Cliche is as cliche does

I rolled my eyes when I read this topic for this week's post over at YA Highway. I mean, cliches? Then, I bit my lip and started to mull over the possibilities. Perhaps this post would end up being more than I bargained for. Literally, I wanted, in the worst way, to make this post stand out from the crowd, but then the topic is...cliches? How would I survive?

I'm no stranger to cliche. Honest. And, I love a good, well-written cliche (because, IMO, it is possible. Obviously not by me, but possible nonetheless). Favorite YA hero of all time? Gilbert Blythe. Boy-next-door, AND friend-she-won't-admit-she-loves. But, seriously, swoon. 


As for my favorite cliche? I like the romantic ones. The, oooh-this-is-going-to-be-good ones. If I had to narrow it down, I'd probably go with Chanelle fan of the perennially popular love triangle.

Love triangles have had some bad press lately. And yeah, throwing a rival in just for fun, so your readers can divide into "teams" and make tshirts announcing their respective choices is probably not the best way to approach plotting your novel. However, for my money (you're loving how I'm doing this, aren't you?) part of the greatness of a YA romance, or any romance, is how it allows you to live vicariously through the heroine. It allows you to experience a fantasy that would, in real life, be completely miserable. In real life I couldn't date two people at once, the stress would've killed me. But, in a novel--I love jealousy. I love confusion. I love conflict. Love triangles provide all of those things. And, it allows you to explore more than one kind of hero. Win!

That's it. Now you know. I may go hide my head in shame for having admitted this deep, dark secret. But only because the truth hurts, especially on dark and stormy nights.