Writing Exercises--Cliche's

Cliche's--Another Writing Group Exercise:
Free-write a contemporary scene with 2 characters in any stage of a romantic relationship using as many of the above clichés as possible.
· Forbidden love (disapproving parent/warring families);
· Dangerous love (bad boy or bad girl);
· Love triangles;
· I hate you, now I love you;
· The exotic, mysterious foreigner;
· The rich playboy vs. the poor but handsome neighbour;
· The Florence Nightingale syndrome (falling in love with your caretaker);
· Adultery;
· Good looks vs. a great personality;
· Misunderstandings keeping them apart;
· Some kind of bet;
· Innocent tickling that leads to an unexpected, intense attraction

Story 1:
When Jennifer and Jeff were in school they eyed each other with the distrust brought on by warring families but then Jeff had fallen and smacked his head on the pavement of the school parking lot. Jennifer was the first came to his aid. When Jeff opened his eyes he saw a vision of Jennifer & fell in love. She looked down at him in his sorrowful, bloody state and decided that he was the man for her.

Her family considered him a "bad" boy from the wrong side of the tracks and he was currently dating someone but she didn't care. She determined right then and there that Jeff was the one for her and she was not going to let anything come between her and her true love.

"Oh Jeff, let's get you to the nurses office".

Jeff, still in a dazed shock, managed to stand up and leaned on Jennifer while holding his head as they walked to the principals office. Suddenly he stopped and turned to her.

"Jennifer, I've grown up hating you, I've never been nice to you and now you've helped me. I...I love you."

"Oh Jeff, of course you do. I know my parents hate your parents and they look down on them. Your family is from the "wrong side of the tracks"...but I'm different. There are a lot of boys that I could have, especially good looking ones, but you, Jeff...well, you are the boy with personality and that's what I love about you."

"This is complicated Jennifer, I have a girlfriend."

"Well, you'll just have to ditch her Jeff. You can't love two girls at the same time."

"But what about her feelings, we've been going steady for almost a year. I think she's expecting an engagement ring when we graduate in June."

Story 2:
Jennifer walked down the street toward her apartment all the while thinking about her boyfriend Jeff and their relationship. They had both come from a small Canadian town and theirs was a forbidden love. His parents hated her parents and vice versa for something that happened thirty-five years ago. Rumours, whispered in the beauty parlor on the town's main street seem to point to a love triangle or some kind of bet that pitted the couples against each other.

When Jennifer and Jeff were in school they eyed each other with the distrust brought on by warring famlies but then Jeff had fallen and smacked his head on the pavement of the school parking lot. Jennifer was the first came to his aid. When Jeff opened his eyes he saw a vision of Jennifer & fell in love. She looked down at him in his sorrowful, bloody state and decided that he was the man for her. Now Jeff and Jennifer were living in the city away from their families and they were committed to each other. Well, at least Jennifer felt she was ready for the next step since the wedding date was fast approaching.

There had been others in college that had turned her head, like Joe, the oh so sexy "bad" boy. She had accepted his invitation to take a motorcycle ride on a whim and they ended up on the beach with a picnic lunch. During their walk along the shore she accidentally pushed him in the water and when he reached out to touch her she shrieked because he had touched her ticklish midriff. Joe sensing an opportunity for closer contact chase her until they fell into the sand and then then tickled her mercilessly. Suddenly the tickling wasn't tickling any more and the two of them embraced passionately. It was too cold to make love in the sand and it was a family beach so the foreplay ended there. On the way back to his apartment Jennifer felt pangs of guilt and asked Joe to take her home. He never spoke to her again.

Jennifer let herself in the front door of the apartment and went to the mail room to check her box. She heard the door open and just as she turned into the lobby to go up the elevator, John Smith from 312, the apartment two doors away from her place, entered into the lobby. He was tall, dark and devestatingly handsome, obviously foreign, with dark eyes that could bore into any woman's soul and made her leg's quiver.

His deep voice broke through the hum of the radiator, "Hello Jennifer."

Feb 25 2009
©Salynne Wilde