Writing, part 3: Slay the cliché

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"'Her hair felt like silk slipping through his fingers'? Let me kill it!"

How many times have you read the following worn-out sentences?

She padded down the hall in her bare feet.

His eyes were wide with horror.

He cupped her breast.

She fisted her hands by her sides.

Fisted? When did that become a word? I'm not sure, but I've read it many times. And I've read those other sentences so often that they've lost their meaning. I'm sure we can think of more examples, but I want to keep my breakfast down.

Writing is no less than a thrilling process. An author comes up with an idea, and then she or he takes the time and admirable effort to find the words to bring you that idea and make you care. The words are the most important thing. I can tell you a basic story–woman finds her grandmother's recipes, makes them with her mother, discovers her family's history–but believe me, that's not how Cherries in Winter got published. (That flavorless description is an example of why I don't write proposals.) I searched for the right words that would translate my idea into a story that readers would care about.

I'm excited by books. I love getting lost in a good story, and I love that people took the time to transcribe their thoughts and dreams. But the second I read something I've read many, many times before, so many times that it's just become a phrase people use like kindergarten paste to glue thoughts together, my time becomes a lot more valuable. I begin to wonder if I'm wasting it on lazy writing. It's like seeing a broken window at a shop or restaurant; if they can't be bothered to fix that, what else is wrong?

As thrilling as writing can be, it's also hard work–a labor of love, to use another over-used phrase. If you get to the point that you write your book, be prepared to write it again, and again, and againandagainandagain, and to read it a hundred times or more. Hopefully you love it so much that you never mind the amount of revisions and readings you'll have to do.

And if you are in love with your book, and your characters, and your story, you will take the time to say to yourself, "Self, let's do the best we can here." Out of love for your heroine, don't let her pad down that hall in her bare feet, as so many barefoot or sock-clad heroines have padded down countless literary halls. Can she feel the chill of the cheap, cracking linoleum as she walks (yes, just walks, or limps, or trots or whatever is important to your plot) down the hall? Can she feel her tendons straining as her fingers tighten into white-knuckled fists? (I think she's angry about "fisted" being used and abused as a verb.)

I admire anyone who takes the time to write, because it's not easy. I admire more the authors who love words so much that they don't want to use those cheap floozies that everyone else has written. They love words and writing so much that they want the best words, the ones that dance together, that sing.

Do this. Your writing deserves it. Love your writing enough to find the best words, and everyone will…fall for your story like a ton of bricks.

xx,

S