Twins as a cliché

[Clown_Countess]

Hey WF, another question for you that's probably more obvious than I'm making it out to be:

"Is using twins, most often identical twins, a cliché in terms of writing?"

Think about it -- your MC just lost his/her friend, or their going through all living hell because their loved one just died, whatever. Then, bam, they 'see' them again; thinking it's a hallucination (or a miracle). Nope, Chuck Testa just their identical twin trolling their lives!

I think it's kind of a gray zone in a way, because you never actually read books like that. Or, at least, no book I've ever read. Even so, doesn't it seem kind of childish? That they had an identical twin that you mistook for them (even more so through a moment of dire need) for someone else? It's possible, but at the same time somehow unlikely.

Am I making any sense here? This isn't the first time my mind's attempted to squeeze identical twins into a plot -- but is it acceptable? Do you think that it can be used as a genuine 'plot twist'?

[Cogent Dream]

A basic idea is not a cliche, it's how you execute it. The simple fact that there is a character with an identical twin is not cliched. It's a common enough occurrence.

[Rotsab M. Hyolf]

Ahahahahah I ran into this exact same issue like, last week. Though on my part it was a cop-out because I didn't really want to kill off a character that I knew had to die, so I made up for it with an identical twin separated at birth! (Who then gives the killer/lover of the original character a heart attack upon first seeing him.)

As Cogent has said, I don't think it's a cop-out. I think it can be a genuinely interesting twist, and the implications of seeing a 'dead' loved one again but completely different is fascinating on a psychological level. Plus, a lot of people who lose a loved one tend to 'see' them in malls and crowded places, knowing it must just be someone who looks like them. It's a very cool idea to play with. I'd go for it! ...Or, well, I didn't, but with a justification beyond 'I really don't want him to die' I think it's a cool route!

[Reeves]

Cogent Dream

A basic idea is not a cliche, it's how you execute it. The simple fact that there is a character with an identical twin is not cliched. It's a common enough occurrence.

Agreed. I mean, I'm an identical twin, so...there you go.

[The Spellslinger]

Well, 2% of the American population has a twin sibling. Doesn't sound like much, but it adds up to 4.5 million or so. They're not an element I would reuse often though.

[InkMistress]

Like others have said, it's in the execution; it could be a pretty typical plot twist, or it could come out of nowhere and really surprise the reader.

The only thing I hate dealing with twins in writing is when the twins are fraternal, usually of different genders, and the writer describes them as "identical" in terms of looks. Fraternal twins don't look any more identical than regular old siblings do, but everyone seems to forget this.

[Resonare Praeteriti]

Oh gods, I laughed for like five minutes at the Chuck Testa thing. XD But in all seriousness, so long as you have a well written story, I don't think it's cliche.

[Marble Eyed]

Look at that antolope driving a car! Oh no, there's a bear in my bed!

But seriously: I think there's some new show coming out about an identical twin who messes up her sisters life. It gets a lot more convoluted than that, but it's all cliches. Basically, you are right, you don't see the twin swap used as a device in fiction. There were the twins in Harry Potter, but all of their swapping was simply for the sake of confusing people. More of a character trait than anything else. I think identical twins who get mistaken for dead (or thought-to-be-dead) siblings is really only something you see on soap operas and bad movies. Not trying to shoot it down, it's just the last (and only) time I saw it done right was The Parent Trap.

[I Go Through Worlds]

it's kind of a cop out for a real plot explantion :/

[Hugsthebook]

If it contributes to your plot, it isn't a cop-out or a cliche. At least, not a bad cliche.
It's hard to navigate between what you want to write and what is actually beneficial to the story. But it's at least worth a try, isn't it?
Consider it a challenge to incorporate those lovely twin whimsies into a story, and don't worry if it gets thrown out somewhere along the editing road. mrgreen

[Lord Tezzy]

Reeves

Cogent Dream

A basic idea is not a cliche, it's how you execute it. The simple fact that there is a character with an identical twin is not cliched. It's a common enough occurrence.

Agreed. I mean, I'm an identical twin, so...there you go.

By the power vested in me by the land of make believe, I now pronounce you a cliche.

On topic and serious: no it doesn't. But the 'long lost identical twin returning just after death' is a cliche, and it's just dumb. At least in my opinion.

[Reeves]

InkMistress

Like others have said, it's in the execution; it could be a pretty typical plot twist, or it could come out of nowhere and really surprise the reader.

The only thing I hate dealing with twins in writing is when the twins are fraternal, usually of different genders, and the writer describes them as "identical" in terms of looks. Fraternal twins don't look any more identical than regular old siblings do, but everyone seems to forget this.

To be fair, I've met a fair amount of fraternal twins who look freakishly alike. They were always two boys or two girls, though, not the opposite gender.

[littlewonder2]

Here's me: I have a character that is an adoptive sister of my FMC. She dies in chapter two. A couple of chapters later, she meets Brenda, a girl who looks shockingly similar to her sister. They are not sisters; they're three years apart. But they are sisters (though FMC doesn't find this out until a while later).

Is that a good execution? Or does it need some work? You see, this is a theme I tend to repeat more often than I should. Maybe I'm just strangely attracted to writing about family...

But also, the problem is that I have difficulty distinguishing characters who have similar features, like long brown hair, short blonde hair, brown eyes etc. That's another thing I need to work on.

[LoperDoper]

Clown_Countess

I think it's kind of a gray zone in a way, because you never actually read books like that. Or, at least, no book I've ever read. Even so, doesn't it seem kind of childish? That they had an identical twin that you mistook for them (even more so through a moment of dire need) for someone else? It's possible, but at the same time somehow unlikely.

I read the bit you bolded and thought that I could direct you to a book which uses close-likeness siblings as a major plot point. But now I've realised that it is the final climax and I don't want to give it away confused

[Corona Licorice]

I don't think twins would be that much of a problem. In this case you could easily have the twin show up at the funeral, maybe that's when the main meets hem for the first time. There's all kinds of reasons why people don't stay in touch, could be living their own lives, could be living far away, could be in a feud. The list goes on! In the case of younger characters, maybe they go to a different school, and were never around when the main visited their house. Are the parents divorced?

Now if you were going to start with twin telepathy from beyond the grave, then I'd start to wonder lol

As long as there's some reason they're apart, not just for the sake of it. That's when it becomes a cop out IMO