It's often said that your writing should be unpredictable, and go against the expected. Above all, it's said that you should keep the widest possible berth from cliches.
But how can you defy the expected if we don't have a standard for "expected"? As it happens, we do. That standard is called cliche.
Quiet as a mouse, writing on the wall, dark and stormy night--- all of these and more are cliches that most writers will learn to avoid (like the plague). But really, you shouldn't scorn cliches. Like any other tool in writing, you should simply learn how to maniuplate them to fit your purposes.
Modifying a cliche can help you to make a much bigger impression than you would otherwise (especially in first sentences/paragraphs). For instance, take this sentence from Good Omens (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman):
"It wasn't a dark and stormy night. It should have been, but there's the weather for you. For every mad scientist who's had a convenient thunderstorm just on the night his Great Work is complete and lying on the slab, there have been dozens who've sat around aimlessly under the peaceful stars while Igor clocks up the overtime."
What a great sentence. Even taken completely out of context, it still retains a satirical aura to it because it's so obviously troping the "dark and stormy night" cliche (credited, for the record, to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, sometimes called the purple prose poster child). It also sets a tone for the reader.
In the realm of first sentence cliches, the obvious go-to is "once upon a time." A modern reference to this that comes to mind is the musical titled "Once Upon A Mattress," or the book "Once Upon A Marigold." These are both great manipulations of cliche for several reasons.
- A title is the first thing you hear about a book, movie, song, musical, etc. You want your title to be something that stands out, but also something that's easily memorable. But you don't want it to be weird or forced. (For instance, when I'm reading movie reviews and I see something titled "RED" or "HOP" I'm like, okay, I get it. Don't yell at me. "Red" or "Hop" would have sufficed. Same goes for something like Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules [who's Roderick? why the Dell I care about him?] or Hanna [who's this Hanna chick? why do I care about her? why are you so intent upon not giving me any clue what this movie is about?])
Once Upon A Mattress and Once Upon A Marigold are both memorable, because they play off of "once upon a time." Even though I haven't read Once Upon A Marigold in years and I've only read lyrics to Once Upon A Mattress, the names stick in my head. And because they're based on a phrase that's already well-known, they don't sound weird or forced. - The title asks a question. Once upon what mattress? To me, this title is a little suggestive and it makes you want to Google it. And once you do, you find out that the story is a fractured fairy tale--- an adaption of the Princess and the Pea. This is a fascinating premise, so now you're further hooked.
- The title is not over-the-top. Once Upon A Marigold's sequel is called "Twice Upon a Marigold." In my opinion, this is an acceptable title, but only because it's a sequel. If your debut or standalone novel was called "Twice Upon A Marigold," I would shake my head and be like, "Man, you're pushing it." After all, if you warp the cliche beyond recognition, you're completely defeating the point of manipulating it in the first place. If I adapted "dark and stormy night" to "visually straining, pigment-depleted, and weather clemency-unenhanced daytime-doppelganger," then absolutely no one would associate it with the phrase "dark and stormy night." Moreover, my adaption sounds so patently annoying that no one would ever want to read it.
Because I'm exhausted now and I think I've cranked out enough pretentious, stuffy blogginess for one day (I'm pretty inept at this right now, but I'll improve), I will leave.
Daily Prompt: Pick one of the cliches listed below. Adapt it and write a story to go along with it. Always save your work. Post your resulting story (or excerpt) of 500 words or less in the comments, if you so desire. And have a great Monday.
-It made my blood boil
-My eyes began to glaze
-She was grasping at straws
-It got under his skin
-My skin crawled
-A glimmer of hope in his eyes
-Difficult for me to swallow
