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It's been awhile since my last cliché post, so I thought I'd look at the temptation aspect of clichés, and why writers are drawn to using them when faced with tough description choices.
The way I see it, there are four main reasons to reach for the Poisoned Apple and chow down on it:
1) Clichéd expressions and descriptions convey an immediate, recognizable picture to the reader. Why bother to
I thought with the launch of our new Setting Thesaurus, I'd take a quick look at how setting description can transcend to convey atmosphere through the deft manipulation of the five senses.
First off, what is Atmosphere?
Atmosphere is the mood created through the deliberate description of setting. Depending on the emotion you wish to evoke in your reader during a scene, the description can be
Many elements go into creating a successful novel, but one of the most important is Setting. For a reader to relate to the current action, they need a physical anchor to tie the characters to. It can be difficult, finding the right words to convey a sense of place. The right description can create a rich image for the reader, involve them in the action and heighten atmosphere and mood. Poor
Date: 12 July 2007
Time: 9:00—13:00
Where: Brescia House School
Cost: For Non-members R80 per person (includes tea & lunch)
For SCBWI members R40 per person (includes tea & lunch)
RSVP: [email protected] by 5 July at the latest. Please use “Illustrators and writers share their books” in the subject line.
Description: Children’s book illustrators and writers share their books.
Programme
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Cliches are so much easier than stopping to think :) That's why.Nice post! I try to force the first thing that pops in my mind away and use the second or third.
Cliches are as common as fleas on a dog, so it behooves us not to sweep them under the rug. Better to use flea soap and wash them out of our hair. :O
Having been raised to speak 3 different languages from childhood, I don't know as many cliches as the average American, or sometimes I think I know the cliche, but my husband corrects my screwed up cliche.Anyway, I heard you can use them in dialogue.Thanks for always keeping us informed. I have your emotional thesaurus open while I'm rewriting.
I think it's either one of two things -a) lazinessb) a newbie mistakeI admit it. The first draft of my MS was riddled with cliches. And I also thought it was ready to go out the door before it was ready...Superagent served me my $%@ on a platter. He liked the story enough to give me two pages of editorial notes, mostly encouraging, some on plot points, and some on cliched material. I was lucky. (
I agree that cliches are just easier than having to think up something new. When I first started, I thought cliches would be a good thing, because they're familiar. Apparently, I forgot how annoying it is to be around someone who's constantly throwing them around :).
A cool trick is to come up with an original way to use a cliche. I once described a scene as a Norman Rockwell painting that came to life. After I cringed, I rewrote it thus;"The lady on the park bench is drawing this scene as she does every day that the weather allows, and offers her finished works to the tourists for a modest price. She could be the reincarnation of Norman Rockwell, and her
Great comments, Guys!PJ, that's perfect advice. We usually think of the cliche first--so we should nudge the descriptive tidbit a bit to find the fresh idea. Bish--LOL!Gutsywriter--wow, three languages! I know about 1 & a half (I took French in school but if I had to talk to someone in French, their ears would explode at my broken French. I think someone who doesn't quite get the cliches right
I think that in dialouge cliches are OK if it is reasonable that the character would use them (a character from a play I studied in school spoke entirely in cliches and it really worked for the character). This is distinct from cliched dialougue. I have been watching Star Wars with my younger brother, and the oft uttered line: "I've got a bad feeling about this" makes me cringe!
Naturally, a post like this makes me think, "Hmm, how can I start a story with a cliche and still produce something interesting?"I think using the cliche as part of the voice might work. Something like this..."It was a dark and stormy night. But what night would be a good one for your fiancee to tell you she's been seeing another man? And to hell with the storm. Even if it was raining bits of
I've tended to work my cliche issues out on private so no one else but me knows they exist. Ha! But in actual writing and submitting form, I think the use of cliches was stomped out of me before I could let professional eyes see it. I'm uber aware of them when I write (except for shoulder shrugging, must stab).I tend to save that stuff for the fanfiction I write. That's not to say it's laden,
Yeah, dialogue is one place where using a cliche is totally fine. I'll be doing a post on this in the coming weeks.