sayers? They all write SO much better than me. All I can do is try to imitate them. Hope someone enjoys my writing for all its flaws.

(....why is my music Christmasy now??)