Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Getting Rid of Cliches and Beyond #MFRWauthor

There are days when I think the only thing I can write are cliches. Often this is during the rough drafts. Structuring your novel from basic idea to finished manuscript has some ways to rid the story of those dratted phrases that flow so easily from the keys.

Delete the cliche. Just hit delets and the cliche is gone. What if you need those words or similar ones to make the story make senes or give the reader some insight into the character or the plot. Then you must rewrite. Say you said her eyes were blue. Read that a dozen times or more in other works. Her blue eyes held a hint of Arctic frost. is one way to show without being a clicke. or even better Blue eyes with a hint of Arctic frost glared.

Sometimes cliches are allowed. Say you have a character who speaks or thinks in cliches. I've seen this done with a clever touch with some humor in a story. A character who has this trait could also create terror in another character.

Not a cliche but the constant repetition of character's names in a scene. As long as the reader can tell who is speaking or acting the name can be omitted. This can cause problems when there are just two women or two men in the scene but there are ways to get around it. Letting the hero have the he said things, finding ways to characterize each speaker in a physical sense that differentiates them. Or by their profession or role in the story.