Cliches in Fantasy: Are you guilty of any of them?

I have a farm girl, and a talking magical object in one story, and a theif in another.

Talking animals, yes. Fairies, yes. Dragons? In a future WIP, yes.

I don't think about cliches while I'm writing. I just write, and I find that the story sorts itself out.

I have about three of them, the main one being that the antagonist is the protag's father...but everyone knows that from the beginning. He's also the creator of mankind, so it kinda falls as it should imho.

My trunk novel had vampires.

And a lonesome female MC.

The vampire was dark and brooding and handsome. The female MC ended up becoming a vampire too, as she fell in love with him.

Cliches, wall to wall.

But the strange thing is, I might be able to do something with it one day. Not so much the story as like I said, wall to wall cliches, but the characters are favourites of mine. Maybe because they were my first 'cast', but you never know.

One group of characters in my series purposely speaks in cliches, and others mimic these characters doing it, so I'm able to use a lot of cliches as part of the storyline.

I'm working on a story that tries to have as many as possible...but it is a comedy. Or would be if I could make it funny.

From that list: spunky/feisty heroines who sometimes wield 50 pound broadswords and/or fight (living) doomsday weapons, one of whom is a female Mordred (from Arthurian legend)... and most "elite" guards don't look it against them...

Fantasy names beginning with X, Z, G, K, or any other hard consonant.

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The hero's name begins with a K, the heroine's with a T and the antagonist's with a G. I guess I'm screwed on this one.

Interesting website - thanks.
As I read it I was also struck by the fact it tried to include just about every known twist we write about.
I think we spend too much time looking at what we shouldn't do and never 'get it done'.

The good/evil twin thing has been around forever (almost literally). I doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon.

I don't understand how having no brothels in your culture can be a cliche and having them is also a cliche.

I have slavery and brothels and stuff in my WIP because I need 'em, and I'm keeping 'em!

Yea! Go for it, keep them.

Oh, I had a K name.

But it was Kevin.

Does that count as a 'fantasy' name?

I said yes to quite a few on the first list. My goal with my series was to mix classic fantasy elements with unusual characters and technology, so a lot of the clichés were done on purpose, and besides, they're clichés because they are consistently enjoyable.

Dragons? Check. Enchanted objects? Check. Fairies? Check. A quest to save the world? Check. Sexy hero? Check. Female warriors in leather mini-dresses? Check.

Of course, each of those clichés comes with a BUT (a twist). Dragons are used like horses, only they're way cooler and faster. There's nothing magical about them. My hero saves the world because his sister would kick his butt if he didn't, and besides, he's already pissed the villain off, so why not?

Then there's the unusual elements, like steam-era technology, advanced medicine, flying carpets (for the cities, where dragons get a bit cumbersome. I thought this was a cliché, but apparently not), a sensitive hero who follows no moral code whatsoever, a heroine with classic borderline personality disorder, and, of course, most of it takes place on various ships. Do I worry about being too cliché? Hardly.

Ravenlocks said:

The good/evil twin thing has been around forever (almost literally). I doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon.

I don't understand how having no brothels in your culture can be a cliche and having them is also a cliche.

I have slavery and brothels and stuff in my WIP because I need 'em, and I'm keeping 'em!

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Yep. I've got lots a those. My hero and heroine reunite in a brothel. She's working there and, well, one guess why he was there. (Hey, they're a good match, and neither can yell at the other for being there)

Hope To The Horizon said:

Yep. I've got lots a those. My hero and heroine reunite in a brothel. She's working there and, well, one guess why he was there. (Hey, they're a good match, and neither can yell at the other for being there)

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Good matches are a good thing.

Esopha said:

I don't think about cliches while I'm writing. I just write, and I find that the story sorts itself out.

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that is exactly what I do.

Now, looking at my current WIP, are there any cliches?

girl gets lost and is swept off her feet (literally... he just carries her off) by a mysterious man, who happens to be a mythical creature.

Hero falls in love with someone he knows he can't have, but gets her in the end anyway.

A rag-tag band of adventurers who don't get along have to team up to save the world and along the way discover that they really do like each other.

Girls who disguise themselves as boys in order to adventure.

Spunky/feisty/spirited heroines.

Hero is too humble for his own good.

Fantasy names with too many vowels.

Slightest infraction/failure is punished by death.

Innocent people rescued from nasty death/fate worse than death just in the nick of time.

Elves, orcs, dwarves, trolls, dragons, unicorns and any other race that has appeared in Dungeons and Dragons.

Human/animal psychic bonds, especially with dogs/wolves/cats/horses/dragons/etc.

Everybody in the world worships the same god/pantheon of gods.

Riding dragonback.

Friendly dragons.

Someone goes to the underworld, either spiritually or physically

HopelessDreamer said:

While trying to make sure my finished novel and my WIP are as free from cliches as possible, I came across these helpful lists only to realize that I have incorporated a couple of fantasy cliches. Have you accidentally done the same thing without realizing it? I can say I'm guilty of "Hero is too humble for his own good", "Fantasy names/words with a lack of vowels" (just one thankfully), and "Artifacts of power". My novels take place in a modern world, so thankfully I'm free from most of the other so-called cliches, but it still makes me consider the true originality of my works. Are all of these actually cliches? Should I eliminate the "artifacts of power" to make my novels more original?

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/8584/stuff/cliche.html
http://amethyst-angel.com/cliche.html

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Cliches are what you make of them. Does anyone actually take these lists seriously?

Elves, orcs, dwarves, trolls, dragons, unicorns and any other race that has appeared in Dungeons and Dragons.

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So no humans, gods, or Beholders? But Beholders are so universal.

Noble savages/barbarians/etc.

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Yes. The word "noble" just demeans them. Have you seen the tabloids lately? Shameful.

Prostitutes/brothels.

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I quite agree. Fantastical women who sell pleasure? Please. All women are satisfied with our monetary situation, and no woman would ever stoop to that. Besides, what kind of man needs to buy his wenches? *winks lustily, twitches skirt*

Friendly dragons.

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Grumpy dragons are much more realistic.

Someone goes to the underworld, either spiritually or physically.

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Oh s—, Orpheus, your gig's all played. Sorry, maybe you can go on American Idol? That's kind of like hell.

What do these people want you to do? Write a story about rocks? Of course you're going to break a few rules, borrow a few cliches. It's friggin' fantasy. Even George R.R. Martin has (gasp!) magic in his books! There are undead! Bran has dreams/connects with a three-eyed crow! Every Stark child gets a godd— dire wolf that is representative of his or her nature. Come on.

My current WIP only breaks one, though: Priests who have adventures. Granted, they weren't asking for it, but whatev', as writer it's my fault.

if my MC is half-dragon is that just half a cliche? :}

hmm let's see


Hero falls in love with someone he knows he can't have, but gets her in the end anyway.

Ha! no got away with that one, quite the opposite!


The quest is for a jewel/sword/ring/box or other artifact that can destroy/save the world.

Kinda, but it's a McGuffin, barely ever mentioned.


Hero falls in love with heroine at first sight.

Again kinda. No one knows he's the hero till right at the end. Up till then he's universally known as 'that bastard'. The heroine certainly doesn't fall for him straight away. She thinks he's a bastard. Anyway, what's wrong with love at first sight? I've had it happen to me.



Evil rulers/wizards in general.


Well duh, yeah. Who cares if a swineherd's evil? Only the pigs....




The wise old wizard/hag/witch/herbalist/shaman/healer/etc.

Well you have to have someone who knows what's going on. Unfortunately it's 'that bastard' in mine. Wise probably doesn't really cover it.....
Mages who use their powers indiscriminately and to ridiculous excess.

Kinda. Like I said, he's a bastard, and an insufferable show off. What's the point of power if you can't screw up people who piss you off?


Fight breaks out in a bar.

Of course! That's what bars are for. Jeez. I mean put together a load of people with pointy weapons, add in alcohol.....You've been out on a saturday night right?


Elves, orcs, dwarves, trolls, dragons, unicorns and any other race that has appeared in Dungeons and Dragons.

There is a dragon. I admit it.

Village taverns, especially those populated with saucy tavern wenches.

What, so there's no alcohol in this world? And if there is the landlord thinks that ugly women will bring in customers? Riiiiiiight.....


Friendly dragons.

Not exactly. I mean he tries to burn/ eat / hump everything so....

I don't see how a lot of the things on that list are cliches. Bars do have fights. Barmaids do flirt. If you live in a magical world, there will be magical artifacts, and evil wizards as well as good. Women are allowed to be feisty. They wouldn't be very heroine like if they just said 'Oh ok, whatever you say'

Ravenlocks said:

I don't understand how having no brothels in your culture can be a cliche and having them is also a cliche.

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Honestly I think if a story is set in a medieval era and lacks brothels, to me that's "unrealistic" or should I say unbelievable. I'm always curious when books skip over aspects like that. Like in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (as far as I've read anyways) there are no brothels, no churches.

Honestly I think if a story is set in a medieval era and lacks brothels, to me that's "unrealistic"

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A story set in any era without brothels is unrealistic. But you don't have to actually see them in the story.

there are plenty on there that are themes, not cliches.

I mean, if she made a list of sci-fi cliches would she include 'Spaceships, supercomputers, and Robots?' Oh, your sci fi book has a robot in it, thats so cliche!

Some of them are good, though, and I tried to avoid many of them.

I mean I have REVENGE AS A MOTIVATOR, but thats not a fucking cliche, thats a fact of life.

Yes I have dwarves and elves, sue me. I try to use them interestingly though, I mean what would a 300 year old person really behave like? What would he think of humans?

Yes I do have evil rulers and corrupt nobles. Has this chick never opened up a history book? The problem with my nobles is that not that they are necessarily corrupt, they just think the normal rules dont' apply to them. Which, guess what, is what being noble is all about

I don't have any of the character cliches. Woot! thats the most important.

And I do base my societies on historic ones. Unless you are the most creative person ever, you can't not do that and have anything resembling something realistic. People who try tend to create dull places. Fagh!

Let's see, I have:

Heroes who are utterly selfless and only think of the Greater Good. Yep, I have that.

The wise old wizard/hag/witch/herbalist/shaman/healer/etc. Yep, have that too, though he doesn't look that bad for a guy who's 2500 years old.

Hero is identified as the one true heir by a birthmark/ring/sword/other artifact. Yep, have that one too, though it could have happened to any of his other living relatives as well as him.

Hero is too humble for his own good. Definitely.

Fantasy societies based off of the Celts or Norsemen. This is sort of true in terms of the Celts, but it does largely take place in the modern times. The only things "Celtic" about my setting is the Otherworld, and the fantasy creatures within. Unless you count the fact that it takes place in modern Northern Ireland...