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Avoid Cliches (Like the Plague)

© Dave Brandl

There's an old story about a guy who sees Hamlet for the first time and walks away saying, "Aw, it's just a bunch of old cliches." Of course, this is an exaggeration, but the gist is that the guy doesn't realize how much new material Shakespeare contributed to the English language. Now, phrases such as, "To be or not to be," have been part of the language for so long that they are cliches.

Freshness is something that all directors, publishers, and producers seek. To be fresh doesn't necessarily imply being completely original. In fact, some schools of thought declare that there is nothing original, only a handful of standard plots, such as revenge, love story, quest, etc. Freshness is more of a new way of looking at something; a different perspective. So many love stories and adventure stories and vengeance stories and crime stories have been told over the years that it's not likely that a new play will go someplace never gone before, but more that this new telling of the story will bring in inventive aspects.

In the hundreds of plays I've read over the years, I frequently come across cliche phrases. These generally indicate two things about the playwright - one positive and one negative. The positive is that the playwright has used words that will likely have a universal recognition to them. Having a character say that something is now "water under the bridge" will tell the audience that they are referring to past events that cannot be changed.

However, such usage also shows that the playwright barely reached into the literary tools available. When we start using cliches, we are not digging deep enough into our own resources. Beyond the laziness that may be implied by use of cliches, another result is that with such a universally recognized set of words, each reader may have a unique interpretation of the cliche, which may be vastly different in both magnitude and meaning. The cliche may then evoke a different intention from what the playwright had in mind.

Create your own variations. One good device in writing is to start with what may sound like a cliche, but end it with a twist, such as, "Find a penny, pick it up. All day long, you'll have a penny." Or making sure a character "crosses his F's and dots his J's."

An outstanding example from recent years is from the television show, M*A*S*H, where Colonel Potter has just been handed some lame explanation or excuse, and rather than responding with "Bulls**t" or some similar stock (and uncensored) phrase, each script had a different "Meadow Muffins" or "Pigeon Pellets" or "Goat Grenades" or something else that had the same meaning, created surprise to the audience, and at the same time showed his 'folksy' approach to life.

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