Note:  A truly modest thanks is given to HawkfrostedTips , who was the Watt Pad user that helped me come up with this section of the editorial.  Please check out their stuff if you have the chance, as they are a clever and an artfully skilled writer.  Now on to a cliché that seriously needs to croak by now.

  If there is one character arc that is the most overused, it would be that of the mistaken identity.  These story lines always have the same setup, same kinds of characters, and same conclusion that usually does not amount to much of a reward for the audience.  Almost always, it starts with the main character being accused of a crime such as robbery or murder, depending on the genre of the story and the setting.  They find themselves suddenly an outlaw, being chased by loads of cops for a crime they did not commit.  Despite the risk of being arrested, the main character goes on a secret quest to find out who is the real perpetrator of the crime.  The main character eventually stumbles into their "faker", a character that has similar physical traits.  Either this character, always a villain, has the character motivation of  ruining the reputation of the main character or finishing their own nefarious quest outside of the main character's life.  They face off many times, with the main character almost always getting the short end of the stick through a bad loss in battle or their arrest.  However, the main character prevails in the climatic final showdown, which ends with the defeat of the look-alike.  The main character's name is finally cleared and they go on with their life.  As for the look-alike, one of three things occurs.  They have the option of getting arrested for the crimes committed, dying an anti-hero to save the world, or becoming an ally of the main character.  Most popularized in mystery novels, this probable fantasy trope is bad news for any potential writer for its repetition. 

No matter how you try to make this cliché storyline work, there are always elaborate writing traps in the story's structure that get you stuck quite easily.  When creating the look-alike character, people tend to fall into the trap of making this character an evil clone of the main character.  In the looks department, the character is made to look similar but not the same to the main character.  This ruins potential believability to the plot line, as a quick look at security footage or police evidence would clear the main character quite quickly.  Only making the character a clone or a twin could get around this problem, but doing that creates more clichés you do not need.  The plot is going to be always somewhat mystery-based, even if you intend for the storyline to be fantasy-based or of something from a different genre.  To make the storyline interesting, plot twists and suspense, two elements of a mystery story, are needed to keep consistency.  Add to the fact that the look-alike is doomed to one of three overused endings and you have dug your own fictional grave.  These types of plots are not rewarding to the author as well as to the audience.

At this point you may be asking if doppelgängers, identical looking characters that are created to cause chaos on the main focus's life, count with this cliché.  Despite the allure doppelgängers such as Katherine serve to characters like Elena from books like The Vampire Diaries, these kinds of characters are just as guilty of this cliché.  As long as there is some type of mistaken identity given because of the doppelgänger, in Katherine's case causing Elena's life to be ruined and even ended due to her identical look, doppelgängers still are a huge part to this literary cliché.  They are basically the same as evil clones or evil twins, characters that already have clichés of their own when used.   No type of identical looking character is safe to use.

  Instead of repeating a plot line used millions of times over, how about trashing the idea for a plot line more original?  It may seem harsh, but hear me out.  What is going to stand out more to an audience?  Is it going to be the mistaken identify plot or a lesser used plot line such as the importance of family bonds?  I would most likely read the latter of the two.