It's a lot easier to unring the bell for the EU than it is to do the same for the PT.
The stories that always grabbed me from the EU were those that didn't incorporate these cliched, hacky elements:
1) Snapshot of the OT heroes enjoying life as a prelude for upcoming conflict
2) Distant villain plotting dastardly, galaxy-conquering scheme aimed squarely at our heroes - often at Han & Leia's kids
3) Previously mentioned scheme involves some sort of superweapon
4) A "Trilogy". (Sorry, rant in 3, 2, 1...go!)
THE GODDAMN TRILOGY STORIES - IF THOSE WEREN'T THE MOST OBVIOUS, DESPARATE LUNGES FOR SIMILARITY TO THE OT MOVIES, THEN I'VE NEVER FUCKING SEEN A DESPARATE LUNGE BEFORE! THE THRAWN TRILOGY, THE JEDI ACADEMY TRILOGY, THE BLACK FLEET TRILOGY, THE CORELLIAN TRILOGY, THE HAN SOLO TRILOGY, THE BOUNTY HUNTER WARS TRILOGY - JESUS H. MOYNIHAN, MUST EVERY STORY TAKE PLACE OVER THE SPAN OF THREE BOOKS??
Mind you, some of those trilogies had some good works in them - it's the principle I objected to.
5) The new force user that went unnoticed during the time of the Empire but is more powerful than Luke, Vader, Yoda, Obi-Wan and Palpatine combined.
The best of EU avoids that sort of thing.