by Judy Reeves
Excerpted from the book A Writer’s Book of Days: © 2010 by Judy Reeves. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com or 800-972-6657 ext. 52.Clichés, like petty crimes and faux pas, are often committed without thought. “First thought is best in Art, second in other matters,” said William Blake. So the “first thought, best thought” dictum that works so well in evoking images and memories may not be the best source when it comes to word choice and creative phrasing. Either out of simple laziness or faster-than-light efficiency, when asked to “complete this phrase,” often the brain’s best shot will be something tired and mundane. For example, just off the top of your head (there’s a cliché for you), complete these phrases with your first thought:
Soft as ___________.
Dark as ___________.
The clouds were like ____________.
Hot as __________.
___________ as rocks.
You get the point.
What’s a cliché? In talking to her advanced writing group, Janet Fitch repeated to us what her teacher, Kate Braverman, said to her: “For you, it’s anything you’ve ever seen or heard before.” Now try describing a mountain range or an ice cream cone.
Clichés aren’t just hackneyed phrases or descriptions. Characters, situations, plots, settings can also be clichéd — the ways you can be banal are as common as ____________. (What was your first thought? Mine was houseflies.)
Every writer commits clichés. One of the jobs of rewriting is to find these gravy stains on your literary necktie and clean them up. Also, the more aware you are of clichés, the less likely you are to use them. Here are a few tips to circumnavigate, levitate above, tunnel under, ride roughshod over, and generally avoid these bad habits.
- Read your writing aloud after every draft. Clichés stand out more clearly when they’re spoken. The undiscerning eye sometimes sides with the lazy brain.
- Go through and underline each suspect in a different ink color. Notice the frequency of usage. The more brightly colored your page, the more work you have to do.
- Ask your writing partner to give you feedback. If your group hands out manuscripts for read-and-critique, have the readers mark clichés with a big “CL.”
- Don’t settle for the first phrase you come up with; close your eyes and try to see the image more clearly. Write and rewrite.
- Just like with real people, the more you get to know your characters, the more individualistic they’ll become. Ask them questions, go deeper, find what’s unique about each one and develop it.
- Look for telling details in people, places, and things; bypass the general for the specific.
- Have commonplace events take place in uncommon settings. Turn that around and make uncommon events happen in ordinary settings.
- Become cliché conscious. Note their appearance in everything you read. As with a wary parent of teenagers after curfew, the more alert you become, the less likely they’ll be to sneak in unnoticed.
As the old saying goes, “avoid clichés like the plague.”
“A cliché is like a coin that has been handled too much. Once language has been overly handled, it no longer leaves a clear imprint.”
— Janet Fitch
“What I like to do is treat words as a craftsman does his wood or stone…to hew, carve, mould, coil, polish, and plane them into patterns, sequences, sculptures, figures of sound expressing some lyrical impulse.”
— Dylan Thomas
Judy Reeves is the author of A Writer’s Book of Days and Writing Alone, Writing Together. She teaches writing and leads creativity workshop and is cofounder of the Writing Center, a nonprofit literary arts organization. She lives in San Diego, CA. Visit her online at http://www.judyreeveswriter.com/.
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