Using Clichés – or Not!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen Nov 2, 2007

Why is it that half the words my characters say are clichés? And if not clichés, then just overused, blah phrases?

Probably because I type fast (I used to do medical transcription), I try to keep up with my brain, and my brain runs on overdrive.

When I’m writing straight description or narrative, I tend to choose words more carefully. My verbs tend to be active without extra thought: a child never walks through leaves, she stomps, crunches, swishes or twirls through them. That comes almost automatically.

But dialogue is a different story. Characters tell each other things like, “I waltzed right over and told him off.” Or, “I was flying down the highway with the top down.” I guess that isn’t so bad if my character talks that way, but some of them don’t. Or shouldn’t. And most of the time, any character will be more interesting, not to mention more witty or humorous, if he is more original.

See, there I go again: not to mention!

And when I get lazy in my character’s conversations, sometimes it does creep over to the narrative and description. It takes extra scrutiny after the first or second draft to find and circle all the clichés. And I still don’t find all of them. “Flickering flames,” “tears ran down her face,” and “laughter turned to silence” are some of the recent ones my critique group caught.

Editing is great, isn’t it? Which is why I’m a writer, not a speaker!