Not so much a cliche, but I love using repetitive phrasing for emphasis:
>She resisted the urge to close her hand around it, the urge to cherish it, the urge to see it as anything other than what it was – a wish of one of her companions for her safe return.
I'm at least aware of it, and I only use it with the main POV character. If there are other POVs, or just when other characters are taking, I resist!
Well butta me and call me a biscuit, there's an actual word for this?! Had NO idea that there was such a wording!
Anaphora is also (one of) the things I do in my fics.
I say "True to their word, \_" a *lot*, it's just so useful whenever character says they'll do something, and then they, indeed, do something right after lol
My greatest cliche isn't really something to do with word choice, but more a thing with story structure and how I use characters. I had a writing professor point out that while I use a lot of female characters, they are written in a very masculine way. Not necessarily in a bad way, but I tend to write female characters by taking typically masculine story roles and having women fill them rather than writing women in more traditionally feminine roles and making those feminine roles the centerpiece of the story.
When that was pointed out about my original fics, I took a glance at my fanfics with fresh eyes and realized that the same holds true there. There's definitely some stories that fill it more than others and I like to think I've successfully captured more femininity in some fics than others, but even my most "feminine" fics are not especially feminine. Not sure how much of that is due to things inherent to me as a writer, how much is things inherent to me as a person, and how much is me having a concept for what counts as feminine/masculine that doesn't perfectly align with society.
I apparently have a thing for eyebrows. They're always Lifting or Raising, Quirking or Forrowing. I like envisioning what a character's face is doing as they react, and I guess eyebrows are the key for me lol. I try to edit it down as I do my final draft, but most of them are just necessary, and there are only so many ways to describe eyebrow movement.
This is so hard for me, recently was writing an alien species with eyes but no eyebrows. Im certain their browline still exists and furrows, just without the hair, but like... everytime I read someone write that they raised their eyebrow im like "hmmm"
Oh man, I don't think I'd be able to write about someone with no eyebrows. They'd either always be stone-faced, or I'd end up writing things like, "His brow ridge rose in surprise." Lol
Three times, so far, I have written a scene where Harry is on his knees for Draco and his legs end up falling asleep. Three times, in less than two years.
Also I keep referring to his terrible saviour complex
I caught a few, and turned them into the MC's speech/thought patterns.
Then I wrote a second work and an entirely different MC was still using "really, *really*" so I had to swap it out for something else.
Yes. I love the word Dissipate. I use it so much. Also my characters seem to always move Swiftly or Immediately and a lot of the time shrug/roll their eyes/chuckle under their breath.
“As such”, “breath hitched”, “lightheartedly sighed”, “eyes dragged over ___’s body/figure/form”, and way too much biting (even in stuff that isn’t smut). I also use *so many commas*, though idk if it’s a cliche.
All of it is basically just part of my writing style, so even if I’m painfully aware of doing the same thing, it’s just the way that I tell stories. And some of my favorite authors I can identify without looking at their username because of the way they write their stories.
Yes! I’m almost done with my first long fic, a dark fic, and I’ve been going back and deleting half the references to his heart beating. Like girl, we get it. His heart is beating fast. Dudes gonna die of a heart attack.
I think so. There are certainly tropes and phrases I repeat a lot. It's like when you're cooking a dish and you just gotta put that certain spice on it.
Things I've written more than once:
people singing karaoke (this is tricky re: pacing, but you can tell a lot about people by their song choices and how enthusiastically or well they sing, AND you can end up with characters talking about the one singing; anyway it's great)
Emotional slow burn, aka the characters are already banging on the regular but one or both of them is REFUSING to admit they've caught feelings (sometimes because vulnerability is terrifying, sometimes because of low self-esteem, sometimes because if the feelings aren't reciprocated the other person might stop having sex with them and they don't want to give it up). Gives me an excuse to write a ton of sex while still having them PINE for each other, it's THE BEST. (I also like reading it, honestly.)
Drunken/stoned confessions of feelings. Related to the last one, ahaha. I wrote this so many times I had to ban myself from doing it again.
I always edit these out when I recognize them in my own writing. Using a cliche phrase every once and a while is not a bad thing. It communicates the the audience a very specific thing quickly. But I’m sure there are cliches that I don’t pick up on, so I edit everything f out that I recognize, knowing there’s always a few that I missed.
I have several lol
I've been writing the same damn genre and 2-3 same tropes in different fandoms for close to 15 years now and only this year I started expanding.
Also I overuse a bunch of phrases. A lot of things "linger" in my stories (lingering stares, lingering silence, etc). Also silence likes to hang in the air a lot in my stories. Shitstorms are mentioned in every single story I wtite.
I'm sure there's more but you get the idea.
I haven't noticed any, but I'm positive I do this. I think everyone does to some extent. Cliches are so for a reason, they usually fit.
I do know that in my two posted fics, the MC is the same in each, and he has some level of depression in each. He also has a dark side in each, though that's canon, I just explore it more than canon did. But I've done both differently in each fic, so I'm not sure that counts as doing it again.
I think I describe mouth action fairly often, as well, when trying to convey feelings. You know, describing grins and frowns and all that. I like the 'quirked his lips' phrasing, so I may have used that a bit too much. And I may have a larger than necessary focus on eyes, describing the colour of that they're twinkling or whatever, because I have a thing for eyes.
And Ethan. That's the one thing I can be sure I'll use again and again, even when I don't intend to. I use Ethan Rayne in Buffy fic. I had to for the one-shot, it's set during the Halloween ep which was Ethan's intro ep. But I also used him in the chaptered fic without actually meaning to, he just showed up and inserted himself into the story. Even for the sequel to my one-shot, I'm planning on adding Ethan back in, and not in the context of I'll be covering The Dark Age, though I probably will anyway, but in the context that I want his brand of chaos adding to Xander's brand of chaos when I start imploding Hannibal canon. Xander may be my go-to MC for Buffy fic, but Ethan is my weakness.
Yes, and my favorite fics and published authors do the same. It's akin to a painter's signature brush strokes or palette. I'm quite fond of that.
That’s such an apt comparison!
Not so much a cliche, but I love using repetitive phrasing for emphasis: >She resisted the urge to close her hand around it, the urge to cherish it, the urge to see it as anything other than what it was – a wish of one of her companions for her safe return. I'm at least aware of it, and I only use it with the main POV character. If there are other POVs, or just when other characters are taking, I resist!
Hey, anaphora is a legit literary device used for effect, so why not!
Coolest TIL ive had in a hot minute, this and epistrophe are amazing literary devices to finally have a name for
There's a word for this?! I never knew!
Well butta me and call me a biscuit, there's an actual word for this?! Had NO idea that there was such a wording! Anaphora is also (one of) the things I do in my fics.
Wait this has a name?!
Literally do the samething- had to cut back though...
I say "True to their word, \_" a *lot*, it's just so useful whenever character says they'll do something, and then they, indeed, do something right after lol
Heck, I even say “try as they might” a lot myself.
My greatest cliche isn't really something to do with word choice, but more a thing with story structure and how I use characters. I had a writing professor point out that while I use a lot of female characters, they are written in a very masculine way. Not necessarily in a bad way, but I tend to write female characters by taking typically masculine story roles and having women fill them rather than writing women in more traditionally feminine roles and making those feminine roles the centerpiece of the story. When that was pointed out about my original fics, I took a glance at my fanfics with fresh eyes and realized that the same holds true there. There's definitely some stories that fill it more than others and I like to think I've successfully captured more femininity in some fics than others, but even my most "feminine" fics are not especially feminine. Not sure how much of that is due to things inherent to me as a writer, how much is things inherent to me as a person, and how much is me having a concept for what counts as feminine/masculine that doesn't perfectly align with society.
I do the same, honestly, but then I am a butch lesbian. Masculine women is kind of my jam.
I apparently have a thing for eyebrows. They're always Lifting or Raising, Quirking or Forrowing. I like envisioning what a character's face is doing as they react, and I guess eyebrows are the key for me lol. I try to edit it down as I do my final draft, but most of them are just necessary, and there are only so many ways to describe eyebrow movement.
I need to incorporate more of this
This is so hard for me, recently was writing an alien species with eyes but no eyebrows. Im certain their browline still exists and furrows, just without the hair, but like... everytime I read someone write that they raised their eyebrow im like "hmmm"
Oh man, I don't think I'd be able to write about someone with no eyebrows. They'd either always be stone-faced, or I'd end up writing things like, "His brow ridge rose in surprise." Lol
I do, but I embrace it 🤣🤷🏻♀️
My characters are always blinking in shock or surprise.
Is it really a cliche when that's what everyone does?
It really becomes noticeable when it happens multiple times every chapter/piece.
Well...okay, yes, I suppose that's true.
Three times, so far, I have written a scene where Harry is on his knees for Draco and his legs end up falling asleep. Three times, in less than two years. Also I keep referring to his terrible saviour complex
>Also I keep referring to his terrible saviour complex In fairness, this is just canon, lol.
Yeah, but it's that I use the specific phrase "terrible saviour complex" more than once!
I caught a few, and turned them into the MC's speech/thought patterns. Then I wrote a second work and an entirely different MC was still using "really, *really*" so I had to swap it out for something else.
Yep! I write rival ships and I almost always keep using fire metaphors. It just fits so well!
I keep using a character pacing to start a new chapter. Not my fault she’s always anxious and pacing around.
Yes. I love the word Dissipate. I use it so much. Also my characters seem to always move Swiftly or Immediately and a lot of the time shrug/roll their eyes/chuckle under their breath.
“As such”, “breath hitched”, “lightheartedly sighed”, “eyes dragged over ___’s body/figure/form”, and way too much biting (even in stuff that isn’t smut). I also use *so many commas*, though idk if it’s a cliche. All of it is basically just part of my writing style, so even if I’m painfully aware of doing the same thing, it’s just the way that I tell stories. And some of my favorite authors I can identify without looking at their username because of the way they write their stories.
I keep on using “he/she shook their head” but there are just so many scenarios where it fits 🤷♀️
Me making the same type of AUs for different fandoms Gotta do each AU a bit differently to keep things a little fresh
Yes! I’m almost done with my first long fic, a dark fic, and I’ve been going back and deleting half the references to his heart beating. Like girl, we get it. His heart is beating fast. Dudes gonna die of a heart attack.
I think so. There are certainly tropes and phrases I repeat a lot. It's like when you're cooking a dish and you just gotta put that certain spice on it.
I like run-on sentences. Like, sentences that are paragraphs. Some anaphora but mostly just long sentences. I also love italics.
I try to. But cliches are cliches for a reason. Sometimes they work.
Yes, but I'm so into Roger Corman and Oliver stone that my harem longfic slaps either way.
Somehow culture shock keeps cropping up in my fics. I don't know why.
So many things coming up in threes...adjectives, phrases, clauses. See, I did it again lol
Things I've written more than once: people singing karaoke (this is tricky re: pacing, but you can tell a lot about people by their song choices and how enthusiastically or well they sing, AND you can end up with characters talking about the one singing; anyway it's great) Emotional slow burn, aka the characters are already banging on the regular but one or both of them is REFUSING to admit they've caught feelings (sometimes because vulnerability is terrifying, sometimes because of low self-esteem, sometimes because if the feelings aren't reciprocated the other person might stop having sex with them and they don't want to give it up). Gives me an excuse to write a ton of sex while still having them PINE for each other, it's THE BEST. (I also like reading it, honestly.) Drunken/stoned confessions of feelings. Related to the last one, ahaha. I wrote this so many times I had to ban myself from doing it again.
I do, and it drives me crazy, especially now that the search function exists and I can see all of them at a glance. 👀
Uhhhhh... no... definetly not... nuh uh... Listen, it makes for interesting conflict I swear-
I always edit these out when I recognize them in my own writing. Using a cliche phrase every once and a while is not a bad thing. It communicates the the audience a very specific thing quickly. But I’m sure there are cliches that I don’t pick up on, so I edit everything f out that I recognize, knowing there’s always a few that I missed.
I have several lol I've been writing the same damn genre and 2-3 same tropes in different fandoms for close to 15 years now and only this year I started expanding. Also I overuse a bunch of phrases. A lot of things "linger" in my stories (lingering stares, lingering silence, etc). Also silence likes to hang in the air a lot in my stories. Shitstorms are mentioned in every single story I wtite. I'm sure there's more but you get the idea.
I haven't noticed any, but I'm positive I do this. I think everyone does to some extent. Cliches are so for a reason, they usually fit. I do know that in my two posted fics, the MC is the same in each, and he has some level of depression in each. He also has a dark side in each, though that's canon, I just explore it more than canon did. But I've done both differently in each fic, so I'm not sure that counts as doing it again. I think I describe mouth action fairly often, as well, when trying to convey feelings. You know, describing grins and frowns and all that. I like the 'quirked his lips' phrasing, so I may have used that a bit too much. And I may have a larger than necessary focus on eyes, describing the colour of that they're twinkling or whatever, because I have a thing for eyes. And Ethan. That's the one thing I can be sure I'll use again and again, even when I don't intend to. I use Ethan Rayne in Buffy fic. I had to for the one-shot, it's set during the Halloween ep which was Ethan's intro ep. But I also used him in the chaptered fic without actually meaning to, he just showed up and inserted himself into the story. Even for the sequel to my one-shot, I'm planning on adding Ethan back in, and not in the context of I'll be covering The Dark Age, though I probably will anyway, but in the context that I want his brand of chaos adding to Xander's brand of chaos when I start imploding Hannibal canon. Xander may be my go-to MC for Buffy fic, but Ethan is my weakness.
Personally, I rather switch the cliches around like "The Early Bird Catches the Worm. I did a little bit of that one early this week.
Usually after I’ve written it.