Clichés are everywhere. They lurk behind your monitor; they possess your fingers and brain. Just when you think you’ve lost them, they creep up in your best work.
There are different types of clichés in writing: unoriginal plot, stereotypical characters, and overused phrases.
Unoriginal Plots
When I began writing my first science fiction novel, I thought my ideas were brilliant. No one on earth had ever come up with a similar concept because I created it without outside influence and I’d never read/seen the plot before. I wrote three-fourths of it, loved it immensely, and started investigating opportunities to publish said book.
I visited a magazine site called Strange Horizons, and reviewed a list of the stories they’d seen a thousand times (and wanted to avoid ever seeing again). Handy list to have, by the way, before diving in. Here’s a link: http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common.shtml
Although I certainly had some original elements, to my horror, I had written the most cliché science fiction story of all time. Go me. But how could that be? I asked myself. I came up with everything on my own! The same could have been said about my first historical romance as well. It was a story filled with cliché scenes and conflict. Very little was original.
It happens because we are influenced by outside forces whether we want to be or not. We live in a very inside-the-box society, and it helps make interactions efficient and people relatable. However, it doesn’t make for great literature. I’m not sure if there really is a truly original idea anymore, but there are definitely innovative spins and unique ways of twisting a tried and true method.
As Editor-in-Chief Penny Freeman says to me all the time, “Give the reader what they want, just not in the way they expect it.” When in the developmental process, search online for similar keywords in movies or books. Find other lists like from Strange Horizonsand find out if you’ve unwittingly created a black hole monster, or an exclusive, new take on a concept. And read. Read a lot. That will help you see what’s out there, what’s overdone, and what’s fresh.
Stereotypical Characters
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Why does a biker dude have to be tough all the time? What if he counseled the jerk in the bar with insulting scripture quotes? And what if, under that bandana of his, he actually had bright red, clown-curly hair instead of a shaved head?
Have your characters do the unexpected. Have them be random mixes of different personality types. I’d love to see a teenager in a Young Adult Fiction story find joy in having their parents go out on dates so they could scrub the house from top to bottom as a surprise gift. Impossible, you say? I did it all time while growing up. Find people that have interesting quirks and take notes! Then write them into your story.
Overused Phrases
Even in this little blog post, I’ve used several cliché phrases: inside the box, tried and true, etc. Think how often people use idioms and expressions to get their point across. Many people use the same ones over and over. However, the best way to handle a cliché is to turn it around. Sal Glynn, author of the award-winning book The Dog Walked Down the Street: An Outspoken Guide for Writers Who Want to Publish, says this about getting back at those mundane phrases:
“One way to strike against the trite and the tedious is by using the anti-cliché. A really dumb cliché like what goes around comes around deserves to be mistreated. The anti-cliché is a cliché that is twisted into a different shape, but is still recognizable. For example, you could take what goes around comes around and change what comes around to probably should, to make what goes around probably should. The meaning is significantly changed, but it is better to be thought of as cantankerous, than as a bad writer.”
That is one of my favorite methods, though I still need to grow as a writer to do it well enough. Remember, in your first draft, it’s not always vital to come up with the perfect way to say things, especially when you’re running out of words.
Start with a fresh plot. Give it unexpected and bizarre (but organic) twists, then throw some really interesting, deep characters in there. Then once the story is written, go back through to ensure all those cliché phrases find a new home.
Happy writing!
Senior Editor McKenna Gardner’s latest project A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology is scheduled for release on July 31, 2013.
