Hmmm. One of my best stories, or so I thought, is of a woman looking over her naked body in a full length mirror just before she goes to join her husband in bed.
While I realize that this has been done before, and while I know that the story needs work–addition of conflict, or as one critique noted, placing it within a larger story–I didn’t notice how very mundane and overused the concept really has become; enough to drive one reviewer to bitter complaint.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
How about a twist to it rather than dumping the whole thing? That’s the hard part. No more mirror gazing is like saying no more family gathering stories.
Family Tree is also a potential cliche.
Yes, I’d thought of that–that all stories come down to 37 plots. I’m rather pleased with the writing in that story myself, and with the head-nod from you and others I trust would always take precedence over one reviewer’s opinion (though it is always filed away as something to be considered in this and future writing). I think as you say, it needs a twist, a conflict, and that is what I’ll be working on for it. Family Tree indeed is something that happens all over the world in a majority of homes every holiday–yet what is important is what the film reveals and what it develops from a situation. Thanks, boss.