How to Crush Clichés -- Amy Sue Nathan

(Source: Amy Sue Nathan @ Backspace: The Writer's Place)

According to Wikipedia:

A cliché or cliche (pronounced UK: /ˈkliːʃeɪ/, US:/klɪˈʃeɪ/) is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, rendering it astereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. The term is frequently used in modern culture for an action or idea which is expected or predictable, based on a prior event. Typically a pejorative, “clichés” are not always false or inaccurate;[1] a cliché may or may not be true.[2] Some are stereotypes, but some are simply truisms and facts.[3] Clichés are often for comic effect, typically in fiction.

Most phrases now considered clichéd were originally regarded as striking, but lost their force through overuse.[4] In this connection, David Mason and John Frederick Nims cite a particularly harsh judgement by Salvador Dalí: “The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.”[5] (gotta love this one)

A cliché is often a vivid depiction of an abstraction that relies upon analogy or exaggeration for effect, often drawn from everyday experience. Used sparingly, they may succeed. However, cliché in writing or speech is generally considered a mark of inexperience or unoriginality.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. So I didn’t. But when you’re creative writing, especially for publication, you must say it better yourself. That’s the point. Clichés appear witty — after all — the writer thought to use the perfect saying for the perfect moment. In reality? Clichés are lazy. Someone else wrote it and it’s already a well-know colloquialism. Ho hum, booooooring. You didn’t do any of the work. 

But I’ll be honest, for me, clichés have their place and my first drafts are strewn with them, along with phrases like find another word for itch or find a good way to describe a dress. In first drafts I write fast and I write anything to get my thoughts into the Word doc — knowing I’ll revise least three or four times before I officially consider it a first draft. I use clichés “like crazy” because the phrase reminds me of what I want to say, but not how I want to say it. Then I go back and find every cliché, something I learned to do in a Margie Lawson class. And believe me, it takes more than one pass through a manuscript to find them all. They come dressed in literary camouflage. Check out this website for a comprehensive list of clichés — and do the best you can to nix ‘em, by just deleting the clichés, or, fix ‘em, by rewriting them in your own words, in your voice. 

Because saying good-bye to clichés means saying hello to better writing. And that’s the point. Right? 

~~~~~

Amy Sue Nathan is the editor of STET, the Backspace monthly newsletter and manages @bksp_org on Twitter. In addition writing fiction she also is a published freelance writer and editor. She has two teenagers and two dogs and is a non-repentant chocoholic. You can read more here.

Great Advice from Literary Agent Donald Mass

(Source: Backspace, The Elements of Awe)

Who spreads stories and why? Sociologists at the University of Pennsylvania have been studying data provided by The New York Times showing which of the paper’s articles are the most often e-mailed.

Their conclusions have some relevance for fiction writers because they reveal what it is about stories that probably generate word of mouth. This month and next I’m going to discuss these elements and show how you can apply them in your novels.

The first element is one that will be obvious to most of us, so let’s cover it right away. Positive articles are e-mailed more often than negative ones. What does that mean for novelists? It means that excitement is more likely to be stirred by characters with positive qualities and by stories with happy endings.

No big surprise, like I said. If your characters are dark, miserable and self-loathing you can’t expect readers to be enthusiastic. Qualities of strength, especially when we see them right away, inspire readers to care. Downer endings also narrow a novel’s appeal. But you already knew that, right?
The next element identified by researchers is a little harder to appropriate. More frequently e-mailed stories tend to be emotional.

Stop. I know exactly what you’re thinking. All riiight! My novel-in-progress is highly emotional! Best-seller list here I come!

Not so fast. Every author thinks his or her novel is packed with emotion. Naturally they do. As they write, they feel tons of emotion. But that is not to stay that those emotions are getting through to readers, or in ways that move readers deeply.

What’s the strongest emotion that your protagonist feels: anger, disgust, shame, betrayal, terror, frustration, elation, arousal, love? Yawn. Sorry, not feeling it.

Here’s the point: You can’t expect your reader to feel what your protagonist feels just because they feel it. Only when that emotion is provoked through the circumstances of the story will your reader feel what you want them to.

Describing grief is fine but not as effective as your protagonist saying goodbye to her dying mother…and even that is not as good as saying goodbye after a rich experience of mother-daughter love…and even that is not as good as if that love was hard won. Welcome home is another heart grabber but only when it seems like it will never happen.

In other words, emotions aren’t gold. A story situation that provokes strong emotions is.

So, now to the practical application: What is the strongest emotion you want your reader to feel? Search and delete that word everywhere it occurs in your manuscript. Now, how will you provoke that emotion through action alone? Got it? Good. Next write down three ways to heighten that action. (Remember that underplaying can also heighten.) When you’ve built a story situation that will force the emotion you want-make it happen.

Next month I’ll delve into the element that makes characters fascinating and also creates a sense of awe as your story is read.

P.S. If you’d like to read the Times article in which the research is discussed, check it out here.

--

A literary agent in New York, Donald Maass’s agency sells more than 150 novels every year to major publishers in the U.S. and overseas. He is the author of The Career Novelist (1996), Writing the Breakout Novel (2002), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (2004) and The Fire in Fiction (2009). He is a past president of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc.

This article was originally posted on Writer Unboxed.

Literary Agent Colleen Lindsay: Why I May Have Rejected Your Query Letter

(Source - Backspace: The Writer's Place)

Lotsa reasons, some of which you can't control. But here are some things you can control in your query letter, and by doing so, increase your odds that I'm actually going to read the entire thing and possibly ask for more:
Spelling and grammar mistakes: Yes, I do notice them. And, yes, they do count against you. A query letter is basically your application for a writing job. To earn a job writing, you must be familiar with the tools of the language: spelling and grammar. 'Nuff said.

Typos: One typo I may forgive but a letter riddled with "teh" instead of "the" is getting rejected. Attention to detail matters.

You addressed me by another agent's name or no name at all or you included me in a mass-emailed query.You included the phrase "Cos, bitch, you're gonna love this!" in your query letter. (Yes, seriously. Not sure what he was thinking with that one.)

You spent five paragraphs telling me A.) how much you love writing, B.) how long you have been writing, C.) how much you have always wanted to be a writer or D.) all of the above. Not to seem heartless but...I don't care about any of this. By including this in your query, you're wasting precious space. Again, think of the query as a cover letter for a job. Would you write this a cover letter? "I have wanted to be a marketing manager since I was six years old. I spent my entire childhood marketing all of my friend's dogs, cats and hamsters...By the time I was in high school I had moved onto marketing for the Piggly Wiggly down the street, dreaming of one day marketing for a giant multi-national corporation in New York City." No, you wouldn't because it sounds ridiculous. Well, it sounds ridiculous in a query, too.

You told me that you'd previously self-published the book you're querying about but now want to reach a wider audience. Unless you sold several thousand copies of that self-published book (we're talking five digits here, kids), a legit trade publisher won't be interested. And neither will an agent. Write a new book instead!

You told me that you were previously published by someone like PublishAmerica...and meant it. This is akin to telling me that you would consider yourself previously published if you had Xeroxed pages of your manuscript and stapled them together.

You didn't read my submission guidelines: How do I know you didn't read my submission guidelines? Because you: A.) included an unsolicited attachment with your query, B.) snail-mailed your query, C.) didn't cut-and-paste the first five to ten pages of your manuscript into the email with your query letter, D.) sent me a query for a subject matter that I clearly don't represent like screenplays, poems, or Christian fiction, or E.) all of the above.

Try to give yourself a fighting chance before you hit "send" on that emailed query, okay?