Comments on: Ask Becca: The Four Worst Character Clichés

By: Sara Baptista

Sara Baptista — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 19:20:00 +0000

Very well Becca! You nailed the clichés! Some of them just take another form and, sometimes, is difficult to know it!

By: tacocat17

tacocat17 — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 18:27:00 +0000

OMG the outsiders is the best book ever

By: K Alistair

K Alistair — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 20:21:00 +0000

In reply to Echo Sagal [of ECSA]. Cross was one of my main inspirations for this character actually haha

By: Irene

Irene — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 11:46:00 +0000

My main character KIND OF fits into the bad-boy thing, but not entirely. He’s not the type to shirk responsibility–in fact, due to having three younger siblings and being a mentor to a younger friend, he’s basically had to be the adult in the situation his whole life. One of his main motivations is to provide for his wife and baby son. But he still is quite pessimistic, arrogant and annoyed easily, and he also has a bad caffeine addiction. It’s not always a good thing that he immediately tries to take charge of and fix any situation, either. The “twist” is that instead of having a mentor he IS the mentor, to a younger character (his best friend) who has his own character arc. The idea is that by mentoring he learns a lot about himself too. His wife IS gentle, sweet and devoted to motherhood, and that’s partly why he fell for her (because that kind of woman is basically ideal in her rather patriarchal society). But even though she’s against fighting of any kind she will defend herself if she needs to and would destroy anyone who tried to hurt her son.
Unfortunately in the third book their home gets destroyed by war six years later and the MC is never quite the same after that. Since he always has to be the man, always has to be strong, never can show any emotion, it just makes things worse in their new home, where they’re trying to adjust to culture shock. But at the end he realizes he still has his wife, son and best friend, and they’ve stayed together through the tough stuff. The last line in the book is on Christmas night with his wife and son, holding them tight and his wife says to him, “So, has Christmas managed to melt your icy heart?” And he says, “Yes…and now I’m never letting go.”

By: Olivia

Olivia — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 11:24:00 +0000

In reply to Izzi.

Hah…the second-to-last one (the stubbornly cheerful) would be good friends with my MC’s best friend! I know he’d have the same reaction. And his job involves potential danger such as that. As for your MC, mine was exactly like that too. Literally all I had was is name and occupation. But as you write about your new MC, and he interacts with the other characters, his personality will develop naturally. IMO, one of the best things about characters is the way they interact with each other. Many authors say that the story basically wrote itself and you just had Microsoft Word, and this is what happened to me. All my characters are their own people and I’m the Puppet-Master. 😉

By: Echo Sagal [of ECSA]

Echo Sagal [of ECSA] — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 19:38:00 +0000

In reply to J Arias. That mentor sounds funny! Similar to Cross in D. Gray man. Its an an anime. If you don't already know it, you can try checking it out!

By: Swiss Cheese

Swiss Cheese — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:24:00 +0000

A character cliche I hate is the duo that are exact opposites. In duos, one will be smart and the other is either stupid or hates school. That, or it’ll be that kindhearted person who likes to help/entertain, and then there’s her friend who is creepy, hostile, or gothic. Sometimes, the kindhearted person is smart and the hostile friend (who is usually female) even gets herself in detention sometimes.

By: J Arias

J Arias — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 17:45:00 +0000

The mentor in my book is a god in disguise, however, he has a bad memory, a horrible gambling problem, drinks, and he pouts a lot. He rarely tells the MC what to do, instead makes him pay off his debts and occasionally shows him a new move or two.

No damsels in distress – my female MC could probably kick my male MC’s ass in no time.

No seduction.

And I sort of have a sadistic brooding bad boy…who loves cats (lol) and is the MC’s younger brother.

By: Allary

Allary — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:28:00 +0000

Good article, I learned a long time ago that I I was not the first to think of things, so I work hard to find originality, but also remember not to forget stereotypical things sprinkled in. People like familiar things so a little cliché is not a bad thing, but yes has been way over done.

By: Izzi

Izzi — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 01:45:00 +0000

for the mentor; mine is basically a huge nerd who misplaces things globally and doesn’t know how to write “The Book”. ((there are at least twelve doodles and absentminded shopping lists in there)) and he has a terrible memory so he can only remember a few encounters with ghosts

Another is semi omniscient but is lowkey bad guy. he usually doesn’t do the Prophet-ing thing and after he does he can’t again for months.

No seductresses, they’re all teenagers. As for the Damsel in Distress it’s usually the Damsel who causes Distress. The majority of my characters are female. There are like, seven guys in the series total, two of which are antagonists.

One of the main male characters is stubbornly cheerful. Like, stubbornly as in will crack a joke as they dangle off the edge of a cliff, as in “Oh I’m just hangin around.” In a high pitch, cracking voice.

It’s terrible because the least developed character is the main one. I only came up with his name a few weeks ago while this has been an ongoing (several months) project. : )