In a message dated 5/7/02 3:20:55 PM,
Erick.Anderson@Nike.com writes:
<< Define cliche. As you say, there are limited
opportunities for POV.
Unless one somehow manages to add to that palette (fourth
person heresay?),
one is confined to certain parameters. Are there genre books
that traffick
in cliches that are not? >>
My desktop dictionary says simply: trite and hackneyed. What
I meant when I first posed the question was "overdone". I
gave specific examples of some of the conventions in
question, ie: femme fatales, psychotic sidekicks, first
person POV. I would say that writing in the 1st person itself
isn't necessarily cliche, but the metaphor laden, 1st person
POV clearly is. When it comes to femme fatales, I suppose
it's a matter of believability. Is she fully realized as a
character? Sidekicks probably have to pass a similar
test.
However, at a certain point, the mere fact that these
characters, no matter how well executed, are recognizable as
a type, it makes me question if their very existence is in
fact cliche, or overdone.
Is in fact the Private Eye himself a cliche?
John Lau
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