Common PTS Cliches

Ever wonder what people do in their private training sessions? Well, many of you who think you're being original may not be, so in case any of you want to be sure you're mixing it up a little and avoiding the common cliches, I'm going to compile a list of the things I've seen most often in the ones I've read and graded. Anyone else who's had the pleasure of being a Gamemaker, feel free to add to this.

Here they are, in no particular order:

1) KNIFE THROWING. I'd say this is by far the most common thing to read about in training sessions, and it gets boring. It's always the same thing: John Doe misses his target at first, but suddenly - wow! He's amazing! There are a zillion other ways to make knife throwing a lot cooler, so please let's take a creative approach rather than a generic one?

2) LISTING THINGS. The most common one I've read is of tributes listing off plants and their uses. Now if that one wasn't so overused, I'd like it a lot more; I think it's interesting, but unfortunately it's been used to much that chances are it'll bore the reading Gamemaker to tears. Again, put your own twist on it! And if listing things is an absolutely unavoidable thing for your tribute and it's the only thing they'd do, try to come up with a more creative list. For example, I've seen weapons and uses listed, along with lethal points on a body.

3) SELF-INFLICTED DAMAGE. The moment I see someone injuring himself in some way I cringe. This didn't really become a big thing until a couple of Games ago, but suddenly a good third of the tributes are harming themselves, accidentally or on purpose, and then fixing themselves up with their badass first aid skills. So cliche. Please try to avoid this if at all possible, because in all likelihood the Gamemakers would not allow it to happen as often as it does.

4) MAKING A FIRE. If you're gonna make a fire, do something cool with it. Otherwise it's just boring.

5) DEMANDING THE GAMEMAKERS PAY ATTENTION TO YOU. Just because Katniss did it doesn't mean we all have to, guys. More often than not a tribute would be too intimidated to call them out or, say, shoot an arrow at them. We're not all Katniss Everdeen, contrary to popular belief.

So those are my top 5; I could be forgetting some, and I'll probably add more if I think of any. If anyone's had a tribute who's done one of these things, please do not take this as an insult; I've had tributes that have done them too. I'm not necessarily don't do these things, nor am I saying that you'll get a low score if you will; I'm merely suggesting that people who want to have original PTSes avoid them or put their own twist on them, rather than do what everyone else does. It really pleases a Gamemaker to read a very original session^^