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Cliches are like a set of Powell furniture. They’re familiar, they’re steady and reliable, but they can also be completely unappreciated because they are so familiar, steady and reliable. As for the unappreciated part, how would anyone be able to appreciate innovative characterization if it were not for cliches?

Want some examples?

All right, here’s one most folks will recognize: the “hooker with a heart of gold.” Movies are rife with female characters who sell their bodies for a living, but turn out to be these generous, selfless folks who become the most likeable character in the movie in which they are featured. It’s sometimes better-disguised than at other times, but you can often see it coming a mile away, whether it’s “Risky Business” or “Trading Places” or “Pretty Woman” or “Milk Money,” it’s a character type that simply pops up way too often.

Of course, if it weren’t for all those characters, it would be hard to appreciate the innovation shown with a movie goes in a different direction. For example, for all its faults as an adaption of Alan Moore’s graphic novel, “From Hell” did quite well portraying most of the London prostitutes in this film against this cliche stereotype.

It’s easy to think of others. How about a trendy one in recent romantic comedies: the “gay best friend.” Whether it’s “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Monster-In-Law,” or the one that just about started it all, “The Object of My Affection,” it’s now become so predictable, it’s boring; single woman lives with or spends every minute with some guy while falling in love with another, you just know that however he’s protrayed, that live with/hang around guy is gonna end up being revealed as her “gay best friend.”

Again, it’s not that these character types aren’t usefol or are completley unentertaining; it’s just that they are overused. The point is, were it not for such a wealth of gay best friends, it would be hard to appreciate a character like Jon Cryer’s Ducky from “Pretty In Pink.” Although revisionists have reinterpreted Ducky as gay and closeted, the film portrays him far more interestingly as a less cliched straight boy who loves Molly Ringwald’s character, but loves her so much he’s willing to step aside in favor of a fella he knows will maker her happier.

So cliche characters aren’t all bad; if nothing else, they help us appreciate those character who aren’t cliche.

“I’m just not ready to write.”

It’s an excuse for not working that nearly every writer has used as some point or another. Does that really mean they suffer from writer’s block? Not necessarily. To borrow a quote from athletics, success is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. It’s what keeps deoderant companies in business.

Lack of inspiration is also what, by and large, keeps people investing in Orlando vacations to get away from their daily grind and clear their minds in hopes that inspiration will come. But really, most so-called writer’s block comes not from a lack of good ideas, but from a lack of preparation.

Take this 5-8 page paper I have to turn in for a class I’m taking. I am closing in on a week overdue on the paper, and yet I still have yet to write one word. It’s not that I have no idea what I want to say; but I’m still finishing the reading, and until I do that, I don’t know for sure where I want to go with my conclusions, my arguments, my supporting materials and quotes.

Fiction writing isn’t much different, when you think about it. You need to know your characters. You need to know the story you want to tell, from beginning to end. Just as I will be completely ready to write once I finish my reading and know all that I’m supposed to know, so will fiction writers find the task of writing sharp, effective prose much easier when they know all they need to know to tell the story.

Read just about any John Irving novel for an example of the power knowing your whole story ahead of time can lend you as a storyteller. Read this opening sentence from “A Prayer for Owen Meany,” and ask yourself if John Irving ever could have crafted this book without knowing the whole story he was going to tell:

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice - not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.

So, my advice is this: if you can’t write, it’s time to do your research. Once you know all about your characters and your story, you’ll be surprised how easily the words start to flow.

Just as I was beginning to think I was going to need to go rent a boat charter to keep my sanity - not that I had any money for a boat charter, mind you - the weather takes a turn and we’re getting temps in the 50s here in good ol’ Minnesota. At last.

Now, I was born and raised and have spent most of my life in Minnesota. I enjoy it here. But the long winters? Well, let’s just say I find spring to be a lot more creatively inspiring. When winter hits, my creative mind wants to go into hibernation, pure and simple. Once it gets above freezing, the ice breaks and the creative juices begin flowing again.

I think seasons affect all creative people. Sure, some folks are more inspired by some seasons than others, and the preferred seasons vary from writer to writer. But for me, there’s nothing like the hint of spring to lift my spirits and get me writing again.