So, I thought I'd leave you with a little challenge. Simply post your response as a comment and when my travels are over, sometime Sunday, I will draw one at random to win a $5 gift certificate to Torquere Press. Read on to learn your task.
Lately I've been thinking about an issue that crops up fairly often, as a reader and as a writer: to cliché or not cliché? The Online Etymology Dictionary gives us this background on the word: "1832, from Fr. cliché, a technical word in printer's jargon for 'stereotype,' supposedly echoic of the sound of a mold striking molten metal, thus pp. of clicher 'to click'(18c.). Figurative extension to "worn-out expression" is first attested 1888, following the course of stereotype."
So, some phrases, often similes or metaphors, began as powerful uses of language but got dulled from overuse. Like comparing the blush of a lover's cheeks to the delicate, or perhaps riotous color of a rose. Are rosy-cheeked lovers overused? Should I rephrase the question? ::giggles::
I don't mind rosy cheeks in stories I read, but I have to say, I love seeing the cliché turned on its end, so to speak, when the blushing cheeks in question are the nether ones. Check out the stunning pastels of Michael Breyette if you don't agree.
Your challenge is: share two clichés...
- one cliché you wouldn't mind *never* seeing again and
- one that recently surprised you by being refreshed, tweaked, tumbled, or otherwise renewed.
Fervent embraces,
Lee xo
6 comments:
I wouldn't mind NEVER seeing the whole "I have never done this before but with you it just feels right" I roll my eyes every time I see it now...I love the "Gay for YOU" when it is done well.
chellebee66 at gmail dot com
Isn't it interesting how a cliche can bug the earballs off us when done poorly, but delight when done well?
I could definitely do without the whole, never felt this way this fast.... But I recently saw been there fucked that and laughed out loud!
Been there, fucked that... I love it! Ha! And yeah, been there... ::wry grin::
Honestly, I'm having both those feelings for one overused trope right now: Love At First Sight.
On the one hand, I believe in it, I've experienced it, I love it...and it's sort of a standard for the genre, isn't it?
On the other hand, there are Fated Mates -- you know the ones. They're paranormal/otherworldly/whatever and one day they meet The One and their animal/otherworldly/whatever instincts take over and...yeah. It can be done really well, and when it is, I love it.
When it's not? Oh, I want to throw my lovely expensive little ereader at a wall!!
How wonderful that you experienced love at first sight! And yeah, Fated Mates can be sooo satisfying, but also sooo enervating! Just don't toss that ereader! Nooo!!!
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