Are You Missing Opportunities to Make Your Writing Stronger?

By Janice Hardy

Little tweaks can make a big difference in our novels.

It always amazes me how many decisions go into writing a strong novel. There's the big stuff, like the plot and characters, but something as simple as your title, or where you break your scenes can be the difference between a good book and great book.

Use too many clichés? The novel feels familiar and unoriginal. Throw in a ton of adverbs? Your readers don't feel the full weight of the story's emotional layer. 

You have so many opportunities to write a strong novel, and more writers should take advantage of that fact. 

The Difference Between Archetypes, Tropes, and Clichés

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Understanding archetypes, tropes, and clichés makes writing original stories a lot easier.

Before we dive in today, just a little heads up that I’m also guest posting on The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, with 4 Things Every Novel Should Strive For. Come on by and say hello!

A lot of elements in writing are either interconnected or used interchangeably, and archetypes, tropes, and clichés are three of them. What one writer views as an archetype, another might consider a cliché, and how they use them in their writing can differ. Some writers can wield a trope like a master, others can sneak cliches in so they feel germane to the scene, and some write such nuanced archetypes readers don’t even realize they are archetypes.

As a writer—especially as a genre writer—it’s vital to understand the differences between these terms and how they work in fiction.

What's So Wrong With Clichés in Our Fiction? This.

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Clichés seem like harmless phrases, but they can damage our writing if we're not careful.

Common writing wisdom tells us to avoid clichés, but those lines still slip into our writing. Often, it's the sneaky phrases that sound right for that particular situation. We can't say why it does, we just feel that a character would say or think a line at that moment.

A line such as "Is that what I think it is?"

This video is probably the best example of why the "avoid clichés" advice exists.  

Studying the Waking Up Scene: Is it Really That Bad?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

One of the things on the common list of writing “nevers” is starting a scene with someone waking up—especially if it’s the opening scene. At first glance it doesn’t seem like it should be so taboo. After all, it’s a clear start to a day or a situation, and it gives both readers and writers a leaping off point for the story.

Like the don't use adverbs advice, this is a “rule” that is quoted frequently, but doesn’t always come with solid reasons as to why it’s bad. So let’s look a little closer at this all-too-common scene and study why writing pros advise against it.

Magic, Miracles, and Can’ts That Become Cans: Why We Love Our Christmas Clichés

By Bonnie Randall

Part of the How They Do It Series (Monthly Contributor)

As I write this we are less than a week from Christmas, yet by the time you read it, we’ll be on what we in Canada (and the UK) call ‘Boxing Day’ (our version of Americans’ Black Friday). This season I am chock-full of the Christmas spirit, more so than I can remember in ages. Perhaps it’s because I am getting older. Or maybe it’s because my family had a really rough autumn. Or maybe I am just finally getting this whole ‘attitude of gratitude’ thang and so am more dialed-in than I’ve been in the past. In any event, I am loving it; the decorated house, the mountains of homemade baking, and the carefully wrapped and tied-with-reams-of-curl-ribbon gifts set just-so under the tree. It’s all so good and so warm that, the other day when I tripped over a fairly caustic article on Christmas stories and why they suck, I was dismayed and (to my shock, actually), sort of hurt.

You Spin Me Round: Making Clichés Work for You

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Make clichés work for you instead of against you. 

Clichés are so ingrained in our day-to-day lives that it’s hard to eliminate them completely from our writing. For me, the more casual the situation, the more often I use them. You’ll see them a lot more on the blog than in my books, for example. One of my favorite writing T-shirts says “I avoid clichés like the plague.” 

Clichés are not bad. (Didn’t expect that, did you?) They’re cultural shorthand to convey an idea. 

However, it’s this ease of communication that makes them undesirable in our writing. We’re writers. We’re supposed to be original. Using something that’s been used "for ages" is taking the lazy way out and making the reader do the work. 

Even worse, because clichés are so culturally known, readers aren’t surprised by them. How many TV/movie plots have you ever figured out right away because of the clichés used? I’d guess a lot.

Upcycling and Upending Clichés

By Bonnie Randall 

Part of the How They Do It Series (Monthly Contributor)

I am crafting a new project, and isn’t it true that every once in a while you crank out a line that just knocks your breath out?

Except in my case it’s more like a throat-punch than a gasp because the line usually stinks That. Bad.

This time it was “She knew it deep in her heart of hearts.” Wait, what? Did I retain that from some circa 1970’s Harlequin Presents novel I pilfered from my Grandma? Seriously. The only thing a line like that could win is a cliché contest, and even then it totally sucks. And yet…it got me thinking. Clichés. What do we do with ‘em? Do they ever serve a purpose?

Fix Your Reader’s Pet Peeves: Stereotypes and Characters

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Several weeks ago I asked everyone to share their reading pet peeves, and you did (thanks, guys!). It was interesting to see how many similar annoyances cropped up, as well as some I’d never have considered.

For the first installment of the “Fix Your Reader’s Pet Peeves” series, let’s tackle stereotypes and characters, as this was a biggie for nearly every responder.

Although there were multiple specific peeves, one thing was very clear—poorly crafted characters bugged a lot of readers, especially when writers rely on cliches and stereotypes to create them. Since characters are the reasons most readers read, this can kill your novel. Let’s look at some ways to avoid creating bad characters.