5 Fiction Cliches That Need to Die

These are five clichés that occur over and over again in fiction. These need to die, and the writers that continue to use them need to have their hands tied behind their backs until they come up with something more original.

Exploding Vehicle:
You are about to get into your car when someone needs to borrow it right away. You let them take it. Just as they pull away, the car explodes.

Rigging a car to explode is an overly complicated way of doing someone in. You need access to explosives. You need a way of triggering the device when the car starts or moves. You also need the time to plant the device on the vehicle.

Explosives have been used to send a message. If the Russian mafia, or a Columbian drug cartel are after you, it is possible that they would go this route. With all the variables involved though, if they wanted you dead, shooting you would be a much more practical option.

Morning Amnesia:
You wake up with amnesia, most often you’ve just been arrested, are next to a dead body, or you eventually realize you are a spy.

While it is true that traumatic events can cause a temporary amnesia, it is extremely rare. There aren’t any magical drugs that will wipe out specific parts of your memory and leave the rest intact. A blow to the head usually causes short-term memory loss that doesn’t return. With “Global Amnesia” you remember practically nothing. Your memory may come back a little at a time, or all at once.

Work Of Art:
The bad guys are modeling their crimes after a book/other bad guy/game.

Not that every criminal mastermind is totally original, but just how many times are we expected to buy someone is modeling their crimes after famous murders or taking their crimes from literature? Once you realize what it is they are modeling their crimes after, it is just a matter of predicting the next chapter and you’ll find your bad guy.

Someone’s Listening:
You trick someone into confessing into a secret tape recorder, open phone line, or to someone else hiding in the room.

This one is so ridiculous that it is often mocked, yet bad guys are still falling for it. Evil geniuses may also be egomaniacs, but evil geniuses also know not to confess everything to someone. Villains often feel compelled to confess or brag about their plans to someone, usually just before they plan on killing them. Of course the hero has called someone, is taping them, or had someone else hiding behind a curtain.

Whiz-Kid:
You know a 12 year-old, usually someone’s nephew, who is a master computer hacker who can retrieve any piece of data you could possibly ever want to know about anyone.

If it was as easy as it is in books for a hacker to break into a system to get information, we would go back to storing all our personal information on paper and locking it in a file cabinet. It is also somewhat difficult to gain control of streetlights or building security systems/cameras. Someone who could do this at will would not be bribed for a measly $50 for a video game. They would probably be a billionaire already from either legal or illegal means.