The big Book of Potter Cliches
Snippet From Chapter 1
Author's Preface: Most stories weave tales of glory or of evil, or something. This however isn't like those as it's mostly a tribute to all the cliche's and (in my opinion) overused things in the Harry Potter fandom. Some Idea's I've used will also appear in here, and if you enjoy those cliche's that's fine, but most of the time (sadly) these cliche's aren't executed well leaving a sour taste in one's mouth.
Therefore, I truly hope you enjoy this special.
Preface End
Cliche's come in all types and colors, and thus one cannot cover all of them but we can certainly try.
Cliche #1: Magical House Trunk
While I'm unsure who first used this Magical Trunk to act as house/Time Compression Chamber/Super Training center idea, it has procreated unto countless fics. Some are stellar epics that use the cliche for what it's worth and move on. Other stories turn this cliche into the entire focus of the story; essentially locking the hero (Harry of course) in this trunk for decades before emerging and killing Voldemort. (relatively easy at that)
Here's an outline for a potential Trunk fic:
Harry leaves Hogwarts and on his way home a trolley bumps into his, knocking his trunk (which he didn't properly secure being 12 and all) out and causing the wood to break badly. (Magical school supplies may or may not spill out if they do, Harry could face all sorts of legal and political problems for violating the statute of secrecy, and questioning by Muggle Authorities too)
Because of the damage to his trunk he asks to be dropped off in London instead of going back to their home so he can replace the damaged thing. Stops at Gringotts (may find out about a trunk left by parents which is one way) or after getting money stops at the trunk shop and has a nice discussion with the shopkeeper. Decides on a special 'home' trunk at that point, which he uses to stay fed at the Dursleys or whatever.
It's an idea to work with anyways.
Cliche #2: Harry is Mega Rich
As he's the son of James Potter; a well respected Pure Blood Family it wouldn't surprise me if he was wealthy. However, many fanfictions take this overboard. Does Harry really have to have 10,000,000 Square Acres of land, and ten times the amount of money every single time? After you reach a certain point (Around 5 Million) money becomes rather pointless; just numbers, and as most people have trouble imagining a single million properly having a billion Galleons (which is a thousand million for those that are math illiterate) is well beyond overkill.
Good writing sometimes does use overkill, but those kinds of sums are hard for the audience to get their minds around. Use a more realistic number. Bill Gates for example is worth 66 billion. This includes all his holdings. And people can't begin to wrap their mind around that number. I seriously doubt that Gates himself can wrap his mind around his actual value.
In short. If he needs to be mega wealthy that's fine, he can be; but if it doesn't improve the story try to cut back on that. Protag's need to have trials and struggles. Money problems can be one of those!
Instead of the Potter line being super rich, maybe they used all their wealth helping others? Maybe they were just well respected but not overly well off and the cost of the wards for their home took what wealth they had left?
Outline Ideas:
Harry is super-duper rich; why not use it? Hires assassins to take out Voldemort's minions the minister, whomever.
Uses money to make an army.
Uses money to buy a lot of potions
Uses money to bribe officials
Uses money to support the Auror division
Uses money to hire mercs
Cliche 3: Harry's milkshake brings all the girls to his backyard
How many times have I seen every girl in a fic drooling over Harry? (Or Draco)
A harem isn't very realistic. Yes; there are a few good harem/multi fics out there, but most of the time they're made for the sake of smut and smut alone. (And even those scenes can be poor... My poor eyes. I wish I could have skipped studying cliche 3 completely)
That isn't to say that you should refrain from having the girls all love Harry Potter, quite the contrary, if you decide to do so, think about ways you can make it interesting. Give the Protag conflicts to overcome. Such as trying to avoid rabid fan girls or something.
Maybe he gets so desperate he approaches Snape and the git poisons him or something. Life throws curve balls. Fiction should do the same!
Outline idea: Hogwarts has old bylaws of vassalage, allowing for marriage contracts to be issued by the headmaster, all the girls want free and are willing to do whatever it takes to not have that happen. Even if it means seducing MC or being impregnated or whatever. Find a way to be original or execute the cliche well. Either way works.
Cliche 4: Voldemort is actually not so bad
Voldemort was created to be an absolute monster, so naturally people pity him and desire to see him change. Canon verified that this isn't possible, but if done well it could be possible in an AU. However, as a clicheone has to be careful! Cliche's are dangerous, but if used right can make great stories. As a psychopath odds are he'll descend into that madness more than once! One can use that to make great conflicts. Murphy's law should apply to most stories: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.
Cliche 5: Dumbledore is evil
Personally I enjoy this cliche when it's done right. It's a lot of fun to give Harry another challenge to face. But turning him into a joke early on because of how powerful Harry is isn't very realistic, nor does it give Harry a big challenge either. Make Harry work for victory please. Dumbledore is a very powerful wizard, have that reflected when challenging the man.
Not a lot to say this time. Just a handful of cliche's and a few opinions on them. I didn't list potential outlines on Cliche 4 or 5 in this snippet version. I'm feeling pretty tired this morning but I wanted to get something up today. I may go back and add a bit more to this when I'm more awake.
