Let’s Talk About Clichés | How To Avoid Clichés In Your Writing

Let’s talk about clichés, or at least, how to avoid clichés in your writing. From “letting the cat out of the bag” all the way to the “beads of sweat rolling down” your character’s forehead, cliché expressions, themes, and plots can be difficult to avoid in your creative writing! If originality is something that you struggle with, read on to find out how to spot clichés and avoid using them in your writing.

How to avoid clichés – Creative Writing Tips

• What are clichés and how can we spot them?
• Why is it important to avoid clichés?
• How to spot clichés
• Cliché topics, tropes and themes to avoid
• Cliché plots to avoid
• Cliché expressions and phrases to avoid
• Other tips to avoid the dreaded cliché

What are clichés and how can we spot them?

Clichés are elements of artworks that have lost their meaning or impact through overuse. Be it a piece of symbolism in visual artwork (For example, mirrors or skulls in Renaissance artworks), an image or metaphor used in literature (eg. roses and love in Romantic poetry), or a phrase or refrain from music (eg. the beat drop in some types of dance music or EDM), if it is done to that point that it becomes meaningless or, as we might say today, memeable, then it is a cliche.

Put simply, a cliché is an overused element of creative writing.

As you can probably tell, cliché is not an English word– it’s a word that we’ve borrowed from French that refers back to the days of the printing press and the invention of the stereotype (the plate with typeset letters embedded on it used to print documents). The story goes that “cliché” was the sound made by the stereotype as it was set in molten metal.

From the days of the printing press onwards, clichés have come to be known as words, expressions, or images that seem to write themselves and “are repeated without reflection” almost as if they’ve been stamped again and again from a printing press.

Clichés, in and of themselves aren’t bad – they serve a useful purpose in trying to relate information in some contexts. Without cliché, we wouldn’t have meme. But when you are required to demonstrate originality and creativity, then clichés are to be avoided like the plague.

Why is it important to avoid clichés in your writing?

English teachers often discourage you from using clichés as they can make your writing seem awkward and unoriginal. When we produce creative writing in English, we aim to contribute to an original piece of storytelling that engages your reader by having something important to say.

Clichés are storytelling elements that are not well-thought out and because they are so thoughtless, they detract from any deeper meaning or messaging that you may have planned. In many cases, the inclusion of clichés can make your story seem superficial.

Clichés fall into 3 broad categories:

• Topics – Ideas the story is based around
• Tropes and plots – Plot devices and central character arcs
• Phrases – Overused expressions

Spotting clichés

To make sure that you don’t use clichés – accidentally or otherwise – you want to be confident spotting a cliché. To help you with that, we have a quick exercise. Below is a passage that is littered with cliché, your task is to find them.

Let’s take a look at the written example below that happens to be riddled with clichés. How many can you spot?

Billy was a 13-year-old boy with bright blue hair and hazel eyes. He was walking through the market at midnight and was a little upset to notice all of the food trucks closing for the night. As he walked through the streets in the central part of town, he suddenly stumbled across a dark alleyway. He sauntered down the alleyway that did not have a single person in sight. Billy stopped when he saw an antiques store that he had never heard of or seen before and decided to go in. There seemed to be no one at the store counter so he perused the dazzling objects scattered around until he came across a gold watch. The clock struck midnight when he happened to touch the watch. To his surprise, it lit up in a magical glow. “The watch has chosen you,” boomed a voice from behind the store counter. “With great power comes great responsibility,” the disembodied voice said.

Cliché Counter

As you can see from the example given above, clichés are quite easy to overlook in your writing. To avoid clichés, start being more intentional with your writing. Overused expressions can creep into your writing when your concentration slips.

You can also avoid unoriginal writing by learning to recognise clichés whenever you come across them in your own writing or in someone else’s.

Cliché topics, tropes, and themes to avoid

It can be very tempting for young writers to establish dramatic themes of death or severe mental illness. Something to keep in mind to avoid both unoriginal and awkward writing is to make sure that your writing either draws from your own lived experiences or from sufficient research.

A big part of avoiding cliché topics, tropes, and themes is firstly to be well-informed about your subject matter and characterisation.

Below are some topics, character tropes, and themes to consider winding back in your writing:

• Characters with severe mental illness (avoid writing about hallucinations!)
• Characters with drug addictions
• The death of your own character, the death of another character, or the constant idea of death
• Egregious descriptions of violence

Clichés plots to avoid

It can also be quite tempting for many English students to write short stories that read more like they should be blockbuster films! The trick to ensuring originality is to have plots that are very specific– pare back the parameters of your plot.

Common plot clichés that we see include:

• Jamming an entire revolutionary plot line (Hunger Games style) into an 800-word story
• Starting a wartime drama with an opening sentence along the lines of “It was September when the first bombs dropped…”
• Ending your storyline with “It was all a dream.”
• Being overly inspired by your favourite Young Adult novel or series: avoid having your plot based around attractive teenagers who happen to be werewolves, witches, vampires, or mermaids, etc.
• Having your character being framed for murder, or suffering from inexplicable amnesia
• Writing from the perspective of an animal or any type of inanimate object

Cliché expressions and phrases to avoid

In terms of the more specific ways that clichés can creep into your writing, make sure to keep an eye out for expressions, phrases, and idioms that make your story seem superficial.

Common cliché expressions and phrases that English teachers often see include:

• Ignorance is bliss
• The hustle and bustle of the city
• Her eyes were dead
• He stopped in his tracks
• It was the tip of the iceberg
• The planes of her face
• The glass shattered
• Her eyes welled up, a lump formed in her throat
• She was head and shoulders above the rest
• He was a teacher’s pet
• She hung her head in shame
• Her smile was sheepish
• She was lost in thought
• Her heart leapt to her throat
• His stare intensified
• She gritted her teeth
• Her heart pounded
• Her heart skipped a beat
• Birds were chirping, dogs were barking
• His piercing eyes
• He let out a deep sigh
• She caught a glimpse
• His gaze was transfixed
• He gripped it until his knuckles were white

Please also try to avoid excessive descriptions of sweat, tears, or any other bodily fluid. Common expressions that your English teacher is likely to roll their eyes at include:

• Beads of sweat dripping down a character’s face
• Clammy palms
• One glistening tear slowly rolling down your protagonist’s cheek

Other tips to avoid the dreaded cliché

Precision is your friend!

A lot of the time, cliché phrases and expressions are unoriginal because they are too vague and nonspecific. Thinking deeply about exactly what your character is doing at that precise moment can help you avoid being too general with your descriptions. You might find it helpful to close your eyes and visually imagine your setting and your character.

Read through your own work

Since it can be quite easy for a cliché to slip through your writing pieces, it helps to read over your work at least once or twice, and preferably aloud. This will help you to catch any awkward or overused expressions that you previously may have missed.

Have someone else read through your work

If you are able and not writing under exam conditions, try to get another pair of eyes to look over your work. A lot of the time, you can miss your own mistakes since it is your creation. It can be very helpful to have a third party read over your work to prevent any awkward wording.