Clichés: Know them, Destroy Them

Cliche Words, Phrases, and Idioms

Cliches come in all shapes and sizes, from plots to characters to the weather and phrases such as letting the cat outta the bag. We've been hitting at larger instances. This chapter is dedicated to smaller examples: the little lines, words, and phrases that pop up in your storytelling like a couple of unwanted pimples. Everyone gets them. Some days, we just wake up and look at our manuscript and see a great big fat one right at the top of the page. 

The first thing to examine is the definition of a cliche. I'll reference Dictionary.com for this, but you'll find similar definitions elsewhere. 

CLICHE: "a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse"

Cliches are often, in the writing world, the "default" or "go-to" words and phrases to express something. Why are these things so common and overused? 

Because cliches are effective. Everyone (well, most people) knows the cliche and what it means. The cliche might also be the shortest way to say whatever it is you're trying to say. It often acts like a border collie for your story, herding the majority of your readers along in the direction of your choosing. Furthermore, many cliches have a sense of accuracy and truth about them. Lots of roses are red. If given a box of crayons and asked to draw a rose, most people will reach for red. It isn't wrong and it's not bad; people have default images in their heads of things, and red roses tends to be one of them. 

In some ways, cliches are like kisses. Cliches are what happens when you've been dating for a year. That first kiss; new, fresh, and original, that sharp and sometimes puzzling thrill of never having done that before with your love, that's what gives birth to the cliche. The kisses that come by the time you're so familiar with one another it's now okay to poop in their bathroom, those are special and those have meaning, but it's familiar and routine. It isn't bad that you've done it before, it's just...a kiss. Pressing your mouth on theirs is not unique or fresh. If you want it to be, you'll have to get a little creative. 

Before wading further into Dos and Don't, please just dont's, there's one more word to define. Idioms, the partner in crime to cliche. 

Per Dictionary.com, an IDIOM is:

"1. an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket or hang one's head, or from the general grammatical rules of a language, as the table round for the round table, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics.

2. a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people."*

*Second definition included because it's part of a talking point. 

In layman's terms, an idiom is a phrase that you don't take literally. It's not really raining cats and dogs.

Idioms relate to cliches because these odd sayings that mean something else tend to be old, and common, and used by a lot of folk. 

So, are some idioms cliche? Yes. Some idioms are very overused.

Are some cliche lines idioms? Yes. You can't always take the line literally and get the correct meaning.

Before we detail problems and repairs, I'd point out that not all words, phrases, and common expressions are inherently cliche. Repetition is not in itself cliche. Proper terminology is not in itself cliche. Some words are used, and used often, because they are the correct words for the situation. It isn't cliche to call a mongoose a mongoose, and then still have it be a mongoose five chapters later. The pledge of allegiance isn't cliche because 20 kids and a teacher stood up during morning announcements and said it together. It isn't cliche for the Catholic priest to end his prayer with, "Amen" or for you to wish your crush, "good morning!" when you see him in the hall. Now, there could be other issues within a scene that make it cliche (like starting all conversations with Hey/how are you), but it isn't cliche to use the proper terminology or call an apple an apple.