hackneyed, unavoidable or inevitable?

[Sandra Davies]

I’ve just written myself a note which begins ‘say more about the reasons why’ and although this is early stages and these meanderings are far from finalised, I’m getting cold feet.

The heroine married, a dozen years previously, the ‘wrong’ man.

Probably because a) she was pregnant and b) the father refused to admit it was his.

Husband is now a mess – possibly as a result of discovering child not his:  because a) he discovered he’s sterile or b) he discovered wife in flagrante, or c) true father tells him.

From one of those blogs of advice to would-be writers, or a criticism in a review or something, in one of those chance encounters, the word ‘hackneyed’ leaped out and clung to me, with a similar red-eyed tenacity as his roommate ‘cliché’ and I am now paralysed, my writing juddering to a self-questioning halt.

And yet, and yet isn’t it also stated that there are only seven plots, that boy-meets-girl then encounters myriad setbacks and dangers before all comes happy ever after, is just about the winner every time, so does it matter that it’s an already-used device so long as the coloir, number, type and combination of setbacks etc., etc., is (more or less) unique(-ish) to me?

[Sandra Davies]

@ Kristine and Gita - thank you both.   'Step aside' is what I'm doing, writing of other bits, since this is a relatively minor aspect of the story and, therefore not actually shouting but waiting for me to come up with an idea.   Maybe I don't need to explain ... (and THAT realisation, that I really do not need to explain everything, is one of the most important I have had in the past six months!)

[Kristine_ES]

ack! SEVEN plots?!  lucky i can get one straight in my head, sandra! you are tenacious and you plan big.

unsolicited? don't get cold feet, and forget hackneyed.  maybe step back from the story and do something mundane while thinking about the characters and see if they'll jump up and down and holler the "WHY."  ? 

[Gita]

Someone once told me, 'Plots are like rivers. They have many tributaries.'

 If you think your story has devolved and feels hackneyed, maybe you could retrace your steps and find another tributary.

I disagree to some extent with the notion that there are no new stories. Once again I point to Barbara Kingsolver's 'Poisonwood Bible.'  And from time to time Crisman's stories on this very site make me sit up straighter in my chair because I've just read something utterly fresh.

[Sandra Davies]

Thank you one and all - paralytic juddering all ceased (NOTHING to do with the fact tht I haven't started on the red stuff yet!!) and of course I probably knew what each and every one of you told me, but there is this  constantly-recurring need, isn't there,  for reassurance?   Dammit.

[Teresa]

There are three conflicts, right?  Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, and Man vs. Himself.  The latter one can manifest in so many ways.  Sometimes our writing is assaulted by one of these...;-)  Mike H. nailed it.  We see the same things happening all the time.  What we're interested in is how different characters deal with it.  It's like being God.

[Michael Brown]

Exactly what Cita said. It's why all of us have so many favorite authors. If there there were only one standard way to tell those seven stories, there would probably only be one outstanding writer per generation instead of the thousands (well, maybe hundreds) we are competing with for space at the table. I'm fairly sure some of the writers I keep returning to are considered producers of hackneyed prose by some readers, but they are as free as anyone else to change the channel. I also love mixed metaphors.

Repeat the mantra: I'm a writer. It's what I do. Om...

[Cita]

There are no new stories under the sun.  However, there ARE new voices.  No one has ever sung with your voice, and no one has ever seen the world through your own unique lens.  Do not let doubt paralyze you.  Write.

[Sandra Davies]

@ Mike - exactly ... just this week I read a book which was absolutelty unique (to me at least) in it premise (Jose Carlos Somoza:  The art of murder) yet I suppose when it came down to it it was the usual two/three parallel tales of girl meets impressive man/ someone threatens/who can it be/last minute chase to rescue (or not), but I didn't once question the plot, just kept reading ...

[Mike Handley]

I'm constantly reminded (by life itself) that there are NO original ideas. Yet, even while I'm at the mid-century mark in age, I'm still bowled over regularly by new and interesting takes on those premises. More to the point, in judging good books and movies, for me, the characters drive the story. You might find yourself retelling a tired tale, but your characters are yours alone. If they're strong or interesting enough, readers won't mind turning the pages.