Cliche plots are story lines that have been done over so many times by so many authors that they just aren't interesting to read. An author who writes one of these is automatically assumed to be unoriginal. However, it is understandable if a new author unintentionally writes a cliche story; they are uninformed, and haven't been around long enough to see how many stories follow that same plot. This will not be you, however, because you are reading a fanfic guide and this section will tell you what some vastly over-used ideas are.
Cliche's for Canons: Here's a list of characterizations and plots that have been over-used in this fandom. Avoid using too many of them in the same fic.
-Misto and Victoria falling in love. One of them is always new to the tribe and it is always love at first sight.
- Misto becomes Macavity's apprentice and either returns to the tribe or overthrows Macavity
- The author using pneumonia or some other illness to get one character to realize they love whoever is sick.
- Mistoffelees beats Macavity in a magic fight.
- Cassandra is a bitch unless she's the main character.
- Tugger is an air-head who only cares about sex.
- Macavity is either someone who is obsessed with raping queens (never just normal sex) or is misunderstood and just wants to be reaccepted back into the Jellicle Tribe.
- Love triangles. 'Nough said.
- When a Jellicle finds their "true love", whomever they were dating previously is always happy for them.
-Admetus, Exotica, Plato, and Asparagus don't exist unless they die in some sort of attack. At that point everyone mourns their loss deeply for about 5 minutes. Then the writer skips forward and everything is hunky-dory.
- Couples never argue.
- If a queen from the tribe gets pregnant, she is always a good mother and the father is always there for her.
- Grizabella is Deuteronomy's ex-mate.
- Macavity did something terrible and was thrown out of the tribe.
- Macavity was first in line for leadership before he was thrown out
- Mistoffelees is a more powerful conjurer than Macavity, even though Macavity has more experience, doesn't have morals to stop him from using his full power, and doesn't simply entertain the Jellicles with petty tricks like Misto does.
- It's impossible for any of the Jellicles to turn to Macavity's side. They're completely immune to greed, deception, temptation, and suggestion.
- Mistoffelees and Victoria are mates, despite Victoria mating with Plato in almost all productions.
- Pretty much anything that involves Mungo/Rumpelteazer romance or Macavity/Rumpelteazer romance.
- Mistoffelees angsting over being magical- which in his mind makes him a freak.
- Because of this, he either runs away or some queen falls in love with him.
- Plato is gay because he looks at people's feet.
- Electra thinks no one likes her and angsts about it.
- Etcetera is just some giggling idiot with a "thing" for Tugger
- Tugger realizes he loves Etcetera once Etcetera stops paying attention to him.
- Pollicles are just savage beasts.
- Whenever a Jellicle kitten winds up in the streets, they always meet some kind person who takes good care of them.
- Jellicles always have good human homes.
- Mistoffelees is hated/feared by the tribe, Tugger is his only friend, and he proves himself during the ball.
- Any plot by Macavity against the Jellicles always fails.
- Jellicle High/Jr. High/Elementary/University fics... *shudder* Just DON'T do them at all.
- "What really happened at the ball" fics or "Here's what was going on behind the scenes fics" are really just plain stupid. Don't try one.
OC Cliches are stories and characterizations involving Original Characters. Again, avoid using these devices in your writing. Heck, avoid using OC's in general.
- The OC is female.
- They fall in love with a canon character after five seconds.
- The canon character falls in love with him/her after just looking into his/her eyes.
- The OC is the offspring of Macavity
- The OC is related to the Jellicles
- The OC angsts over being related to Macavity
- The Jellicles accept the family of their arch-nemesis without a second thought.
- The Jellicles don't accept the OC immediately because he/she is related to Macavity, which makes the OC angst and earn the trust and love of a canon.
- The OC is magical, either inherited from Macavity, being Misto's family, or because the author is just stupid.
- The OC is magical, but doesn't know it, must be trained by Macavity/Mistoffelees, and learns magic quickly.
- OC is also more powerful than Macavity/Mistoffelees.
- The OC comes to the tribe, falls in love with someone (who doesn't realize it), is kidnaped by Macavity and is rescued by their love.
- The OC is kidnaped by Macavity, their love gets captured trying to save him/her, and the OC finds it within themselves to save the day.
- The son/daughter of one Jellicle you want to pair with another falls in love with the son/daughter of the other canon Jellicle from the pair so they can be 'together' without breaking canon.
- The offspring of Macavity isn't evil.
- The OC is fantastic at fighting and can kick anyone's butt.
- The OC is always shy.
- If the OC has faults, its usually that he/she is shy, ticklish, or is easily startled.
- The OC will always overcome any other faults in order to save the day.
- The OC turns Macavity good and convinces the Jellicles to give him another chance.
- The OC is a human who is a huge fan of Cats, wishes to become a Jellicle and finds that their dream comes true. LAME!
- See previous section.
Now, what's important to know is that these things aren't "taboo" (except the Jellicle High one... NEVER do one of those!). No one will hate you if you write out one of these plots. In fact, a lot of people enjoy reading Misto/Victoria love fics or something like that. But should you write a cliche plot, you have to put your own little twist to it to make an old idea shiny and interesting again. Otherwise it's just like all the others. Which makes it boring and unoriginal.
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