• I truly wonder how.

adretaRyder sorry I am late 😭

This is actually simple to do and very difficult at the same time. But let me tell you this, no matter how much there are common tropes, there will be people who are drawn towards these cliché/tropes despite reading so many of it.

Let me get something straight. Majority of the time, this actually depends on the writing style of the writer especially when they are writing something cliché. I will bring webcomics to this. For those of you who are familiar with Korean reincarnation and isekai webtoons; the ones where a woman wakes up in another person’s body, either a royal or common citizen in the middle ages, you will notice that these novels are in the rage. No matter how many I have read, I still find myself searching for more, but something changed.

Whenever I came across such genre with an inferior artwork, I drop it for something more superior with even better dazzling art. Do you know why?

“It’s the same thing like the rest. I’d rather read something more appealing.”

I have already read so many with the exact same plot that I don’t even give the inferior ones a second glance. And do you know that the only cliché ones are those which stand out of the masses with their unique plot twists and perspectives?

If you want to write a cliché novel. Keep something in mind. Your novel will never take a special place in your reader’s heart because . . . there are so many like it that they have read and many more will come.

If you just want your cliché novel to work. Your writing style has to stand out (unfortunately, I don’t really understand how that works) OR your character has to be a complete turnover from the stereotypes.

For example, a sarcastic one.

Before you say anything. Yes, writers here have CLAIMED to write work based on their “said” sarcastic MC. But have you ever noticed how their characters are devoid of sarcasm? These writers end up following the same road stereotypical MC’s take.

However, if you really want to make a cliché novel work, it has to stand out from the rest. Even if it won’t deviate much from the common plots, there has to be something, no matter how small it is, that sets it from the rest.

Take Remarried Empress for example. There are so many stories out there about royals taking concubines and chaos ensuing in their houses, castles, and homes, but this novel/webtoon took advantage of something you don’t see much of.

Instead of a fiancée losing her fiancé to some seductive woman or mistress and trying to move on with another man/get her husband back, not many stories have actually focused on married MC’s. Let me make my point clear.

Unlike engaged women, married women have most likely sacrificed a lot of things to be with their mate/spouse and there would have to be something they might lose if the marriage were to fail. But with this story, the author even raised the stakes by making this MC an Empress. She is losing her emperor to one snotty bitch (sorry, I hate Trashta like the rest of you) and she cannot give up the kingdom she WORKED so hard for.

It would not be false for there to have been stories similar to this plot and yet this is kind of the only one people are digging into.

Well, it’s not all that cliché but the trope isn’t a unique one at all.

Imagination will also play a role in this. Take note of apocalyptic novels and survival horror books. They are cliché but readers still dig in mostly because of the varying circumstances despite the fact that majority of them follow the same plot line.

Monsters eating people.

The world breaking down.

Political and religious factions rising up and on the rage.

People trapped in a scientific institution and looking for a way out.

Apart from creativity playing a role here, we have the oh-so-lovely characters. The backstabbing assholes, the whiny cretins, the sadistic psychopaths, the hidden masks, the sabotaging frenemy, and so many. Even if a lot of these characters might be cliché, their circumstances can lead them to react in ways you wouldn’t see in other novels.

But painfully, wattpad novels follow characters down to their circumstances.

Isn’t that right, you guys?

Those of you who take trips from their bedroom to the dining room, from lockers to classrooms and from homes to parties?

And you are all like “I tried, but my character doesn’t seem to stand out.”
No kidding, when you keep putting them in the same scenarios as other novels.
Kindly look at the header picture for this chapter.

You must like pain. 😳

So if you still want to follow this exact same route, your MC has to be completely different from expectations. There are all kinds of people.

MC’s who have a hard time controlling their temper.

MC’s with a few screws loose.

MC that bullies her siblings (yes. It happens. Grow some balls and write about these people.)

I have read novels in which I hated one of the MC’s but just couldn’t put the book down.

MC that leads a double life (a REAL double life and not the sissy trash you come up with in your novels. It’s already done.)

Your MC could be from a family of killers who kill visitors and is a perfect saint in school. I don’t want to see trash about someone being a goody two shoes at home and becomes a rebel in school.

MC that suffers from disorders other than depression. (I’m not sure why. I know a lot of you suffer from this but some writers don’t exactly pen down their experiences well)

You know what I mean. Why not write about someone suffering from Kleptomania for example. Please, don’t forget about properly researching these issues to write something reasonable.

And so many others. If you put them all through the same experiences, they will react differently and of course, the story would take different turns. But please, don’t start in their bedrooms or with the characters waking up to their alarms.

I can’t really think of any other way to make cliché plots. But I feel you were not really referring to that kind of cliché when making this request. Nothing isn’t exactly new but you can still make slight deviations to it and try to spice things up with the events that happen in the story.

Grabbing ideas from old works of art. Borrowing ideas from cliché ones and adding ideas of your own all in one plot. A mix of sorts. It would be an added bonus if the narration or writing style is uncommon/unique. I have read every day scenes of characters which I found interesting mainly because of how the writer narrated it.

Sorry, I couldn’t think much of anything else but I hope this was enough.