I'm trying to write a thriller set in D.C that deals with a domestic terrorist plotting to kill government officials, starting with Congressmen and working its way up to the President. He'll also blow things up and play mind games with the Secret Service Agents trying to catch him.

I'm really happy with the plot, sort of In The Line Of Fire meets Usual Suspects but my problem is I can't develop the characters without thinking of them as mere cliches. The typical workaholic, near alcoholic, the common love interest, the ruined marriages, the sacrifice etc.

Can anyone please suggest how to give them a bit of originality and to be different and not mere refections of characters past?

It is a cliche, so it needs a slant or a hook.

Why is he doing it, and what's the outcome?

Are there circumstances in which terrorism is justifiable? Can the end justify the means? Is he sane and sees this approach as the only course of action?

Does he/would he have public sympathy on his side, if the public knew any of what's going on?

Who's the good guy? The terrorist or the government? Someone caught up in it all?

Can you tell the story from the POV of someone who doesn't favour one side or the other? Is it better told with the conviction of one of the main characters?

Just a few thoughts. If you can find an angle to your plot, your characters don't have to be people we've seen before.

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SF08: Gethsemane (working title) - Thriller
SF08: Shooting - Comedy

Good luck to you all.

"It's never too late to become what you might have been."
- George Eliot
1st)>> Accept that very little of your Thriller will be anything but cliche.
You described your plot as being a mix between "Line of Fire" and "Usual Suspects; Two Great Thrillers, BTW! So you've built a degree of cliche into your concept, at the outset. Go with it, fear not. I believe the twists comes in who your character really is.

For example: some WORK-A-HOLICS are doing this to avoid some person, place, thing or situation in their life in which their fear has frozen them and they cannot bear to face it, while other WORK-A-HOLICS may be chasing an illusive dream, still other WORK-A-HOLICS need to do their job in order to know who they are. See what I mean?

I would suggest that next you figure out which your character is and explore.
Cliches need not spell doom. There is still a wide enough margin of variety even within the cliche.

The president is the killer.

Have you looked at the question sheets for the protagonist, antagonist and helper characters on the writer's resources pages? I mean, by the time you've answered things like "what outfit would your villan not be caught dead in?" you are bound to have some specific non-cliche details to throw around. :)

"An important truth that seems not generally to be grasped is that great art is CONSCIOUS art." -- Maren Elwood from Characters Make Your Story

Thanks very much for all the replies. It really helped me out a lot.

I'm from DC, and there is nothing but workaholics!

Cliches keep returning for a reason: they are true. They are mostly unavoidable. Like everyone said, incorporate the twist and you'll be fine.
~Kate