Good Cliches

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

Well, there is a reason they become cliches... What are your personal favorites?

One of mine is the anti-hero with the best-bud who's usually a Catholic Priest. Why? Because it symbolizes what I think religion should represent: Haven. The Catholic Priest is not supposed to judge, or condemn others. They represent a pillar of strength, a close friend, a confidant, if you will. All that you confess to a priest is supposed to stay between you and the priest unless he believes you are a danger to yourself or to others. For a vigilante, this priest would represent an anchor, grounding the hero, making sure they don't get in too deep.

Another fave of mine is the romantic interuption. YOu know, that THING that is CONSTANTLY stopping the protaganists from getting it on. Whether it be a baby or a freak tornado, Murphy's Law WILL slap the characters from he to China.

[Leonhart29]

Oh yeah! Murphy has to be my favorite - which is why I let him out to play all the time. As far as clichés go, well I guess it would have to be the Virginal Sacrifice - you know someone sweet and innocent giving it up to someone she would have anyway but had to have "the right" reason to do it - usually to save a whole village from the bad guy...

[Iggy_lovechild]

When some kind of situation strands two characters together (especially if they dislike each other or just don't know each other) and it forces them to spend time with each other and come to an understanding.

[Guest Big Samurai]

I've always been a big fan of the Pandora's Box cliché. No matter how many bad things happen to the characters, no matter how crappy the world becomes, there's always hope, and that's a large part of what, for me, makes a good story.

[Nanaea]

Well, I think mine should be obvious... the forbidden fruit, especially the student/teacher variety.

[Guest echtrae]

I think mine would be the hero/heroine who gets thrown into the circumstances beyond their own control and spend their time only trying to figure out what's going on and how to live through it all.

[Neito]

I tend to try to reject cliches because of my background in writing before stories (sprite comics, if i can say so without people throwing crosses at me and screaming "Begone, demon!"), in which cliches and sterotypes overrun everything, and people make no attempt to improve them.

But i like unomnipotant self-insertion anyway.

[Iggy_lovechild]

Enemies that become friends and eventually become lovers.

As anyone can see, I'm clearly a sucker for that crap.

[Leonhart29]

I agree with Iggy - There's just something about a Cloud/Reno or Squall/Seifer *sigh* pairing that puts everyone on their ears.

[Squallfan]

I agree with Iggy - There's just something about a Cloud/Reno or Squall/Seifer *sigh* pairing that puts everyone on their ears.

Oh, I sooo agree. Tends to make more yummy man sex.

[EveKnight75]

Enemies that become friends and eventually become lovers.

 

As anyone can see, I'm clearly a sucker for that crap.

You aren't the only one!

I'm also a fan of the anti-hero (which is why I'd pick Batman over Superman any day of the week!), and the good guys with a dark past (they tend to be smarter because of their villainous background).

I also like the shocking surprise. The over-the-top ones that they use in soap operas can be done well if executed by the right person in the right way and isn't over-used. This also applies to "Luke, I am your father" and all the ensuing consequences.

[Guest kirameki]

I have to agree with Iggy and Leonheart on this.

Though I do also like Murphy's Law and anti-heroes. Good guys with a dark past are also a big fave of mine. I am a sucker for reformed bad guys, too. There's a general theme here, I think...

[WotanAnubis]

Enemies that become friends and eventually become lovers.

I used to think that was so... well... I don't really have a polite way of saying it, so let's settle for...

...fanpersonish...

Harry/Draco? Cloud/Sephiroth? None of this ever made any kind of sense to me.

And now, I got one such couple in my sig.

Of course, it helps that the canon already clearly shows them going from enemies to really close friends, but still.

So maybe I should rethink my opinion on this one.

[Guest echtrae]

So called 'bad guys' are the best, because they're the most interesting. Who the hell would have taken Luke Skywalker when they could have Han Solo? Not bland or pansyish, the 'reformed rake' is usually ultra cool. Just the thing to make a girl's heart go pitter pat.

I wonder if this is the reason that so many females have such a fascination with Snape.

[Leonhart29]

I have a fascination with Rickman not Snape - when I read the books he makes my skin crawl off of my body and hide under my bed. But I do tend to like the good guys a bit more than the bad ones - but as my friend so appropriately named me I am Seifer's slut... LOL

[EveKnight75]

Count me in. I've always found the bad guy to be hotter. The good guy needs to have a dark edge in order to attract me. The problem with the good guys in fiction is that they tend to be too goody-goody and you have to question their sexual orientation. Hell, you have to question whether or not they have a sex drive at all.

The thing with enemies-turned-lovers thing is that it needs to be realistic. If it's badly written and makes me roll my eyes, then it's a bad cliché. If it's gradual (enemies->friends->lovers), a one-night stand, or they're using each other for the sex (and enemy sex can be the hottest thing around thanks to the friction) AND it's well-written, then I can view it as one of the best clichés ever because it's magnetic.

[Guest kirameki]

I definitely second Eve's thinking. Magnetic is a perfect way to describe it.

I have a thing for rivalships and the like. I guess it's a kink of sorts. But(there's always a but) I only like it if the tension and chemistry in canon is in fanfic. I... wouldn't be reading enemy or rival ships for the romance and fluff. I absolutely hate when people screw characterization over just for a pairing. When the bad guy is no longer "bad" and the tension disappears... well, I would get bored. Even in reform fic, I can't imagine the bad guy suddenly transforming into a loving perfect boyfriend. Half of the fun of those pairings is the interaction and snarking and back and forth that happens between characters.

And it does help when there is at least some form of friendship or not complete hatred involved. Generally I gravitate towards rivals that have history together.

Though I can look past lack of history if there is enough subtext.

[Iggy_lovechild]

I used to think that was so... well... I don't really have a polite way of saying it, so let's settle for...

...fanpersonish...

Harry/Draco? Cloud/Sephiroth? None of this ever made any kind of sense to me.

As did I, but writing for SO:3's AlbelxFayt pairing really broke down that barrier and opened up a lot of concepts and ideas for me. If I can find an opening, I feel like I can make it work.

With RenoxCloud I found the perfect opening in AC, even though I'd already been having impure thoughts while playing FF7 back in the day. I never felt like they were enemies in the purest sense, just enemies of circumstance. If the circumstances changed, so could their relationship.

*shrugs*

I'd like to think I don't do the yaoi fan-person thing: Ya know, I have a real attachment to my pairings beyond ZOMG! HAWT!

For the record, if I didn't think I could make it work, I would never write it. Like say...CloudxSephiroth. Yeah. I just don't go there.

[Squallfan]

As did I, but writing for SO:3's AlbelxFayt pairing really broke down that barrier and opened up a lot of concepts and ideas for me.  If I can find an opening, I feel like I can make it work.

With RenoxCloud I found the perfect opening in AC, even though I'd already been having impure thoughts while playing FF7 back in the day.  I never felt like they were enemies in the purest sense, just enemies of circumstance.  If the circumstances changed, so could their relationship.

*shrugs*

I'd like to think I don't do the yaoi fan-person thing: Ya know, I have a real attachment to my pairings beyond ZOMG! HAWT!

For the record, if I didn't think I could make it work, I would never write it.  Like say...CloudxSephiroth.  Yeah.  I just don't go there.

I went there and am still working on this particular fic. I have been getting nothing but great reviews for it. You should try it out and see what you think. You already know I love your CloudXReno stuff, it just works.

[Leonhart29]

I think it depends on the situation as to whether or not a pairing could work. Take Sephiroth and Cloud for instance. Squallfan did a great job and I think it's due to the fact that she's keeping Sephiroth in his antagonistic phase (not that he ever had another one). Squall and Seifer - well I honestly don't think Seifer did everything he did in the game on his own. It was kind of implied that he was being controlled 24-7 - and as far as torturing Squall - I think that either he was being controlled or he just got caught up in the moment.

Have you ever noticed that a lot of the bad guys just had a loveless childhood, and are looking for acceptance (Seifer) or they just have some bad wiring up stairs (Sephiroth)? That's just my take on the situation. But if you really want to talk about someone who was f'ed in the head look at Seymour - his mother did a job on him and the worst part about it was she did it out of love. Scary.

[Iggy_lovechild]

I went there and am still working on this particular fic. I have been getting nothing but great reviews for it. You should try it out and see what you think. You already know I love your CloudXReno stuff, it just works.

I can only write with the presense of muses. Oddly, as much as I adore Seph for being such a magnificently evil bastard, I never ended up with a muse. Started writing FF7 fanfiction because Reno broke into my brain, made himself comfortable, and wouldn't shut the hell up. The others soon followed.... Let's just say when the Rufus muse wants attention, he bloody well gets it.

It's not that I don't get where the SephxCloud fascination comes from, I explored it in very small degrees in "Strange Bedfellows", I just can't do a damned thing with it. That is to say...I've never been properly inspired because I know it would be dark and mean and I just don't have it in me to fuck with Cloud that bad. He earned my pity long ago. At this point I just wanna bring a little bit of joy to the poor guy's existence.

[Leonhart29]

I think that's why I write the way I do, I want to make my favorite characters happy. Cloud - poor thing - would be a lot happier if he would just get off his duff and do something. I can't seem to mess with him either; I think that's why he's usually a supporting character in my fics. Maybe one of these days he'll stop blowing in my ear long enough to give me an idea.

As far as muses go, mine tend to be a bit overzealous at times, but it's mostly a happy little coexistence. I don't think I cold write a story (let alone the four I have going) if they didn't buzz around in my mind for the most part.