Secrets of Writing: Turning Clichés

Although I’m of the opinion that all clichés must die, there is a good use for them. You can use clichés to set up the audience’s expectations before surprising them with something fresh.

No one has come up with a term for this, so I call it: Turning Clichés.

The definition of a cliché is a trite, over-used expression or idea. It’s mainly something you’ve seen a million times before. Either a stereotype, a maxim like “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, or a scene that’s been done to death. 

Audiences are bored with clichés, which is why they are to be avoided. However, because they can see one coming a mile away, you can sometimes use a cliché to lull the Audience into a false sense of security. You can lead them to believe something is going to happen, then BAM! you hit them with a completely different result.

A classic example of this is the old Villain giving a speech to the hero before he kills him scene. The Villain has the hero tied up. He’s telling him his plans to conquer the world. This gives the Hero time to escape and beat the Villain. Audiences have seen this done a million times. It’s in almost every James Bond movie, for example.

In the penultimate issue of WATCHMEN, the heroes Nite Owl and Rorschach show up at the “villain” Ozymandius’ fortress and try to stop him. Ozymandius beats them in a fight, then tells them his plan. Thinking they could stop his plan, Nite Owl says: “When are you planning to do it?” Ozymandius calmly replies: “Do it? ...I did it thirty-five minutes ago.”

When you turn a cliché, you have to make the Audience think the cliché is going to play out like it always does. So you lead them down this path, giving them little or no indication that anything is amiss before to hit them with the punchline.

If you decide to turn clichés in a story, don’t do it more than once or twice. If you use this technique too often, people will expect it, and then the trick loses steam. You also have to take into account that clichés are annoying to a lot of people. If they even get a hint of one, they may not even finish reading the story.

When a potential customer comes into a comic store, he may flip through some of the comics on the rack, deciding whether or not he wants to buy them. If he reads what he perceives as a major cliché in the beginning of the story, he may drop the book. So there are inherent risks to using this technique.

I tried to do it in ESPERS and it had mixed results. Some people got it and some people didn’t. You need to set things up for a powerful pay off, or they’ll think you’re annoying.

REMEMBER: Turn clichés at your own risk.

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