Writing Tips and Clichés to Avoid

cliché #3

ANOTHER cliché that was requested lol. This time we have the main character being related to the villain cliché.

So, much like the waking up for school cliché I discussed before, this could go either way. Sometimes your Minty Oreo being related to the villain can either hurt or benefit you when writing your story it really and truly boils down to the plot and the universe your story is set in

I'll provide an example from a story I plan to write in the future (I'm sorry I can't really think of a professional version for this cliché so stick with me here), the main character Taichi's father is actually an antagonist along with his brother and uncle because in this universe Taichi lives in, the citizens of Japan are under a totalitarian government set up. Taichi is part of a resistance group so his family actually ends up being the antagonists for obvious reasons being that his family is part of the government system he does not agree with because of their oppressive and inhumane treatment towards people who aren't Japanese and other stuff.

This cliché ties into my universe really well because it shows you the mental frustration Taichi will be enduring and struggling internally with since he is tasked with basically taking down a family established government that has lasted generations by taking out the government officials who all happen to be related to him in some way shape or form. Taichi struggles with putting the feelings of his people over his own as he leads the resistance while his family tries to kill him because he turned against them and became their enemy. It also shows the raw human emotions of selfishness, guilt, regret, remorse, and even jealousy as the story progresses so for this styled universe, I believe that the cliché would be perfectly fine as long as it is written properly.

Now, if your Minty Oreo didn't know about the villain being their father/mother and it was revealed by a dramatic plot twist, you're going to have to get mighty creative with it. Say, your Minty Oreo was some sort of I don't know, a vampire and the villain was some type of werewolf and it was revealed that Minty was the daughter of the villain thennnnnnnnn you're hitting the cliché pretty hard without having much creativity in it.

If you really want to do a cliché like this, you have to really make it work with your story and actually plan it out in details of how this is possible and work it into the story. Don't just drop the bomb when they meet without a buildup. You NEED to drop really subtle hints that WONT make the reader know right away but makes the reader question;

"Are these two by chance connected somehow?"

To successfully make this cliché your own you MUST be careful with how you use it because it is actually really hard to work with once you begin to write it.

If you want a writing tip or more cliché tips comment below ♥

-Anri