Thursday, August 28, 2008

Cliche: To Be or Not to Be

Writers love using the word “cliché.” We’re all guilty of it. Even now as I’m writing: I sit in a fancy café with movie set lighting, laptop in arm. Truth be told, I feel ridiculous, a bit pretentious even, like I’m working on the great American story. I even wait for someone to interrupt me so I can give them the medusa stare.

So, I thought I’d share a short list of things that writers do that I find to be cliché. Feel free to disagree with me and drop me a line (aali@writer.org)

Now on with my list, what I hope to revisit in a future post.

It's so cliche for writers to:

-go to coffee shops, meet with other writers and pretend to write.

-cop witty one-liners from family and friends that you plan to use in a story as your own.

-dress in all black.

- bellyache about feeling uninspired.

-write about your family and go on & on as if you were uniquely placed in a dysfunctional family.

-attend a reading simply for the food.

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