One Hundred Fantasy Clichés That Really Need To Rest In Peace

#100: The Imagination Quota

Throughout the previous ninety-nine parts of this editorial, I have addressed major clichés that bash what could have been an otherwise strong fantasy story. I have mentioned some of the worst conventional clichés that are plaguing modern fantasy novels; not striving a person's humanity, messing up the vampire lore to the point the creatures get confused for romance story tropes, the mistake of assuming shape-shifting wolves and werewolves belong to the same species, and too much fudging romance. I addressed character tropes that have been overused time and time again; the chosen one, the evil queen, the damsel in distress princesses, and monotone anti-heroes. I even went over clichés that came into the basic formatting of a fantasy novel; making every magical spell be exclusively in Latin, assuming the hero's journey is the only path to take when writing the plot line, being afraid of taking a game changing risk by taking away audience expectations with a strong twist, and that originality is far gone in modern fiction. All of these tropes combined were created for one purpose and that was to create advice for the most ambitious of potential fantasy writers. With all of these tropes understood, I had hoped while writing this long editorial two years in the making that it would inspire people. What I did not expect though was the huge amount of positivity this piece would bring so many writers in just a short amount of time. (Two years seems like a long time, but some works take decades, even centuries to gain an audience. Getting the recognition after two years was very comforting.)

Whenever I scroll through the comments, I find someone always stating that this book inspired them in some way. Most of these comments talk about revisions made in the plot lines of many story lines thanks to a certain part on the editorial that really caught their eye. Other less commonly occurring comments express how helpful the book was in gaining confidence to finally write that first fantasy story they have been craving to do for some time. The rarest and most heartwarming of these comments in my opinion though is when someone thanks me for saving their story, even asking me to read their material to further help them out. Every single positive comment not only helped expand this book further, but actually raised my confidence as well. By the end of this journey, I have just the right amount of confidence to finally write that full story I have been dying to do for ages. Not many people know this, but my confidence level before this editorial was extremely low. It was because of the positive reaction so many individuals gave this editorial and me by taking time out of their lives to write those nice comments. For everyone who had a piece in that, I say thank you. You guys are the reason this fantasy cliché editorial exists. It was not just the random ramblings of some nineteen year old girl who still needs to grow up maybe just a little bit.

With the knowledge shared through the previous ninety-nine parts and the positive feedback you guys gave me that helped this editorial get to the lengths it is at now, it is time for me to give all of you one final lesson to bring into your writing. This lesson was a tidbit that I have hinted about in the beginning, as far back as the preface opening this book. There I said, "Who doesn't love a great fantasy story? They stretch the limits of our imagination, making the impossible a reality. You can ride a two-horned unicorn through the sky, become a bloodsucking vampire or cannibalistic werewolf, live in a world without water, and walk on walls with seemingly no explanation needed."  The lesson from this early quote that is no matter what kind of fantasy story you write, there should never be a limit to the imagination you express page after page.

  I evidenced this cause through the media I additionally used as well to explain my stance on cliché after cliché.  One of my most commonly used examples, the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, is proof of my belief that imagination in storytelling should be limitless.  In that specific anime that should had been a usual feel good magical girl show, instead transformed into one of the of the most imaginative pieces I have ever seen.  Every single witch the magical girl main characters fight are based off of Russian animation art styles, which use realistic fabrics and combine unlike traits into a single creature.  Take a look at one of the most well known witches Charlotte.  At first she looks like a normal cute plush doll, but once that layer is removed, she transforms into a huge eel-like creature with deadly wolf-like jaws and an endless stomach.  On the center of her face is a white smudge that either represents the frosting on a cake or a Japanese-themed cookie.  All these strange aspects fused together tells the audience cleverly that Charlotte is the type of character that is elegant, but quite the over eater.  That is not even mentioning the placement of the soul gems on each magical girls' uniform, which represents their chakra based on their characterization.  For instance, Sayaka's gem is located on her bellybutton, where the root chakra is located.  The root chakra is associated with trust, an element Sayaka expresses towards the city she is trying to protect from danger as well as towards her closest friends.  Finally, without going on all day about the anime, there is the character of Kyubey, the so-called guide for the magical girls on the show.  He has a design fusing both cat-like and rabbit-like psychical features, with rings circling in the middle of his long flappy ears, and a face that never changes emotion.  His title as an Incubator also is interesting, as he is literally preparing the soul gems, egg-like soul containers, of magical girls to darken and "hatch" into a witch's grief seed.  Madoka Magica is a prime example of why you should go all out in the imagination department no matter what kind of story it ends up becoming.

  The most I evidenced with the imagination usage in my writing though was with the very idea of breaking each cliché in the first place.  A cliché in retrospect are expected paves taken when telling a story, whether with characterization or the plot line.  Breaking these clichés means escaping the expected.  When you do this, an enormous amount of unbridled imaginative potential is released.  Through that, originality and most importantly the imaginative aspects of the story are expanded upon.  That is what cliché breaking is all about.

  So if you want to make a dog and shark hybrid creature for your ocean themed siren tale, go right ahead.  The sky's the limit when it comes to imaginative aspects of a story.  That is the final hidden lesson for you guys to try out for yourselves.  Just remember; have fun!