Fantasy fiction demands a certain element to fit into the genre and reach the perfect audience. However, when seeking out those certain elements, you might fall prey to some very obnoxious fantasy cliches. If fantasy is done or written right, it can really stick with you forever. The reason being the sub-genre of fantasy, which is very popular with teenagers like me, and even adults.

The obnoxious plots that have been written over and over for the last 20 years in fantasy novels have been eating away at me. Just to name a few, ‘Supernatural Academy‘ and ‘A court of Thorns and Roses’ are the very definition of cliche. You know exactly how the story is going to end up and what exactly is going to happen. The female protagonist saves the world, has two boys fighting for her love and she always chooses the bad boy when all he did was bully her just because he was in love with her. Writers love to immerse themselves into worlds of a lot of possibilities, but instead they end up with the most cringy cliche plots out there. 

Cringy plots that are always included in novels include: the ‘Orphan’, ‘The Prophecy’, ‘The Special Powers’ and ‘The Dark Lord’. They are the most overused fantasy cliche plots  that have people sighing, putting the book down, and never opening it again. 

When it comes to a fantasy novel, we have a female protagonist that is always written the same way, Whether you want it or not, they are ALWAYS the same. There is the hating makeup and all things girly, hating men, very rude and mean, and last but not least, kicking everyone’s but. In my opinion, I believe that your character needs to have flaws, fears, and self doubt from time to time. In ‘ Six of Crows’ Kaz brekker had the fear of people touching him, and his flaw was using people, even the people that loved him. 

When writing a main character male or female, give the character a redeemable quality. The character could be empathetic, which could either be the character’s weakness or greatest strength. Give the character a good background that doesn’t involve them losing their family. Give others within the novel time to shine. Let the side character have background. Let her parents be realistic. Most parents don’t just let their children leave to destroy “the demon lord”, knowing their child could be in danger. 

Books I recommend:

• Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo 
• The Year of the witching – Alexis Henderson 
• Blood Heir – Amelia Wen Zhao 
• Witches Steeped – Ciannon Smart 
• The Kingdom of liars – Nick Martell