Everyone—writers, scuba divers, and presidents alike—have “key” phrases that they tend to use and use again. Some of those “key” phrases also might tend to be used by other people again and again. We’ve all heard them: clichés.
It can be far too easy to introduce clichés into your book. While there are instances to use clichés—such as when you’re establishing a character’s voice—they tend to make your writing feel monotonous for readers. Used too frequently, clichés can tell the reader that you are a) too lazy to come up with an original way to phrase your passage, b) too unoriginal to come up with an original way to phrase your passage, or c) just a bad writer. (These three things can be commonly linked.)
Here are 25 of the most overly used and underwhelming clichés that tend to show up in books and bore readers:
1) “Time and again”
2) “At the end of the day”
3) “Cut to the chase”
4) “Tears rolled down her face”
5) “At the crack of dawn”
6) “Grin from ear to ear”
7) “The writing’s on the wall”
8) “Not a penny to his name”
9) “In a wink”
10) “In the nick of time”
11) “It will/would do”
12) “Joined at the hip”
13) “Learn the ropes”
14) “A last-ditch effort”
15) “Light at the end of the tunnel”
16) “My hands are tied”
17) “A necessary evil”
18) “Object of desire”
19) “In due time”
20) “A far cry”
21) “Deal a fatal blow”
22) “He received a severe tongue lashing”
23) “She came across a _______”
24) “The end justifies the means”
25) “He made waves”
If there are specific phrases that you know to use too frequently, it might be useful to use Microsoft Word’s “Find” feature to pinpoint them in your revising.
What clichés do you find yourself prone to using in your writing?
Guilty…as charged! Trying to do better. Thanks for the tip!
Wow! Thanks for keeping us honest! Taking an online marketing class today — seems the language we use to sell stuff is definitely not the same language for creative writing. What’s up with that?
Fun Class to be taking Patty! We would agree that creative writing and marketing writing is completely different. If you need a good book recommendation for marketing writing, we like Words that Sell.
Lets see how many cliches I used in my last comment. 1. keeping us honest 2. What’s up with that? …. euphemisms…..can we talk about euphemisms!…3. ‘can we talk’ Ugh! I have a million of ’em. 4 Another one!
You know Patty, nobody’s perfect…you can a keep a few of your Pattyisms