Literary cliché. We remove literary cliches, banalities and vulgarities

A literary stamp is a phenomenon of speech that occurs in the texts of works of literature, where it is mechanically reproduced, replacing something that could reflect the creative initiative of the author as an artist of words, overcoming the resistance of the material, and a participant in the formation of language fiction or poetic language.

S.G. Barkhudarov

I'll start with what I liked.

We believe that if you want to write a fantasy novel, you should take this exam first. Even one single answer “yes” to any of our questions means failure, and you can immediately abandon your “promising” venture.

Spoiler

1. Nothing important happens in the first 50 pages of your story?

2. Your main character comes from a village, but his parents are unknown?

3. Main character- heir to the throne, but he himself doesn’t suspect it?

4. Your creation tells the story of young hero, who grows up, gains incredible powers and finally defeats the super-duper bad guy?

5. Does your work tell about going to the ends of the world to find an ancient artifact that will save the world?

6. What about the one who is capable of destroying this very world?

7. The plot of your book revolves around an ancient prophecy about the Chosen One, who will save the world, and with it everyone else, by leading the Forces of Good?

8. Is there at least one character in your work who exists solely to appear unexpectedly and provide information to the characters?

9. Is one of your characters actually a god in disguise?

10. The main, evil, super-duper bad guy is secretly the father of the main character?

11. Is your world ruled by a good-natured king who is led by the nose by an evil sorcerer?

12. Does the phrase “forgetful magician” describe at least one of the characters in your novel?

13. What about “a powerful, but dull and good-natured warrior”?

14. Isn’t there a “wise, mysterious wizard who refuses to fully commit the characters to a plan of action for some mysterious reasons of his own”?

15. The women in your work spend a lot of time worrying about their appearance, especially when a man appears nearby?

16. Is at least one woman introduced into the novel only to be first kidnapped and then rescued?

17. Does at least one woman exist in the text solely to represent feminist ideals?

18. Does the words “a clumsy kitchen wench who is much better with a frying pan than with a sword” apply to at least one woman in the book?

19. And the words “a fearless warrior who is more suited to a sword than a frying pan”?

20. Can at least one character in your book be described as a “stern dwarf”?

21. What can you say about a half-elf, torn between his human and elven blood?

22. Have you made an elf and a gnome? inseparable friends, just as an original move?

23. Do all the characters, less than one and a half meters tall, exist only for comic roles?

24. Are you sure that ships serve only two purposes: fishing and robbery?

25. Do you know when they started using the hay binder?

26. On the map you drew for the novel, are there such places as the “Scorched Lands,” the “Forest of Terror,” the “Wild of Despair,” or anything that contains the word “Destruction”?

27. The prologue of your work cannot be understood until you read the whole book... and maybe even then - not so much?

28. Is this the first book in a planned trilogy?

29. What about five- and ten-logies?

30. Is your work thicker than the New York telephone book?

31. Absolutely nothing happens in the previous book, but you explain this by the fact that there are still many books between you and the ending?

32. Are you already writing prequels to book series that haven’t even started yet?

33. Your name is Robert Jordan, and to get to this point you've been bawling like a mangy dog?

34. Is the story based on an adventure you played out in Dengen?

35. In your work there are characters transferred to fairy world from real?

36. Does at least one of your main characters have an apostrophe in their name?

37. Does at least one of the main characters have a name noticeably longer than three syllables?

38. Doesn’t it seem strange to you that, when describing two characters from the same small, isolated village, you call one “Tim Umber” and the other “Beltuzalanthal al”Greenscock”?

39. Are there orcs, elves, gnomes and halflings in your world?

40. What about “orkens” or “gnomes”?

41. Is the name of one of your races preceded by the prefix "half-"?

42. In one part of your work, do the characters take a shortcut, descending into the ancient mines of the gnomes?

43. You describe battle scenes after you play them in your favorite RPG?

44. Have you made a description of all your main characters based on the parameters in your favorite RPG?

45. Are you writing this book as a commission from Wizards of the Coast?

46. ​​Do inns in your work exist only so that the characters have a place to fight?

47. Do you think that you know everything about feudalism, but in reality this is not at all true?

48. Are the characters busy traveling back and forth most of the time?

49. One of your characters might tell the others something that will help them on their journey, but won't because he doesn't want them to ruin the plan?

50. Do your wizards cast spells that are unmistakably “fireball” or “lightning bolt”?

51. Do you use the term “mana” at least once in your work?

52. Do you use the term "scale mail"?

53. And, heaven help you, did you really use the term “hit points”?

54. Do you know how much gold coins weigh?

55. Are you sure that a horse can gallop all day long?

56. In your work, someone: first fights with enemies for two hours straight, dressed in plate armor, then rides a horse for another four hours, after which he has enough strength to politely seduce a lustful waitress for bed pleasures?

57. Does your character have a magical axe, hammer, spear, or other weapon that returns to him after he throws it?

58. In your book, does anyone get pierced through with a scimitar?

59. Does anyone in your book get stabbed through despite wearing plate armor?

60. Are you sure that all swords weigh at least five kilograms?

61. Your hero falls in love with an unapproachable woman beautiful lady, which, in the end, takes by storm?

62. Most of Are the jokes in your work based on wordplay?

63. Is your hero able to withstand many blows from a fantasy equivalent of a ten-kilogram sledgehammer, but is still afraid of a fragile girl with a knife?

64. Are you really sure that a person usually needs more than one arrow in the chest to die?

65. You have no idea that stew takes several hours to cook, and that it cannot be called “not God knows what, but it will do on the road”?

66. In your work there are nomadic barbarians living in the tundra and drinking one barrel of mead after another?

67. Are you sure that “mead” is just a funny name for beer?

68. Your work contains many different races, each of which has exactly one state, one ruler and one religion?

69. The most disciplined and numerous association of people in your world is the thieves’ guild?

70. Main villain executes loyal servants for the smallest offenses?

71. Are you talking about warriors who constantly get into fights, but drag a bard with them everywhere, who doesn’t know how to fight at all, but plays the lute very well?

72. "Ordinary" is official language in your world?

73. All the surrounding areas in your work are stuffed with tombs and crypts, which are bursting with all kinds of magical artifacts and which no one has thought to plunder over the past few hundred years?

74. Your work is just brief retelling"Lord of the Rings"?

75. Now re-read these points again and answer honestly!!!

The theme of a hero who is not like everyone else is very popular in teenage literature.

Why not a special destiny? Besides, if you are special, you will definitely be noticed and loved. Therefore, with a hero who turns out to be chosen and unique, although at first glance a teenager as a teenager, the reader from target audience easy to associate with yourself. All this is understandable, but too much fantasy novels is created exactly according to this scheme. Even if he finds himself in a group of unusual or somewhat privileged people, the main character turns out to be the most unique among them, and this is absolutely ridiculous. In addition, sometimes such characters turn out to be spineless and passive, since they do not need to overcome themselves, cultivate willpower, persist and fight.

The secret of success is to be lucky enough to be born the chosen one and the most “different” one, then everything will work out, but the rest will not, no matter how much they want it.

Love triangle

Actually love relationship is one of the eternal themes in literature, and it is difficult to imagine humanity that will cease to be interested in this. Love is a part of our nature, so any problems and conflicts associated with it are of keen interest to us. The situation when one woman is torn by her feelings for two men (or vice versa) is also understandable to readers and evokes a keen response from them.

The problem is that now this trendy theme is introduced into the plot without any reason or preparation, and this attempt to spice up the story has the opposite effect.

The writer depicts both romantic interests of his hero or heroine, but does not delve into their characters, nor into the motivations of all three, much less into any psychological subtleties of their relationship. And it turns out instead interesting plot a faceless literary cliche, if you remove it, the work will only benefit.

Mary Sue and Marty Stu

This concept comes from fan fiction, and most often such characters appear there, but they are also often found in more serious literary forms.

The names of Mary Sue and Marty Stu are given to heroes who are absurdly ideal: beautiful, smart, and lucky, they can do everything.

A novel whose hero is someone like Mary or Marty is not always bad. Sometimes an ideal, beautiful hero only needs one cute flaw to turn from an ideal shining with a nasty light into a charming lucky guy. But more often it happens that the author does not try at all to make the protagonist of his novel at least somewhat interesting, developing and capable of making mistakes, and reading about such a home-grown superman is simply not interesting.

"Luke, I am your father"

Family secrets are a topic that many readers highlight among their favorite motifs in literature. And I'm no exception. But, like any plot twist, the theme family secrets can be revealed good or bad.

If the reader is skillfully led by the nose, and when the truth is revealed, the entire previous plot suddenly appears in a different light, he, the reader, will only be glad and ask for more.

If the situation is obvious from the very beginning, and only the dull protagonist does not understand what is going on, or if “absolutely by chance” fate brought together two separated twins in a grocery store around the corner, who recognized each other by a mole on their forehead, the reader will lose all confidence in auto RU.

Trilogies and more

It seems to me that now cycle works have become more popular than ever. Of course, there have been continuation novels before, novels divided into volumes, sequels and prequels written many years after the original was released, when no one was waiting, and so on. But now, in some genres, literary series with three or more novels planned are considered more successful than the usual one-volume works with a beginning and an end under one cover. Therefore, now writers immediately figure out how to cut the planned plot into several parts, even when the plot does not imply this at all.

Amazing cat saves the world

One of the fashionable topics in modern literature is the stories of various pets that distinguished themselves in some way or simply appeared in the life of their owner at the most necessary moment. As a rule, the stories are quite touching and interesting, but literary form, in which they are clothed, does not stand up to criticism.

And the stories themselves are more like a newspaper article than a novel.

The more skepticism is caused by store shelves filled with books with photos of cats and dogs on the covers.

An old fairy tale in a new way

Rethinking long ago famous stories- Absolutely not new topic in literature. Moreover, this is how masterpieces are born. But nowadays in literature they like to pour from empty to empty, and the authors forget that when rethinking it would be necessary not to repeat old story, and breathe into it new life, turn everything upside down, add much more from yourself than you take from the common piggy bank.

As a result, stories with long-familiar fairy-tale or mythical plots grow like mushrooms after rain. Novels can be included in this category. computer games and films.

Perhaps these are all modern literary clichés that cause rejection - they come across so often. Actually, there are many more cliches, but I don’t like all of them. For example, the action takes place in a small town - an old cliche, but I am ready to read books about small towns one after another. Or a detective cliché: the main character, an amateur detective, is loved by readers, the author continues the series about this hero, and as a result, corpses come his way more often than cones in a spruce forest. Absolutely not believable, but not annoying, provided that the detective stories themselves are written well. Cliches are not always evil; sometimes you can’t do without them at all.

After all, Borges said that there are only four stories, and writers retell them over and over again. Archetypes are in in a certain sense also cliches, but it is on them that the most interesting literature is built.

Editors, critics, and even readers love to look for cliches. Sometimes it seems that this search is akin to picking mushrooms. “Let’s look here... - he’s probably hiding, my dear!” And if he hid/is found, they immediately cross it out and throw up their hands: “Well, my friend, this is graphomania!”
I came across the article “Stamps - “for” or “against”” http://zhurnal.lib.ru/b/bioversum/stamps.shtml. and decided to talk about this controversial topic. So, a stamp is a “template”, “stencil”, “standard”.
In literature, a “cliché” is an established plot device, technique or figure of speech.
So why are established moves bad?
“I love you” is a stamp, “reaching out to the heart” is a stamp. “Golden-domed Moscow”, “caring motherly hands”, “sly squinting eyes” are also cliches.
What's wrong with this? Typical examples of established speech patterns.

It is known that there are stamps - plot, is there - speech.
In the first case - repetition of typical situations, plot moves; in the second - set expressions and phrases.
Why do many works (even well-written ones) end up in the trash? Nothing original! We have already seen all this. Born, studied, married, divorced, now toils. This means that the reader (and, above all, the editor) needs to be surprised with something. It seems like a typical situation, but not quite. And the images are well written, and the experiences are more interesting, and the thoughts of the characters are special. And in order to fight speech cliches, you need to turn on your inner hearing. And get rid of the blurry look. And don't be afraid of critics. After all, there are no criteria for stamps, and there are no criteria for distinguishing stamps from non-stamps either.
From the article I mentioned:
“Creativity is not a conveyor belt, of course, its products must be somewhat diverse. This is where you need to show ingenuity and ingenuity, and learn this from nature itself. The fact that a person has two arms, two legs and one head - this can also be a stamp But to give it individuality, it is not necessary to attach a third leg or claws instead of arms. Likewise, a bicycle with round wheels can be modified and improved, adapted for riding in the mountains, but it will still remain a bicycle with round wheels, recognizable and similar to its own. brothers. But some sophisticated, original and stunning design, like a baobab stylization, although individual, is functionally useless. So we must learn not to move away from cliches in a radical way, but to find the notorious individuality, without leaving the framework of what is decent and acceptable. .
It's the same in literature. In the pursuit of originality, sometimes you can become so isolated in your individuality that no one needs it.”

I just found out that I haven’t published this article on BS yet. Although, maybe this article appeared in one of our magazines, maybe the article was written for a Typical Writer. To be honest, I don't remember :D

Literary stamp- this is the scourge of any author, both beginner and advanced. But many have difficulty understanding what it is and how to deal with it, and some seriously ask the question “Is it necessary?”

Literary stamp- this is a cliché on which novice authors try to build a text, sincerely believing that this is the missing bow that the work is so lacking.
Lit. stamp you can name a phrase or even a sentence that you may come across in the works of different authors writing in different genres.
A literary stamp is like a puzzle piece, covering missing holes, and sometimes expressing the full picture.
And at the same time, the literary stamp is no longer a mysterious “beast” that surprises no one.

This concept can be divided into two types: plot stamp and linguistic stamp. And, in my humble opinion, each type has both its pros and cons.
If we talk about plot clichés, then the formula was derived a long time ago:

1. Exceptional personality, sort of" Byronic hero", distinguished from others by some special qualities or knowledge.
But this point is difficult to classify as a disadvantage, because reading about an ordinary person without a king in his head, without a conflict with society, with himself or without special abilities is simply not interesting. In this case, the genre determines the character of the hero and his behavior. If in a dystopia a character fights the system based on his abilities, then in a fantasy of sword and sorcery the hero is distinguished by special skills or, conversely, atypical inability.
Non-genre prose in this issue low sensitivity to such personality stamps. If we talk about lyrics, then the intangible hero, whom no one understands, can be found in six out of ten poems.

2. Path. The main character, overcoming all difficulties, stubbornly steps towards a special Goal, scattering villains along the way or fighting them in a fair fight. How fair the fight is is a moot point, since if the main character is involved in the fight, then we are absolutely sure that he will not die at the very beginning and will definitely live to the end of the story (unless the author, of course, is Martin or his follower-imitator).

If the two previous cliches can be classified as common ones that can be found in many works, then there are also no less popular cliches. For example, the hero’s thoughts before the road to a great Goal (or even initial refusal and self-doubt: “But how can a little hobbit cope with such a mission?”), falling in love with the main antagonist, the presence of a “sage” (a caterpillar can also play this role, smoking a hookah), revenge for the dead parents, saving everyone and everything, even if the world was on the verge of destruction. After this, as a rule, the hero begins to die, but a beautiful maiden or an equally wonderful maiden throws herself on his chest and fills the entire chest of the almost lifeless person with tears, which may have a miraculous effect.

Such cliches can be listed endlessly, and it’s good when the author sees and understands his mistake. But the question is “is it a mistake?” for many writers it will remain controversial. I believe a writer can truly enjoy his characters and plot, even though the characters are carbon copies of many others, and similar plot can be found through a book on the bestseller shelf. The author may have a truly amazing style or deep thoughts, floating in an ornate haze between the lines. And the reader often stubbornly gets lost in his own world and does not want to open up the various facets of literature, asking Google for the names of books of a certain genre. “A book similar to...” - at least once each of us began our journey into a new work with these lines. Is this bad? It's up to you to decide.

However, let us return to the discussion about the main thing, namely the speech stylistic stamp (hereinafter RSS). What kind of fruit is this and what is it eaten with?

In fact, it is an unnecessary unoriginal clarification that can easily be replaced or thrown away, but the author is sincerely confident that it is beautiful and literary anyway (often put intuitively).
This cliché can also be divided into two types: speech and stylistic.
If we consider these types in parallel, then a stylistic stamp is a stylistic error in the text, which, in the opinion of the author and some readers, gives the text a certain beauty. There are a great many such errors, I propose to study (remember) some of them:

1 . Paronyms are words that sound similar but have different meanings. For example, linguistic-linguistic, equal-equal, provide-present, acquire-master and others. Agree that the incorrect use of the above words can lead to an erroneous understanding of the meaning: “Having provided the newcomer to those around him, Mr. X sat down in the chair again” (having provided - having given for use, do you feel the irony?).

2 . Tautology is a word, term, definition that repeats something previously written in a different form. It is very common to use a noun in conjunction with an adjective. “Oil oil” is easy to notice in the text, you say. Yes, if similar words are nearby: “Along with these reasons, he was guided by a number of others. (next to - NEAR)” . It would be more logical to write “Along with these reasons, he was guided by others.”

3 . Stringing words in the same case forms, close standing friend to friend. For a clear understanding, I will immediately give an example: “In order to avoid the possibility of danger.” Such chains of words create a monolithic and incomprehensible piece of text. In addition, authors sometimes make mistakes with the cases themselves. To knock down this cobweb, you can use the conjunctions “so that”, “which” or throw out a cumbersome word.
Solution: “To avoid danger”

Not only do authors sometimes make mistakes with the cases themselves, but they also put identical ones side by side. Eg,
In order to avoid the possibility of danger... (example not mine).
In order to knock down this web, you can use the conjunctions “so that”, “which”, but do not overdo it, which will also be considered a mistake.
Solution:
To avoid danger...

In general, stylistic errors that can easily be classified as cliches great amount. But, alas, I have regulations, so let’s move on to speech errors.

Speech stamp- this is a cliché, which includes some “fashionable” words, phrases, phrases, images. Perhaps, this representative- one of the most serious and dangerous literary cliches. A writer who uses such words cannot develop his own style or create an author’s individuality, because he uses phrases that have already become clichés in the history. For example, “the frost grew stronger”, “jump out like a bullet”, “steps echoed loudly”, “walked all the way”, “chest rose high”, “eagle gaze”, “mysterious Russian soul”, “make eyes”, “fall into hugs", "blonde with blue eyes"and, believe me, many others!

I have already outlined the harm of such tag words: the author does not develop his style, while the shelves are overloaded with “literature”, as if written by the same writer. The use of such “phraseologisms” is the problem of every novice author, and it cannot be avoided, you need to fight. However, it is very convenient for the reader: there is no need to strain your brain, because such clichés evoke familiar images due to their popularity. That is why I dare to call this stamp literary device(may philologists shower me with rotten tomatoes and old slippers), used by the author to establish a connection with the reader. The simpler, more accessible and more familiar it is written, the more readers the work will have.

Unfortunately, few people think about the versatility of literature, the duality of meanings, the possibility of reflecting on the same scene with different angles. Few people are interested in what exactly the author wanted to convey, and most crave a “head-on” story. Does it develop modern literature? No. Is there any chance of achieving real recognition with a narrative like this? No. If the text is based on the above cliches, then your work will be labeled “light reading,” which will never enter the literary annals. However, you can argue.

We have all encountered literary cliches more than once on the pages of books, magazines, and newspapers. Sometimes they openly laughed at them, they were so hackneyed and ridiculous.
If the number of cliches and banalities in the text went off scale, then we put the book aside and never returned to it.

Of course, it is impossible to do without stamps completely. Our whole life, if we take it on the scale of the Universe, is nothing more than a set of cliches: born, studied, got married, multiplied, died :)

However, it doesn’t hurt to have a list of literary cliches on hand in order to weed them out of your texts.
Of course, I am not calling for throwing out the baby with the bathwater; no one has yet canceled the sense of proportion. The main thing is that the text does not consist of ONLY platitudes. And if you catch a couple of cliches in your text, think about what you can replace them with so that the work is fresh, original and bears the imprint of your individuality. So:

LIST OF MOST COMMONLY COMMON STAMPS

Description of the hero/heroine

Femme fatale
- long-legged blonde
- blue-eyed blonde
- a metropolitan thing
- wasp waist
- swan neck
- marble-white leather
- cold as ice
- long thin fingers
- bottomless eyes
- innocent look
- heaving chest
- graceful like a cat
- trembling heart
- thin as a reed
- a woman of amazing destiny
- hands like wings
- sadness in the eyes
- wide, trusting eyes
- cunning squint of the eyes,
- unruly whirlwinds
- tired and kind eyes
- silver gray hair
- strong chin
- icy gaze
- sobs shook his powerful body
- sensitive soul
- trembling heart
- caring mother's hands
- overworked, calloused hands
- father's stern look
- stingy male tear
- mysterious Russian soul

Scene

City on the Neva (St. Petersburg)
- Foggy Albion (England)
- the shores of Foggy Albion
- Golden-domed Moscow
- Moscow white stone
- Kyiv, mother of Russian cities
- city of sin and debauchery
- New York is a city of contrasts
- a crappy little town
- provincial hole

Actions

Blow to smithereens
- cut like a nut,
- drop accusations
- boldly follow the chosen path
- find long-awaited freedom
- fight bravely until death
- reach the heart
- sleep the sleep of the righteous
- stick to lips (or something else)

Well, and the rest

The night burned out like a candle
- the frost grew stronger
- fluffy snow falling in large flakes
- first large drops of rain
- road to the temple
- I really want warmth and love
- the years, like a horse, rush at a gallop.
- pain of loss
- tired but happy
- silence reigned
- in proud loneliness
- insulted innocence.

This list can be continued in the comments. There are probably a lot more stamps out there, so I'm afraid this will be long.

What determines the number of stamps in the text? From the level of reading, observation and general culture. The abundance of cliches and banalities reveals an ordinary person with a limited consciousness, not burdened by erudition and intellectual exercises :)
What cures for stamps? Reading GOOD literature and generally expanding your horizons.

However, even with the most laudable intentions, it is unlikely that any of us will be able to completely get rid of cliches, because we have absorbed them and often do not notice them.
So let's at least strive for this!