Southern Fried Chicas

I read a complaint not long ago by a romance reader on a board that intrigued me at first sight.
In this post, the reader complained about “villainous sex”—i.e., that romance/mystery/UF writers often wrote scenes in which the uber-villain had sex (or attempted sex) with some woman, and it was always dirty or violent or vile or sadistic.  Always the same with the villains, and it was getting tiresome.

CLICHE.

My immediate emotional response?
Well, geez—what’s an uber-villain SUPPOSED to do?
Although I can’t imagine him not bringing his work home with him, I suppose it’d be possible for a super-antagonist to be sweet and cuddly or sexy and caring during sex, but monstrous when he hit the playing field.
And then I thought…hey, that’s not a bad story angle, lol.

Of course, the villains aren’t the only characters presenting such problems.  There’s the hero with the tough shell and soft cream inside.
The gutsy heroine with the heart-rending secret in her past.
The lady’s man who needs just the right lady to settle him down.
The hooker with the heart of gold.
Friends to lovers.  Rivals to lovers.  Enemies to lovers.  Shieks to baby’s daddies.
And so on and so on.  You can mix ‘em, you can match ‘em.  We know them well.

Avoiding the cliches is a minefield when it comes to writing.  Most of the characters are pretty much variations on a standard theme.
If you can make that variation sufficiently interesting or different, you may be hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
If you stray TOO far from the standard, you’re into fantasy, possibly freak show territory.

Another part of that high-wire balancing act writers seem to have to perform.  And people want to know why we’re all nuts.

How do you avoid the cliche trap with your characters?  How hard do you have to work at it?  Do you think you’ve been successful?