Pet Peeve #31 - Cliché Abusers
This week’s Pet Peeve is inspired by/largely due to 101 Reasons to Stop Writing
Definition of cliché:
My definition: Overused sayings, characters, plot lines, etc that you should not use.
Education Planner’s definition: An expression so often used that its original power has been drained away, such as “dead as a doornail.”
Using clichés gets you nowhere. If you use a phrase you’ve heard before in your book, then delete it. If you’ve ‘modeled’ your character from another character in a book you dis/like, start with a brand new character sheet and get to work. If the same settings, plot lines, whatever are familiar because you’ve read them before then don’t continue writing them!
I’m all for reading my favorite books many times over, but I like a break for something different just like everyone else. I don’t want to pick up a new book to find everything seems familiar. There’s a reason my favorite books are my favorites - I like the way the original author wrote things. If I read your work as a reader or as an editor and see familiar things, I’ll tell you the same thing: Start over.
In case you don’t care to listen to me about this, listen to Mr. Reasons:
*Cliché is the plagiarising of what has already been plagiarised
*Cliché is a form of fan fiction
*Cliché is the antidote to originality
Now, having read this post, you have one question to ask yourself:
Is your hero a young farmhand with mysterious parentage?
July 25th, 2007 at 7:45 am
I’ve been wondering if some platitudes are so ancient and ignored that they may actually sound new again to this generation.
- And then I slap myself.
July 26th, 2007 at 6:53 am