Two Bad Qualities-- should I just ditch?

You do have an advantage in that you aren't making this stuff the focus of the story, though.

And here I thought that this would be the EASY story to write. Guess that means both my stories are going to be uphill battles. At least this one has no purposely unlikable characters.

I guess I should be asking now, HOW is amnesia handled badly? I got the inspiration for this story from season six's Buffy episode where they lost their memory and jumped to the completely wrong conclusions about who they were. I had never seen something like that before, so it became easy for me to find out new ways to play with it.

Hrm. I suppose that's true.

edited 19th Mar '12 4:30:35 PM by MrAHR

I'm in a similar position myself with my own WIP, which has 4,100 words in it so far. It starts with barbarians rescuing a Spunky Rebellious Princess who has run away from an arranged marriage and is generally a continent-crossing Quest for the Magical Artifact Story. I know that quality execution can override the cliche factor, but still my confidence has burnt out on this whole project.

While originality is overrated, I must ask why you wanted to write about that in the first place if you yourself think it's cliche (and that discourages you)? Mr AHR apparently had no idea that the amnesia/wake up in a room thing was so discredited.

Correct. I knew they were occasionally made fun of, but mostly in..spy...action...thriller...things. I hadn't put the dots together until now.

Because I fail at devising creative plots.

That said, I've decided not to worry about the clichedness of the plot anymore. As was said, originality is overrated.

edited 19th Mar '12 6:44:38 PM by Jabrosky

A lot of stories are inherently uphill battles. Cliche beginnings are one, certain genres are another.

For instance take my series Endless Conflict, writing a sci-fi war epic/Space Opera is a majorly uphill battle for me to do especially when the standards I have to live up to have epics and high earners like Starship Troopers, Mobile Suit Gundam, Star Wars, Star Craft, and Halo. Yet I'm trying my damnedest to get there to that level or better. (Whether I succeed or fail is a different story.)

You may be the same way. Inherently uphill battles however if you do pull it off are all the better. Any writer can write drivel set in the present day using our world and people-like characters but a master can take certain genres of that setting or better yet make their own and put in the effort to see it through.