How to make a story not cliche??

[Shadow Major]

Okay, I've been thinking about the storyline of my own comic lately, and I have realised, it sounds really cliche, doesn't it? I mean, I've heard of a bunch of stories where the main character teleports in some way to another universe, and there are a ton where the main character has to get stronger to defeat the main antagonist in the story. These ideas are so overused and I don't know if my story would have much impact if I used the same idea (which I really want to, as I've had these ideas from a very early age).
So my question is, how do I, or anyone else if they have this problem for that matter, make a story not or less cliched? Thanks.

[dvandom]

"Has to get stronger to defeat the main antagonist" describes pretty much every heroic myth, so don't worry about that part. And "doorway into fae" stories are also centuries old.

Past a certain point, cliches become genres. The key is to use them as a starting point, not an endpoint, and find a story to tell within the overarching plot. One thing that can help is to look for older examples of the format to see what everyone else has been ripp...er, homaging. So, don't use Inu-Yasha or Escaflowne as your models for "transport to another world" stories, use some Lord Dunsany or Homer's Odyssey.

"Old but obscure" is often a good way to go when homaging. Most people will pick up on a Homer riff right away, but Erewhon or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath will go right over a lot of people's heads.

---Dave

[Shadow Major]

Haha, you're right. Thanks a lot for the advice!

[PJCzar]

This is something I have always worried about for my stories aswell, and for the way i tell stories there is a waya round it. That said this solution doesnt work with all writers nor all stories.
I take a cliche like the good guy getting the skills needed to defeat the bad buy, and remove it completely. In my sotries the good guy usually fails. good doesnt always triumph over evil, but I can only use this trick because my stories are aimed at being tragedies and not happily ever after stories.

How about the one where the hero gets the girl? I usually kill her off and make it the main characters fault. I make people think its going to be alright then rip it away. throw the character into a dark place.
Tragedy.*
Its the anti cliche device, it works for me.
*please use responsibly

[Caliber Mengsk]

That's so Cliche PJ.

But, yeah, with how old story telling is, there is no way to avoid using somethings that others have. Be it amnesia, which is used as a way to introduce you to the world at the same time as the main character, to falling in love with the first girl the character tells you about in a story.

Just use them in unique ways and you'll be fine. Personally, I'd avoid amnesia stuffs, but that's me.

[Shadow Major]

Thanks for the comments guys! I'll try not to worry about it I guess, although there are some things I need to fix. I suppose what I'm also worried about is if I think up an idea that is really awesome, and then it turns out to be already taken?! It's happened before, for example, this actually came from my own head, but I thought up an idea about these warriors with swords which had human-like forms, and the warriors could go to their "inner-world" type thing and communicate with these swords. Then I saw Bleach, and my head nearly exploded.

[udash3c]

Build off it but don't overuse it. A good designer once told me this:" A good design stays a good design. A good building a thousand years ago is still a good building that we study today."