Everything I Write is a Cliche!

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Clair Dickson

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Usually this doesn't happen, but I've been struggling with my writing the last few days. (Personal and technological crisis not withstanding.) Every scene I've come up with seems like a tired old cliche. In both my novel and the short story I'm revising for a loving, patient editor, and the new story I started. I know that everything has been done before, but I swear the stuff I've been writing is just trite, cliched and tired.

Either my perception is skewed... I'll admit that I've been wearing some dark-colored glasses lately. (Not that I ever even owned rose colored glasses.)

Or I'm just stuck.

Any ideas on how to write myself out of Cliche-land (aka where Hollywood writers live) and back to Unique Writing Land?

What do you do when you come up with a slew of ideas that all seem trite?
 

Phaeal

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You probably ARE having glasses problems. But try sinking deeper into the characters. If they're strong and true, their reactions even to "cliche" situations should bring freshness to the work.
 

CaroGirl

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I often feel that way, but when others read my stuff, they think it's original. Because I come up with the idea, by the time I've written it and edited it a couple of times, it's become a bit tired (in my mind). Your writing might not be as cliched as you think.
 

MsK

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I'm going to need a new 'delete' key if I continue at my current pace. It seems my entire manuscript was trite, cliched and tired.
After several weeks of deleting, I'm down to bare bones now, and truthfully, my story is boring.
I'm now in the process of filling in all of the empty spaces with- what I hope will be- more clever, unique and interesting scenes.
I'd say the way I'm coming up with my new ideas is to take risks and to not be afraid if the risks I take suck- as many of them have. (There's always 'delete' )
 

Edmontonian

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I'm not sure

I'm not sure that I understand your point. I don't think there are cliche scenes, only cliche words. The latter, avoid. The first, re-arrange. You don't have an example here, so let me offer one of my own: Say the well-know police movies, where the partner dies while chasing a bad guy and the partner wants to find the killers. You know how it goes: the supervisor throws the guy of the case, he starts his own private investigation, and, since now he is above the law, bullets start flying and corpses pile up.

What kind of twist can you give to this story? Well, the guy will have to be placed on administrative leave and off the case (standard lawyer advice). So, he takes this time to go visit his daughter (who is in law school) in another state and get his mind of the partner's death. There, a friend of his daughter is assaulted and since this guy is a cop, he can't just not do anything. So, since he can't go after his partner's killers, but still has so much revenge in his heart, he goes after this wannabe robber guy. Things move along and lo-and-behold, this guy is somehow related to the same gang that is involved in the cop's partner shooting. Two for one.

Now, this story may be done, as well, but it's not the typical cliche one. And, by the way, I'm working on such a story, so use it as an example (not that you were thinking of copying it anyway :)

I hope I did not bore you here, but the secret is to make it sound different and original, still credible and interesting.

ED
 

wordmonkey

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A writer who is stuck writing cliches and feeling the angst of the situation.

JEEZ! That is SUCH a cliche!

:D

Sorry. Couldn't help it.

Just write. Put the work aside and just write something in a journal, or work on some silly project that you never intend to try and sell.

Write the cliches out of the pen/keyboard.

Or put it all away and go for a walk. Wander around a mall. Sit in a coffee shop. Read a magazine you wouldn't normally buy.

As the saying goes... This too shall pass.
 

maestrowork

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My novel started off as pretty cliched: love letters, taking a journey, reuniting with an old flame, etc. etc. The way I wrote myself out of it, eventually, was to think of the opposites. What do I mean by that? In acting terms, try to find something that is the opposite of what the character is "written" as. For example, if a character is written as a high society playboy, instead of acting like 1000 other actors would, do something completely opposite.

Same with plot, which is all about choices. What I did was to figure out the regular, normal paths most writers or characters would take, and do the opposite. If normally someone would turn left, I would let them turn right. If normally the reaction would be flight, I would make them fight instead. The result is something that is still within a conventional, contemporary framework (no aliens and vampires here), but not quite expected by the readers, and thus is not cliched.
 

Dale Emery

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Any ideas on how to write myself out of Cliche-land (aka where Hollywood writers live) and back to Unique Writing Land?

I once got food poisoning from a bad steak sandwich at my favorite sub shop. For years (until I moved away) the thought of entering that sub shop made my stomach crawl. Gustatory aversion is amazingly potent.

So give yourself cliche poisoning: For the next day or so, write only cliches. When your stomach starts to squirm at the thought of writing one more cliche, write a few more.

Then your tummy will be a cliche detector for you.

Dale
 

tehuti88

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Everything I write is original to me. But on writing forums, I always hear people complaining about cliches and it seems every single thing I write about is something that everybody loathes by now.

"Oh my Gawd! Female protagonist! So overdone!"

"Oh my Gawd! A quest! Ew yuck yuck trite!"

"Oh my Gawd! A person thrown into a strange world and forced to become a hero! Snoooorrrrre!"

"Oh my Gawd! Etc. etc. etc. every single little thing bla bla blarggh blagslghsdlf!"

I always find it perplexing because even though I know such things have been done, I haven't read those stories, so my own writing isn't directly influenced by that--I'm just writing MY story the way MY story goes--and it doesn't matter what the heck I'm writing, there's always a big group of people ranting about how they'll never read something like that again because it's SOOOOOOO TIRED. And yet people keep reading such stories! See how they fly off the shelves despite critics' insistence about how trite they are.

But the weird thing is, the people who've read my stuff, I rarely ever hear any complaints that what I've written is trite or overdone. Even though my main story features a female protagonist, a quest, and an unwitting hero thrown into a strange world, things which you'd think are the bubonic plague to a lot of people nowadays.

My point, I'm not entirely sure about my point. I guess it would be that when I'm writing I don't even bother stopping to think of all the times this must have been done before (and if I do think about that, I think in terms of archetypes, not cliches). I just write my story the way my story needs to be written, and if it features something that a hundred people insist has been done to death, well, too bad. Since I'm writing it the way I feel it should be written, and I'm not focusing on how cliched this aspect might be, I like to think that helps me write it more original--it just seems that the more you focus on how cliched a situation is, the more likely you are to commit the very cliche you're trying to avoid, or else you'll just stall out altogether for fear of committing it. Either way you lose.

You say you're working with an editor, and you already know that most things have already been done, so I'm not sure how helpful anything I said was. I think one should just write their story the way their story demands to be written, first off, then look to see if the cliches are as horrible as they seem or if they've been diminished in the process. A lot of times cliches vanish once a story is done because the writer has put their own original slant on things, and they just couldn't see this at the beginning. Sure, I write some cliches. But they're not cliches to ME personally--*I* haven't written them a hundred times over--and I enjoy writing them, and it's the way my story has to be told, so hopefully they don't come across as the cliches so many people claim they are. (The very few cries of cliche I get on my own writing? They're usually from people who read like one chapter/story and then wander off. Hardly representative of all my writing.)

Not sure if that made sense. :/ Maybe just stop trying to avoid cliches, and just try to write the story? Though you've probably already tried this since you say you didn't have this problem at one point. Sorry this isn't very helpful.
 

Clair Dickson

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Definetly some good advice here. Thanks all. I've got a few new ideas percolating in my brain, so hopefully I will soon write myself out of this little slump.
 

TheAntar

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Characters acting within their established character on powerful emotion is almost never a cliche. Think of the favourite things you've written, read, or watched on TV. Isn't that the theme behind all (or at least most) of said scenes?

:)
 

kuwisdelu

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Cliches aren't always bad. The cliche turns of phrase should probably be avoided whenever possible, but there are only so many stories out there. I know, you've probably heard that before, but it's true.

I find myself writing a lot of cliche stories, but no one ever complains. Why? Tell it in a unique way. People may have heard the same old story a billions of times before, but if you tell it in a way no one's heard before, it'll still be interesting. Kind of like what Ray said, except I usually end up putting my spins on perspective instead of the actions.

Husband anxiously waiting for the birth of his child? Relay it through the sleepy stranger who couldn't care less. Priest questioning his faith? Tell it through the hot girl at the checkout as he's buying melons. Schoolboy in love with one of his classmates, but afraid to tell her about it? Have him stalk her and scare the shit out of her. Suicidal teens about to kill themselves on the highway? Oh, hell, I can't think of anything...so put it in second person!

That's what I did with my stories, anyway :rolleyes:

Also what Antar said. Lots of cliches can work--and don't feel anything like cliches at all anymore--as long as the character's are well-developed, and the scene feels real. If you can't think of anything else--develop the character more. Not even necessarily in the story...the more you know about them, the better you can write them. Then, let the characters guide you. If they're real enough, the story will be engaging wherever you let them take you. ;)
 
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maestrowork

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The problem with cliches is the element of predictability. If you're writing a genre that certain outcomes are expected and it's actually comforting to the readers (happily ever after, hero's journey, good triumphs over evil, etc.) then certainly the cliches would work, and should be there for it to work. Nobody wants to read a romance novel where the hero and heroines are not likable or attractive, and they don't meet, or they don't end up with happily ever after. Nobody wants to read a mystery where the murder isn't solved, and solved by the protagonist. A good vs. evil story needs to have well-defined heroes and villains.

However, there are stories that just won't work if it's predictable. The element of surprise is important and if the readers can smell the plot twists from 10 pages away, you risk losing their interest. Such a writer should be at least a step ahead of the readers, and the element of twists and unexpected consequences and reactions keep the readers turn the pages. Cliches, in those circumstances, are excitement killers because the readers have seen the same story a million times, unless there is something else to hook them (unforgettable characters, impossible adventures, heightened emotions, etc.).
 
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C.bronco

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It's tough. It's not so much the idea, but how you handle it.

I don't think I've fallen into your problem, but I'm a whole other bird. My stuff is usually too weird.

Anyhoo, I've heard that there have been no original plots in 500 years. Take wha you've got and make it yours.
 

Ruv Draba

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Usually this doesn't happen, but I've been struggling with my writing the last few days. (Personal and technological crisis not withstanding.) Every scene I've come up with seems like a tired old cliche.

Your creative side might not be having fun, Clair. There are some good exercises that take cliches and make new stuff of them. I read once (in Ken Rand's story primer, actually) that you can make any cliche fresh by adding "3-5 twists" to it. Some examples:

Cliché: Boy meets girl.
Twist 1: Girl is drowning
Twist 2: Boy is paraplegic
Twist 3: A tsunami is coming.
Twist 4: As the boy swims out to get her, the authorities try to rescue him.

Cliché: I want vengeance against the man who killed my brother
Twist 1: The man is a woman
Twist 2: I wanted to be the one to kill my brother
Twist 3: The woman is now coming to kill me
Twist 4: The woman is the mother I never knew.

How to twist things:
  • List explicitly your assumptions about cause and motive
  • Invert, subvert or pervert an assumption
  • List explicitly your assumptions about relationships between characters
  • Substitute one relationship with another, quite different one
  • List explicitly any predictable conclusions
  • Invert, exaggerate or satirise the conclusion
  • List explicitly the setting
  • Relocate the scene to a place where it wouldn't normally occur, or add elements not normally found in the setting
What twists are good twists? I like EE Knight's guidance on this: "Wouldn't it suck if..." The best twists are those that make it suck more for the main character - especially if they surprise us.

In the examples above I worked with story premises, but you can do the same thing at the scene level just by listing character goals and setting.

If your problem is clichéd dialogue, then try the following:
  • Either create conflict in the dialogue, or else summarise it in narrative, e.g. "We exchanged pleasantries" instead of "Hello. Nice weather"
  • Try making the characters speak indirectly. E.g. "What's your Mama call you?" instead of "What's your name?"
  • Add colour where appropriate - similes, metaphors, odd turns of phrase.
  • Avoid stating the obvious
Hope that this helps. :e2writer:
 
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