A crime to be cliche? (1 Viewer)

[tez0r]

is anyone writing anything really cliche and thinking it'll fall through the roof? I've had several different opinions regarding this. Some people say OMG STOP WRITING CLICHES TEENAGE LOVE ANGST OMG OMG STOP IT whilst others think that if you provide a new perspective on these matters, it'll still be refreshing and original as stated in the criteria.
What do you guys think?

 

[kami]

You have really answered your own question right there, don't write a cliche, but write a new perspective, for a cliche is merely something that has been done so many times that it is clearly obvious and repetitve, a fresh take would not be a cliche so if you are writing something that you think is a new perspective, you can just go on and write your piece without worry.

 

[tez0r]

excellent, thanks for the advice =)

 

[ameh]

i find that cliches usually slip through the cracks in the description. to get rid of them, change the description again if ur doing a short story. for me, cliches pop up when im not concentrating on my writing and purpose. just dont use it in everyday dialogue too much and it wont become a habit in writing.
when you mean cliche do u mean content/writing style or...? character dialogue?

 

[jhakka]

The only problem with trying to be fresh and innovative with a chliched concept is that it's been done so many times that anything you come up with probably won't be new or innovative. But hey, if you can write it and write it well, in a somewhat individual manner you should be ok.

 

[Opium]

My english teacher gave our class three main pieces of advice when we were deciding what to do for extension 2 english.

Basically it boils down to this: If you want exceptional marks instead of ordinary marks DO NOT select Poetry as your medium because it's really hard to do, do you really think you can rival people like Samuel Taylor Coleridge? You don't even anywhere near enough life experience to do poetry. DO NOT write a short story about teenage angst, the markers have had enough of that, every second student writes about teenage angst and it's often rather pathetic. DO NOT write cliches. Instead try to invent your own, or if you are dealing with cliches use them in an original and entertaining manner.

hope it helps.

 

[Lunatic]

Lol exactly, and under no circumstances start with the words "It was a dark and stormy night".

I'd stay away from cliches entirely unless they were very obviously part of a joke (usually at the expense of cliches...) or you have a justified reason to use them, and in both cases I'd still, just to be safe, explain *why* I used them, in my reflection statement. On the other hand, if you can take a cliche and then develop it in a brain-combusting, never-before-even-thought-about-contemplating way, I guess that'd be fine... but it's still very risky.

 

[Jace]

yeah, cliche's can be used, and can be fun in using them as long as you... play with them. Altering a cliche in a clever manner can create an innovative piece if your very careful... but yeah, you have to be very careful.

do you really think you can rival people like Samuel Taylor Coleridge?

My, my. if we all thought like that, no one would achieve anything. Arrogance is the answer, man. Be a pretentious prick, its much more fun.

No, but seriously, he's possibly right, although a kid at my school last year wrote not only poetry, but fantasy poetry and he got 50/50... kid had talent, and one of you out there may do too.

 

[jusdorange]

My english teacher gave our class three main pieces of advice when we were deciding what to do for extension 2 english.

Basically it boils down to this: If you want exceptional marks instead of ordinary marks DO NOT select Poetry as your medium because it's really hard to do, do you really think you can rival people like Samuel Taylor Coleridge? You don't even anywhere near enough life experience to do poetry. DO NOT write a short story about teenage angst, the markers have had enough of that, every second student writes about teenage angst and it's often rather pathetic. DO NOT write cliches. Instead try to invent your own, or if you are dealing with cliches use them in an original and entertaining manner.

hope it helps.

i disagree with the comment about poetry, yes it would be very challenging but if its what you are good at, then why not do it? your comment about rivalling coleridge, well what about the hundreds/thousands of brilliant authors out there? nobody asks a short story writer if they are rivalling them!
& i don't think you have to have had so much life experience to be able to write poetry, it comes down to have unique/interesting ideas about concepts, you don't have to have personally experienced them... thats what the research component is for, right?

i'm sure your teacher is good but they have quite a negative viewpoint..! if poetry is SUCH a bad choice why would they make it available? some people obviously are capable of doing it

sorry.. got a bit carried away there. i think i made my point

 

[black_man]

Basically it boils down to this: If you want exceptional marks instead of ordinary marks DO NOT select Poetry as your medium because it's really hard to do, do you really think you can rival people like Samuel Taylor Coleridge? You don't even anywhere near enough life experience to do poetry.

its very interesting that a teacher for ee2 advised students not to pursue poetry as a medium. I'm not sure whether 'life experience' is a sort of constant prerequisite for poetry. it might be very very beneficial, but it might also depend on the form of poetry you might look to compose or study.

you might be able to make a similar assumption considering the short story medium. Honestly, i would find it very very difficult to write a short story, i wouldnt have a sense of innovation or originality in narrative writing. individual students might find some mediums sort of easier than others, so i'm not sure if one medium is any harder than another in a general sense. It might be a case of the mediums choosing us rather than us choosing a medium.

you could perhaps deter people from short story writing in a similar way by implying whether short story writers can rival ondaatje or dickens - though the short-story writers in this forum might be almost incomparable to these authors because they're approach and style might be really really different.

 

[black_man]

i'm sorry jusdorange, i didnt realise you had replied at the same time as i did, it seems i said exactly what you did

 

[jusdorange]

i'm sorry jusdorange, i didnt realise you had replied at the same time as i did, it seems i said exactly what you did

thats okay

dont worry i'll spare you the "great minds think alike" line...since this IS the anti-cliche thread.

 

[waterbottle]

my teacher also advised against poetry but i can't remember why now.

 

[STFU]

Seriously, don't be cliche. But at the same time that doesn't mean that cliche themes can't be interesting if written in an original way...

 

[paper cup]

My english teacher gave our class three main pieces of advice when we were deciding what to do for extension 2 english.

Basically it boils down to this: If you want exceptional marks instead of ordinary marks DO NOT select Poetry as your medium because it's really hard to do, do you really think you can rival people like Samuel Taylor Coleridge? You don't even anywhere near enough life experience to do poetry. DO NOT write a short story about teenage angst, the markers have had enough of that, every second student writes about teenage angst and it's often rather pathetic. DO NOT write cliches. Instead try to invent your own, or if you are dealing with cliches use them in an original and entertaining manner.

hope it helps.

but ah you realise. Maupassant wrote short stories, O Henry wrote short stories...but yes I get what you mean. It's rather hard to avoid cliches because they're ordinary and we're ordinary (RAGAD, anyone?)
The best advice I've got for anyone (and it's a bit too late now...) is write what you know. Write what you know because otherwise it's going to come out stilted and pretentious.

 

[PerfectByNature]

Well it wont be cliche if you add a new twist, just as long as you dont write known phrases and over dramatised dialogue

 

[gorgo31]

The best advice I've got for anyone (and it's a bit too late now...) is write what you know. Write what you know because otherwise it's going to come out stilted and pretentious.

In my opinion, this is death. I understand what you're saying about pretentiousness if you try and write about what you personally haven't experienced or know nothing about - heck, I'm in a class full of people writing Kafka-inspired existentialism and feminist appropriations of Joyce (both of which I find irritatingly pretentious) - but at the same time I admire their daring. If you do not step outside of your comfort zone, you are more likely to write derivative angst than anything else. Furthermore, you would find it difficult to justify the course requirement of independent investigation as being substantial.

The most successful formula, I believe, is to take something small that you do know or feel passionate about, and figure out a way to extend your knowledge through investigation, creating a substantial and original major work that transcends cliche. Otherwise, your work will not exhibit sufficient investigation and originality.

I really think that it's better to send something in that is full of experimentation and originality than simply writing what comes easiest. Pretentious and stilted? It depends. Brave? Definitely. And I think the markers reward that. If you read the syllabus closely, you can see that this course is not simply a Creative Writing course; it's a course based on investigation and inquiry. If you follow those processes, the expectation is you can create something beyond what you know.

 

[krystalp]

so, does this mean im pretty much f****ed?

with one week to go:

it is a teenage angst story about a girl.
she 'hurts' herself and is a bitch......(i do make fun of her for it?????)
she sees people
she gets over it


yeh thats a cliche. am i dead?

 

[Seung.Hur]

Doesn't necessarily mean automatic death, it really depends on how well it was written. Providing a completely different narrative voice in your work, could give it that "freshness" to revitalise your marks. As a cliche, generally, the chances are it may not be overly impressive/enjoyable for the marker, or in fact be a labor to read.

So you have to ask yourself a few questions: What makes your work so compelling, that I, your reader, must read it? How do you clasp onto my attention, and throw me into your character's realm?

If you can't answer any of those questions, you've got some serious writing/editing and awesome-uber-quick-publishing to do.

 

[krystalp]

thats the problem tho......i hate it. hate it hate it hate it. iv i read it one more time ill killl.....something.
i sopose the 'fresh' voice could be the innocent little prother, or the cleaning-obsessed mother?
or are they cliches too?