Story plots seen too often
- Thread starter I_Shrugged
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Yeah. . .
It is never a keen idea to start writing a story that is based loosely on either your own personal emotions or something you have seen in a movie. . . or, uh, Dungeons and Dragons.
We all feel like writing about the spiritual emptiness of our jobs, but maybe the better place is your journal or a letter to a friend. It won't be cliche in your memoirs, people might connect with your existential despair. . . but does not really work for fiction.
Aliens. . . no. Wacky hijinx. . . only for fun. Dreams and reality. . . sometimes. I do kind of like the Magical Realism genre, but only if presented in a original way that makes me think and want to be in that story. Like the Dark Tower series for instance, or the Matrix.
It is never a keen idea to start writing a story that is based loosely on either your own personal emotions or something you have seen in a movie. . . or, uh, Dungeons and Dragons.
We all feel like writing about the spiritual emptiness of our jobs, but maybe the better place is your journal or a letter to a friend. It won't be cliche in your memoirs, people might connect with your existential despair. . . but does not really work for fiction.
Aliens. . . no. Wacky hijinx. . . only for fun. Dreams and reality. . . sometimes. I do kind of like the Magical Realism genre, but only if presented in a original way that makes me think and want to be in that story. Like the Dark Tower series for instance, or the Matrix.
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Okay Shrugarooooooniiiiiiiiiiii
You post a link then I suggest you read this...
Formulas & Falacies in Short Story Writing
You post a link then I suggest you read this...
Formulas & Falacies in Short Story Writing
Yes Teddy, the tools are necessary. . . use the tools, write the art. Of course. Good writing can sometimes trump the cliche it is based on, though that does not mean its still a cliche.
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They also have the "Horror Stories we've seen too often" list.
And that is the reason I like Teddy's link. I wrote a story that I considered sending to Strange Horizons, but after seeing The List, (one of them described my story, exactly) I sent it somewhere else. It sold. I somehow missed the link in the second market's guidelines to the SH lists; they claimed to not want to see those stories either. But the editor emailed me and said that I had done the story with such a great amount of style, that he had to have it.
And that is the reason I like Teddy's link. I wrote a story that I considered sending to Strange Horizons, but after seeing The List, (one of them described my story, exactly) I sent it somewhere else. It sold. I somehow missed the link in the second market's guidelines to the SH lists; they claimed to not want to see those stories either. But the editor emailed me and said that I had done the story with such a great amount of style, that he had to have it.
Perhaps...
it is writer's honesty that turns anything, even over-used plots or cliche situations, into publishable story. Honestly caring about the words you use, the character and hir story as you tell it, the way you tell it, all this brings your voice clearly into the story. An editor can hear this and appreciate it.
it is writer's honesty that turns anything, even over-used plots or cliche situations, into publishable story. Honestly caring about the words you use, the character and hir story as you tell it, the way you tell it, all this brings your voice clearly into the story. An editor can hear this and appreciate it.
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I submitted a story to a SF magazine a while ago and got the rejection reply, "Search and rescue with a twist"
I didn't see that on the StrangeHorizons list.
The twist in my story centres around an old four wheel drive Landrover. So now I'm thinking I might sub it to a 4WD magazine instead.
I didn't see that on the StrangeHorizons list.
The twist in my story centres around an old four wheel drive Landrover. So now I'm thinking I might sub it to a 4WD magazine instead.
Good list. Reminds me of the "Stories that begin with a character waking up in the morning" list for lit. fiction. Also includes character seeing himself in mirror as way of describing self to readers.
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Cat Scratch said:
Ah, now that brings up a memory from somewhere...
At eight o'clock on Thursday morning Arthur didn't feel very good. He woke up blearily, got up, wandered blearily round his room, opened a window, saw a bulldozer, found his slippers, and stomped off to the bathroom to wash.
Already too many adverbs, and the same one repeated, as well as the 'waking up' thing. That David Adams just never got it.
Doctor Shifty said:Ah, now that brings up a memory from somewhere...
At eight o'clock on Thursday morning Arthur didn't feel very good. He woke up blearily, got up, wandered blearily round his room, opened a window, saw a bulldozer, found his slippers, and stomped off to the bathroom to wash.
Already too many adverbs, and the same one repeated, as well as the 'waking up' thing. That David Adams just never got it.
Ah, but comedy has a different set of rules.
I checked out Strange Horizons yesterday for a story I don't have a home for. Every time I think of them as a potential market, I look at their site and end up chickening out because their list of what they don't want includes just about everything.
I mean, many of those plots they list could make for a really neat story, even though they've been done before.
I mean, many of those plots they list could make for a really neat story, even though they've been done before.
James Young, 101 Plots Used & Abused. Make sure you get the expanded 1961 edition (78 pp). I've owned three copies. Young says it's not that the ideas are bad, but they've been done to death, most writers think they're unique, & the denouement is almost always predictable. I cite Henry Slesar as proof that a good writer can put a wicked spin on these chestnuts & make sales.
I'd encourage you to give it a try if you think your story fits the market, for two reasons.
a) experience in acceptance or rejection (those folks are kind and thorough.) and it doesn't require the cost of a stamp.
b) despite their guidelines, you're never really sure what they're going to like. I had two stories published there a while back, one of them about socks. Socks were the main characters, and it was an omniscient narrator. Go figure.
Editorial detail and suggestions were superb.Strange Horizons is an on-line stomping ground for new spec-fic authors, as well as established authors. It is highly regarded, pays well, and looks for new talent. Their guidelines are guidelines for a reason - too many ezines end up having to wade through the slush of cliched story lines. Since they are online, and it doesn't cost anything, an author can read their weekly picks (present and past), compare their own work, and have a good idea whether their story matches Strange Horizons' style. If you can immediately illiminate your story, then you've made your job easier. If you cannot immediately illiminate it, it might be worthwhile to send it.
The SH list contains a couple of my pet hates - the story with the unexpected twist (too often the lazy way of bringing a story to a conclusion), and the writer writing about a writer writing, or not writing, or characters having a life of their own and rebelling against the story line...
Add to that lists pacts with the devil (especially regegeing on, finding loopholes in, etc).
And poets - we've got enough poems about the changing seasons already.
But as Siddow noted, excellent writing can make the difference. Sometimes.
Add to that lists pacts with the devil (especially regegeing on, finding loopholes in, etc).
And poets - we've got enough poems about the changing seasons already.
But as Siddow noted, excellent writing can make the difference. Sometimes.
Hah. I've seen that list before. I always enjoyed it. I believe Neil Gaiman mentioned it a couple of years ago, which is how sad I am.
Who the hell wants to write about the spiritual emptiness of their jobs? Good god. Why don't I just go do tax forms instead? It'll be about as much fun.
I never understood the "in a state of misery, I'm writing miserably an angst-filled piece of fiction on misery" concept of writing, though I had hoped that it died by the age of about seventeen.
I've always quietly intended to send them a story based completely off one of the plots they don't want. Soon as my brain runs in that direction again, I will anyway.
Who the hell wants to write about the spiritual emptiness of their jobs? Good god. Why don't I just go do tax forms instead? It'll be about as much fun.
I never understood the "in a state of misery, I'm writing miserably an angst-filled piece of fiction on misery" concept of writing, though I had hoped that it died by the age of about seventeen.
I've always quietly intended to send them a story based completely off one of the plots they don't want. Soon as my brain runs in that direction again, I will anyway.
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That list was actually really funny, and you can tell it was written by people who have been forced to read a ton of bad material. I'm certain that most of the people who submitted the stories in question were under the impression that they had thought up a totally new concept. Either that or they were merely repeating a concept they had seen once and liked. If there's one way that being a avid reader can help a writer, it's that you've probably read enough crap novels to know what not to write.
An extremely good point, CB... and on a different vein of this, I've gotten story ideas from rejection letters on occasion. So I'd say try them out -- yeah, they're hard (I'm still trying to break into that market*g*) -- but I think it's worth it.
PeeDee said:
But then "Office Space" comes along and does a brilliant job with this plot.
To take Shrugged's pizza analogy further, a good story is like tasting an exquisite thin-crust, wood-fired pizza with garden-fresh ingredients after eating nothing but Domino's. Although you know it's still the same food/plot, the quality makes you feel like you're experiencing it for the first time.
Too bad it doesn't happen that often.
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MeowGirl said:
Absolutely brilliant! I can see it over & over - I've worked in that same office - in six or seven of them, in fact. With the same folks - software subcontractors. I am in a cubicle now, although not as nice as the ones in OS.
Mike Judge (Milton, King of the Hill, Beavis & Butthead) wrote & directed.
Trivia: "The iconic red stapler coveted by Milton was created for the film by the prop department. They needed a bright enough color to be seen on film and chose red. After the film was released, Swingline began to receive requests from customers for red staplers. Having stopped offering red a number of years before, they made the decision to start offering the color once more."
Doctor Shifty said:Ah, now that brings up a memory from somewhere...
At eight o'clock on Thursday morning Arthur didn't feel very good. He woke up blearily, got up, wandered blearily round his room, opened a window, saw a bulldozer, found his slippers, and stomped off to the bathroom to wash.
Already too many adverbs, and the same one repeated, as well as the 'waking up' thing. That David Adams just never got it.
If you mean Douglas, then yes, he's ripe with cliches, but as someone pointed out, that's comedy for you. Also, there's a huge difference between waking up with a bulldozer coming toward your home (plot) and waking up, thinking about your impending boring day at work, looking at yourself in the mirror to describe yourself to readers, shaving, eating toast, getting in the car, heading to work, and then, say, finding you've been fired (lots of extraneous stuff, then plot).
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