|
Walking the Cliché Tightrope
Cliché is one of
those words … one of the forbidden, dirty words of writing.
You know you shouldn’t write them, but all too easily find
yourself doing just that. After barreling away on the keyboard,
firing on all cylinders, you read the words back.
That seems like a very clever phrase, until you realize that’s no
clever phrase, that’s a cliché and moreover one you’ve read for
probably the hundredth time in a book only last night. How on
earth did it happen? After all those warnings!
Don’t despair, clichés happen to all writers. The dratted terrors
creep up and ambush us all — the slippery little suckers. That is
the nature of clichés, they are so well known, so knitted into the
fabric of our lives, that we use them without even realizing it.
Clichés are our lazy way out, our easy option - a swift form of
shorthand to convey meaning.
We all know them, but what exactly is a cliché?
The OED defines a cliché as: a stereotyped expression, a hackneyed
phrase or opinion, a phase or opinion that is overused and betrays
a lack of original thought, a phrase or an idea that has been used
so often it no longer has much meaning and is not interesting.
All of which is death to good writing. No wonder editors and
agents disdain clichés and will shovel the manuscript or synopsis
using them, onto the reject pile, even as they reach for the SASE.
Spotting the clichéd phrase is more a question of awareness than
anything else. It’s easy to name a few examples. Her kisses were
sweeter than wine, he had love in his eyes but lust in his heart,
still waters run deep, sexy as sin, your worst nightmare …
Descriptive words can also fall into the cliché void. This is
especially the case regarding intimate parts of the body. One
writer uses globes instead of breasts, or pebbles instead of
nipples and they soon became standard euphemisms. Although such
words can become so trite as to be laughable—manroot possibly
being one of the best examples.
However, romance writers must not only be alert for the clichéd
phrase. There are also clichéd characters, scenes, situations and
plots. Not to mention the vexed issue of whether or not a romance
is a cliché in itself simply by way of having a ‘happy ending’ (as
if fantasies and thrillers can’t be clichés?).
When does the character become cardboard, the same as every other
tall, dark handsome hero or spirited, and independent yet
vulnerable heroine? When they become predictable and the reader
knows exactly what that character will do or say.
Similarly with scenes, ask do I know where this scene is going?
Can I predict exactly what will happen? We all love the idea of
the hero finding the heroine more interesting and beautiful than a
lovely view, but must we have that scene yet again? Need
the Regency heroine wander downstairs in her nightrail after
midnight in search of a book? Must another tough heroine possess a
male shortened nickname when she starts the new job? Does she
have to go off into the tough neighborhood alone?
George Orwell, in his essay Politics and the English Language,
defined six questions a writer should ask when considering each
sentence and six points a scrupulous writer should consider when
in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase.
One of each speaks directly to this issue. “Is
this image fresh enough to have an effect?” and “Never use a
metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to
seeing in print.”
The issue is not as straightforward as it first appears. It is not
simply a question of, is this familiar? Have I read this before?
and if so, I won’t use it. That is not possible, because there are
no new plots.
This is when the difficulties arise, when the writer has to
balance the reader’s need for familiarity with the desire for
surprise and excitement. Cynics even say that everything is a
cliché. However, that is stretching the definition to breaking
point and failing to understand its meaning.
The crux is that the cliché has become so, by being overused,
thus becoming trite, dull, boring. This is not so if it’s a cliché
with a twist, or tweaked, given a spin, even a turnaround. The
dangerous potential to become a cliché is not realized if the
author is able to inject originality and surprise into the mix.
© Michelle Wood 2007 |
