Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Those Darn Cliches #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Just what is a cliche? They're those words and phrases we all love and use every day. Problem is using them in writing makes the work seem tepid.  Almost any part of what you write can be a cliche.

What about the plot? Sure there are dozens of cliches in plots. Probably every one that has been written borders on being a cliche. Makingit less than one is up to the writer and the skill he or she ahs on evolving the story. Problem is if a writer goes too far from the cliched plot one or two things can happen. The reader can love it and suddenly the original plot spins a dozen or more follow throughs. The other thing is that the readers will reject the story as being too odd and too different. So finding a cliched plot and making a spin on this is difficult. I've tried this and have both succeeded and failed. But that's the life of a writer

Cliches are often a very real part of the rough draft. Being in a hurry to get the story down makes the writer use the first words that appear at the end of their fingers. The cure for this is to rewrite and rewrite removing each cliche as they're discovered.

There are ways to avoid cliches. In the next few weeks I'll look at some of the ways to avoid the lost child, the murdered spouse,and other things that could become cliches from landing in your book.