A cliché is a trite overused phrase: tight as a drum, dog-tired, turning over a new leaf. The problem with clichés is that they're so familiar they have no life left in them—either they make no impression on the reader, or the reader actually finds them annoying. (Can you hear the phrase "information superhighway" without grinding your teeth?)
To see why clichés cause problems, consider the following sentence:
I was scared out of my wits.
To modern readers, that's just an empty phrase—it doesn't convey the impression that you were truly, genuinely frightened. Compare the cliché with something more original:
I was so scared I couldn't piss. I couldn't scream, I couldn't faint, I couldn't have a heart attack, I couldn't do a single goddamned thing that terrified people do in movies because my body had frozen with fear as solid as a kewpie doll dipped in liquid nitrogen...and if anything touched me, I'd shatter.
Now that gets across the idea of all-consuming terror. If it doesn't, at least it catches the reader's attention.
George Orwell said something to the effect that any
phrase you've heard before is probably a cliché.
Certainly, you should be wary of any phrase you've heard
too often—it's likely been sucked bloodless.
| Of course, there may be times when you want to sound clichéd... particularly when you're writing dialogue for a pompous character. In that case, put your nose to the grindstone and just start sniffing. Or something like that. |
Copyright © 2001, James Alan Gardner