Writers are
all the same, aren’t we? Oh, sure, we don’t write about the same things. We don’t
act the same way. We don’t even think along the same lines. But we all struggle
with avoiding the most dangerous of all traps: cliché.
But this is
something that transcends writing.
One of my
wife’s most powerful ideas (and what she bases much her life on) is that she
never wants to be cliché. And she isn’t. She doesn’t even have to try to avoid
it. She’s original in everything she says, does, and thinks. And that’s one of
the things I love most about her. But me? I have to fight it.
Too many
times, I’ll find myself falling into one cliché or another. I’m the middle aged
white guy with 3 kids, a mortgage, and a golden retriever. Pretty cliché. Maybe
that’s one reason I like tattoos, and want even more. But even that can become cliché.
So I shave my head. But again…cliché. I (now) own a gun. But still…
I could go
on and on. But I won’t. I don’t want to focus on what makes me cliché. I want
to focus on what makes me unique.
So what
makes me unique? What makes any of us unique? Maybe it’s as simple as the way
we fight becoming cliché.
I’ll leave
my own fight against cliché for another post (maybe under “f”). But for now, let's go interactive. I’d
love to hear from you. What do you do to avoid becoming cliché?
To answer your "interactive question", I sing showtunes at the office. I don't notice that being done a lot where I am, so I think that qualifies as "non-cliche", right?
ReplyDeleteOk so this comment maybe a bit random, or maybe that makes it unique? Anyway, my wife and I LOVE and are complete GEEKS over Doctor Who. Stay with me, I do have a point... The last episode we watched was an annual Christmas episode involved flying fish in an worldwide ocean in the atmosphere on some distant colonized planet involving a cryogenic loansharking business with a touch of time travel, and private party at Frank Sinatra's house with Marilyn Monroe all gift-wrapped up in a usually cliche parody of A Christmas Carol... Every episode has random elements thrown in, much in the same way! So I have this theory that during brainstorming sessions, the writers have a ball cap where they'll throw in all sorts of random nouns, settings, events, etc, and they pull out 5 or 6 and write a crazy unique story around them. Might be a good exercise for bloggers? HA!
ReplyDeleteOr maybe a take from it is to not be afraid to try something or start to frequent places completely different from what you're familiar with? Probably meet all sorts of cool different folks too!