Talk: Creepy Clichés

Creepy Number We Haven't Used Yet

6, 13 and 666 is getting too old for my tastes. So, why not 4? People in Asia seem to be afraid of it.

Malcolm McComb (talk) 04:58, February 18, 2013 (UTC)Malcolm McComb

Examples

Please add at least 1 example for each point. It will make the meaning much easier to get across.

StabbyStab 00:35, July 27, 2011 (UTC)

Do you mean that we should link to a story that uses it? Or if it's an omnipresent meme(like the scary song thing), can you just mention the most common manifestation of it(the Lavender Town theme)?

MothmanVQX 00:41, July 27, 2011 (UTC)

Any of those would work

StabbyStab 11:33, July 27, 2011 (UTC)

i can but the link would be broken, does that matter?

LemmiwinksWasHere 22:18, September 27, 2011 (UTC)

The ultimate irony is that "cliché" itself is a cliché. The definition of cliché is something that is so overused that it's lost its meaning. The way this page uses the word "cliché" is not in that meaning. These examples are just overused writing techniques. They have no meaning, and therefore they cannot be clichés.

(The Messenger)

Good job

Very good list of "what not to do/only do if you must." I actually lose all interest in a "serious" pasta if they use the word "hyperrealistic". And the "creepy music on repeat"? THE GAME PLAYS IT ON REPEAT ANYWAY. I'll definitely let you know if I think of anything that be good to add. -King Starscream 15:28, July 27, 2011 (UTC)

I USED ALL OF THESE AT ONCE AND THEN SOME, JEALOUS? http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/GOODBYE_SPONGEBOB Civil Man 15:01, August 6, 2011 (UTC)

I am grapely jelly, thank you. Kudos on that. --King Starscream 18:47, August 10, 2011 (UTC)

New one to add...

Cleverbot conversations about BEN. They aren't creepy, and most of them are more or less the same. And for that matter, "I erased this extra file in my game, and when I went to play the other one, everyone said I didn't have a name!!!!1" But the Cleverbot ones are just so BLAND on top of that... --King Starscream 18:47, August 10, 2011 (UTC)

Or, how about starting off your pasta with "This really happened", either as "you have to believe me" or "you won't believe this, but..." Also, now that I think of it, Cleverbot conversations at all. --King Starscream 18:11, September 27, 2011 (UTC)

satan?

Does anyone else think that when the story says something is related to anything demonic, it just makes it not scary at all? I am an atheist, so that is likely why, but it almost seems silly by the end. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Robottick (talk • contribs).

RememberToSignYourPostsPleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaase. -- BlittleMcNilsen (Talk | contribs) 04:15, November 30, 2011 (UTC)

Hmmm...

If "creepy shit happening in mirrors" is a cliche, shouldn't we just delete the "mirrors" category as a whole? Weirdowithcoffee 20:33, December 28, 2011 (UTC)Weirdowithcoffee "As the world shrouds in darkness...so too will your lives be snuffed out!!"

Another one

At the end of some computer related pastas, "If you ever find something that says _______, don't click on it!"

How many times have you seen that?

Acidpop 17:12, January 14, 2012 (UTC)acidpop

Addition?

Honestly, I've lost count of how many stories end with the writer being the monster and OMG HE'ZA GET U!Grassrunnerdaughter (talk) 01:09, March 16, 2012 (UTC)

Who's taking examples out?

That really shouldn't be happening. If people think it's a cliche, it should stay. I'll try to re-add the random deletions later.Aradials 16:29, May 9, 2012 (UTC)

This doesn't apply in all situations. Some "cliches" listed here could be mere complaints, those of which are deletion worthy. I let go and fall deeper. This will be the end of me. 16:32, May 9, 2012 (UTC)

How'd I get in there?

I saw my name amongst teh rules reading something like "dear MightyKombat" or whatnot. What's going on here? MightyKombat 21:25, May 11, 2012 (UTC)

It's the USERNAME template. I let go and fall deeper. This will be the end of me. 21:27, May 11, 2012 (UTC)

Yeah I noticed just now. I'm a hyperrealistic nob. Sorry bout that. Hate to show you such bad checking. MightyKombat 21:28, May 11, 2012 (UTC)

Clichés that can be added?

What about zombie apocalypses or walking corpses? I know it's a primitive fear, but I'm starting to simply just yawn when I see zombies. The same can possibly be said about "Demonic possessions" or stock demon names like "Belial" or Goetic demons like "Asmodeus". PurpleShirt 07:44, June 1, 2012 (UTC)

Aww, fudge.

I looked at the Pokemon Cliches and my creepypasta, AbAnDoNeD, had at least two of those. DARN IT...Wait a second. Just because it has some cliches, doesn't mean it's bad, right? Right? TigerTheDragon12 04:55, June 20, 2012 (UTC)

I added saying that a character was molested under Theorypasta, but I guess the way I worded it made it look like spam because it got deleted soon afterHeavyMetalProphet 02:57, June 29, 2012 (UTC)

I can honestly say there is nothing I hate more than the second cliche under Theories. Saint Elsewhere did it before all of you! Take me out of darkness, walk me out of blindness, lift me out of sadness, save me from my damned-ness 01:32, July 2, 2012 (UTC)

A few things I'm getting tired of.

• Theory pastas about how shows in fantastical settings are actually set after the apocalypse / all of the magical creatures are mutants. (Especially bad in Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Time, since that show seems to officially be set in a post apocalypse.)
• Finding videos that are more nonsensical than creepy. (Like the video from Barbie.avi, or the video of a legless man break dancing from Normal Porn for Normal People.)
• Video game pastas having the music slowing down or lowering in pitch to a low rumble or one constant note.
• Video game pastas ending in the screen getting darker and darker untill the screen is just black / ending on a blank screen after the player character dies.

CryptCaperCalzone (talk) 21:30, July 27, 2012 (UTC)

every pasta to do with satan or christianity is stupid/cliche and boring

People put it in their pastas as a way of saying TROLOLOLOL MY RELIGION IS THE ONLY RIGHT ONE

Its stupid and overused, and almost every single pasta i read includes that shit.

Also saying TEH BLAWD LEEKED FRUM THE SKREEN or I CANT SHUT DOWN MY PC/CONSOLE or other impossible things happening to you or an object just makes people not read your pasta

Ragdol (talk) 21:56, August 11, 2012 (UTC)

Agreed

True story bro. Calasanmarko (talk) 19:06, October 26, 2012 (UTC)Calasanmarko

True story bro...

General Cliche

Watching a video or doing something and something about "No escape" either written or said constantly. I really wish I could 'escape' all the pastas that use this...

TheShadyNerd (talk) 16:56, November 16, 2012 (UTC)

Usernames, Usernames

Seeing the USERNAME template makes a pasta lose its originality. I mean, every pasta has that template, especially at the end of the story. It's in the Jeff is Back pasta, but also on numerous others, including Accounts of the Dead/fr. "I was just enjoying the show... Then I got shot in the head." (talk) 11:54, December 24, 2012 (UTC)

Hey, can an admin add "Destroying the cartridge at the end" to Lost Episode and Video Game pasta cliches? Business Cat 07:56, December 31, 2012 (UTC) Nevermind, found it somewhere in the Video Games list. Business Cat 11:43, December 31, 2012 (UTC)

I know this is really nitpicky, but...

...could the title be changed to "Creepy Clichés"? The e-acute (é) is technically the right way to spell it. LOLSKELETONS (talk) 02:46, January 3, 2013 (UTC)

But then it'd be harder to add links to it in Source mode. +frowns+ Furbearingbrick 02:54, January 3, 2013 (UTC)

Not for me. I have special keyboard. A SKELETON KEYBOARD! LOLSKELETONS (talk) 21:30, January 3, 2013 (UTC)

A new one?

Not sure if this qualifies as a 'cliché', but it does seem to come up a lot: 

Computer screens being accosted by horrible images of rape, murder, torture, necrophilia, pedophilia, bestiality and other assorted paraphilias after the protagonist/author plays a creepy game/visits a creepy website/opens files on an 'abandoned computer/hard drive', followed by the computer blue screening, then restarting with one (or more) of those images as the desktop wallpaper, which the author can't get rid of or obscure with other windows.

Related are ones where the author/protagonist finds a video file (either online or on the computer's hard drive) that contains scenes that make A Serbian Film look like a Disney movie. Whatssocreepyaboutpasta (talk) 17:49, February 2, 2013 (UTC)

Do we have this cliche yet?

Basically the character or something comes out of the game/TV/video and kills you or they drag you into it and either kill you or do horrible things to you? SCP-1316 (talk) 13:45, March 1, 2013 (UTC)

If you guys allow me to add one more...

A general cliche that I see quite often, it is about how the Main Character/Narrator/Primary victims tend to describe themselves as normal people that either just read a lot of Creepypastas before the story kicks in, or tend to read a lot of it as a form of backstory. What bothers me a lot is that it is a cheap way to creep us out, our mind knows that we, as readers, read many creepypastas, maybe we are avid readers, maybe we just do it casually, but the fact that we read a certain amount of them, makes us relate to the characters in the story subconsciously. I'm not saying that it is an attempt to break the fourth wall, I'm saying that is an indirect way of saying "YOUR NEXT!!!111"

What do you people think about it? SantuXD (talk) 22:20, March 16, 2013 (UTC)

How about those creepy and/or "cursed" images?

One thing I've noticed are those creepypastas involving creepy and/or cursed images, mostly popularized by pastas like smile dog, but I've seen a few "follow the leader" pastas (case in point: Why.jpg) around this site as well...

Sure it's not as big or common as the other cliches here (yet...), but I kinda fear that someday, it will become a major cliche, similar to the likes of the Jeff Formula.... just thought I'd mention this... TP09PinoyRacer (talk) 18:12, March 17, 2013 (UTC)

Dreadedballoons (talk) 22:33, March 18, 2013 (UTC)Dreadedballoons

Need some ideas...

Hmm...Still looking for ideas about a pasta.Something involving everybody in town to always be happyin a creepy way.(simlular to the happy happyist's from EarthBound/Mother2.)

Ear shattering sound

I've noticed that many pastas (especially lost episode or filename pastas) very often have the video or file become extremely loud or so loud, that the protagonist's ears start ringing. Many times the sound also nearly breaks audio equipment. Most of the time the sound is a scream or a cry. It can start out quiet, eventually becoming as loud as I described before. Don't you think this is a cliché?

Tikonium (talk) 18:34, April 18, 2013 (UTC)

That other theory cliché

What about the "characters from series X are the reincarnations of children who died years ago"? I saw that in a Spongebob one and in a MLP one, and probably aren't the only ones. {{subst::Utente:Phantom Dusclops'92/firma1}} 17:56, June 19, 2013 (UTC)

Don't forget about 3:33. 333 X  2 = 666Anti-Saix (talk) 01:22, July 2, 2013 (UTC)Anti-Saix

Zelda Pastas

All the gotdamn "Zelda Pastas" are getting as overrated as the "Poke Pastas" now. It's always those stupid N64 'Zeldas'. No one gives a shit about the N64. It was shitty, all the games were shitty, and there shouldn't be anymore N64 Pastas. You did it with Pokepastas, do it with Zeldapastas. Makes me want to wish the gotdamn console out of existence, but make all the fans remember, but can't find a trace of said console, let alone talk about it with another or draw it. FIX IT.

What if

But what if this happpened to you and you saw something HYPER-REALISTIC and it really happened in real life. what do you do to describe something REALISTIC without saying hyper-realistic or bullshit Joseph.meza.5688 (talk) 00:14, August 28, 2013 (UTC)

Theory Cliche

One of the theory cliches listed (about it all being a character's dream/hallucination/they have autism/etc., like in the one comic where Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ends up being Mac's imaginings of the house in a snowglobe) was actually done on television. It was the conclusion to the show St. Elsewhere (which I think someone mentioned further up the page), with the autistic son of a doctor imagining the entire series while looking at the hospital in a snowglobe. I would imagine the Foster's comic was a direct tribute to it, but people are apparently taking it as a legitimate theory. It just makes the "twist" way more cliche, in my eyes, and I think it should be added. 

Tl;dr: "it was all in his head" TV theories are just rip offs of an actual television show. jlovecraft (talk) 05:26, October 28, 2013 (UTC)

Explanation cliches

What I mean is:

• A Sequel explaining what was actually happening: [1] This ruined the pacing and the ideas left from the previous one.
• Having a character explain what was actually happening(after another person's account, discrediting it) in a fic. This would've felt better if it was hinted. Seven Deadly Sins suffer from this: [2]
• Having the character Simply state that he is [insert mythical/internet monster]. We get it through the metamorphosis, no need to explain it. Thanks for breaking the suspense.

That's all I know. 

Can someone help me with these? Any problems or additions?

diSTorTED voICeS

I've seen this so often on here lately that it's becoming a cliche if it's not one already - the trope of depicting something or someone talking in a distorted/demonic voice by uSinG RaNDomLy inSERteD caPitAL leTterS in WoRDs.

Imagine if William Peter Blatty's novel (and screenplay) 'The Exorcist' had used this method for depicting the demon talking. It would have been unreadable. It's annoying, it doesn't make it scarier, and it really should just stop. --Whatssocreepyaboutpasta (talk) 23:47, June 28, 2014 (UTC)

Unlock

Please can someone unlock this Page? I want to add a few things. --Ichwillpopcorn (talk) 17:39, August 20, 2014 (UTC)

"Waking Up" Pastas....

What about protagonists waking up somewhere unknown? I see that alot...Boadicea the Warrior Queen (talk) 22:22, November 8, 2014 (UTC)

Some more clichés

I think these clichés should be added:

• Purple Prose
• Blood
• Unnecessary Axioms (Theory only)
• Redshirts (Can done right but it´s very hard not to make a character alá Kyle from Sonic.exe who is dead before the pasta begins and his only purpose is to be killed)

--Ichwillpopcorn (talk) 14:00, December 19, 2014 (UTC)

About mentioning creepypastas

1. References to pasta monsters/memes (Smiledog, Jeff, Zalgo, Slendy, BRVR, etc.) This includes spinoff/copycat characters like Jane The Recolor...I mean, Jane The Killer. Not only is this a cliché, it totally shatters the willing suspension of disbelief.
2. Mentioning creepypastas in your creepypasta. Doing this isn't being meta or enhancing your story in anyway. At best it breaks immersion and at its worst, it reminds the reader that they could be reading a much better story.

I believe these two paragraphs have the same point. Why not combine them into one?

This page lacks interrobangs! Why aren't there any‽ Can someone explain‽
(seriously though, it's better than using ?! or !? and it's much more striking)
FrenchTouch (talk)

Thank GOD for this page. TwilightDagger (talk) 16:21, April 11, 2016 (UTC)

HOW TO MAKE THE 'creepy cat killers' CLICHÉ WORK

Okay,so you can't think of anything for a creepypasta other than the 'creepy killer cat' cliché. What do you do? You do this: First,make sure the creepypasta is WORTH WRITING. You don't want to put your creepypasta up and people say it's super lame and they gave up half way. The WORST thing to do is put 'cute cat goes evil and kills everybody'. Your best bet is a stray/feral cat. Why is this different? IT'S IN THE NATURE OF THEM TO KILL SH!T. This fits. Introduce it slowly. Have your protagonist(s) maybe:

• See a report in the news around 1/4 of the way through the story about a person found dead,nearby where the cat should live. (Draw a map and plan out EVERYTHING. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. For example,you could have 'Killing 1' in an alley five blocks away from the protagonist(s')'s house.)
• Go off somewhere and then they go missing,or if plural,one of them go missing. DON'T MAKE THIS HORRIBLY CLICHÉD. Have them go into a woods or something easy to get lost in. One of them separates to find something (food,water,something they dropped,ect) AND NEVER COME BACK.

Or something else. NOW HAVE THE CAT START KILLING LOTS OF PEOPLE. You continue. BOI!--CrimsonHeart369 (talk) 08:33, May 2, 2016 (UTC)

Um.. I think for the Video Game 'pastas, we should add that the speaker loses a love for video games and moves on with buisness stuff (ex. an office job) RatedMforMario (talk) 14:06, March 28, 2018 (UTC)

Misspelling

Just a minor thing, but "Eeveelutions" is misspelled as "Eeveeluitons". Additionally, "Pikachu" is both a singular and plural word, and there isn't a separate plural form. AgentParadox 23:46, February 14, 2019 (UTC)

Basic horror movie things

Audrei9: Stuff goes missing around the house, you're led around, etc. Random noises in the night, stereotypically dark and brooding atmosphere, relatives pass away/ die penniless/ was never well known/ was a recluse, leaves behind found footage thing in their will/ nonsensical papers/ weird old photos/ whatever to start a story. Well, these aren't necessarily creepypasta clichés anymore. Tons of horror movies have them. Middle class white family moves into a house, find it's haunted, shit happens. Probably one of the most prominent clichés from what I see.

I wanna use this for my wiki!

Hey, I'd love this on my wiki! But since my wiki doesn't accept Theorypastas anymore, I decided to change it when it's on my wiki, and make it say: "NOTICE: You are no longer allowed to post a theorypasta. If you do, it will be deleted without an admin's discretion. But still, keep these cliches in mind when trying to post it offsite." 

Also, in the "Lost Episode Cliches" part, I will add this: "Having the creator of a show make the true pilot (or a true premiere of one of the show's seasons). What kind of concept is that? This was originally used in Family Guy Lost Episode, but used in others like The Buzz on Maggie Lost Episode. Try to make it something else, because people like you don't normally have to see the REAL pilot to a show."

Also, this cliche should be added: 

• Having the creator of a show make the true pilot (or a true premiere of one of the show's seasons)

Also, unlike this wiki, my wiki still accepts Lost Episode Creepypastas, because I like Lost Episode Creepypastas. No offense, man, but this wiki is garbage nowadays, in my opinion. 

I like the Geoshea's Lost Episodes Wiki (now known as Geoshea's Creepypasta Wiki, because it's ToonLinkMinions11's version of this wiki), because they still accept Lost Episode Creepypastas. That wiki's an awesome one. And this wiki? Not saying much. Again, no offense. 

Also, in the Geoshea's Lost Episodes Wiki, people post their Lost Episode screenshots made in MS Paint (my MS Paint drawings are screenshots of Lost Episodes, and I'm an MS Painter), and it was the classic version of this wiki all over again.

Again, I wanted to use this on my wiki! I wanna show them the cliches that people are using on my wiki!

Mattkilledme!!! (talk) 15:34, July 27, 2019 (UTC)

5 More Gaming Clichés

1. The protagonist losing consciousness due to something coming from the game/show and waking up in the hospital, having barely survived due to some sort of supernatural force. This also applies to Lost Episode pastas. Extra cliché points if it is revealed that a person close to the narrator died while they were in the hospital.

2. A character (presumably the main character) from the game/show appearing out of nowhere and pulling out a bloody knife, regardless of what weapons/powers they actually have. This is a lame attempt at showcasing the main antagonist of the pasta due to its low shock value since knives are so common in the horror genre.

3. The protagonist having to fight against the same character they're playing as, only to witness the doppelganger put up no fight while the character the player is using senselessly beats them up without imputing any commands (or vice versa).

4. The protagonist's friends or family members dying/committing suicide because of the game the protagonist played. While this cliché isn't the worst, it's very bland and used quite frequently in an attempt to add a feeling of misery or fear to the pasta.

5. Any creepypasta with ".exe" in the title.