[Process]
[process] Writing Cliches of the Personal Kind
Author Shanna Germaine talks about her personal cliches in writing. It’s kind of a funny list. She covers both things she returns to a lot, and things which are absent in her writing. After eight novels and close to three hundred short stories, I’m not sure much of anything is absent from my writing, but I certainly do return to a lot of things. In no particular order, and off the top of my head, here are some of my tropes:
- Lost boys
- Absent fathers
- Absent mothers
- Frightening grandfathers/distant male authority figures
- Zeppelins
- Angels
- An absent God
- People angry at the world
- Talking animals
- Gentle humanism
- Reversal of gender roles
- The “key man” theory of history
- The price of magic/power/belief
- Place, place, place
- Self-discovery
- Personal responsibility
- The question of “who counts”
- And of course these days, cancer, cancer, cancer
What do you find in your work, over and over?
Snurched from Shanna Germain at Year of the Word.
Posted: 8:29 am Sun June 20 2010 |
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John Ginsberg-Stevens
June 20th, 2010 at 8:49 amWith one exception, everything that I have written in the past year has been apocalyptic in some sense. The only one that has not been is a story inspired by your dream about a wooden airport terminal.
I always have a strong, angry female lead, even if she is one of several protagonists.
I say too much about people’s faces.
I kick authority in the junk, or hurl a raging zombie at them or something.
I project a strong dislike of organized religion, but a strong enthusiasm for personal codes of ethics.
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Bryan Schmidt
June 20th, 2010 at 1:49 pmGood question. So far both my novels and a few stories, deal with a sense of finding a place to belong and self-discovery. The father-issues theme is definitely one my mind a lot, and I also use spiritual differences/quests a lot. As one who loves culture crossing, I deal with assumptions/stereotypes cause misconceptions a lot as well. I’ll definitely have to think about this more.
Cora
June 20th, 2010 at 4:11 pmThings you’ll find in my fiction:
- love triangles
- women choosing the not conventionally handsome over the conventionally handsome guy
- characters with abusive backgrounds
- prison, torture and execution scenes
- self injury and suicidal tendencies
- villains wearing capes, cloaks, hoods and masks
- secret and double identities
- lots of hair, long hair, unruly hair, hair being brushed back from faces, etc… Usually either red or dark, blondes are rare
- jewelery, with or without magic powers
- awkward sex
- dilapidated and decaying settings
- seaside settings
- pop culture references
- food
- There’s always at least one communist, no matter when or where the story is set.
- That guard with the dental hygiene issues who shows up again and again
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