Thanks, guys.

Now write the story you want to read. As Dan said, if it’s been done before, and done better, well… you had some good practice. If it’s been done before, but you’re finally doing it the way it always SHOULD be done, hurray! And if it’s NEVER been done before, congratulations. You thought up something new.

Don’t let anything stop you from actually sitting down and WRITING, though.

There are two very good times to just accept the cliche and run with it: when you’re a novice, and when you’re a master. Novices are trying to learn and hone their craft more than anything else, so they don’t need to worry about editors and readers who’ve already read this story a million times. The reason we’ve all read this story a million times is because everybody writes one, and there’s no need for you to be different–you’ve got to start somewhere. So write a corpsicle story, or a farmboy-becomes-king story, or whatever you want, because if that’s the story that gets you writing then that’s the story you need to write.

Once you become a Master, you can write about cliches because you have the skills and experience (and the trust of your readers) to do it right–to take it somewhere new. Yes, there are a million corpsicle stories, but that doesn’t mean that the best possible corpsicle story has already been written. I believe that the artistic high points of our culture are all in the future–just because the past was great doesn’t mean we can’t do better if we really put our minds to it. If you have something really new and exciting to say, or a really good way to say it, then the presence of a cliche won’t matter because you’re presenting it in a new and exciting way.

So that leaves one huge group that should really steer away from cliches: the middle, which is where most professionals are. They don’t really need to do a cliche story for practice, and they don’t yet have the groundbreaking new take on it that will make it all new and fresh again. The best way to know which group you’re in is to write the story you want to write, and see how good it is when you’re done–if you learned something valuable, good job and keep it up; if you’re ready to move on to your own, original ideas, go for it; if you’ve recontextualized an ancient trope with a brilliant new spin, it’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Gaiman.

First comment: Could someone address Ben’s question. It is a question that I often stress over.

Second comment: Brandon you made the comment on this podcast or at a lecture that if you can write the story with out magic or monsters then don’t force the story to be fantasy. Do you think the same rule applies to Sci-Fi? Do first time authors pack non-essential technology and Sci-Fi stuff into stories?

Write the story you want to write. Let the critics, pundits, and retailers try to categorize it.

Urban fantasy/horror set in a post-apocalyptic 22nd century? I’d probably call it “soft SF,” but that won’t stop me from enjoying it if it happens to be a good story.

My favorite authors have been Niven and Lovecraft, which I’m surprised no one mentioned Lovecraft as a bridge between magic and fantasy, in a horror setting of course. I’ve only read a couple but I understand that the Elric of Melniboné series and others in that word setting follow this fantasy to sci fi to fantasy as the cycle of time progresses.

Then again, maybe that book is the proverbial platypus.

I think it was in his reccent audio books of Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow…