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Writer’s Toolbox

Ask The Writer

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Your most pressing and perplexing questions about writing answered here by Gotham teacher Brandi Reissenweber.

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  • Adaptation
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Figurative Language

I use a lot of idioms in my writing because it seems to me that is how my characters would talk. I use phrases like, "she's slower than molasses" and "that fits her like a glove." Are these considered clichés? Should I avoid them?
I'm interested in working with symbolism in my fiction, but I can't seem to do it without making it so obvious that's what I'm doing. Do you have any advice?
Aren't clichés actually dead metaphors or similes? "He was tall, dark and handsome" is, to be sure, hackneyed language but it's not a cliché; An individual may, literally, be tall, dark and handsome.
Can a story have too many comparisons?
What is personification?
Why is connotation important in fiction?
How do I know if something is a cliché?
Showing 1-7 of 7 items.
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