 Horror/Scary: December 12, 2018 Issue [#9273] |
This week: Writing against the cliches Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue.
~Stephen Fry
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Have you ever watched a horror movie and predicted the fate of each character five minutes after the movie started? Or yelled at the screen when the main character ran up the stairs instead of out the door?
All cliches start out as plot points and characterizations that work really well. Unfortunately, they work so well that they become overused and predictable. While we may never be able to avoid them completely, learning to recognize them and work against them is a great writing exercise. Here are some examples:
Annoying character who is the first to die
No writer likes to kill off a good character, so occasionally we create throwaway characters to be victims. But why do those characters have to be so similar? (For example, the girl who is constantly screaming or the obnoxious, sexist jerk of a guy.) In some stories I've read, certain characters were so annoying that I started hoping the monster would get them! It might actually be an interesting twist if nobody gets killed off but are trying to avoid a different fate.
Running upstairs instead of out the door
While it is true that people don't always make the best decisions in life or death situations, characters in horror stories often seem to do stupid things just to keep the plot moving. Unless the best thing to do in the situation is to run upstairs, horror characters really need to stop doing it!
Let's split up
When characters in a horror story split up, the audience knows the main purpose is to get somebody alone to confront the monster or killer. Also, how many real groups of people would split up in a situation where there something terrible is prowling around? If you do need to split your characters up, maybe it should happen because of something beyond their control (for example, a cave-in, a storm, or even some magical intervention.) Maybe the characters might split up for some routine work because they don't know anything bad is in the area yet. Or maybe the characters could stick together and still get in trouble.
Unhelpful, ignorant police officers
This trope exists so characters will be forced into frightening situations on their own instead of getting help from the authorities. However, small town police officers are often portrayed as ignorant, lazy jerks who don't even try to help. If you don't want your characters to get outside help there could be more realistic reasons for not involving the police. If the characters are dealing with a supernatural entity, they might assume they will not be believed. Or maybe communication is cut off or all rescue workers have been diverted to an emergency situation such as a flood or fire. Maybe your main characters could actually be police officers.
Spooky old house
I love stories with spooky old houses as much as the next person, and have even written a few. However, it might be fun if a beautiful new house was occasionally haunted as well. Or maybe the strange happenings in the house are not due to ghosts, vampires, or werewolves, but something else (possibly even worse),
Only the virtuous survive
In many horror stories, only one virtuous character survives until the end, while any couples who have sex are marked for death. This trope may have began with the first movie in the "Friday the Thirteenth" series. In this movie, Jason's mother killed several counselors at a summer camp where her son had drowned years before. She blamed all counselors at the camp for her son's death, because the two who were supposed to have been supervising the children the day he died had been having sex.
Something to try: Write a horror story using the opposite of one or more cliches.
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