Let’s face it, clichés are useful.
Who has never used one or more of the following expressions?
‘By the end of the day I was on my knees.’
‘She was dashing around like a headless chicken.’
‘Watch my lips.’
Clichés. They’re everywhere, aren’t they? After all’s said and done, they’re just a manner of speaking.
Exactly! A manner of speaking.
The characters you create may utter clichés till the cows come home. BUT, having said that…
Prose that is riveting, fascinating, and interesting, has to be free from clichés. We can improve as creative writers if we aim to make our work captivating and entrancing. Our choice of words is important. It makes the difference between a reader hurrying to the next paragraph, or closing the book forever.
Editing our work should take us beyond checking spellings and making sure we haven’t used a noun more than once in a paragraph. We should always be alert for clichés. If you find them, make sure you’re hard-wired to take them out.
Where will your words take your reader?
Frog: (thinks he’s the foreman)
That’s that job sorted. All done and dusted.