The Place For My Writers Notes

original posting: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 03:30:05 JST

or recycle chic makes good or...

(alright, mates! get me a Foster's and I'll tell you about the three koalas and the tasmanian devil. I swear it really happened this way... you see, there were three koalas on walkabout, and they stopped for the night where the billies run, and each one built himself a layover for the night. what's that? no, there aren't any pigs in the outback, don't be silly. so, anyway, these here koalas went to sleep dreaming of diggeree does and bo ties and eucalyptus salads. Then out of the dark came the devil. Red eyes, spiky fur, looked like he'd fought a roo and lost...almost as bad as a critic!... :-)

Michael J brought up memories of the many times we've hashed the topic of the cliched or old story...

Suicide is in itself a cliche. Staring at pills gun knife meat cleaver four by four rocks at the bottom of a cliff has been done a zillion times. For a short short, I'd stay away from it for fear of the cliche. I'd give 100 to 1 odds that there's another 100 people out there writing on suicide as I write this down.

(so? what's the positive recommendation??? or should we just shove all of our writing over the cliff because someone else has done it or may be doing a similar piece?)

Hum - just for fun, since I happen to have it handy, I quick-scanned the 12 stories in "On Writing Science Fiction" (by Scithers, Schweitzer, Ford). All first-time sales. TWO suicide stories. One prince and the pauper, one baby birth, one Moriarty strikes again, one young man proving he can do the job, one visit to hell, one "it was only a game," one vampire story, one "god was an astronaut," and one old-fashioned western. Oh, and one old chestnut, "Everyone wants to be a critic."

12 for 12! Every single one done before, every single one cliched up the wazoo (most before SF even got near the scene), and yet - they are all damn good, published stories (no, not during the pulp years, either!) Not just because a leading writer did them, either - these were all first sales.

BTW - the short-short in the group was a visit to hell, written in a very short time, and largely unrevised... talk about a cliche - can't these published writers do anything right?

(that devil looked at the hut the first koala built, and he laughed. just some straw, and he'd heard that story you mentioned. So he huffed...)

How about a little research? Take a look at the New York Times top 10 fiction - or maybe one of those year's best short story collections - or even your favorite literary magazine - and tell me how many brand new, original plots never before done you find. If you find one, let me know. In the meantime, me and Shakespeare and all the rest of the writers will keep on recycling - there's lots of wear left in these old threads (heck, take a look at this one...:-)

Sorry. It won't wash. Our leading writers busily recycle oldies, why shouldn't the beginners? Admittedly, you had best work hard on it, make it really your story, with details and so on the best you know how. But simply because it has been done before - or even is considered cliched - is not a sufficient critique. It's the easiest slash to toss at any piece of writing, but it simply demonstrates lack of thought, since it is so easy.

(and he puffed...)

Tell me how well or badly I've done in handling the cliche. Perhaps I haven't kept your interest, or provided enough beyond the cliche to make it mine - that might be good to know. But don't bother telling me that you recognize the form, the plot, whatever unless you mean it was too evident from the beginning and I didn't provide anything else - no variation, etc.

Heck, I may WANT to recast Cinderalla! I think finding a girl in a modern city that you met dancing - and she rushed off, leaving only a... crystal barrette? .. might make a great story! there's only about a million or so people to sift through to find your princess. How does Prince Charming do it - now?

(and he popped. see, the koalas had heard that other story too, and they found a needle in the haystack, and they knew just what to do with it. so the koalas had a good laugh, and that's the skin hanging on the door of their shack. Now I ask you, would I make up a story like this if it wasn't true? Thanks, I will take that Foster's now... :-)

Okay - one quote from the previously cited book

Obis's Law: Somebody else probably has the same idea - so (a) get started, (b) plan to do it better.

(cheers! <gurgle...gurgle...gurgle...> :-)

Now, if someone wants to do some more dredging on techniques of recycling, how to spruce up your old tales with ornaments and accessories, or even how to make one out of whole cloth, I'd love to read it. Admittedly, we've chewed on the subject before, but there's still some juice in the topic.

But just saying something is old - heck, the world is pretty old, love is old, I'm old, and there's still something new every day to enjoy in all of us.

(wonder... should this be a FAQ? Old tales for new writers - or how to avoid the dreaded cliche, the tales that bite, the toothless dogs of age...? sweep up those old bits from Randy and JC and so froth...?)

(burp!)