Take a shot each time the bad boy has a tortured past.
Or MC has a love triangle with stepbrother/best friend and love interest (90% chance of being a bad boy)
AND ESPECIALLLLYYYYYYY the “mean girl clique” are girly, blonde, fashionable, hot but are terrible human beings/bullies lol.
I’d love to see a story showing cheerleaders positively. I’ve never belonged to any sort of “clique” or type of group, since I typically got along with literally everyone. The fact I see the hot cheerleading or “loose” type being seen as antagonistic grinds my gears.
Some of the biggest sweethearts I’ve known were cheerleaders, and super pretty. It’s like you CAN’T be gorgeous, be outgoing, love fashion, sports AND be an interesting person!
There’s a story called Envy where the MC is the head cheerleader, and two of her best friends are nice. They don’t bully anyone. That’s the only story I can think of that portrays cheerleaders positively, but maybe there are others out there.
I really agree with this! This is so unrealistic because in reality, more than half of the people in high school don’t even know who you are so it doesn’t make sense when a new girl enters the school, people instantly realize that you’re new.
Exactly, and even with a bunch of friends you’re still a nobody tbh lmfao. Unless you’re like infamous for incidents and even then, the MCs that are “nobodies” have a bad Mary Sue complex.
Totally agree with everything said here. Also if anyone is looking for stories that aren’t totally cliched, i recommend checking out Kayla Sloans’ stories ( Instagram: @Kaylas.epi )
if you haven’t already come across her. I literally love all her stories so much, and although some of the themes she uses are common, she writes them in a totally unique style,
Kayla also does a great job at breaking stereotypes… (I’m fangirling a bit now lol bye)
-Ivy
You must go to a pretty big school then
I guess in England it’s a little different (or maybe it’s just private schools?)
Usually we get an induction day (just before the academic year ends) when all the new people come in and we have a taster day of the year we’re about to move into.
So when the next year starts, everyone knows who the new people are… (Also our year/grade is pretty small).
Sorry lol i didn’t mean to bore everyone with this ahaha, wasn’t very necessary but oh well…
-Ivy
The villain in my story is Pamela Serrano… I guess she’s Dominican? Or Puerto Rican? Either way, it just came to my mind. She is not meant to offend Latinos or Hispanics in any way. I’m an African-American Muslim, and there’s some diversity in my story. LGBTQ+, Non-Americans, blacks, etc.
My mean girls, are… Well, they have different backgrounds. The leader, Stephanie, actually works as a maid for the male love interest. Clara, the Hispanic one, is bisexual. Vicky, the extremely supportive one, is abused by her drunkard father. So there you have it. My mean girls are human, unlike most stories.
Absolutely! My story, “Cruelty of Ice”, stays away from these clichés. The only one I can defend are the mean girls, they aren’t like others! Like I said, one is bisexual, another is abused by her drunken father, and one works as a maid for the male love interest. And my gay character, he’s funny, yet feminine. Not too much though. Just extremely sassy and lighthearted. My love interest, he is, and I repeat, NOT A BAD BOY. He’s smart, and actually pretty nerdy. But still quite popular. My MC is a new girl, but not everyone automatically notices her. Over time in the first episode, the different characters meet her in various scenes. The villain is out for revenge, and even commits crimes to get rid of the MC. The gay character, is Australian. There’s a lesbian, too. And a secret child. The MC’s other older sister. She is a badass! That girl finds out what the villain and her accomplices are doing, but… Towards the end, something happens (because of the villain’s 2nd accomplice, the villain’s boyfriend), and is too late. Anyways, my story is drama, but mostly with revenge and envy. If you love revenge, and are sick of clichéd stories, my story breaks away from that. I avoid that altogether.
Forgive me for explaining my story. I’m just pissed that stories like mine, not just my own, are so fucking underrated. That’s all I have to say. Bows and exits
Holy moly guacamole! A lot of your replies make this thread so fun to read, thank you!
I wish I could reply to everybody, including the users arguing in favor of clichés. But I think a lot of people already spoke for me in that regard (@Daisy_Writer15, @Echo_D, @DatFlyingTurtle, and many, many more) and most of my arguments have already been stated in my previous posts, including the main one. I wouldn’t really blame anyone for not reading everything, I write some pretty long posts :’) Aside from all this, I did see the mention of an Episode cliché drinking game somewhere, and I’m not opposed to it as long as I don’t have to pay for all those shots myself (or any edible/drinkable twists to it for people who don’t drink alcohol or simply don’t want to end up in a coma)!
Please keep the conversation going and enjoy!
@Lemniscate Your profile picture made me watch the whole Avatar: The Last Airbender series for the nth time and I’m never regretting it :’) Thought I’d mention that, because that series is a true storytelling and worldbuilding masterpiece. So I feel I need to thank you for spreading that kind of joy through that profile picture!
@gieng Agreed! And don’t feel bad about English mistakes, English isn’t my first language either (: Keep at it~
@kyounts23 Hey, sorry if this might be a very late reply, but yes I am interested and please feel free to tell me the title of your story so I can check it out! (:
@RudeInception If I read your post right, it seems you’re bringing up the same points as @episodeloverl19. I replied to that post a while back but all my points still stand. I think what I wrote there responds to your post as well (it’s post #16). Aside from that, to say “for every one reader who doesn’t like a certain overused genre, there’s 100k who do” is objectively a massive exaggeration but I’m hoping you didn’t mean that literally (:
@LI05 Haha, true, but I don’t mind a tiny bit of story promoting on my thread as long as it stays on topic (speaking against cliché, poorly written stories and in favor of improving as a writer and improving the Episode story pool)
On that note, i’m actually currently writing a story with a male MC ( although there will be multiple POV’s). It’s taking forever but hopefully i’ll be able to publish it soon
Yes, please! Someone, make that happen if it hasn’t already!
Personally, I’d prefer it if the male love interests didn’t know each other while pursuing the MC and got to know each other only afterwards. It would be odd to see them be rivals for the MC and then turn out to be attracted to each other only after MC reveals herself as uninterested/unavailable. Like, why didn’t you guys get together from the beginning then?
But I don’t know, I’m open to reading a story with that kind of twist
