We love to use them. Those words are familiar and so we write them down. The problem is the cliche might say just what we want to say but those words ahve performed the same action for stories and stories. Look at the adorable baby. The moon resembled a huge wheel of cheese. There are a million cliches and they're used by writers again and again. Often a new cliche creeps into the language and suddenly it's seen in every story. One I've seen recently was "He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear." Some form of this was in everu romance I read for months.
Cliches just aren't used for showing pictures but also of showing a person. The tough bully. The tramp with a heart of told. I'm sure you know many.
When writing getting rid of cliches is a task that takes time. These darn things creep into every bit of the story. From settings, to actions, to people cliches are found. You may not get rid of them all but it's a good thing to try.
And remember if you're clever enough, you might just give the world a new cliche.
Showing posts with label cliches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cliches. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Tuesday's Writer's Tip -- Effect Cliches #MFRWAuthor #BWLPublishing #Writing #Cliches
Just what if a cliched effect? The effect is the way a character reacts to something. Using a cliched phrase is so easy. He knew he was in danger. He felt as if he was jumping from the frying pan into the flame. Now this may describe how he feels but we've all heard that used a million times. They're making love and one of the characters feels like the rockets are going off on the Fourth of July. Another cliched phrase. Finding the way characters react to events or situations takes some effort to avoid those cliched bits.
MY PLACES
http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com
BUY MARK
http://bookswelove.net/authors/walters-janet-lane-romance-fantasy-suspense-medical/
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Character Cliches #MFRWAuthor #BWLPublishing #Cliches #Character #Writing
How does one keep their characters from becoming cliches. We've all read about the tart with a big heart, the stony faced doctor, the brash cop. In the hands of some writers, these characters become cliches. A reader will start to read a book and think I've read about these characters before. They really haven't but the writer has shown the character in the same way other authors have.
One way to look at this is to understand a character's role in the story. Are they just a walk on or do they play a role. One thing is don't just use the character's career choice make the reason for them to be there. Give them a reason for their appearance. Have them give a clue to the quest or show a sinister note to their appearance. So make sure you know their purpose for being there. You'll be adding interest to the story.
MY PLACES
One way to look at this is to understand a character's role in the story. Are they just a walk on or do they play a role. One thing is don't just use the character's career choice make the reason for them to be there. Give them a reason for their appearance. Have them give a clue to the quest or show a sinister note to their appearance. So make sure you know their purpose for being there. You'll be adding interest to the story.
MY PLACES
http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com
BUY MARK
http://bookswelove.net/authors/walters-janet-lane-romance-fantasy-suspense-medical/
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Tuesday's Writing Tip - Cliches #MFRWAuthor #BWLPublishing #am writing #Cliches
In the hear of writing, you are concerned with putting the words of the story on the paper. You reach the end of that rough draft and then comes the revision. Suddenly you find those little phrases like blind as a bat, from the frying pan into the fire and other things you've read and heard before. Part of the problem is they flow so easy from the keys of the typewriter and from the mouth. Often they say just what we mean,
We've seen how often something can become a cliche. I remember the first time I read, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Sounded great the first few times but suddenly those words ahve become a cliche. Think about how when you're reading you find a particular phrasing great and suddenly, you read it everywhere, That's how cliches are born.
Finding ways to change remove cliches from your writing is difficult. The first way is to find something completely different to say. Find another way to voice what you mean that packs a punch for the reader.
There are other kinds of cliches. Here's a list and we'll be looking at them in the next few weeks.
Phrase cliches, character cliches, effects cliches. scene cliches, plot cliches.
We've seen how often something can become a cliche. I remember the first time I read, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Sounded great the first few times but suddenly those words ahve become a cliche. Think about how when you're reading you find a particular phrasing great and suddenly, you read it everywhere, That's how cliches are born.
Finding ways to change remove cliches from your writing is difficult. The first way is to find something completely different to say. Find another way to voice what you mean that packs a punch for the reader.
There are other kinds of cliches. Here's a list and we'll be looking at them in the next few weeks.
Phrase cliches, character cliches, effects cliches. scene cliches, plot cliches.
MY PLACES
http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com
BUY MARK
http://bookswelove.net/authors/walters-janet-lane-romance-fantasy-suspense-medical/
Monday, May 18, 2015
Meandering on Monday with Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor
Meander 1 - Cliches. We are told to avoid them when we're writing our stories. But they always seem to be the right words to use. So we have to find other ways to say those rigth things. I've found one place where knowing cliches is a great help. That was today's Crossword puzzle. Sundays usually have a theme and today was one. Made em feel good when I knew all the cliches needed to fill in the blanks. So I guess though I'm always taking them out of my stories they are some use after all. I'm not sure I succeed with the stories, but I do with crossword puzzles.
Meander 2 - Reading - Lately what I've been reading I have at least rated. That is so much better than writing a review. One problem is people seldom rate my books. Maybe they don't read them or maybe writing the reviews is too much trouble. Not sure what the problem is. One thing I do when rating. Very, very few books will get a five. Most receive a four. I may have given a few threes but lower than that I don't go. That means I didn't like the book one little bit. Hopefully those who don't rate my books feel that way too.
Meander 3 - Writing. Plugging away typing Divided Dreams and can't do the last of the re-writes until all are typed in. Am now working on devising the plot line for Wizards of Fyre. Am on my third try to get the story going in the right direction. What I was ignoring was the strong villain. The hero and heroine are strong. The villain wasn't even there. I've found him and am woking to get the story going in the proper direction.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Tuesday's Inspiration ala John Gardner About Cliches
While reading On Becoming A Novelist again I came across this bit about cliches and discovered that especially during a rough draft, such things crept into my work. Now these aren't the average clichés but ones but ones like his broad shoulders, a faint smile curving her lips. The kind of clichés we never even think of when writing. I would imagine a brilliant writer would come up with alternates to words they've heard or seen written a million times on the first round. The careful writer will find them as they revise and find new ways to say things that have been said before.
I've noticed one that now seems to crop up in many a story, "He ducked a strand of hair behind her ear. I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean but I believe it's akin to one from years ago, "she straightened his tie." These are familiar phrases and are rather slips of the pen, typewriter. The first person to use a cliché is original. The next person to use one has said "Oh, I really like that. I'll use it. Surely the reader will like the phrase. And they will until it's used hundreds of times and then it becomes old and trite.
Mr. Gardner calls this "Pollyanna writing." Guess that means a sort of optimism that if one uses phrases and clauses that have been done before everyone will like what you've written. I once had an argument with a writing friend about something I used in a story. Mine was a lot different from what she was used to but to me it said what I meant. I went with what I'd written. Maybe I've seen it a few times since then.
So the moral of this story is to look for new ways to express what your characters are seeing and feeling. Don't depend on things that have become a cliché if you can find a better way of expression.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Cliches -- Brought on By Becoming Your Own Critique Partner
Someone once said "I've never met a cliche I didn't like." Not sure who but that's a true statement. I've found cliches useful when writing and also when doing crossword puzzles. The real problem with using them when I write is finding all and getting rid of them. There are more than those nice little phrases such as white as snow, or blue as the sky. Cliches come in other flavors. There are cliche characters, effects, scenes and plots.
Some writers have made great use of cliche characters. I know I have. The grouchy nurse, the kindly doctor, the tough detective. Perhaps if these characters are just background people they can remain as cliches. If they have a purpose in the story they need to have a bit of individuality and personality.
Effects are a character's reaction to an event or a situation. Take the character's reaction during a lovemaking scene. Like fireworks. Soaring to reach the sky. We've all used them. What about battle scenes. Gut clenched. Try using a surprise when a character reacts.
Scenes can become cliched. The first meeting of the hero and the heroine often rings with the same words or the same actions. Find a way to change this. Instead of having the meeting be a comedy or a tragedy look for a way to show the expectations skewed. Can be a lot of fun devising ways to show the discovery of a body in a mystery or the plague in a space opera or the magical events in a fantasy.
There really are cliched plots. Pick up a book and begin reading. All of a sudden it hits you that you've read this story before. While there are only so many plots and so many ways to reach the end what the writer has to do is put a personal spin on a story. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl. We've read this story a million times but some writers find ways to make this seem fresh rather than cliched.
Finding ways to turn cliches from stale to fresh is the trick. When writing, remember the time, the setting and the genre and find that twist to make your story leave the road paved with cliches.
Some writers have made great use of cliche characters. I know I have. The grouchy nurse, the kindly doctor, the tough detective. Perhaps if these characters are just background people they can remain as cliches. If they have a purpose in the story they need to have a bit of individuality and personality.
Effects are a character's reaction to an event or a situation. Take the character's reaction during a lovemaking scene. Like fireworks. Soaring to reach the sky. We've all used them. What about battle scenes. Gut clenched. Try using a surprise when a character reacts.
Scenes can become cliched. The first meeting of the hero and the heroine often rings with the same words or the same actions. Find a way to change this. Instead of having the meeting be a comedy or a tragedy look for a way to show the expectations skewed. Can be a lot of fun devising ways to show the discovery of a body in a mystery or the plague in a space opera or the magical events in a fantasy.
There really are cliched plots. Pick up a book and begin reading. All of a sudden it hits you that you've read this story before. While there are only so many plots and so many ways to reach the end what the writer has to do is put a personal spin on a story. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl. We've read this story a million times but some writers find ways to make this seem fresh rather than cliched.
Finding ways to turn cliches from stale to fresh is the trick. When writing, remember the time, the setting and the genre and find that twist to make your story leave the road paved with cliches.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Visual pictures
This is the inspirational. As writers we must use words to create a picture of the people and places we write about. Once again I've been reading John Gardner's On Becoming A Writer. In there he said a number of things. One was about cliches. Another was how we're influenced by television, movies and other people's writing. Another thing was how the flavor of our writing word choices comes from the general area where we were raised. This hit a nerve but as I looked at my own writing, I began to see some truths in this statement.
Let's look at cliches. I love them but I know they're tired and trite. Sometimes they seem to say exactly what you wanted to say. I know when I finish a rough draft I have dozens and I try to remove them. Sometimes single words used as description are cliches. Broad shoulders. Do all heros have broad shoulders. Lately I've been seeing this in a lot of romances. He clasped her small hand. Seems that too many heroines have small hands. One of the tricks to getting rid of cliches is to cast the words into the frame of your particular works. Into the frying pan, could become into the autoclave if your character is in the medical profession. A way to rid yourself of the broad shoulder, small hands sort of thing is to show those in a different way. His shoulders rivaled Atlas's. That sort of thing.
Now the outside influences. When we watch a car chase on the screen and then write one in out manuscript, we often borrow from that. Sometimes it's hard to know if the words you've written have been written before. Some writers I know never read in the genre they write. Others often do. Here I think it depends on a writer's vision. Are the scenes depicted really copies of ones they've read of seen. I don't mean exact copies but rather echoes of what they've seen or read.
Where we live and how it effects our writing. People who were raised in cities tend to use different words and phrasing than those raised in the country. In my own writing I find that being born in a town that was an extension of a big city and where people used mainly verbs and nouns that I often struggle with descriptions. I also trained as a nurse and this had helped choose my vocabulary and being terse. When I returned to writing after a long stint working as a nurse even verbs and nouns came slowly. I'm not one for long flowery passages. Not that there's anything wrong with these. Even when writing poetry, my poems tend to be terse and to the point.
Let's look at cliches. I love them but I know they're tired and trite. Sometimes they seem to say exactly what you wanted to say. I know when I finish a rough draft I have dozens and I try to remove them. Sometimes single words used as description are cliches. Broad shoulders. Do all heros have broad shoulders. Lately I've been seeing this in a lot of romances. He clasped her small hand. Seems that too many heroines have small hands. One of the tricks to getting rid of cliches is to cast the words into the frame of your particular works. Into the frying pan, could become into the autoclave if your character is in the medical profession. A way to rid yourself of the broad shoulder, small hands sort of thing is to show those in a different way. His shoulders rivaled Atlas's. That sort of thing.
Now the outside influences. When we watch a car chase on the screen and then write one in out manuscript, we often borrow from that. Sometimes it's hard to know if the words you've written have been written before. Some writers I know never read in the genre they write. Others often do. Here I think it depends on a writer's vision. Are the scenes depicted really copies of ones they've read of seen. I don't mean exact copies but rather echoes of what they've seen or read.
Where we live and how it effects our writing. People who were raised in cities tend to use different words and phrasing than those raised in the country. In my own writing I find that being born in a town that was an extension of a big city and where people used mainly verbs and nouns that I often struggle with descriptions. I also trained as a nurse and this had helped choose my vocabulary and being terse. When I returned to writing after a long stint working as a nurse even verbs and nouns came slowly. I'm not one for long flowery passages. Not that there's anything wrong with these. Even when writing poetry, my poems tend to be terse and to the point.
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