This is not an absolute rule. In fact, many of the best stories play around with cliches and stereotypes in order to subvert our expectations. But even the authors that play around with cliches and stereotypes know they must flesh out their main characters more three dimensionally. If the characters are too cliche, readers think, "I've read this same story a billion times before. What makes this story different? What reason do I have to re-read the same old, same old?" Boy gets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy gets girl. Maybe it's time to change it up and have girl gets boy. Do something to break the cliche. The classic movie, The Breakfast Club, on the surface seems to be a movie about stereotypes but what makes the movie so great is how these five stereotypical teenagers start to look past each other's stereotypes and start to see each other as people. I'm writing this thread more to seek advice than to give advice. I've got a character that I want to describe as macho but I don't want to use the cliche "captain of the football team". He can be athletic but he needs to be less cliche. Let's talk about some ways to get away from cliches.
"Macho" is often an exaggeration of stereotypical masculinity, often associated with displays of misogyny, acts of bravery, and efforts to prove that they aren't effeminate, gay, or subservient. So you don't necessarily need your character to be captain of the football team, but they do need to be hyper-conscious of their perception as someone heterosexual, male, and dominant. They might take offense easily to any real or perceived slight to their masculinity, or do outrageous stunts to "prove" their manhood, whether that be an act of courage or kissing/sexually harassing/propositioning any women they come across. The more they're rejected or their masculinity is questioned, the angrier and more dangerous they tend to become. One cliche in this sort of case is that the characters hyper-focused on displaying their masculinity are generally the ones most unsure about it; they try to compensate for feelings of inadequacy or attraction to men with what they feel are exaggerated heterosexual behaviors. The nerdy example of this is saying that it's still heterosexual to be aroused by futanari because they have breasts and vaginas, not just cocks. A lot of captains of the football team might be in the closet, or willing to take advantage of a sissy on the downlow, or as a way to assert their dominance (a macho guy could jump through the mental hoops to enjoy receiving a blowjob or fucking a guy in the ass, but not giving a blowjob or receiving anal sex). But you don't necessarily have to go the total dickwad route. You could just have a character uncomfortable with their sexuality that seeks to confirm their masculinity by trying to hit on girls or bullying the gay guy in public.
I understand all this but I'm writing a story. I can't write, "Todd was hyper-conscious of his perception of heterosexuality. He took offense easily to any real or perceived slight to his masculinity. He did outrageous stunts to "prove" his manhood. He sexually harassed any woman he came across. The more he was rejected, the angrier he became. Secretly, he was unsure about his masculinity. He tried to compensate for his feelings of attraction for men by publicly proclaiming homosexuality to be a sin while he secretly kept a stash of porn." I need to be able so say all of that but I need to be able to say it in a story style by describing specific behaviors and relationships. But I want to avoid the cliches such as, "Todd was the captain of the football team who always had a cheerleader on his shoulder." Btw, Todd is not a total dickwad. He isn't aware that he sexually harasses women. It's more of a subconscious thing where he says or does something he doesn't realize is wrong but when he is confronted, he sincerely apologizes. And although he publicly condemns homosexuality, he would never actually hurt anyone. He's got a bit of a live and let live philosophy. So what I need is to come up with behaviors and relationships that haven't been used over and over again. Maybe I should make him a jeep driver instead. He "proves" his manhood by driving his jeep off cliffs. That would be less cliche. What are some other options?
Show-don't-tell is your friend. In whatever situation that Todd is in, Todd seeks to confirm his masculine. Maybe when he's in bed, he insists on being on top. Or he might just make comments or replies about "real men," or sneer at behavior he sees as effeminiate. He might not be a dickwad, but his treatment of women might be a way - he might hit on anything in a skirt, for example, or brag about how good he is in bed or the size of his dick. If they turn him down, he might take it well, but he'll probably do it again next time. If he changes his public behavior versus his private behavior, show that change by putting him in situations where he can show a different side of himself in private. Cliches themselves aren't bad, and they're generally misunderstood. It's how they're used (or overused) which makes the a cliche boring or predictable, an example of lazy storytelling. If you want to truly subvert expectations, you could have Todd present as macho, but his idea of masculinity is something far different from the cultural norm.
Again, I understand this. I said as much when I said, "In fact, many of the best stories play around with cliches and stereotypes in order to subvert our expectations." Now the story I am trying to write is one in which Todd gets retrained. That is, people mistakenly think Todd is a dickwad even though he is not and he gets forced into a retraining program. The subversion is the fact that Todd is not actually a dickwad like everyone thinks he is. Are you suggesting that I have to make Todd a captain of the football team with a cheerleader girlfriend because cliches aren't bad?
You don't have to do anything. If you need Todd to be retrained, then he needs to display at least some behavior that says "macho asshole" to people. Driving a jeep generally isn't that. If the idea for your story is that Todd is mistaken for a stereotype, he needs to embody that stereotype in at least some fashion. That needn't mean he was captain of the football team, but maybe he made a point about dating cheerleaders and had a tendency to act possessive and sexist in front of their friends, or was accused of being gay at a party and so cheated on his girlfriend with the nearest woman just to show he was straight. That might still be a misunderstanding - maybe he didn't cheat on his girlfriend, but people thought he did, for example - but that is one example of how you might give the outward appearance of Todd as a macho dickwad, even if at heart he isn't. [/edit] Keep in mind I'm just pitching ideas here. It's your story. Write what makes sense to you.
Okay. Although I do have a good general idea of who Todd is, I am getting stuck on the specifics. So what I'm going to say now isn't what I've already decided but is instead what I'm contemplating. I don't think Todd should have a girlfriend at all but instead he should be attempting to be a player. He spends his time trying to impress girls so he can brag about how many girls he has slept with as opposed to having any significant relationship. I have not decided that Todd should drive a jeep but Todd needs to have something that, at least in Todd's mind, is a reason why girls should just fall for him. The reason for the cliche of the captain of the football team is because, at least in the mind's of some men, girls fall for athletes and the more athletic the better. So I guess what I'm asking for is alternative things that, in some men's minds, causes women to fall for them. Then Todd gets in trouble not because of what he does to one specific woman, but because of what he does to pretty much all the women he tries to impress with his masculinity.
I think I just got the perfect, non-cliche, answer: money. Todd tries to impress girls with money. He doesn't buy girls because that would be prostitution but he thinks girls should be so impressed by his wealth that they will throw themselves at him but he doesn't respect women.
