Guide:Clichés

A cliché or cliche is an expression or idea that has been overused to the point where it lost its original meaning. Cliches detract from your stories and articles because of lack of originality.

However, cliches are not meant to be mistaken for tropes, or writing conventions that we find everywhere. It is impossible to write a story that has no tropes. Think of it as trying to write about nonexistence itself, but writing about that is a trope itself resulting in a paradox.

A story can share the same tropes as another, yet be completely different because of the way it is told. For example, Star Wars or Star Trek share a lot of similarities. Both are space operas involving many factions of aliens, but the two are completely different because of how the perspectives of the characters are portrayed.

What makes a story highly claimed is how well the story is told over what tropes are used; the story should not be seen as a stale imitation of something else.

Cliches to avoid
There are certain cliches that everyone should steer clear of. Some of them could be the result of Godmodding. Below is a list.

Species cliches

 * Species evolving beyond the need for sustenance - All living creatures need sustenance. Otherwise, it wouldn't be alive in the first place.


 * Human aliens - Human aliens are species which look exactly like humans. While convergent evolution has been proven a fact (i.e birds and bats both evolving wings), the chances of two separate alien races evolving to look exactly like each other is astronomically impossible.  Even humans on Earth look different from one another depending on what region they are from.


 * Earth animal aliens - As per Human aliens. Convergent evolution does not result in two completely different species from different planets looking exactly alike.


 * Sapient species which all share the same personality and ideas - While Orwellian societies can get a pass on this, the chances of a sapient species being this in a democratic society is impossible.


 * Species cloned from those native to Earth - Earth is indeed the most relatable planet since we live on it, but there are billions of stars in the galaxy and billions of galaxies in the universe. The reality is that Earth is just an ordinary planet like all others.  Any alien activity that occurs there would be because Earth is one of many planets to be studied/colonized/conquered.


 * Species that uncannily resemble fairies/elves/dwarves - It is true that the wiki is Science Fantasy, but it is much better to avoid using stock fantasy species and create something entirely new.

Story cliches

 * Chosen Ones - While it is alright to have characters who have a destiny of sorts, you should do more than just say, "this character is the chosen one because X says so".


 * Mary Sues - Mary Sues are characters that are too perfect to exist. In a nutshell, a Mary Sue is usually a fantasized version of yourself doing great things.  The easiest way to rectify a Mary Sue is to add character flaws or to dumb down their abilities.


 * Pure evil or pure good characters - While this is a staple of some renowned works, writers should steer clear of this. No one is pure good or pure evil because every culture has their own definitions of such.  Instead, we have a sliding scale of order versus chaos; neither side is more evil nor good than the other.


 * Overusing dialogue from stories outside the wiki - While it is okay to make references to other works by quoting other characters, having too many of these will make your story borderline plagiarism.


 * One Man Armies - Don't have a single character plow through entire armies without taking a scratch. This is considered godmodding.

Civilization cliches

 * Civilizations that control entire galaxies - Galaxies are bigger than what most think. While such civilizations could exist in the past, there are none that exist in the present day purely to prevent godmodding.


 * Pacifist civilizations that have a strong military - Pacifist civilizations can exist, but the reality is that they don't need a military. If they did, they wouldn't be pacifists.  They would not need to or want to fight in the first place.

Science cliches

 * Alternate biochemistries - This subject is currently being discussed on the wiki. More information will come later.


 * Unlimited energy sources with no drawbacks - For obvious reasons.


 * Single ecosystem planets - This cliche only applies to garden worlds. Single biome planets do exist, but planets have a great variety of ecosystems.  A swamp planet, for example, is likely to have multiple continents and different forms of life depending on ocean depth.


 * Planet-wide cities - A planet-wide city is unnecessary in a society where interstellar travel is possible. Why cram everyone on one planet when you can spread out to others?


 * Perfect utopias - Unless there is a disturbing dark secret behind the utopia, writers should avoid this or else they would have a society of Mary Sues.