Cliché Bound

Happy Day after Halloween!
So, tell me did all the witches who came to your door have warts? Did all the hobos have a scraggily beard and torn clothes? They had to right, or how would you have known they were hobos?
Today's topic is CLICHÉ.

According to Constance Hale author of Sin and Syntax, cliché is a slothful sin in writing she describes as "trite phrases blanched of all meaning by overuse."
Blanched of all meaning by overuse.
Think about it.

The first person to use the phrase "raining cats and dogs" was genius, a great architect of word play.
The second person to use it was very clever in their ability to quote genesis.
The third, well, he was less witty.
The fourth, I wouldn' t call him lazy, (especially since I've used that phrase and cannot possibly be even the hundredth to do so) but you get the picture.
After reading Ms. Hale's book I came to realize that clichés are so prevalent in our world, I very much think in cliché. (Oh man, did I admit that out loud?)

Okay, so I can't be the only one freaking out here thinking OMG for Pete's sake, we are so entrenced in using cliches that we have a holiday dedicated to dressing up as one. How am I ever going to recognize them in my writing?
(Yes, I know I just used like four of them.)

How do we avoid cliché?
It starts by becoming aware of them.

A good rule Ms. Hale suggests:
"Beware of combos you can complete without thinking" for example: loud and ……, or guild the…., burning the candle at…..

But what of those combos that are so knitted together you think of them in unison? for example: rock hard, feather light, or my personal favorite when fighting with my husband…get some air. But we all know it is the polite way of saying "I need to remove myself from this situation before I regrettably have to kill you."

We accept clichés because they are an easy way to impress our meaning. Our job as writers is to find new ways of accomplishing that. Finding a fresh way to tell a story that has been kicking around for centuries is what makes us writers opposed to story repeaters.

If you narrow that concept to a fine point, we need to choose each word carefully. Of course, it would be impossible to use a combination of words never used before, but if you follow Ms. Hale's rule and dump the familiar, you have a good start.

Then we can go so far as to enrich our writing with the practice of breaking clichés.

A prime example Ms. Hale gives is when "Teddy Roosevelt accused his predecessor William McKinley of showing 'all the backbone of a chocolate eclaire'."

I don't know who the first person was to introduce fast moving zombies, but the concept scared the bejesus out of me. In "I am Legend" we ran into a Zombie so clever he could plot against the main character and set a trap. Really!?! Zombies aren't supposed to think beyond their next meal. That's the safe guard, but by breaking the cliché it heighten the freak out factor to the point I had no nails left on my fingers when it was done.

So the lesson is to identify the clichés and strengthen your writing by either dumping them or bending them to your will.

Just don't repeat them.