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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34665
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'd note that there's a difference between using cliches in dialog, and having a plot that is a cliche. But anyway ...

There are lots of tried and true plot lines. Anyone who watches a romance story and gets to the point where the hero and heroine have a fight, and starts biting her nails and saying, "Oh, I wonder if they'll get back together by the end of the story?" ... or someone who watches a TV show and gets to a scene where one of the main characters is in extreme danger, and cries out, "Oh no, is he going to get killed?" ... such people no doubt find the world a place full of mystery and wonder.

I remember being in the room when my daughter was watching some teen romance once. And the story started out with the popular super-jock guy bragging that he could make any girl the prom queen if he wanted, and his friends offer to make a bet on it, and he accepts the bet, and then of course they pick the ugliest, least popular girl in the the school ... And I said to myself, wow, let me see if I can predict how this story is going to go. I'm sure you're thinking the exact same thing: He tries to make her popular, it turns out that with the right clothes and hair style she's suddenly beautiful, in the course of it he falls in love with her and she falls in love with him, then she finds out about the bet and they have a big fight, he tells her how yes at first it was a bet but he really loves her, eventually he wins her back, then they win prom king and queen and it's a happy ending. Right? Is there any part of that that you didn't also predict? The only surprise in the movie was that in the end somebody ELSE won prom king and queen, which was a little bit of a twist I guess.

But you can make routine plots like that interesting by doing it well. Add a little twist here and there, make your characters interesting, make your dialog interesting, etc.

Original score: 3