So I was prowling the ‘Net today looking for ideas to blog on — because without fail the good blog ideas always come to me when I am nowhere near my laptop — and I came across this blog with the title CRIME WRITING: TEN CLICHES TO AVOID.
Not that — in theory — I have any gripe with avoiding cliches. I mean, it’s not really possible, as proven by the cliches that the blogger posted as ways to avoid the listed cliches, but one should certainly try to come up with original scenarios.
But a lot of this stuff…for example: The New Partner cliche. Is that really a cliche or is that just a basic plot dynamic? See, here’s my problem with the objection to NP. You’ve only got three possible scenarios — the Lone Wolf scenario, the Longtime Partners scenario (meaning one of them — the guy closest to retirement– is doomed), and the New Partner scenario — which sometimes follows on the heels of the longtime partner scenario — unless the writer decides to go with the Lone Wolf scenario. There isn’t one of these better than the others because they’ve ALL been done to death. And of all of these, I personally think the NP offers the most room for storytelling and character development.
I think part of it comes down to how we define “cliche.” Boy Meets Girl is a cliche, but do you really want to eliminate it from your writing? I suggest not.
Happy Endings are cliche. But so are Sad Endings.
You see where I’m going with this? There is nothing — and I mean NOTHING new under the sun. It all comes down to voice and execution. This is not to say that you shouldn’t try to come up with original ideas, but the most original ideas are frequently the spin a writer puts on a very old idea.
Okay, yes, I admit I’m the girl who wrote about secret passages and a quaint English village peopled by looney eccentrics, so maybe I have an odd idea of what constitutes a cliche.
Anyway, that’s my rant for the month. Feel free to share your favorite cliches or your favorite cliche that you saved from being a mere cliche — and how you saved it.
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The more I learn about writing, the more I realize how formulumatic (if this is even a word) it is.
Romance follows a pattern. Girl meets boy, they have issues, they overcome, or don’t and life goes on.
Mysterys are the same. I think it’s like the saying that there isn’t anything new under the sun, it’s just how you put it together.
I wonder if that’s why paranormal is so popular today. Stretching that usual pattern? Can you really make a love work if you husband is a blood sucking demon? And if you can, what does that say about you?
I like secret passages. I was watching part of a Stephen King miniseries on TV yesterday. I had been really upset about an upcoming interview for a promotion, and the horror of the movie calmed me down. I guess a stressful interview isn’t anything when you are up against Legion. Sometimes I worry about my coping skills.
:)
by Lynn on March 24th, 2008 at 6:28 am
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Diane, I think you’ve hit it: “There is nothing — and I mean NOTHING new under the sun.”
In the corporate world, a common technique is used. Most call it brainstorming, but there are dozens of names used for it. You get a diverse group together, look at a problem and start listing ideas. Many times the group leaders then “ROLL UP” the details into catagories.
And in the end, you wind up with generic statements that are repeated time and time again; “Quality of Work Life”, “Lack of Training”, “Poor Communication.”
Everyone rolls their eyes and say, “We heard it all before.”
The truth is, it’s the details or specifics that make it unique.
I think if you roll things up, or summarize too much, you take the uniqueness out of anything. And Diana has it right on: “It all comes down to voice and execution.”
by Will Bereswill on March 24th, 2008 at 7:31 am
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What an irritating list of don’ts. (On the other blog, I mean. Not here. Never here!)
When Berkley asked me to create a series of Do-It-Yourself home renovation mysteries, I came up with what I thought was a very novel, fresh idea. (Two young women buy an old house they want to flip, to make some extra money over the summer and because ‘everyone else is doing it’.) Berkley shot the idea down flat, and told me exactly what they wanted instead. Here it is, and tell me if this hasn’t got cliche written all over it: young woman inherits her aunt’s house in a tiny town in New England. She also inherits two cats. She has two evil cousins who thought they would inherit the house, her new best friend is a local B&B owner, who happens to be dating the Chief of Police, and there’s a missing professor of history from the local college mixed up in all of it.
The thing is, these things are cliches for a reason. They’re overdone, but that’s because they work well. So yes, it all comes down to voice and execution. (And let me tell you, I had a hell of time trying to make it all hang together in a way that wasn’t snoringly boring.)
I have secret passages, too, by the way. That was something else my editor mentioned as a desirable thing. 
by JennieB on March 24th, 2008 at 8:28 am
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I think secret passageways are interesting, as long as there’s a cool, believable reason for them, such as smugglers, other crimal elements, filandering spouse, wayward child, or, of course, the house was on the Underground Railroad. They can sound cliched, but isn’t that because they actually have occurred and work?
Even though there is nothing new under the sun, and I willing read the same storyline(s) over and over, I do it as long as there’s a character I connect with, for whatever reason (and that changes from story to story), or the setting, or at least one motive, means, or opportunity, is interesting. I just hate it when the reason for framing the protagonist is really lame - that makes me put books down now, since there’s so many other stories to read.
(Oh, Diana, I especially like that Peter Fox has blond hair - tall, dark, and handsome is such a cliche, too!)
by Kate Hathway on March 24th, 2008 at 8:52 am
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Some time ago, I was discussing crime fiction with a playwright who had never done a crime fiction piece before. He mentioned wanting to stage a PI story, and didn’t really know where to start. I told him it’s really a very simple formula. The PI gets an assignment. She thinks she knows what’s going on, but she really doesn’t, because there’s something the person who hired her isn’t telling. She goes from place to place, asking questions, until someone tries to get her to stop. She doesn’t and, in fact, gets more determined to figure out what’s going on. Finally she discovers the secret, which of course is not what she was originally hired to discover. This puts her at great personal risk, which she then has to escape using either her wits, her fists, or large caliber weaponry.
That’s basically it. The only real differences are in characterization, setting, and the quality of the prose.
Now is that cliche or structure? I often use the analogy of the sonnet. The sonnet’s a very rigid, you could say cliched, structure. But it’s what you DO within that predetermined framework that makes or breaks it.
BTW, I don’t think the article, despite its title. was about AVOIDING the cliches. I think it was more about putting different twists on them, which we all try to do.
by JDRhoades on March 24th, 2008 at 9:01 am
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Well, I’ve managed to avoid most of these. Yay! Does it count as a New Partner if the “new” member is your amateur detective? *g*
by Tori Lennox on March 24th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
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JennieB, I think your idea is awesome! Maybe you’ll find a publisher who likes it? I want to read it now, but that might have something to do with the fact that DIY Network is my favorite TV station and cozy mysteries are my favorite hobby…..
Going back into lurkdom, now…..
by The Other Laura on March 24th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
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Gosh, it’s so difficult to stay away from cliches. The narrator of my novel NEFERTITI deals in herbs. Unfortunately for me, having an “herb woman” has become a cliche in fiction, yet this was often the only job available to women even as far back as ancient Egypt.
Midwives had to have a broad knowledge of herbs in order to help with childbirth, and I made sure that all of the herbs my protagonist used were really ones found (and used) in ancient Egypt. Of course, this is just part of accurate research, and whether it made it “less” cliche is a different matter. Unfortunately, I doubt it, but the fact of the matter is, a royal woman would not have been permitted any kind of “work” with the exception of a few small jobs like weaving or dabbling in herbal remedies (Livia, for example, who was the first Roman Emperor’s wife, studied herbs and loved making potions).
by Michelle Moran on March 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
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Thank you, Other Laura. One of these days I hope to rework my original idea into a book, but because a writer-friend made the point that I don’t want to become known as someone who can’t write anything but cozy mysteries about home renovators, I’ll probably recycle the idea into a different kind of book. I have one in mind; I just don’t have the time to work on it right now. My second DIY-book is due to the publisher in July, so I’m busy writing it. It’s about a haunted house - supposedly haunted house - and in order to avoid the obvious cliche, I made the house a prosaic 1960s ranch. I thought the idea of a haunted mid-century modern would be funny. Of course, it’s not actually haunted. At least I don’t think so…
by JennieB on March 24th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
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Now is that cliche or structure? I often use the analogy of the sonnet. The sonnet’s a very rigid, you could say cliched, structure. But it’s what you DO within that predetermined framework that makes or breaks it.
Excellent analogy — and I don’t just say that because I’m a poetry nut.
BTW, I don’t think the article, despite its title. was about AVOIDING the cliches. I think it was more about putting different twists on them, which we all try to do.
Oh, look at you putting a positive spin on it! 
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 11:58 am
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The thing is, these things are cliches for a reason. They’re overdone, but that’s because they work well. So yes, it all comes down to voice and execution. (And let me tell you, I had a hell of time trying to make it all hang together in a way that wasn’t snoringly boring.)
I’ve got to say, I love Berkeley’s idea — it’s got all the elements I like. Okay, maybe not the cats. That might be one step too far.
But I also really liked the house flipping idea, so there you go!
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 11:59 am
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(Oh, Diana, I especially like that Peter Fox has blond hair - tall, dark, and handsome is such a cliche, too!)
Kate, this is so funny. My sister said to me the other day, “Oh, I always think of him as dark-haired. I don’t know WHY you made him blond!”
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
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I like secret passages. I was watching part of a Stephen King miniseries on TV yesterday. I had been really upset about an upcoming interview for a promotion, and the horror of the movie calmed me down. I guess a stressful interview isn’t anything when you are up against Legion. Sometimes I worry about my coping skills.
Horror. The new cozy. 
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
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And in the end, you wind up with generic statements that are repeated time and time again; “Quality of Work Life”, “Lack of Training”, “Poor Communication.”
Oh dear God. I feel like bursting into a chorus of “The Way We Were.”
“Meeehhhhhmoreeeeeee…like the corners of my miiiiiiiiiihhhhhhnd….”
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
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Well, I’ve managed to avoid most of these. Yay! Does it count as a New Partner if the “new” member is your amateur detective? *g*
Well, it counts with me. I’m not sure if the really good-looking cliche policeman will arrest you and throw you into his hometown jail or not.
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
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I want to read it now, but that might have something to do with the fact that DIY Network is my favorite TV station and cozy mysteries are my favorite hobby…..
But Laura, you’re exactly right! That’s what makes it so commercial — DIY is huge right now.
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
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Michelle, if we avoided some of the obvious and sensible choices merely because we feared being cliched, we would either be chastised for writing totally unrealistic, fantasy scenarios — or we’d give up writing altogether.
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
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I made the house a prosaic 1960s ranch. I thought the idea of a haunted mid-century modern would be funny. Of course, it’s not actually haunted. At least I don’t think so…
And you know the scariest thing about this is the realization that the 1960s were…gulp…olden times for some of our readers…
by Diana Killian on March 26th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
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