I never thought I would update this book, but here we are. 

So, I wanted to update this book because trust me 99% of Wattpaders don't know what a cliché is and how to not to write them. They say they want to write anti-clichés but end up writing the total opposite of it. I'm sick of reading the same trope over and over and people not getting such a simple concept. I was only half a year here, and I do know all the tropes of them yet you started in 2015 and you still don't know how to differentiate a cliché and an anti-cliché (aka original idea)? Please, I thought you were smarter than that.

So, I got it out of my way. Don't say I didn't warn you. I warned you from the title itself the truth in my head will hurt your feelings. 

Let's start from the scratch, shall we?

What is a cliché?

"Cliché is a phrase or an idea that has been used so often that it no longer has much meaning and is not interesting."

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 9th edition © Oxford University Press, 2015

Basically, a cliché means an idea that is so overused that now the readers are tired of reading the same thing again and again. That's why avoiding them are so important. If you're going on them, it means the book you're writing is not your own work but a recreation from an idea of another which had been stolen by you. And recycling of genes and plotlines don't work so better like how it works for the environment. That's why how avoiding them is important.

How to differentiate a cliché and an original plotline

Let me give you a reviewing exercise. I'll give you a mash up of clichés and non-clichés. Your job is to comment down which ideas are clichés and which are not (like people would read this, LOL)

1. A murder story in a psychopath murderer's perspective.

2. A billionaire falls in love with his secretary.

3. The world is taken by a swarm of animals that drive humans insane by sight.

4. The highschool jock falls in love with a nerd.

5. The popstar falls in love with a commoner.

6. A billionaire strikes a deal with a common girl for pleasing for someone (it can range from mother, family, ex to the business board) and actually ends up falling in love with the girl.

7. The Alpha rejects his mate, twenty years later the mate turns up as the moon goddess and takes revenge on him and that's when they fall in love. Suddenly out of nowhere, she is a badass.

8. The Alpha sees his mate, falls in love, have *** and mark. Next a pack of rogues come out of nowhere to attack.

9. Hostage of the mate to kill Alpha but ends up Alpha winning anyway.

What are original ideas? What are clichés? ->

Now, if you're a smart person, you must have figured out them. Now you know what overused ideas are. Let me give the answer sheet, grade yourself.

Clichés

1. A billionaire falls in love with his secretary.

4. The highschool jock falls in love with a nerd.

5. The popstar falls in love with a commoner.

6. A billionaire strikes a deal with a common girl for pleasing for someone (it can range from mother, family, ex to the business board) and actually ends up falling in love with the girl.

7. The Alpha rejects his mate, twenty years later the mate turns up as the moon goddess and takes revenge on him and that's when they fall in love. Suddenly out of nowhere, she is a badass.

8. The Alpha sees his mate, falls in love, have *** and mark. Next a pack of rogues come out of nowhere to attack.

9. Hostage of the mate to kill Alpha but ends up Alpha winning anyway.

Anti-clichés (I have mentioned)

1. A murder story in a psychopath murderer's perspective.

2. The world is taken by a swarm of animals that drive humans insane by sight.

Now, I'll list down every single frickin cliché I have ever come across Wattpad.

A billionaire falls in love with his secretary.

 The highschool jock falls in love with a nerd.

The popstar falls in love with a commoner.

A billionaire strikes a deal with a common girl for pleasing for someone (it can range from mother, family, ex to the business board) and actually ends up falling in love with the girl.

 The Alpha rejects his mate, twenty years later the mate turns up as the moon goddess and takes revenge on him and that's when they fall in love. Suddenly out of nowhere, she is a badass.

 The Alpha sees his mate, falls in love, have *** and mark. Next a pack of rogues come out of nowhere to attack.

 Hostage of the mate to kill Alpha but ends up Alpha winning anyway.

A mafia leader makes a deal with a girl and end up falling love with each other.

It was all a pretending game!

A toxic romantic relationship that never goes for years in real life.

Books filled of smutty relationships. Ya'll are thirsty for this shit. Don't deny it.

Truth or dare game gone wrong now it's a death game your character becomes Enola Holmes on!

Recreating fairy tales.

A broken, abused mate.

An alpha with a bitter past.

An electric spark exchanged through us!

Literally trying to sound like a pro using different terms to create an exotic, poetic, but end up sounding like a total noob. Want examples?

Her hands cupped to her knee, her face fell down.

Her eyes looked down.

The steady heartbeat of him comforted and made me feel safe.

I don't need to quote unquote Wuthering heights should I?

Ruining Literature by recreating them in a modern persona or include their quotes to make the book look more 'poetic' 

Hater falls in love with the other hater. This originates from Pride & Prejudice.

Toxic two people bond with each other in the most unhealthy way. This originates from Wuthering Heights.

Why most stories are not logically represented in Wattpad?

Failing to complete the WH's for each incident. Like;

1. When

2. Where

3. Why

4. How

5. Who

Absence of meaningful conversations.

Absence of internal conflicts of the characters.

Too much spaces, lack of content.

Bland characters without a specific, distinct personality.

There is no reason in the decisions they take, except being impulsive.

Bad grammar and bad spelling which changes all the meaning of the book.

Not enough commitment to the book.

Why is this book important for you?

Ask it from yourself. Do you write it just because it's a story popped up in your mind (or not)? How much does this book mean to you? Are they just to gain much followers, votes or something? Or do you write it because it's a lifelong dream of you?

Most of you don't have that.

How realistic is your book?

Seriously. If you write a romance, how real it could happen in real life? What possibilities do you have regarding the story applied to the contemporary world. Have you ever thought why most good books become bestsellers?

It's because they relate to people. 

Usually, in Wattpad, all you need to do is to imagine an abuse scene, write it your protagonist and since Wattpaders are mostly teens they would probably cry. But, that's not how real world works. In order to make readers cry in real world, you need to work a lot in your story. A lot. 

Have you ever wondered why Game of thrones is so popular?

It has an undying fan base, people still cry for season 8, and it's immensely popular so that even Obama watched it. Nick Jonas watched it, Kevin Hart, Coldplay most of celebrities watched it. And most people cried watching it.

WHY?

I have wondered this. How come fantasy series become sky-rocketingly popular? What makes GoT different than others? Why do 9/10 of people like it? Why are they obsessed with it?

For obvious reasons, GoT has a good cast. An amazing cast. Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Lena Headey, Nikolaj-Coster Waldau, Charles Dance...these people nailed their roles. They got so absorbed so that they didn't like how their characters had the fate. Even Isaac Hempstead Wright said that Bran didn't deserve to be the king himself. 

What I'm trying to say is that how good GRRM is at empathizing with people. It's the realistic character arcs. Not all people go around saying 'you're beautiful' or 'we're not just friends' but most people have a dark side. And humans are complex. GRRM had written so human characters that apply to our dark sides. Personally, in my own side, Cersei depicts a part of me. And a part of me understands Tywin. And Jaime being the most. These characters are built up so carefully that we empathize with them. Our characters are humans. If you want your audience to cry, like how real adults do, you need to do it step by step. One by one. Get into your characters' shoes. See the world within their eyes. Express their trauma. Openly. Make people see how love withers in front of violence. The motherly love, the companion love...show them the annihilation, after making your readers have enough time to get to know them and get familiarized with characters you wish them to empathize with.

Give your character a fatal flaw, and give them obstacles. Take what they desire most and make people see how they suffer and get up.  GoT was super-successful because;

a) It was an inventive, non-cliche idea to blend History with fiction.

b) It was 100% realistic.

c) GoT universe is so well built up. Like the characters themselves.

Always have the writer's mindset, which means for every single scene you write there should be answers for following questions;

1. Who is this character?

2. Why is this character chosen?

3. Where is this scene happening?

4. What previous scene made to lead to this scene?

5. How is this scene happening?

Put an end goal to each chapter. It can be character arc, or pacing and leading to the intimacy of the characters or anything, but a meaningful one to your story. Make your story that kind which makes you absorb so much that you lose contact with reality but the book itself. Make your story matter to them.

Another reason why GoT was so successful was because it abided by the universal law of 'Every reaction has an equal and an opposite reaction' (in terms of Science) or aka Karma (in terms of religion) not in a smooth way, but in a brutal way. 

ex - Cersei was always against and had feuds and murders with Martells. In return to them, they killed Myrcella.

All of them ignored white walkers and white walkers attacked them.

Joffrey was killed for being a monster by Tyrells. In return, Cersei killed all Tyrells.

Ned was too proud to stay shut up about Cersei's secret. He told it to Cersei, she and Joffrey killed Ned.

Jaime was proud and egotistic and slayed the king. In return (even though he did it for the good) he got disliked and judged by people and got his hand cut off.

Tywin was unfair towards Tyrion and Tyrion kills him later.

Sometimes, some characters deserve them. Some characters don't, that injustice makes us cry. Because they didn't deserve it. But, one thing is for sure. All of GoT characters are not good. They all have blood in their hands for some amount. Lannisters pay their debts by sacrificing their lives. The price of power, the human systems are awful, the dangers of pride as well as love (credit to matpat). Why do the Starks win? Because they all separated from humans and learned to survive without them. Their pride and even love destroys them. 

Danny falls in love with Drogo out of Stockholm syndrome, but he gets killed. Danny falls in love with Jon but Jon had to kill her. Rob falls in love with a commoner, and dies for marrying her. Robert Baratheon loves Lyanna and Lyanna gets captured by Rhaegar. And his love for Lyanna gets him killed by Cersei. Sansa falls in love or gets  infatuated with Joffrey but he tortures her. Grey worm and Missandei? Nope. 

Talking about real love in GoT, Jaime loves Myrcella but Myrcella dies. Jaime and Brienne of Tarth love each other, but Jaime dies. Rhaegar turns out to love Lyanna but Rhaegar dies. Love cannot exist in this GoT society. 

This world is so corrupted that love doesn't stand a chance in it.

If you write a good book, you need to give your audience better themes through your characters, like GRRM does.

Check out Abbie Emmons YouTube channel for more tips, I highly recommend her channel, it gives great advice!