Extraordinary
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![]() Writing Cliché FreeEver been dinged in a contest or in a critique for using a cliché? I sure have. What is a cliché? Here are a few general definitions I found.
Look carefully at these definitions. They are very applicable to our writing. I know you’ve all have heard of the romance writing oracles Some One, They Say, and They Said. Their teachings and sayings have often been quoted to me in an effort to prevent me from using dreaded clichés. I shall be referring to their words of wisdom here. I think, to a degree, clichés are unavoidable. I suggest we take clichés, bend and twist them and use them to our advantage. I’m calling it fresh writing and cliché busting. In the movie, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, the Cannibal, Lector, a brilliant physiologist kills, and eats part of his victims. Ewww! Think of all the Hollywood tough guys the director could have picked to play Lector. Each and every one evil, and diabolical. He chose Anthony Hopkins, a five-foot- six, middle aged, English Shakespearian actor whose only screen roles to date had been portrayals of gentle men. The performance Hopkins gives is chilling. Big cliché buster. On more than one occasion, the oracle They Say makes it very clear we should not open a book, with our characters in bed, the weather, a death or at a funeral. It’s cliché. Well, I smell bull sh*t and you can tell They Say I said so. What does it matter as long as it’s done with humor and style? As in cliché busters. They Say is also against opening with descriptions of the weather. It was a dark and stormy night. It was a bright sunny day. Try, It was a dark and stormy night on a planet that didn’t have nights or storms. It was a bright and sunny day. The first in the hundred and twenty years since the war. Simple, and for me, cliché busters. Some One is against using cliché sayings. What about the GIECO auto insurance commercials? They take cliché sayings bend and twist them and make them fun. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Really? The little pig went wee, wee, wee all the way home. Can a woodchuck chuck wood? In this commercial we learn they can. My favorite, honest Abe and Mary Lincoln. She asks, ” Does this dress make my backside look big?” Poor Abe. The Drill Sergeant Therapist. These are cliché busters. Take a look at the following clichés. Can you twist them to something new? Alls well that ends well. An oldie but goodie. Pick of the litter. Pay backs are hell. Kick ass. I know it like the back of my hand. Slept like a baby. I’ll take the last one. A detective asks his partner. “How did you sleep?” His partner replies, “Like a baby. I woke up every two hours.” They Said makes it clear we must stay away from stereotype cliché situations. Say my WIP is about a middle aged Italian widow who loves to cook. She has two grown sons and she is constantly talking to them about marriage. What is the first image you conger up? A short plump woman standing in her kitchen stirring spaghetti sauce with a wooden spoon and lecturing her sons they need to get married and give her grand children. Try this. A hot Italian cougar with her own TV cooking show who is desperate to get her sons to break up with the boring women they are considering marrying, sell their book store, and travel the world for fun and adventure. Cliché buster. A woman is walking down the street talking on her cell phone. Seen that a million times, right? Follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGSS0c_F4nk to see a woman in a 1928 Charlie Chaplin movie apparently talking on a cell phone. To make matters worse the woman looks like a man. Her feet are bigger than the man walking in front of her, her ankles are thicker than mine, her hand is huge and the whole thing is just plain spooky. How about that for a time travel cliché buster? I do agree with They Say, descriptions have become predictable. Just once (yes I used just) I’d like the description of the handsome Lord in a historical to be a bit off. Lord Brilliantly Handsome stormed into the room. His cravat appeared to be on backwards, his waistcoat was on inside out, his breeches buttoned askance and dear me, his boots were on the wrong feet. Where had his Lordship been and what had he been doing that led him to such disarray? Or, the beautiful heroine has a penchant for wearing so many ribbons in her hair you can barely see said hair. Oh come on, you know you’d like to see it happen. I loved the way Gillian described the doctor in her entry in our First line Contest. She got the point across without beating us over the head. A cliché buster. Bottom line is, listen to our romance writing oracles. Avoid being a lazy thinker. Don’t use the same overused, predictable, unimaginative, boring clichéd openings, character descriptions, settings and situations. Spin them, twist them, make them your own to thrill and amaze the rest of us. Go through your WIP. Can you identify a cliché you could rewrite? Need help brainstorming? Bring it over.
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