Writing Cliches
Posted under: The Advice
“Avoid writing cliches!” they crow.
You look at your manuscript/idea/outline/character sheet and cringe. Are you manipulating cliches?
What’s worse, it seems like everyone is cashing in on cliches! How many urban fantasy novels can have a kickass heroine who finds love (or lust) with various inhuman partners? How many telepathic links to animals? How many talking dragons? How many young boys fulfilling ancient prophecies? How many talking swords? How many sexy vampire romances?
The list goes on and on and on.
Example
I wrote a Pokemon fanfic (very briefly) which began with the main character dreaming of being a famous pokemon master, then waking up late on her birthday. Some of my readers groaned (politely). I didn’t understand why it was a big deal until I started reading more pokemon fanfic. Then I was just embarrassed.
Three quarters of BAD pokemon fanfic begins the exact same way. It doesn’t matter why I did it or even that the writing and details were not precisely cliche – the situation was very, very overdone. My ignorance was no excuse – instead, it was MORE damning because I hadn’t taken the time to properly research the writing environment I was trying to enter.
Cliche PHRASES
He was “a bundle of nerves” or “so happy he could burst!” or “pleased as a pig in mud”.
We use these kinds of cliche phrases, often without even thinking about them. They’re so much a part of our speaking vocabulary that we don’t “think twice” about adding them to our writing.
The problem is that even with a conversational writing style, these phrases STAND OUT. Especially for someone who reads a lot. Seek them out and find ways to work around them. Saying that someone is “a bundle of nerves” is shorthand, lazy writing. By saying that, you are permitting yourself to avoid describing their emotions – the sweaty palms, the tense shoulders, the biting of their lip.
One phrasing boots the reader out of the story. The other way draws them in deeper.
Cliche CHARACTERS
Most of the time, cliche characters are flat characters. Does your redneck garage mechanic wear coveralls, chew on a piece of timothy hay, and talk real slow in a southern drawl? Does your butt-kicking female vampire slayer wear designer clothes and ride a motorcycle but melts into a puddle of lust at the first sign of a sexy vampire master?
These characters are CARTOONS.
I don’t want to read about cartoons. I want to read about PEOPLE.
Give your redneck a degree in astrophysics. Make your vampire slayer a cubicle monkey.
Take the boring and turn it into something interesting. Sometimes even adding a single new dimension to a character gives you enough hooks “When did he get the degree? Why is he still working in Podunkville, Nowhere? Do her office-mates know what she does during off hours? Has she ever had a vamp track her down at work?” to build not only an interesting character, but also to entwine them more deeply into your plot.
Flat, cliche characters float on top of plots.
Round, unique characters embed themselves too deeply in the plot to be separated.
Cliche IDEAS
Too many sexy vampire novels out there, but still have a hankering for a fang-tastic book?
Make it different. Change it up. Maybe the vampires are the prey. Maybe they aren’t allergic to sunlight, and maybe they drink souls rather than blood. Maybe it’s set in medieval times or in space or in feudal Japan.
Too many young men fulfilling prophecies? What makes your story different? Is the prophecy a trap? Is the young MAN not actually a man, but a woman instead? Maybe this hero was born the blind son of a shepherd and he has to learn to fight to save his land. Maybe the others he trains with or groups with don’t think he’s actually the prophetic one. Maybe they make his life miserable.
Often, cliche ideas are BROAD, GENERALIZED, and CLEAN. When dirtied up a bit with reality and specifics, they begin to lose that plastic, fake-y cliche wrapping.
Combatting Cliche
Cliche is as cliche as you write it. The best way to notice and combat cliche writing is to READ a lot in your intended genre.
That being said, some cliches are more cliche than other cliches (ha! That was fun to type) and some things become cliche because they WORK and are entertaining. Prophecies, magical swords, and telepathic animals are among things that are cliche but that I will DEVOUR if I find them done well.
Never Apologize
Being aware of the cliche is definitely the biggest, first step.
The second step is to never say “but it gets better” if your readers point out cliches in your writing.
It shouldn’t GET better, it should BE better.
I was looking over a WIP this morning, with the intention of submitting the first 250 words to Authoress (alas, I was too slow) and was brought up short in my re-reading to see “…fight fire with fire.”
Ugh.
.-= Steve´s last blog ..Weekly Wrap-Up: May 24 =-.
“Give your redneck a degree in astrophysics.”
This made me think of the gentleman in the Scifi show “Eureka”. Hehe.
@Steve
Leave that alone! *swats you with a newspaper* You nitpick you first draft to bis, you’ll smother the flame of inspiration that made you want to write it!
@Byrd
Ha! That’s what I was thinking of when I wrote it!
Thanks for this! It was so helpful.