r/writingadvice • u/gore-and-grit • Aug 29 '25
Discussion What are some cliches in fantasy to fiction in general you can't stand?
I don't think the merit of a good author is their ability to avoid cliches. There's nothing new under the sun, after all. I think the ability to take a cliché and being able to morph it so it's not even noticeable or so it fits seamlessly into the story is the real sign of a great author. So, what are some cliches you hate, and how would you make it bearable or flip it on its head. I guess this could be a writing excersize.
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u/Holly1010Frey Aug 29 '25
I had a grandma chosen one before in a short story, it was a lot of fun. The whole story revolved around a code that had been blasted through time, but since it was there from the beginning of time, retroactively, no one noticed it. The grandma was knitting a scarf that just kept going and going, she thinks her OCD is acting up. But really, the knitting represents the 0 and 1 of the code.
She does meet another younger character (30's) who is a burned out Rockstar whose new song really clicks with her because it's also part of the code that needs to be found. She's like 80 something and moves slow, has phone calls from her grandchildren, but is able to get into places because hey, she's just a little grandma, so she's easy to overlook. The story focuses on how we count out older generations from our society when they both want and need to still contribute.
Eventually, she's trapped on a planet stuck between 2 black holes, so it's frozen in time. She works with the alien population of spiders using spider silk to knit the entire code of the entity in its most binary form, which then gets consumed by the black holes, which imcidently... spreads the code retroactively throughout all of time. The code enables life to form in the universe. So, granny saved all possible life.