Express Yourself

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It is hard to write a story without using expressions or sayings that are familiar to just about everyone. However, I remember when working at a PBS station, we had a young man from another country who actually learned English by watching Sesame Street. This was great, except for those times when we said something funny that wasn’t meant literally, and it wasn’t nearly as funny because it “got lost in translation.” 

When expressions/sayings have been overly used they become cliches and most writers tend NOT to use them. As I sat down to write this blog, and wondered what pearls of wisdom I could impart this month, my gaze fell on the myriad assortment of stickers, cards and pictures I have on the wall, most of which have sayings on them that have significant meaning to me. So here you go. 

 “Not all who wander are lost.” (J.R.R.Tolkien) This has been my mantra for many years and it shows up in my writing. Out of 20+ novels written, only a few are set in the same place (Boston, which I love). I have written settings from islands off the coasts of South Carolina and Washington, and from the Black Hills of South Dakota to the streets of New Orleans, and a lot of places in between. And I believe in visiting my settings. If I could, I would truly be a nomad. 

“Well behaved women rarely make history.” (Misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt but actually made by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich). This is me. No apologies. 

Next come some sayings which wouldn’t mean the same without the pictures, so I have given credit where due. 

My daughter (as a teen) and I had a very rocky relationship (she was my rebel…see quote above) until after she went to college and that is when she gave this to me. In case it's not clear, it says: "When she held out her arms, the world itself wrapped around me & held me tight." You can see why it’s one of my favorites. (Credit Story People by Brian Andreas) 

I went through a divorce in 2009 and spent a week in Providence, RI, mostly in tears but determined to start my life over. It was truly providence that I found this card in a gift shop and it said exactly what I had just discovered. “Luckily she stopped giving away pieces of herself before she disappeared.” (Credit: watercolor and text by Deborah C. Kracht). 

 Next is me today. Although I know you can’t read the text, I had to include the delightful Papyrus card because that’s me on a good hair day! It says “Hey you, sexy gray-haired women of the world, Celebrate your joyful, self-expressive style. More power to YA!” 

Do you have a favorite saying? A mantra that you would easily stamp on a tee shirt for all the world to see? I’ll leave you with one final saying, which I attribute to me, but it might not show up on Google that way: 

 “Life’s too short to go through it in a bad mood.” 

 Barbara Baldwin (author who will give you “happily ever after” romances.)

www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin 

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The Cunning Cliché by Victoria Chatham

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I call clichés cunning for the simple reason they are so ingrained in our lives it’s easy for them to slip into our writing, unannounced and right under our noses. Hopefully, they only appear in your first draft, but sometimes it takes an eagle-eyed beta reader to ferret them out. These short phrases encapsulate a precise meaning most people recognize and so we use them almost without thinking.

But what, exactly, is a cliché? According to Webster’s, it is ‘something that has become overly familiar or commonplace.’ The problem with clichés is that, rather than enhance your writing, they make it mundane. I found this out the hard way after having submitted the first ten pages of a novel to a Harlequin editor at a conference. In her opinion, if I removed all the clichés, I would only have had half that number of pages to submit. Amongst those she pointed out were ‘cut like a knife’, ‘legs that went on forever’, and ‘like a bolt of lightning.’ She went on to explain that the use of clichés were the hallmarks of lazy writers and that if we, as writers, couldn’t replace them with fresh, exciting descriptions that kept readers reading, we didn’t deserve those readers.

As time has gone on, I have come to mostly catch myself but there are those genre-centric phrases that still leap out at me.  Anyone who reads Regency romances will recognize the phrase ‘her toes curled in her boots’ or ‘she shattered’ at the culmination of a sexy romp. Then there is the descriptive phrase for our hero whose ‘hair was slightly longer than fashionable.’ I must admit to having used that last was one myself and not catching it until after the book came out in print.

One way to overcome using a cliché is to ask “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and “how” as answering these questions can jump-start your imagination and provide specific details to more fully engage your readers. Clichés, more often than not, date themselves and are therefore worn-out and well past their sell-by date. Old and stale does not make for a good read. For more on the subject of clichés, look on the Internet for some of the American humorist Frank Sullivan’s essays about Mr. Arbuthnot, the Cliché Expert, as published in The New Yorker magazine or, just for fun, take a few of your favorite clichés and re-write them. I dare you!

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The Big Book of Cliches by Stuart R. West

These days when I read a book and come across a cringe-inducing cliché, my first inclination is to hurl the book across the room. Of course I don’t do that since I do most of my reading now on an electronic device.

Even more troubling is when I realize, “Hey! As a writer, I’ve used that cliché on several occasions!” Oh, the shame of it all. Here’s the funny thing about clichés, though. Writers hate them; but sometimes, particularly in genre-based fiction, readers sometimes seek them out. Like a comfortable throw. There’ve been times when I’ve strayed from clichés intentionally, particularly in regard to protagonists. Gone are the rough and tumble, yet beyond handsome, confident he-men. Hello to insecure, troubled, baggage-carrying neurotics. No secret which type of hero is more popular.

Clichés offend me. No, that’s not quite true. They bore me. I want more originality. To help myself stay on the straight and narrow path and not stray down cliché alley, I composed a list of some of the worst offenders. (Keep in mind these adhere more to the noir/thriller/suspense genres than others).

*Heroes with macho names. Every writer’s featured one. Every reader has read many. Usually the names connote some sort of solid building material. Don’t ask me why. “Rick Broadbrick.” “Rocky Hardroad.” “Stoney Brawling.” “Captain Tug McLumber.” Personally, I’d like to see more Marvins and Miltons. But…those names don’t exactly encapsulate tough guys.

*The damaged goods male lead. Women readers love these guys. Throughout my life, I’ve met women who adore these guys in real life. They’ve admitted it to me; they want to change them. So many fictional detectives and cops are alcoholic, love-dented, chain-smoking, sloppy, death-wishing brooders. Every woman’s dream, right? Good luck fixing ‘em, ladies!

*The dreaded dream sequence. How I’ve come to loathe fictional dreams. I’m the first to admit I’d used them in some of my earlier books. But never again. I see them as the ultimate cheat. Nothing that happens in a dream ultimately matters. Sorta a waste of time. If I make it through the book, only to find out the entire tale was a dream? I call foul! No more! Use your clichés wisely and sparingly.

*The big revelation! Usually, the big reveal happens with our hero standing out in the rain. Not just a light sprinkling either. We’re talking monsoon weather. He drops to his knees, raises his fists to the sky, screams, “Noooooooo!” Or the variant: “Whyyyyyyy?” First? Get out of the rain. You’re gonna catch pneumonia. You can scream just as well in dry environments. Or at least prepare yourself and bring an umbrella. Second? Scream something original. How about, “Huh. I didn’t see that coming.” Or “What a day, what a day.” Okay, I know, right? Not as impactful. But…enough’s enough.

*Characters who have big emotional insights, but say them out loud when they’re alone. “Think of the kitties…oh, my Lord, what about the poor, poor kitties?” Who does that? Who are they talking to? Talk about damaged goods. Call up a friend, then chat about the kitties. Or see a psychiatrist. The only time I’ve ever talked to myself? When an accident happens. And it’s language no one should be privy to.

*The chatty, James Bond-style super-villain. Usually when the bad guy is unveiled, he holds the hero at gun-point (or some other perilous situation) and decides to make a lengthy speech. “You see, Mr. Broadbrick (they’re generally very polite, too), the reason I decided to poison the clown-car full of would be thespians is because I, too, once fancied myself a clown. Oh, I went to clown school, learned to juggle at the feet of the masters, excelled in the art of applying make-up and honking red noses. I wore baggy pants day in and day out. Every day for twenty years! Then they laughed at me…not a good kind of appreciative audience laugh either. For you see…”  Zzzz. Snurk. Wha? Sorry, I dozed off just writing that. The hero probably would’ve in real life, too. Or taken the time to unravel the ropes binding his hands, sweep the feet beneath the villain, claim the gun, the woman, the stolen money. Truth time? I’ve done this. Sometimes it’s a must, no way around it in murder mysteries.

There’re a lot more where these came from. I’ve just skimmed the top of the ol’ cliché barrel. But, as I said, some readers come to expect a few of these in books. It’s what they like, what they search out. And depending on the genre? Some are absolutely unavoidable. Depends on what you do with them, I suppose. But I’m striving to keep away. 

Um, starting right about now.

How about you? Any annoying cliché’s you’d like to add?

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