I’ve been busy this week working
on a book proposal, critiquing, and generally sorting out my overcommitted
life. LOL. What about you? As you can see from the intro, we’re going to discuss clichés
this week in Writers’ Corner.
A cliché is any overused expression.
Because we have a tendency to speak with clichés, especially in the South, recognizing
them in our writing can be a challenge. There’s always a better way to express
your thoughts and those of your characters than to use worn-out phrases. An
editor might excuse an occasional slip-up, but repeated clichés reflect lazy
writing. The exception to this is dialogue, because as I stated above, real people
use them in speech.
Here are a few examples:
All in due time An
arm and a leg
As luck would have it Better
safe than sorry
Between a rock and a hard place Cool as a
cucumber
Cut to the chase Fit
as a fiddle
Keep your chin up He
keeps his cards close to his vest.
Knock on wood Lesser
of two evils
At the drop of a hat At
her wits' end
New lease on life Out of sight, out of
mind
See the light No
time like the present
Twist of fate Light
as a feather
Time will tell Live
and learn
Now, I’d like to hear from you. What
is your most frequently used cliché?
