Writing Magazine March 2020

14 MARCH 2020 http://www.writers-online.co.uk

CREATIVE WRITING

their presence then they really ought
to go. Writing to impress will almost
certainly end in tears. Similes are
quite often clichés, after all, and they
risk ruining all your hard efforts.
There are enough rabbits caught in
headlights to last a lifetime, and the
same can be said of quiet mice or
running as fast as lightning. Using
a clichéd simile exposes a lack of
imagination and effort. Also, more
than any other device they can
provoke a hateful, visceral reaction
from readers.

Write in your own voice
A clichéd style will often be a
consequence of mimesis. This is
when the would-be writer has yet to
find their voice and therefore copies,
usually subconsciously, what he or
she has seen in print. It is wrongly
thought that all that is published
is good. If Dan Brown deluges the
reader with poor comparisons then

why can’t I? Initially the idea that

authors of successful pot-boilers may

write terrible prose seems a strange

one. After all, such tortured writing

has been a commercial success. The

novice believes they therefore ought

to ape desperately poor habits. This

is little more than naivety, a failure

to understand that luck rather than

talent has brought these rather

execrable efforts into the literary

fold. If you think that is the way to

go then you’d be advised to spend all

your hard-earned money on lottery

tickets or betting on the horses. Bad

writers – including Dan Brown – are

ten to a penny (cliché) and only an

infinitesimally small number get

anything published. Usually this is

through exceptional networking,

nepotism or simply being in the

right place at the right time. Read

the CV of a hack and you will often

find that they have a background

in journalism – they have the right

contacts, in other words. By writing

badly all you will succeed in doing

is further reducing your chances.

Why should a literary agent or

editor care about your substandard,

cliché-ridden manuscript when their

mate at the Guardian is looking

for a deal? They don’t know you,

after all. Quality is the answer and

that means writing to the highest

possible standard you can achieve.

So how can you avoid these

tired phrases? Let’s say you’ve said

a character is ‘like a rabbit caught

in headlights’. If you are umming

and aahing, unsure of how original

something is, all it takes is a quick

Google. A hundred thousand hits

will persuade you that the startled

little rabbit must go. More

importantly, however, you

should aim to be as fresh

and original as possible,

which takes time, effort

and patience.

Clichés

10 – 12 July,

University of Winchester, UK

Keynote speaker – Eoin Colfer,

award-winning author of

the Artemis Fowl series

Workshops, talks, and one-to-one

appointments with top literary agents

For emerging writers – from

inspiration to publication

Four writing competitions

Scholarships available

Keynote speaker – Lissa Evans,

bestselling author of

adult and children’s novels

Booking opens 3 March, 2020

http://www.writersweekend.uk

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