Grasping for the Wind

Scott Lynch on the Worst Cliches in SF&F

Spectra Pulse's Facebook page has a special article from Scott Lynch entitled "Be Thou Familiar, but by No Means Vulgar". It is a republication from their special convention only magazine that they have been talking about for weeks now.

From the extremely well-written article:

Clichés can only become clichés if they work, if they strike a chord in a relatively broad audience time and time again. In the grand evolutionary cycle of the SF/F narrative, clichés are like sharks--ideas so robust and effective that they survive indefinitely with their essential nature more or less unchanged.

Authors are often accused of laziness merely for using clichés in their work, but I’ve come to find that accusation rather obtuse. We don’t all pile clichés into our work because we’re lazy. We pile them in because, once having encountered them as readers, they fascinate us. We then burn with the urge (in some cases for years or decades of deep obsession) to apply our particular spin to the objects of those fascinations, and to make them seem new again. This is mirrored in the tastes of those readers that can never get enough of something that tickles their fancy, be it swashbuckling rogues or palace intrigue or the Hero’s Journey. The urge to chase favorite clichés from book to book is no lazier or more shameful than a preference for one kind of wine over another.

You will likely need a Facebook account to view it. Become a Fan of Spectra Pulse if you are already a Facebook user and you will have access.

Posted by John on April 1, 2008 12:23 PM | Posted to Fantasy/Scifi News
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