On writing

He ran down the cold, dark marble hallway, his leather-soled shoes slipping hazardously on the slick stone. He looked over his shoulder, and saw the shadowy creature bearing down on him. He looked forward at the same time as he ran into the rail, and had just enough time to scream as he plummeted to the ground four stories below.


Death... Danger... creatures lurking around every corner... These are ingredients used in many of todays horror stories, murder mysteries, and other such genres.

But have they become cliché?

Our media has been swamped with fan fiction. I'm not saying it's bad -I have written some myself- but the sheer amount of it, based on works such as Twilight and long loved stories like Frankenstein and Dracula, have utterly depleted the potency of  those kind of creatures. A trend I see taking hold in our culture today is this: When someone writes something good, every wanna-be writer copies it.

Werewolves, for instance. Originally, they were new, dangerous, and utterly terrifying. Now, I look at the books lining bookstore shelves, and instead of thinking exciting! I think whoop-de-doo, more lame werewolves falling in love with under-developed love-interests.

And see if this storyline sounds familiar:
Lonely human-during-the-day vampire falls in love with shy young woman, but won't admit it because he thinks she won't want him if she finds out he's a vampire.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I just described the majority of the vampire books you've read.

Our nation is slowly but surely falling into another Dark Age; not where people have no knowledge at all, but rather where they have so much that they don't have to think for themselves.

Few people can create something new from something old anymore. Our horror and murder mysteries have, indeed, become cliché.

Food for thought. let me know what your thoughts on this are. I'd love to hear from you. :)

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