Thread:Urkelbot666/@comment-26268104-20150717203610/@comment-25021327-20150717225420

I personally feel that most clichés can be pulled off if they are given a fair amount of effort and care. Some readers probably don't share my view on this and discount anything they see as a cliché or overused element, but that's my take on it.

The "Abusive Parent" is something that gets used a lot in many different types of stories, but again, it can be pulled off if it is done in a way that makes sense, or that people can relate to. My main issue with the abusive parent trope is that usually it is just used as a lazy backstory to explain someone being psychotic. Like, some kid can snap and go on a killing spree... Why? Well, because he had bad parents of course! Case closed! Abusive parents are real and are something that cacn be explored to good effect. I dabbled a bit with an abusive parent in My story Needs Work, but didn't go full-on child-beating-sadist turns his kid into a killer. It was a bit more subtle.

The plot that you've described is definitely interesting and could be unsettling to read about. I'd say to be careful how you write the mother killing her child, as that's an extraordinary case, and will have to be believeable for readers to accept it. A mother killing her infant child is something that seems feasible in the circumstance you described, but it has to be done in a way that the readers have a good sense of how bleak and dismal the world is, and what the parents have been through. It'll be tough to justify, but with some effort, it might seem at least like a possibility.

As far a the title goes, I would probably try to find something more unique. Does Darius have an internet name, or pseudonym? Did/Does his video blog show have a title? If it did what would it be? Maybe that culd serve as a title for the story. Having written a story called "Ebgerd: The Rock n' Roll Troll with Soul" myself, I may not be the best person to ask about good titles xD

In any case, sorry to have rambled on so long. I hope I was at least some help, and not any hinderance to your thought or writing process.