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I'm a little interested to know. Many of you've read books, am I right? Good, I'm glad we can come to that conclusion. Chances are, you're bound to find a few things that get pretty redundant after reading about 2 or 3 different versions. Sure, it makes for a great story, but seriously, you never want to read anything like it again.

So thus I implore you to please post your WORST media clichés here. No matter the story, tell us about something you see or read about all the time, and is now starting to make you loose your edge. I post this so we all know what everyone's getting tired of. Who knows -- it might spark some new creativity out there.

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As for me, I really must heave a sigh at stories that revolve around the traditional, "Ohh!! Find the magic item that's your only hope for conquering evil. Without it, all hope is lost, and blah, blah, blah." Yes, yes. Our heroes embark on an epic journey to retrieve a "God Item" that's sure to make all their worries and troubles disappear...right. XD

Another thing that kinda irks me. Doesn't anyone kinda hate it, when...characters come back from the dead? LMAO!!! I feel cheated out of my tears when someone gets killed, then they return. It's like, "Okay, I cried for you once already when you gone. Now you want me to do it again when you come back?" The literary term for it is Sentimental Appeal -- invoking the audience to think with their HEARTS and not their BRAINZ. LoL. It makes one feel stupid for ever feeling sorry for them, now that they're back.

"and it was all a dream"

Also, characters that never seem to get the slightest injury... and there was another I was going to write. Ooh, yes! When the main antagonist turns out to be related to the protagonist. How I hate that.

The ever annoying thing that seems to be the best way for killing off characters is a good ol' bomb. How many times has the entire cast of characters been in threat of a hidden bomb? "Bomb! Oh no! Will they find it in time or will it cause DISASTER???"

Just to let you know I will be stealing these cliches as I plan to write a story entitled The Worst Story On BaltoSource. So beware... all of your worst nightmares of a myriad of plotholes and characters that come back to life or never seem to die or get blown up by BOMBS will come true in one terrible fanfic.

LMAO!!! That would totally awesome, Cobalt!! Can't wait!!

Anyway, having the protagonist related to the antagonist is a big cliché, no doubt, but there were many instances that it worked, as long as previous references were given. But if it's something like, "Gasp!! Teh Evil Twin!! :OOOO" ...Then just.....no. XDDD

Here's another one: Bad@ss characters. Ah, yes....the "bloodthirsty killer" types. Normally, a good and believable character has a proportional amount of internal and external flaws -- for example, a retired war veteran has horrific memories [internal], and he tries to escape them by going to therapy, although he doesn't want to [external]. Ever heard that for every action, there is an EQUAL and opposite reaction? What amplifies the boredom of having to read about a bad@ss character is when you tip that scale more to one side -- Going back to the example, a retired war veteran has horrific memories [internal], and he tries to escape them by beating up everyone he sees [external].

You've all seen those movies where some totally bad protagonist cop takes no crap, and rampages through the city, trying to catch just ONE bad guy? Yeah, well, what about the other bajillion innocent bystanders that just HAPPEN to be in the way? XDDD

I find stories (fantasies especially) get a bit boring when you have the typical hero.
You know, the person who starts with nothing but dreams of bigger things...
Then this person meets his mentor/idol, usually an older person who the hero admires..
Then that person dies and the hero is inspired/angered to fight against "evil"...
The hero then goes on a journey...
On this journey he makes many friends who are also inspired to follow the hero on his quest, one of these companions is usually a girl who the hero won't get along with at first...(but don't worry they will fall in love probably)
The hero then finds a "God item" or some other way he can solve all his problems
If this is a fantasy the king might be dying and evil is about to win...
The hero comes at last minute and smites evil...
Then either the hero marries the girl and becomes king or he dies making a heroic sacrafice to insure victory.

Now I'm not saying this is a bad model or anything I just think sometimes it's interesting to see different ways to tell a story.

I'm debating with myself if this is actually a cliché, or just characteristics of the "fantasy" genre in general. Because nine times out of ten, most fantasies have some form of an epic adventure... and it's been thought either way of the hero starting off as a stable boy or a silver knight. So chances are, (s)he's bound to fall in between there somewhere. Yes, most fantasies also include a form of a love interest as well. And just about ALL have a climatic battle scene at the end, where the hero dies or comes close to dying.

And this is actually surprising me. I now know I need to tweak a few things to stay away from these sorts of things...

This may not very well be a cliché, but it irks me EVERY TIME when a story ends to the effects of "everything went back to normal and all lived happily ever after." Because the only way one TRULY lives happily ever after, without any problems, is if they're dead. And due to the events of the story, there has to have been SOME change in the world, otherwise if things just go back to the way they were, the entire story was pointless!!

The whole 'I hate my life, my family is weird and I'm not normal' plot that one tends to find in 'teen-life' sort of books annoys the stuffing out of me. Seriously, there are times when I cannot tell one book from the next.

YES, YES, YES!!! XDDD

I noticed that too. Everyone has problems, yes. But apparently, it's mainly teenagers who tend to exaggerate them and make the situation seem a lot worse than it actually is. And in all honestly, who actually YERNS to be normal? It's boring as heck. I mean, if I wanted to read about a normal, boring person, I'd have stolen someone's diary. Ah, teh drama. Lol

Another thing irks me; have any of you ever gotten the feeling while you read a book, that it actually more feels like you're watching a movie? I mean, you got the bad guy minions who can't shoot a harpoon gun for beans, and an antagonist who monologues for an entire scene. And of course...a schmexy, good-looking protagonist, whom, let's face it -- EVERYONE wants to date. It's all rather bleh.

And I am being a little hypocritical here. Some of my materials do have these kinds of things. XD

I agree. I hate when the protagonists seem to be invincible. I'll find that in a lot of books the bad guys have all the advantages, yet somehow none of the main characters die/fail etc. Especially in the Redwall series. There will be battle sequences in which the vermin will have 100,000,000 soldiers, to the 100 assorted good characters and yet all of the main characters make it through the battle alive? The odds of this are not good.

Yes, it's quite frustrating, actually...moreso than interesting, but you still gotta know that there are exceptions to every one of these instances.

Here's another: "Nobody" characters suddenly discovering they have a secret talent/power that can SAVE TEH WORLD. I really don't know how to get around this one. But it's quite common for characters to suddenly discover that this ability that's been laying dormant in them for some years all of a sudden became active. It's kinda like cheating: "Oh, you're a weak character. So I'll give you powers." And then, most cases, they reject those abilities, always wanting to be normal...

I hate the tipical shipping of the "hero" and the "hero's girl friend" who helps him throught dificulties and all his godforsaken journey. thats one of the BIGGEST cliches of all.

Then I was reading the Warriors series, great books, but I was reading a book and I saw the Cat named "squirrelpaw was truly annoying, she was te typical strong damsel who wanted t know her destiny and fell in love with Brambleclaw a powerfull warrior with a loyalty and a sense of justice, the I remember she always spatted at my favorite Cat Blackstar for being mean, hey at first I thought Blackstar was the typical bad guy with bad intentions, but then resulted in a good guy with bad intentions who was always opinionated, that wasn't cliche at all.

I also find it annoying when people find out they have a "power" or "talent" of some kind and then make the decision that they shouldn't use it or that it's some sort of curse...In the show "Heroes" this happens quite a bit. People wake up with these powers and then immediately say " I better get rid of them".

That's what I always thought too. I mean, what can be more cool than to have powers, right? I suppose we'll never know unless we do. XDDD But seriously. All this drama about, "Oooh, I'll never fit in. Sob, sob, sob." And then, the villains take it in the complete opposite direction, only they go WAAAY tooo far with it: "Aha!! Powers!! Well, have at thee!! *Destroy, destroy, destroy*"

How about this....this one's really starting to tick me: Has ANYONE noticed that the world's saviors are getting younger and younger? LMAO!!! First, it was full-grown adults, like Indiana Jones (37-ish?). And then, you got down to Lara Croft (28-ish?). Followed by Eragon (17), then the Avatar (12). And Ben Tennyson (10). It's like....kids these days won't read a book or watch a show unless SOMEONE their age is in it, taking care of business.

I know, it's ridiculous. The next thing you know, the world is going to be saved by a bunch of babies....Darn it! That's been done already!

I gotta say that sometimes time travel stories get old after a while. I mean, if the plot is more than just "get out of the middle ages/stone age/civil war/whatever other time period before it's too late!" then it's fine, but if it is just that... well, it's been a bit over-used.

Another thing is what others have mentioned: people being different and wanting to be normal. The Maximum Ride series exemplifies that to a good extent, as I'm thinking "Why do you not want to have wings?! People would kill to have wings!" but at least they're a bit past that now. I think that publishers are still trying to market the heck out of "Generation X" and whoever else seems to have that sort of mentality with books that have that plotline, but are more hopelessly cliche.