First thing that pops into your head when you think of 'cliches'?
At first I couldn't think of anything, but then I thought 'prophecies that always come true'. I really dislike prophecies in stories. Nine times out of ten they are completely unnecessary, and in the 10% they're not, they're 100% unhelpful. Seriously, unless you're looking to win the lottery I see absolutely no good that can come from knowing anything about the future, because things will happen regardless of whether you know it will. Plus there's no reason to believe anyone who claims to speak prophecies. The real world is full of people making false predictions for money and attention, so why is it in fiction that every one who has a prediction is taken seriously, and never shown to be wrong? I find it hard to believe, even in worlds where it's possible to predict the future, that there aren't quacks who are shown to be wrong. Unless every single prophecy maker in every book is actually a quack, and every single character is just super gullible, in which case that would actually be hilarious.
Oh boy, "The person to defeat the evil will literally be the only person to stand up against evil." And by the way, literally no one else should stand up for themselves against the evil while everything you love and care about is being destroyed, because heaven forbid you prove the prophecy wrong just to save the lives of your loved ones.
Wow. That was a rant. XP I don't even know if prophecy counts so much as a cliché as it does just a really lazy writing technique.
Personally, I don't think clichés are necessarily bad. Even the prophecy idea could be used to good effect - I haven't personally encountered it, but there are plenty of books with prophecies that I enjoy despite them. I really enjoy stories that work to be original and play with or subvert certain tropes and clichés, and I wouldn't have those stories if the clichés didn't exist. But if I'm being honest, there are also stories that rely on certain clichés that I really enjoy. ^^
I kind of wonder about all these complaints about teen books. I've sort of moved out of the YA book section in recent years other then to continue reading series or authors that I follow; or if a specific book is recommended. But when I was reading YA I found plenty of books I enjoyed, with very little of these clichés. Of course, I typically stuck to fantasy. Ah, I sound like every writer - "in my day, writing was actually good." XP I just find it interesting that I rarely stumbled across these clichés. It might just be the genres I read.
How does your tone differ depending on whether you're writing something you love or something you hate?
It becomes very sparse. But strangely, when writing something I love it's also sparse, because I'm rushing to get all my thoughts down. XP But eventually, when editing I lovingly craft and add to my loved parts, and then throw out the parts I hate.
What's the last writing project you abandoned?
My novel. I abandoned it on March 4th. Six days ago I picked it up again and have been furiously tearing it apart and piecing it back together. So it was abandoned for about ten days total. XP If it wasn't for the characters I would've thrown it all out, but I love these dorks too much to throw in the towel just yet. It seems they'll have to work a bit harder to get rid of me.