It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We do tend to copy and reshape the things that work in our eyes.
Though we’re not plagiarists, we writers are definitely thieves. One of us will come up with a clever turn of phrase or an effective action beat, and next thing you know, it’s everywhere — in every book we read — and we have no clue who was the brain who thought it up to begin with.
Rolling eyes, gazes meeting, and turning on a heel to walk away are all becoming old to me. I see them all the time. And guess what? I use them all the time, too.
It’s frustrating. I’ve seen authors who try something different, and sometimes what they’ve written in their attempt to be fresh and original doesn’t quite work. Not for me, anyway. My mind tends toward the logical. Can a person really feel it in his spleen when he’s afraid? Frankly, I can’t tell you where the spleen is.
Sometimes, we use the familiar…
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