Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.
June 23rd: Are bookish clichés inherently bad?
(Aria)
Prompts: There are lots of clichés that can be found in books, from love triangles to the chosen one to the boy next door. What makes a cliché a cliché? Is a cliché inherently bad to have in a book? Or can an overused storyline or theme be done well? What are your least favorites? Are there any cliches you will tolerate, or even enjoy reading?
I don’t think they are bad, and it feels more that there’s a common misconception over clichés and tropes! Love triangles, chosen ones and so on are tropes, they though can definitely be done in a cliché way! What makes something a cliché is when it’s overdone – it’s a shortcut, of sorts, that everyone recognises. Boy meets girl is a cliché, but a plot where boy meets girl doesn’t necessarily have to be cliché, if it’s done in a fresh, original way. Boy meets girl but boy turns out to be vampire is a cliché, too, but boy bites girl because he’s a vampire but turns out she’s not attracted to him but now they have to spend eternity together is less cliché because it hasn’t been done as often.
Clichés – in whatever form – aren’t necessarily bad in a book. It depends on how they’re handled by the author. Like I said, boy meets girl is a cliché, but if the author takes this and puts a slightly different twist on it, it can become something fresh. The same with sayings – dog eat dog or every cloud has a silver lining are cliché, but an author might put a different twist on them, and sometimes clichés can be used effectively as a or part of a book title. Or maybe the writer has a character who puts their own twist on cliché sayings, whether intentionally or not!
Overused storylines and themes absolutely can be done well – and actually, often, readers might pick up a book specifically because it has cliché/overdone tropes or themes or characters. Romances often follow the same plot line, and advertise the tropes they use, because that’s what sells. ‘Chosen One’ stories are so common we even have books studying them, and what separates Chosen Heroes might be very minimal, something to do with their background or setting, or the author might do a big twist on the cliché and truly make it their own.
Least favourite clichés for me tend to be things I’ve either seen too much of, or seen done badly too often. Military man/group survives apocalypse and has to fight zombies across the country is one I can definitely do without now. Any form of rape-revenge from the POV of a woman book written by a cis man because again, seen them done too badly. I won’t pick up these kind of books unless it’s an author I’ve read plenty of before and know I consistently like!
Most of the ‘overdone’ things I enjoy reading tend to be Romance tropes – a good enemies/rivals to lovers (either is great to me!), an “only one bed” scenario, or fake dating, and of course they absolutely must have a HEA (or HFN at least!). Outside of Romance, there are kind of cliché character types I love – vampires, in all forms, but the broodier the better. In Fantasy, I like ‘chosen one’ tropes if they have a bit of a twist on them. There’s lot of others I do like, but I could be here all day listing them!
So I don’t think clichés aren’t inherently bad, they simply offer a writer a bit of a short cut, whether for marketing purposes or in the prose itself. And they absolutely allow writers to put their own spin on something well-worn, which is often intriguing to see.
Unwrapping Words 