Do you depend on cliches when you write? Do you use them when having a conversation with family or friends? Most of us probably slip many cliches into our chatting with others. Writers, however, should avoid them like the plague. Ooops ...'like the plague' is a cliche.
A cliche is a word or phrase that is commonly used and usually overused. Use them too often, and they lose their effectiveness. A story filled with cliches makes the writer look a bit lazy and also uncreative.
According to the Macmillan Dictionary Blog: The word cliché comes from the French verb ‘clicher’ meaning ‘to stereotype’.
Here's a partial list of widely used cliches:
- shaking like a leaf
- dead as a doornail
- avoid it like the plague
- thick as thieves
- plenty of fish in the sea
- think outside the box
- like a kid in a candy store
The phrases above are only a very few of the many, many cliches we use on a daily basis. They do bring a clear image to us, but in writing, we should shun them. For a quick exercise, think of a better, less well-known way to phrase the seven listed above.
When I was a newbie writer, I was the Queen of Cliches. I didn't realize until other writers who critiqued my work marked them that I tended to speak in cliches. It stood to reason that I transferred those oral thoughts into my writing. Every story or essay I subbed to my writing group came back with one or more cliches marked. They began to feel like someone was pinching me, telling me to stop doing this. I worked at the problem and am much better today. I learned that coming up with a better phrase helped me be creative, and it also made me think about eliminating those easy cliches instead of blithely using them. Am I perfect now? Not by a longshot! Ooops, there's another one.
Cliches stand out to an editor who reads your work. One might get a pass. Two or more in one piece will probably get a rejection. If you have the habit that I did, work on breaking it. I still slip up sometimes, and I am irritated when it happens because I know better.
Do a search using the keywords 'cliches in writing' to read more about this small but important part of our writing world.
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