What Does It Mean: Cliché?

November 8, 2009 by Carol Benedict

Just between you and me, I was about to call it a day, but at the last minute I decided there’s no time like the present to write a post about clichés. I thought this would be a piece of cake, a slam dunk, a no brainer. However, the more I bat the idea around, the more I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place. Now I’m grasping at straws, but hope springs eternal so keep your fingers crossed that I can get all the bits and pieces of this topic in order and not have to go back to the drawing board.

I could go on forever, but I’m sure you’ve heard all this before—after all, that’s what it means to be a cliché.

Cliché: overused expression: a phrase or word that has lost its original effectiveness or power from overuse (Encarta dictionary)

As writers, our job is to choose words that will effectively convey the image we have in our mind to our readers’ minds. There may be occasions when a cliché is the best way to say what we mean, and sometimes using one can help make the dialog more realistic. If we use them too often, though, our writing will be boring and ineffective. We need to avoid clichés and develop our own writing voice.

We also need to be aware of plot clichés. For example, there’s the mystery where “the butler did it;” the villain who delays killing the hero so he can brag about how much smarter he is, why he did whatever it was, etc., giving the hero time to escape; and the ugly duckling that turns into the beautiful swan story. When people have seen a plot device so often that they can anticipate what will happen next, they may not care enough about the story to keep reading. We’ll increase our chance of success as writers if our stories include a unique twist, memorable characters, and a distinctive voice.

To help you identify them in your writing, here are some links to sites listing clichés:

http://clichesite.com/categories.asp lists of clichés

http://www.westegg.com/cliche/ lists of clichés

http://www.writing-world.com/romance/cliches.shtml clichés in romance novels

http://www.amethyst-angel.com/cliche.html Clichés in fantasy stories

Edit March 2, 2012: Today on his blog, Agent Nathan Bransford wrote a helpful post on plot clichés vs archetypes. http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/03/archetype-vs-cliche.html

What clichés drive you stark raving mad? What’s your favorite cliché?

11 Responses

on November 9, 2009 at 10:53 pm | Reply Stephen

I don’t know that cliches drive me as crazy as other issues in writing. And I agree with your point that they can be appropriate in dialogue, especially when you want to frame a picture of a character–education, background, etc.–by allowing them to use cliches in what they say.

Good post.
- on November 9, 2009 at 11:33 pm | Reply Carol Benedict
  
  Hi, Stephen. Cliched plots bother me more than cliched expressions. Many of the action movies my husband enjoys seem to have cliched plot lines, and they’re boring to me. However, the romances and suspense novels I read sometimes follow the same formula, and I like it because I can count on a satisfying ending. I guess it just depends on what a person is looking for in a story.
  
  I’m glad your NaNo writing is going well. Thanks for taking time out to drop by.
  
  Carol
on November 10, 2009 at 10:14 pm | Reply jmstrother

I loved that opening paragraph! You really put a lot of work into that, and it was really funny.

I once entered a bad writing contest. The one time when it was fine to use clichés. I didn’t win. It’s kind of sad, really, to not even be able to win a bad writing contest. 😮
~jon
- on November 10, 2009 at 10:35 pm | Reply Carol Benedict
  
  Thanks, Jon. I enjoyed seeing how many cliches I could fit into a paragraph and still make sense (sort of).
  
  As for the bad writing contest, it just goes to show you aren’t a bad writer. 😉
  
  Carol
on November 11, 2009 at 3:28 pm | Reply jpenstroke

Such fun and inspriation I find coming here.
That first paragraph is so well done I don’t even mind the cliche. Ok now I have to ask – how do you get the mark over the e? Always something new to learn – freshness the best delight.
- on November 11, 2009 at 7:06 pm | Reply Carol Benedict
  
  Thank you for the nice comment.
  
  As for the accent mark over the e, my Word 2007 program puts it in automatically when it’s needed. I pasted my post from Word into the WordPress boxes and it kept the accent marks. I don’t have the technical understanding to explain how to do it manually, but I think the WordPress program can do it, too. There’s an “insert symbol” button that has the accent marks shown, but I couldn’t figure out how to use it.
  
  Carol
on November 11, 2009 at 8:03 pm | Reply jmstrother

Or you can cheat, like I do, and copy and paste Carol’s é from her post into your comment. 🙂 Works like a charm.
~jon
- on November 11, 2009 at 9:13 pm | Reply Carol Benedict
  
  Ha! And I just thought you knew more than I did, Jon. Of course, I didn’t think of doing that in my comments, so I guess you really are smarter… 😉
  
  Carol
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