Cliches in Writing

[Gongsi]

When crying for two minutes resolves all emotional damage a protagonist has taken. Lost your parents? Shed a tear then move on with your life. Watched your friend die in your arms? Give it an hour, you'll get over it! Your entire reality was fake and everyone you know and love wasn't real? Cheer up mate, you'll feel better after some ice cream.

Is writing good trauma/loss that hard? It all feels fake, forced, or unbelievable. Realistic levels of emotional pain never seems to last for more than a scene.

[Western Fardelshufflestein]

When crying for two minutes resolves all emotional damage a protagonist has taken. Lost your parents? Shed a tear then move on with your life. Watched your friend die in your arms? Give it an hour, you'll get over it! Your entire reality was fake and everyone you know and love wasn't real? Cheer up mate, you'll feel better after some ice cream.

Is writing good trauma/loss that hard? It all feels fake, forced, or unbelievable. Realistic levels of emotional pain never seems to last for more than a scene.

I KNOW, RIGHT!?!?!? Like, in murder mysteries, they're always like, Ight, let's solve this. Some side characters might be all weepy, though.

[Gongsi]

When crying for two minutes resolves all emotional damage a protagonist has taken. Lost your parents? Shed a tear then move on with your life. Watched your friend die in your arms? Give it an hour, you'll get over it! Your entire reality was fake and everyone you know and love wasn't real? Cheer up mate, you'll feel better after some ice cream.

Is writing good trauma/loss that hard? It all feels fake, forced, or unbelievable. Realistic levels of emotional pain never seems to last for more than a scene.

I KNOW, RIGHT!?!?!? Like, in murder mysteries, they're always like, Ight, let's solve this. Some side characters might be all weepy, though.

Yeah, but weepy usually ends up being a side character's entire personality. Strip away the tears and they are more often than not just exposition machines and plot devices (or in the case of murder mysteries guilty). Otherwise they recover by the next act.

[New yugoslavaia]

I KNOW, RIGHT!?!?!? Like, in murder mysteries, they're always like, Ight, let's solve this. Some side characters might be all weepy, though.

Yeah, but weepy usually ends up being a side character's entire personality. Strip away the tears and they are more often than not just exposition machines and plot devices (or in the case of murder mysteries guilty). Otherwise they recover by the next act.

Pfft. Actual human emotions? What are those?
Nevermind. Time for some more wacky hijinks!

[Xmara]

I KNOW, RIGHT!?!?!? Like, in murder mysteries, they're always like, Ight, let's solve this. Some side characters might be all weepy, though.

Yeah, but weepy usually ends up being a side character's entire personality. Strip away the tears and they are more often than not just exposition machines and plot devices (or in the case of murder mysteries guilty). Otherwise they recover by the next act.

Okay, but in defense of murder mysteries, the detectives are obviously gonna be like "let's solve this," because more often than not, the victim was a total stranger to them. And usually in murder mysteries, the focus is on the detectives, not the deceased's family. Or at least that's the case in all the murder mysteries I've read.

But it does annoy me when the loved ones don't really seem to care or get over it super quickly (if they are the primary focus of the story). My mom likes to watch those thriller movies that they show on Lifetime and the ending is always the same: the police arrive to carry off the killer. The family hugs and cries for about a minute. Jump to some unspecified moment in the future (usually one or two months later) and the family acts like nothing ever happened. No long-term trauma relating to being pursued by a knife-wielding maniac, no scars or disabilities from injuries during the pursuit, nothing. Sometimes they show the killer, if they're still alive. If the killer is still alive, they are either shown in a new town going by a new name and preparing to terrorize some other family (setting up a sequel) or they are locked up in an insane asylum, talking to themselves.

[Crysuko]

Yeah, but weepy usually ends up being a side character's entire personality. Strip away the tears and they are more often than not just exposition machines and plot devices (or in the case of murder mysteries guilty). Otherwise they recover by the next act.

Pfft. Actual human emotions? What are those?
Nevermind. Time for some more wacky hijinks!

...I need to call my therapist

[Shov Scien]

Aliens being 'better than us', infalliable main characters (let your characters fuck up and face consequences! they won't get it right 100% of the time!), and one I don't see talked about nearly enough, being completely unphased by killing other human people. Sure, some people can do it, but especially when a character is portrayed as just an average person thrown into a bad situation, they won't be able to just kill someone and get over it. Also, they probably won't know what they're doing. Most of my very normal people friends don't even know how to properly throw a punch, much less successfully disarm an enemy or handle and use an assault rifle.

Generallym though, tropes don't irritate me that much unless it's overwhelming. I'm not opening some YA sci fi novel I got for like 8 bucks and expecting quality on par with the classics of the era, I just want a good story. But there comes a point where I get tired of the same old relationship dynamics and plot points and characters. It's just not creative at that point. Like, if I had a dollar for every time I cold turkey stopped a book because badass man main character and hot also kind of but not really equally badass girl lancer kissed, I could buy all the copies of those books and make sure nobody has to suffer reading them ever again.

Pfft. Actual human emotions? What are those?
Nevermind. Time for some more wacky hijinks!

...I need to call my therapist

mood

[New yugoslavaia]

Does anyone get annoyed when there's a hostage situation where some bad guy has got someone at gunpoint and then the good guys don't just blast them in the head and get in over and done with? Can't pull the trigger if they're braindead.

[Crysuko]

Does anyone get annoyed when there's a hostage situation where some bad guy has got someone at gunpoint and then the good guys don't just blast them in the head and get in over and done with? Can't pull the trigger if they're braindead.

nooooo rule of drama you can’t just aim a little to the left or right.

[Punished UMN]

Does anyone get annoyed when there's a hostage situation where some bad guy has got someone at gunpoint and then the good guys don't just blast them in the head and get in over and done with? Can't pull the trigger if they're braindead.

Depending on the situation, that makes sense. Aiming handguns at much distance, especially a moving target, and an area as small as a human head, can be quite challenging, especially in a situation where a miss means you lose.

[Esthe]

Somehow every dystopian book I read manages to turn into a romance novel.

This makes me want to write my own dystopian styled novella, and sort of lean on that trope before violently yeeting it and going balls to the wall on the actual story

Maybe put it on Wattpad.

[Crysuko]

This makes me want to write my own dystopian styled novella, and sort of lean on that trope before violently yeeting it and going balls to the wall on the actual story

Maybe put it on Wattpad.

don't swear at me please

[Forsher]

Abortion.

The plots are all the same (unless the whole thing is about abortion in which case I don't think I've seen any of those) and the function is always the same... you do the abortion to avoid having to shake up the fundamental character dynamics.

On a similar note... the "doesn't this character have a kid?" trope. Bones was especially bad at this. It's where they don't go with an abortion plotline but the resultant infant is irrelevant since they're never actually seen.

But that's more in television.

Somehow every dystopian book I read manages to turn into a romance novel.

Read Jennifer Government.

I mean... there's a romance plotline in it but it's far from the point.

[The Remote Islands]

Grammar. Man, that's used everywhere.

[Qhevak]

Mooks that are literally just pop-up targets for the main character to gun down with zero risk. Mowing down a bunch of dudes who stand out in the open inaccurately spraying gunfire doesn't actually make a character look badass.

Another idea: The prophecy turns out to be nonsense. Just the mad ramblings of some delusional mystics.

I want to see more fantasy works where the prophecy is just straight up made up by some guy looking to use it to their advantage - e.g. the evil dark lord guy makes up a chosen one prophecy to make their enemies waste valuable military assets on protecting a random nobody.

[Xmara]

I know that this is a thread about stuff we hate in writing, but here's something I love. I love when the hero and the villain meet and, rather than going straight to fighting, they talk. They may point weapons at each other. They may circle and threaten each other. Or they may just stand still. But I love the tension it creates.

[Forsher]

I know that this is a thread about stuff we hate in writing, but here's something I love. I love when the hero and the villain meet and, rather than going straight to fighting, they talk. They may point weapons at each other. They may circle and threaten each other. Or they may just stand still. But I love the tension it creates.

I'm going to guess you're not a fan of Shazam! then?

[Esthe]

I know that this is a thread about stuff we hate in writing, but here's something I love. I love when the hero and the villain meet and, rather than going straight to fighting, they talk. They may point weapons at each other. They may circle and threaten each other. Or they may just stand still. But I love the tension it creates.

Kinda reminds me of that final climactic battle between Harry and Voldemort.

[Xmara]

I know that this is a thread about stuff we hate in writing, but here's something I love. I love when the hero and the villain meet and, rather than going straight to fighting, they talk. They may point weapons at each other. They may circle and threaten each other. Or they may just stand still. But I love the tension it creates.

I'm going to guess you're not a fan of Shazam! then?

You mean the DCEU movie? Never watched it.

[Forsher]

I'm going to guess you're not a fan of Shazam! then?

You mean the DCEU movie? Never watched it.

It's hilarious. But one of the jokes is mocking "talk to the bad guy confrontations".

[A m e n r i a]

I absolutely loathe dumb protagonists in creepypastas, especially in the rules subgenre. Ffs it's never, EVER a prank. It's never your imagination either. Just get your shite together and follow the damn rules.

[Crysuko]

I absolutely loathe dumb protagonists in creepypastas, especially in the rules subgenre. Ffs it's never, EVER a prank. It's never your imagination either. Just get your shite together and follow the damn rules.

not familiar with creepypastas, but what exactly does "rules" consist of?

[Dollystana]

Grammar. Man, that's used everywhere.

me no wanna gramma gud

/s

[Chan Island]

Does anyone get annoyed when there's a hostage situation where some bad guy has got someone at gunpoint and then the good guys don't just blast them in the head and get in over and done with? Can't pull the trigger if they're braindead.

Far as I know, that complies with real life law enforcement training. A missed shot could kill the hostage, or get the villain to shoot their hostage- or even just shoot at you. Better to deescalate, try to talk them down, and get the baddie to let them go.

I know that this is a thread about stuff we hate in writing, but here's something I love. I love when the hero and the villain meet and, rather than going straight to fighting, they talk. They may point weapons at each other. They may circle and threaten each other. Or they may just stand still. But I love the tension it creates.

In fairness, that isn't that bad either in real life either. It's hard shooting people (as others have pointed out), and most people don't have that instinct of 'quick, blast them!'

Though it is annoying when the protagonist has had no problem blasting away the goons before going through this whole song and dance with the main baddie. Like, what did those bad guy soldiers do? They just wanted to get paid. Meanwhile the main baddie's been making your life a living hell, on purpose, for the whole time and now, after you've thoroughly shown you don't care about human life, you will go to the lengths to spare him?

I quite like how Far Cry 4 handled that. After the whole story, the whole war, your character has the choice as to whether to shoot the big bad or not. If you do, that's it, the campaign literally just ends there and then. But if you don't, you get a whole cutscene and conversation where they discuss everything and it's really interesting.

[Zul-ar]

If the assassin is female, she has to seduce men to kill them. Clearly the inferior woman must use her tits, because they're the only good thing about her, while the big strong male assassin can do literally anything else.