It was February of 2000 when I first met Barry Dempster, an award-winning poet and author. He was the instructor at my very first creative writing workshop, and as I recall, there were about a dozen of us huddled into the basement of the Holland Landing Public Library, all keen and eager to learn. Later, Barry, along with myself and two other members of the group, would form a “Tea and Sympathy” group, an ad-hoc writing group that met infrequently. Barry didn’t “get” the mystery genre any more than I “get” non-rhyming poetry, but he came to my inaugural book launch, and the one after that (the latter graciously hosted by one of the Tea and Sympathy group).
I’ve since moved, and so it’s been a good five years since I’ve seen Barry, but I still remember his lessons well. He used to say that good writing was “putting the best words in the best order,” which sounds deceptively simple, but his pet peeve was the use of clichés. In fact, our first lesson was to come up with as many clichés as we could as a group, and vow never to use them again.
According to YourDictionary.com, the word cliché has French origins, which is why you’ll often see it with an accent over the “e,” but you can also write it as “cliche” in English. When printing presses were used, the cast iron plate that reproduced the words, phrases, or images was called a stereotype. The noise that casting plate made sounded like “cliché,” meaning click, to French printers, resulting in printer’s jargon for the stereotype. Thus, cliché came to mean a word or phrase that gets repeated often.
As I recall, Barry’s creative group came up an extensive list, everything from “Cold as ice” and “The hot seat” to “As dumb as a doorknob” and “Sharp as a tack,” and to this day, I try to avoid clichés. But sometimes, well, it’s just easier to “Go with the flow.”
What about you? Do you have a favorite (or hated) cliché to share? If so, leave a comment and I’ll start a list for an upcoming blog. Come on, don’t be shy: “The more, the merrier.”
Think outside the box.
Hate it:)
I hate that one too. Also hate “I’m circling back to you” and “have a nice one.” One what?? Day? Night? Meal? Ha!
We all want to be original, so it’s good to avoid cliches in expository passages. However, the do have a place in a limited POV, or in dialog, depending on the character.
True, Tom, but I’m making a list so can you offer up an example or two?
I particularly dislike old cliches like ‘dead as a doornail’ What the heck does that even mean?
What is a doornail vs any other kind of nail and is it deader?
Also ‘the whole nine yards’, ‘fit to be tied’,
Thanks Robin, adding to the list.
Actually, I know the answer to dead as a doornail history! There was a nail used in ancient doors that something got hooked on to latch or unlatch. It protruded from the door. When the door was no longer going to be used as a door, but repurposed for something else (fence, table, whatever) that large nail was pounded down so it wouldn’t catch on anything. It would be flattened as much as possible so it didn’t stick out. Hence dead as a doornail.
I love that — I will include in my list (thank you Dawna).
Like a bump on a log.
Yes, that’s a good one. Adding to the list 🙂
I find cliches useful, especially in dialogue, as a shortcut that gives insight into characters.
One of my favorite cliches:
Feeling like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.
I love that, Kathleen and I’ve never heard that expression!