#shes just so quirky and different and also a great friend and sassy and secretly awesome and perfect and everyone actually loves her like!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sincerelylaurel · 2 years

Text

a list of fantasy cliches you might want to avoid

@writingwithacutlass on instagram <3

source: me :)

hello and welcome back :) before i upset anyone who uses any of these cliches in their wip, i want to say it is completely okay to use these in your book! however YA fantasy books are rarely different from any other YA fantasy book, so it’s important to make yours unique. so this list is meant to help you see which cliches are commonly used, and to help you make yours more original. an idea is to invert them! i’m not trying to stop you from using these; after all, cliches are cliches because people love them!

the orphan

seriously, why does almost every YA fantasy protagonist have dead parents and are left to fend for their own? consider giving your protagonist alive, supportive parents. happy family dynamics are not as commonly used in fiction.

the chosen one

“you have been chosen by the gods above. you must save us all.” “but- but i don’t wanna be a hero! i’m not anything special!”

the prophecy

often paired with “the chosen one”, a prophecy is commonly used in fantasy as the inciting incident that kickstarts the whole plot. consider reversing it or having it all be a lie in the end. plot twists are great for turning the prophecy trope into an “anti-trope” (is that a word??)

the special powers

especially elemental powers. you know, where everyone is assigned a magical power at birth, and the chosen one receives an unusual power that ends up saving the world…sound familiar?

the quest

the protagonist sets off to find the magical [insert object], makes many friends and enemies along the way, and saves the world. while quests are fun to write, consider switching it up to something more original.

the dark lord

usually the antagonist, the dark lord is “ruler or the universe”, seemingly impossible to defeat, and for some reason commonly has an enemies to lovers arc with the protagonist, who is usually a young naive female. pretty toxic if you ask me.

the magical artifact which destroys or saves the universe

commonly paired with “the quest”, the protagonist must attain a magical object in order to save the universe before the antagonist gets it before them and uses it for dark, evil purposes.

the pointless sacrifice

not every fantasy story has to end in tragedy. too often, a main character sacrifices their life at the end “to save the world”, resulting in an unnecessary character death that could have easily been avoided and leaves readers unsatisfied.

the “different”, sassy female

ah yes, the “i’m quirky and different and not like other girls” trope. often this girl is the main character of YA fantasy and just so happens to be a natural at battle with little to no experience. she’s fluent in sarcasm and seduces men to get what she wants. also called the “femme fatale”.

the gentle giant

although these characters melt our heart if written well, they are slightly overused in fantasy. try making them more complex. what if the gentle giant had anger issues, making them extremely dangerous when angered?

fantasy species

elves, fairies, ogres, goblins, and so on. while these are really fun to use, consider creating your own magical species! another thing is maybe don’t give all creatures of the same species the same character traits. elves love trees and dwarves love gold; these traits are okay if used as part of their culture and all but an entire species isn’t gonna have the exact same personality.

the wise old mentor

i feel like almost every fantasy book has this character. although the “mentor” is an archetype that is often necessary in fantasy, you don’t have to make them a literal old and wise man with a long white beard and a twirly magic staff. consider making this character archetype a completely new type of character, for example a younger female, or the cynical bad boy.

the surprise royal

this one is very overdone in my opinion. at some point the main character finds out they’re secretly the heir to the throne and that they are meant to be the new ruler of the kingdom. what about having a fantasy story starring peasants and lower-class people, who make up like 99% of the population anyway, instead of the main characters always being royalty?

training of the hero / heroine

usually this trope appears in the form of a handsome man training the female protagonist for battle or something of the like. consider switching it up and having a female training a man!

#writing #writeblr #writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #writing advice #writer #writing techniques #my writing #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity

15 notes · View notes

daeguzen · 4 years

Text

NCT Dream Reactions - Falling in Love with Jeno’s Younger Sister

NCT Dream x Fem Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1.8k

Note: It’s all fluffy. ^~^

Summary: NCT Dream boys reacting to finding out they are in love with you and not knowing how to deal with it because you were Jeno’s little sister. As much as they loved you, they’d rather live beside you and not be killed by Jeno.

Requested by anon

Mark:

Mark was the boy all of the Dreamies looked up to. This included Jeno. Mark in turn, loved all the boys as if they were truly brothers. He was quirky in his own way, made jokes, and was blunt at times. And you didn’t understand why but you just fell in love with him for all of that and more. At first Mark treated you more like a friend or so he thought. It took anyone with a brain to see that he cared for you a lot more than just a friend. He’d even go as far as writing you a song. Now what friend would write a song that was based upon love for just a friend? No one with common sense. Jeno was the one who told him that he liked you and Mark just couldn’t see it at first. But then it kept coming back to him and soon he realized that he did like you. And then his eyes would start to linger more on your smile, his hugs would become more comfortable and he’d even go as far as holding your hand often. When Mark confessed to you he kept stuttering over his words and you giggled shyly opting to lean in and leave a lingering kiss on his lips. He nuzzled his head into the crook of your neck and sighed contently. And then he got annoyed when the boys started yelling and Haechan said something, then Jeno threatened him which at first seemed like a joke but his eyes said otherwise. As he once said, these kids were truly terrifying.

Renjun:

Renjun would be such a sweet heart to you. Although he tends to be sassy he finds that you’re the type to catch his drift pretty quickly and throw back a few remarks of your own. But he’s also very sentimental so when he saw you for the first time, his best friend's and band mate's younger sister, he knew he was smitten. It wasn’t weird to him at all falling in love with the eye smile that resembled Jeno’s. He rarely thought about that because to him that smile was unique to you only. Jeno and Haechan would probably catch on to him quickly and tease him. However, he’d come around one night to ask Jeno about you and have a serious heart to heart conversation about you. Jeno would accept his friends feelings and trust Renjun with his sweet baby sister. Once Renjun would build up the confidence to ask you out you’d hug him lovingly. The boys would gag at first but secretly adore you two with the exception of Jaemin who wouldn’t gag at all. He’d promote you guys and Renjun would do that little yell he does when he’s frustrated telling him to shut up.

Jeno:

Jeno would be very skeptical about the boys. These were the boys he grew up with and they all lived with each other for years so he knew them as well as he knew himself. His doubt didn’t lie with the whole not falling in love with your best friends younger sister bro code. His doubt rooted from knowing them all to well and picking their personalities apart. He knew that if you fell in love with one of them that he wouldn’t be able to do too much. Your heart was yours and you decided who you wanted to love. But he wanted to protect you to the best of his abilities. He’d think about the little things that would clash with your kind personality. Mark’s insecurities, Renjun’s sassiness, Haechan’s mischievousness, Jaemin’s stubbornness, Chenle’s sarcasm, and Jisung’s inexperience. But although he had all of these thoughts roaming in his head, you’d have your most serious brother and sister conversation about where your heart was in the situation and that you’d be able to take care of yourself. But you at least gave him full permission to scare the boys if they stepped far out of line with you. And Jeno? He was totally okay with that.

Haechan:

This boy. As all the boys knew, Haechan was quite mischievous. But deep down they saw that he had a heart of gold. He adjusted his pace to match with Jeno’s personality so that meant a lot about how Haechan took others feelings into consideration. When he first met you he was like, this is your sister? How the fudge? But she’s so cute. Haechan was touchy and playful and did not leave you alone. Which caused Jeno to frequently hold his hand and crush it while smiling down at a fidgeting and struggling Haechan. He’d apologize but go back to being playful. You got along with Haechan so well and you had even become his Overwatch partner. One day as your eating with your older brother you ask him something serious. “Jeno, what would you say if I by chance. . . hadacrushonhaechan?” He’d be like “I’m sorry but what? My friend Haechan? That one? The one who gets too close to you?” You pout but Jeno puts his chopsticks down and tells you to look at him. He tells you he can’t control who you like and if you like Haechan then it’s okay because although they mess around he knows that Haechan would never purposely do anything to hurt you. You might have teared up a bit at your brothers words. The next day comes by and Haechan’s just watching a movie when you out of nowhere kiss him on the cheek. He looks at you with surprise and all you do is grab his hand in yours tracing the words I love you on his palm. Haechan feels that this is serious and is so excited when you two start talking about your feelings. He even went as far as telling all the boys about you two in such a loud manner but that still didn’t save him from Jeno’s wrath.

Jaemin:

Jaemin knew he was a goner when he met you. The thing was, he was best friends with Jeno for so long. He thought you were cute and would coo at you all the time. Those damn eye smiles you threw at him would be enough to end him one day. He felt nervous though. He knew Jeno trusted him but what would he say if he told him about being in love with his sweet baby sister. Jeno would already know Jaemin’s feelings before he even processed them himself. He could tell Jaemin’s mood swings all the time and so his feelings of affection were no different. But Jeno was closed off with certain things so one day he came to you and asked if you liked anyone. You were rather blunt and responded by saying Jaemin’s name. You two spoke about Jaemin all with a good heart. You told him that you loved Jaemin very much and Jeno accepted this. It was your life anyway but at least it was someone he trusted with his life. You didn’t let Jaemin torture himself any longer with those feelings of doubt as you confessed your feelings to him in the cutest way possible. Instead of him going all out and confessing first as “boys should” you were the one who bought him his favorite candies, his terrible concoction of coffee and two necklaces that were for the both of you to wear. Everyone saw it coming and no one complained because they knew Jaemin had the most sweetest heart on this planet and if he deserved to be happy with anyone it should be you.

Chenle:

When Jeno mentioned that his sister was going to come over to meet his friends Chenle was excited. It wasn’t everyday that a new friend was added to the group. When you arrived you sat next to Jeno on the couch. Chenle had to go to the bathroom but when he came out and spotted you he swore you were an angel. You resembled Jeno only when you smiled. It was the Lee smile that started to lure him in. You hung out a lot with Chenle and Jisung from then on because they were about your age and you liked mobile games a lot. However, it was hard for everyone except Jaemin and Jisung to tell that Chenle liked you. Jaemin knew because well...he adored the two younger boys so he could tell from their eyes to their body language how they were feeling. Jisung was able to tell because they were best friends for life. He knew him like he knew the back of his hand. You were oblivious because you were so blinded by your own feelings you couldn’t see his. One day you were playing alone together and you asked Chenle if he’d ever fallen in love. He looked at you quickly and you looked away shyly, stuttering over your words. He put his phone away and told you to look at him. He said yes and noticed that you became sad, tears welling in your eyes even though your tried to stop them. He looked panicked, asking what was wrong and you told him that it’s okay if he loved someone else. That as long as he was happy you would be too. He understood the underlying meaning to this and told you to not cry, that the only girl he would ever love would be you. Jeno didn’t freak out. He respected your decision but didn’t miss the opportunity to threaten the poor boy telling him that if he ever hurt you he was a dead man.

Jisung:

Jisung was so terribly awkward and shy around you. He wouldn’t be able to process his feelings well, not knowing how to properly handle them because it was his first time. You were very obvious about your feelings and the boys could all see this. Usually they would tease Jisung about liking you and he wouldn’t say anything because he knew it was true. One day Jisung sees you being a little too close with Jaemin and he immediately goes to Chenle, asking him for advise on how to confess to you. Chenle gives him surprisingly great advise for being someone so young. He also tells Jisung to talk to Jeno first and he does. Jeno is very serious when talking to Jisung about you because he knows the two of you are very young. He wants Jisung to understand what it is he truly wanted. And he truly wanted to be by your side. So when Jisung comes along and confesses to you sweetly your surprised because you thought that either you’d be the first to muster up that confidence or that he wouldn’t say anything to you. The other dreamies coddle the both of you nonstop after realizing that the two of you were finally together.

97 notes · View notes